The Audacity of Nope: Why Rahm Emanuel Keeps Trying to Make Rahm Emanuel Happen

Former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel was supposed to find a job in the private sector making a ton of money on some company’s board, thus fading into the oblivion that is the place where shitty mayors go to live out the rest of their lives.

Instead—maybe it’s privilege, failing upward, connections or all of the above—Emanuel sits in the cushy position of being poised to become President Biden’s U.S. Ambassador to Japan. It’s a bullshit job—one reserved for top donors and allies of the president, but one that is unfitting of the worn-out shoe leather that is Rahm Emanuel.

But because Rahm Emanuel won’t stop trying to make Rahm Emanuel happen, he’s now going around showing how many Black followers he has on IG to prove that despite doing everything in his power to cover up the police killing of teenager Laquan McDonald, he’s still invited to the cookout.

So let’s get this out, up front: Fuck Rahm Emanuel and his closed-door meetings with lawmakers. Fuck those Black folks who support him. I would also like to go back in time to retroactively say fuck Rahm Emanuel’s time as a congressman and his time as ex-chief of staff to President Obama.

Because Rahm Emanuel can’t stop trying to make Rahm Emanuel a thing, he’s been working to try and convince progressive Congress members who want to reject his nomination. For those who forget what a spineless shitheel Emanuel is, let me remind you:

On Oct. 20, 1994, 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was fatally shot 16 times by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, who claimed that McDonald was acting erratically while coming toward him with a knife. Chicagoans begged for police to release the footage—something the mayor could’ve demanded be released. Instead, the city delayed the release of the footage for over a year while Emanuel went on to win reelection. Finally, a year after McDonald was killed, the footage was released and showed the boy walking away from the cops when he was killed.

“Van Dyke was sentenced to more than six years in jail after fatally shooting the 17-year-old McDonald in an incident that caused officials to lose their jobs and spurred a federal probe,” the Washington Post reports.

Emanuel’s confirmation hearing for ambassadorship will take place on Wednesday—on the seven-year anniversary of McDonald’s death.

Yeah, fuck Emanuel and his insistence that Black folks still kick it with him. He has even gone so far as to claim that McDonald’s family is cool with him and even has a letter from one of McDonald’s family members to prove it.

“[Emanuel] didn’t mention which family member it would come from … but said he’d have this letter and the family will say they are okay with his nomination,” said a Democratic aide from one Senate office, the Post reports.

Apparently, some Senate offices have wanted to see said letter, but Emanuel is playing coy and won’t release it until the day before his confirmation hearing—and surely that has nothing to do with the press being able to poke holes in it before his hearing.

When the Post asked Emanuel for a comment Monday night, “an administration official provided a copy of the Sept. 11 letter signed by the Rev. Marvin Hunter, a pastor at Grace Memorial Baptist Church and McDonald’s great uncle, and addressed to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which will consider Emanuel’s nomination. An administration official noted the letter was provided to the committee’s chairman by Hunter but was not in Emanuel’s possession.”

“I realize that my position on this nomination might come as a surprise to some,” Hunter wrote. “I may even be attacked for speaking up. However, I am a man of faith. I believe in what the scripture says about righteous judgment and looking into a person’s heart. I have taken the time to get to know Rahm Emanuel. We have listened to each other, truly heard each other. I understand the character of the man and that is why I support this nomination.”

When the Post reached out to Hunter, he told them that not “everyone” in the McDonald family supports Emanuel.

“I talked with my family and we decided to just wait and see,” Hunter told the Washington Post. “I don’t want to get in the heat of a lot of it right now … I just want to stay out of it and let the dust settle.”

The dust should’ve settled a long time ago, when Emanuel left the Chicago mayor’s office. He shouldn’t be here in this position he doesn’t deserve.

So again I say with a clear throat:

Fuck Rahm Emanuel.

Fuck his closed-door meetings.

Fuck his letters of support.

Fuck all of this.