Rahm Emanuel has a reputation for two things: a tough demeanor and a policy nerd's command of detail. In Part 1 of our interview, he lives up to both.
Ambassador Emanuel argues that America has spent 25 years sleepwalking — through the Iraq war, the Great Recession, and the pandemic — and that the people responsible were never held accountable. His solution starts somewhere you might not expect: a Mississippi classroom.
Sarah McCammon spoke with him in Chicago about his diagnosis of the country, the education plan he'd run from elementary school to free community college, how we confront AI anxiety, and why he says it's the crisis neither party takes seriously enough.
Part 2 drops next week.
00:00 — Cold open
01:27 — Why New Hampshire, and what a bike trip tells you
05:51 — "America has lost its nerve"
08:23 — The pattern: elites walk off clean
10:43 — How business put the China market over national security
14:33 — The Chicago school record
15:34 — Phonics, Mississippi, and a generation lost
16:06 — A plan for every graduate, and free community college
17:31 — Trades and "build baby build"
19:54 — Ban social media under 16
20:20 — AI anxiety and why the trades are the hedge
23:56 — How a president leads without commanding the states
27:12 — The three doors and the 80 percent