Rahm Emanuel: Democrats ‘fully caffeinated, double espresso’

Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday that Democratic voters are “fully caffeinated, double espresso” when it comes to involvement in politics at the moment. 

“If you look at every special election and every primary, Democratic turnout since 2024 is way up on a comparative basis, and it’s very, very — Democratic voters are very energized, and they’re not waiting for the leadership to get their act together about how to confront both President Trump and the Repu— and the do nothing — and not do nothing — but the rubber-stamp Republican Congress,” Emanuel told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on his show.

“So my — I get all the frustration everybody has, but you look at where the Democratic voters are in the country,” he added. “They are fully caffeinated, double espresso. They are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do. Take a look at the New Jersey primary vote, two-and-a-half to one, Democrats turned out.”

In the wake of the November 2024 elections, Democrats have done some soul-searching about where their party goes next after Republicans gained a governing trifecta via the House, Senate and White House.

More left-wing Democrats have said their party did not go far enough in their direction to excite the party’s base, while centrists have said the party went too far left and scared off moderate voters.

In a Wall Street Journal article published in May, Emanuel offered a harsh assessment of his party, calling the Democratic brand “toxic” and “weak and woke.”

“I’m tired of sitting in the back seat when somebody’s gunning it at 90 miles an hour for a cliff,” Emanuel told the Journal. “If you want the country to give you the keys to the car, somebody’s got to be articulating an agenda that’s fighting for America, not just fighting [President] Trump.”