Rahm Emanuel, former Chicago mayor, Obama chief of staff, and ambassador to Japan, wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal this week with words of constructive criticism for the Democrat Party.

The overarching theme of Emanuel’s piece was that dispensing retribution toward President Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again followers is not a fruitful agenda. In fact, this very scheme backfired on the Democrats in 2024. Voters were even more inclined to accept Trump’s policy proposals after he was persecuted so openly and outrageously by the Democrats — even surviving multiple assassination attempts fueled by leftist hate rhetoric.

Democrats are also being led by the craziest and most radical in their party. They have made transgenderism a huge focal point, plus they are trending more and more toward socialism in their economic policies.

Emanuel is one of the few Democrats to take the side of common sense. He will at least publicly say that a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl, and that feelings don’t dictate truth or reality. In his Journal op-ed, Emanuel lays the groundwork for his party to win in November.

His big emphasis? With midterm polling trending heavily blue, don’t waste this opportunity once Democrats regain the House (and possibly the Senate). Emanuel also cautions Democrats not to be the party of vengeance and instead formulate a positive agenda, thereby exploiting the fissures on the Right.

Here are his five agenda items for 2026:

• Raise the minimum wage
• Implement a ratepayers’ bill of rights
• Lower healthcare costs
• Stop children from being able to access social media
• Sanction an ethics reform package that bans prediction betting for Washington, DC, insiders

Some of these are bipartisan issues. For example, putting a minimum age on social media access is an issue most people can get behind. Also, Americans would probably prefer that Capitol insiders not bet.

Other items, though, are just regular leftist talking points. Democrats tried to “lower healthcare costs” — and screwed up the entire healthcare system. Furthermore, raising the minimum wage remains bad policy. Minimum wage jobs are not intended to be jobs that workers hold forever. Let’s say you are a cashier at McDonald’s. The food is not getting any better, nor has the service changed after many decades. Why should the cashier be paid more? Allocating more money to tasks that do not improve in quality or outcomes is a foolish economic proposal.

Emanuel argues that these agenda items can expose cracks in the Republican ticket and help drive voters back to the Democrats. Political pundit Ben Shapiro often says that voters tend toward whichever party is less crazy. While the Republicans are still holding fast to 80-20 issues and exposing fissures in the Democrat Party, MAGA’s continuation after Donald Trump is in question. Perhaps Democrat moderation is a good strategy.

At the same time, we have seen this “moderate Democrat” playbook before. Joe Biden and, more recently, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger ran on it. These wolves in sheepskin either governed or continue to govern like the most radical in their parties. Some Democrats have already released Project 2029 — a snarky nod to The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 — in which they outline a plan of vengeance against Trump, his administration, and MAGA voters.

Even former Obama official Susan Rice, who took the fall for Benghazi, made it clear that the Democrats have no intention of trying to heal the rift between Democrats and Republicans. Last month, she said, “This is not going to be an instance of forgive and forget. The damage that these people are doing is too severe to the American people and our national interests.”

Rahm Emanuel may talk a good talk, but there is a sizable portion of the Democrat Party that is no longer sane. They actively hate half the country and celebrate the murder of people with whom they disagree politically. Emanuel is going to have to answer to them, and that means even he may be forced eventually to accept more radical positions to keep his leftist base happy. This will always and forever be a huge stumbling block for the Democrats because Americans, by and large, tend to be more moderate.

This is also a good reminder and a warning for the GOP: When divided, we are easy prey. Americans are looking for the party of sanity and prosperity, and the GOP has an ever-shrinking amount of time to remind voters it can deliver.