Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said the Democratic Party pursued “insane” policies that have left it at odds with many Americans, citing biological men playing in women’s sports and other transgender issues.
During the 2024 presidential election, President Donald Trump’s campaign ran ads featuring Vice President Kamala Harris discussing how she pushed “behind the scenes” for transgender prisoners to receive sex changes. Emanuel said in a video posted to social media that Democrats were “undercutting” women and were losing “culture wars” with their aggressive positions on the issues.
WATCH:
Rahm Emanuel — Obama’s Chief of Staff, Clinton’s political director — just said it.
“We lost the plot.”
Emanuel: 50% of American kids aren’t reading at grade level. Reading and math scores at a 30-year low. The Democratic Party’s response was bathroom access and trans athletes… pic.twitter.com/VjvaZO08pc
Should Democrats shift focus from cultural issues to education quality?— Jake (@JakeCan72) April 2, 2026
“We lost the plot. We as Democrats nationally, from Latinx to defunding the police to police organizations are all racist to bringing a set of cultural wars to our schools, we are on the losing side of those cultural wars, full stop,” Emanuel said. “You are worried about bathroom access and locker room access. Why don’t you focus on classroom excellence? You have 50% of our kids not reading at grade level. Well, they can just say we can do both. You’ve proven you can’t because you’ve permitted a 30 year low in reading and math scores, and nobody seems to be calling the whistle on this.”
The issue of biological males who identify as transgender competing in women’s sports became national topic following Lia Thomas’s participation in the 2022 NCAA championships, where the biological male won the 500-yard women’s final.
Several college teams elected to forfeit matches against San Jose State University’s women’s volleyball team in 2024 due to the presence of a biological male on the San Jose State roster, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“I remember fighting for Title IX. The reason we are champions in women’s sports in the Olympics and soccer, hockey, etc., is Title IX,” Emanuel said. “Why would you undercut the premise of Title IX with the ability of trans men playing in women’s sports? To me, it’s insane. It’s baffling. You’re undermining one of the great accomplishments we as a country, but also spearheaded by the Democratic Party, Title IX, and we’re undercutting it.”
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