Rahm Emanuel Talks US Foreign Policy

Summary

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Bloomberg Talks: Rahm Emanuel Talks US Foreign Policy

Date: July 16, 2026
Host: Bloomberg (Karen Moscow & Nathan Hager)
Guest: Rahm Emanuel

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Episode Overview

This episode features Rahm Emanuel—former White House Chief of Staff, diplomat, and potential future presidential candidate—in an in-depth conversation about U.S. foreign policy, the state of the Democratic Party, U.S.-Israel relations, election integrity, and domestic education reform. Emanuel shares candid perspectives on international strategy, political party dynamics, and America's challenges, interspersed with memorable quotes and anecdotes from his extensive career.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The President’s Speech and Retrospective Focus

• Political Strategy & Risks ([00:38]–[01:34])
  • Emanuel suggests that focusing on the 2020 election in the President’s upcoming speech is a mistake:

    “Anything that's retrospective, that's not prospective for the America that where they are today, where their children are going to be tomorrow, is going to get basically put on mute.” – Rahm Emanuel [00:58]

  • He echoes Republican strategists, indicating the speech could come off as self-serving, stating it’s “mental health for the President.”

Concern Over Election Integrity

• Electoral System Vulnerabilities ([01:34]–[02:50])
  • Emanuel expresses worries about election integrity, especially for close races and the potential for constitutional maneuvering:

    “The January 6th that was on the steps of the Capitol will be driven inside the Capitol… because this constitution is very clear, the speaker has the right to call, organizes the House.” – Rahm Emanuel [01:48]

  • He implies that unresolved elections could lead to a paralysis in forming a government, postponing democratic processes.

U.S.-Israel Relations & Broader Middle East Policy

• Critique of Netanyahu and Path to Peace ([02:50]–[07:22])
  • Emanuel candidly critiques Prime Minister Netanyahu’s approach as a “dead end” for Israel, emphasizing the need for a breakout moment to restore Israel’s standing with Western allies:

    “I think the prime minister led Israel into a... dead end… You have to have a breakout moment that actually establishes support for the country, not just a particular prime minister or government.” – Rahm Emanuel [03:07]

  • He outlines a comprehensive peace strategy, advocating for a regional solution involving the Arab League and Saudi Arabia and greater accountability for both Israeli and Palestinian leadership:

    “You’ve got to recognize not only the State of Israel, but its historic right. You’ve got to stop rewarding terrorists for killing Israelis… Israel has got to stop undermining... the Palestinian Authority.” – Rahm Emanuel [04:46]

  • On economic and diplomatic strategy, he encourages leveraging trade corridors and developing security agreements, stating:

    “Use your diplomatic tools. The prime minister likes to say he was raised with English. Learn the letter D. It starts first letter in the word diplomacy. Try it. It works.” – Rahm Emanuel [06:42]

Reception of His Speech in Israel

• Domestic Israeli Reaction ([07:22]–[09:21])
  • Emanuel describes a serious and thoughtful response to his proposals, particularly among Israeli military and security leaders:

    “100 Israeli generals did an open letter… called it Jewish terrorism and said it's undermining Israel's security. Nothing I said… has not been said by leaders of Israel’s own security.” – Rahm Emanuel [08:23]

  • He discusses his long history with Israeli affairs and reaffirms his approaches—opposing settlements while supporting Israeli security—as being not contradictory, but essential.

U.S. Politics: Democratic Party & Election Prospects

• Considering a Presidential Run ([09:21]–[09:55])
  • Emanuel likens the upcoming Democratic primary to "Baskin Robbins" with “31 flavors,” expressing openness to joining the race:

    “If I decide to do it, I plan on being rocky road.” – Rahm Emanuel [09:55]

• Lessons from U.S. States and Domestic Policy ([09:55]–[12:32])
  • Emphasizes the value of successful education reforms in states like Mississippi and Louisiana, advocating for scaling proven American solutions nationwide:

    “Everything that ails America can be answered by what’s working in America.” – Rahm Emanuel [10:11]

  • He calls out educational complacency and touts investing in human capital as the key to America’s historic periods of prosperity:

    “The one through lining constant is when you invest in Americans, America wins. That's what I believe in.” – Rahm Emanuel [12:18]

Party Dynamics and Call for Intellectual Rigor

• Embracing Debate in the Democratic Party ([12:32]–[14:23])
  • Emanuel reflects on the party becoming “intellectually flabby” post-2008 and sees debate and policy contests as healthy and overdue:

    “We became, in my view... intellectually flabby. And we’re paying a price for that… So I happen to think a debate is way, way overdue.” – Rahm Emanuel [13:02]

  • He emphasizes the necessity to fight for a positive vision for America, not just against political opponents:

    “I want to prove to the country… we know how to fight for America, not just fight against Donald Trump.” – Rahm Emanuel [14:20]

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Notable Quotes

• On prospective vs. retrospective politics:

  “Spend a lot of time on 2020, not 2030.” – Rahm Emanuel [01:17]

• On Democratic party strategy:

  “You want to engage in a policy debate… Game on. Let’s go.” – Rahm Emanuel [13:24]

• On U.S.-Israel strategic failures:

  “Hamas was not using that $6 billion to build McDonald’s franchises in Gaza. They were building tunnels and you knew it. That was a strategic failure of this government.” – Rahm Emanuel [05:57]

• On investing in American people:

  “When you invest in Americans, America wins.” – Rahm Emanuel [12:18]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening & President’s Speech: 00:38–01:34
• Election Integrity & Risks: 01:34–02:50
• Foreign Policy: Israel & Middle East: 02:50–07:22
• Israeli Domestic Reaction & Emanuel's History: 07:22–09:21
• Domestic Policy & Education Reform: 09:55–12:32
• Democratic Party Debate & Direction: 12:32–14:23

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Memorable Moments

• Emanuel’s forecast that unresolved election results could delay the formation of a new government—tying constitutional technicalities to January 6th-style disruptions but “inside the Capitol.” ([01:48])
• His pointed recommendation for the Israeli prime minister: "Learn the letter D. It starts first letter in the word diplomacy. Try it. It works." ([06:42])
• Humor mixed with substance: His intent to be “rocky road” if he joins the Democratic primary “31 flavors.” ([09:55])

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Conclusion

This episode is a wide-ranging, candid examination of U.S. foreign and domestic policy, with Rahm Emanuel offering both critique and constructive proposals. Listeners come away with a deeper understanding of high-level U.S.-Israel diplomatic tensions, Democratic Party introspection, and the importance of scaling successful American reforms. Emanuel’s characteristic bluntness and insider perspective provide a thought-provoking dialogue for anyone interested in U.S. politics and global strategy.

Transcript

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[Nathan Hager]

Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio News before we get

[Karen Moscow]

into domestic policy and foreign policy, I want to ask you about this speech that the President's going to deliver tonight. Reportedly it's going to center on 2020 and election interference. One of your many jobs was in the White House as chief of staff. You had to think through putting together speeches like this one. And I wonder sort of how your thinking about the speech that the President's going to give tonight again centering on what happened now six years ago.

[Nathan Hager]

Well, my view is I'd like to give him an extra 30 minutes because anything that's retrospective, that's not prospective for the America that where they are today, where their children are going to be tomorrow, is going to get basically put on mute. And in fact, I think so. I think the President's making a massive strategic mistake. It will come across interpreted as self serving for him. And I'm saying exactly what Republican strategists are saying to him. But the White House doesn't want it because this is mental health for the President. That's exactly what's going on. So my view, don't limit yourself to 15 minutes. Take as much time as you want, Mr. President. Spend a lot of time on 2020, not 2030.

[Karen Moscow]

We're going to talk about the political terrain, midterms, general election after that. But before we get there, I'm curious of how worried you are about this issue of election integrity. Seeing what the president has been doing, what his advisors have been saying publicly, how worried are you about the integrity?

[Nathan Hager]

Well, I'm kind of right left. Mine one is I'm very focused on I think for Democrats winning, what does it take to win? There is a part less on the periphery but at the other side that, you know, let's assume the Democrats win seven seats net, get a majority every election. David, you have three or four seats that are 200, 300 less than 1%. Some states have automatic recount, others don't. The speaker showed that when it came to the Arizona race, he would seat the member. And I worry a little. And it's growing that you're. The January 6th that was on the steps of the Capitol will be driven inside the Capitol by because this constitution is very clear, the speaker has the right to call, organizes the House. So you've got to seat members to have a new election. And I think they're going to basically, until those elections are decided, say no. And they're going to say there's no majority, there's no clarity, and they're going to postpone actually beginning anew.

[Karen Moscow]

Let's talk about a pair of speeches you've given recently centering on foreign policy. You went to Israel and spoke in Tel Aviv. This has been characterized, I think kind of clumsily as a critique of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. But it was a larger speech than that. It was not just criticism. You laid out a plan for peace.

[Nathan Hager]

At least you heard.

[Karen Moscow]

I listened to you.

[Nathan Hager]

The show start. Yes, I think the prime minister led Israel into a, into basically a dead end. Here's what I would do to get out of that status because I have concern for the alliance. And more than that, Japan, an ally, very popular in the United States, NATO, very popular. America. We have a critical ally who is dropping precipitously in America, dropping precipitously in Europe, Canada, Australia. You have to have a breakout moment that actually establishes support for the country, not just a particular prime minister or government.

[Karen Moscow]

What did you make of the reaction to it, the response to it? Again, it has been kind of distilled into something that it wasn't entirely. What do you think of that? What does it say about the way that we talk about US Israel policy,

[Nathan Hager]

the people that work on like without characterizing them sensitive. You know, President Clinton and I talked. You know, Hillary Clinton put out a comment. I know, I've talked to Hakeem Jeffries. So one, I view the pariah status, the isolation of Israel strategically, diplomatically, militarily, economically as a real threat to Israel. Big article today about the economists. What this is endangering. So I laid out a strategy. You know, Saudi Arabia, which is kind of the crown jewel, was a sponsor of the 2013 proposal by the Arab League for a 23 state solution. Basically, all 21 nations would recognize Israel if you came to some settlement agreement between sovereignty and security, the holy grail. But Saudi Arabia now post October 7th, won't go singularly, but there's a comfort in numbers with all 21 game on. But you don't get to sit on the sideline. Arab League. You have to stand Up a Palestinian Authority because they're three strikes and out. They got three times offered sovereignty, three times said no and returned violence. So you've made a cynical Israeli partner. That's not how you build trust. So I'm going to give you a chance to get out of jail card, a fourth chance. But everybody in the Arab League's got to stand up that partner. You've got to recognize not only the State of Israel, but its historic right. You've got to stop rewarding terrorists for killing Israelis because they're Israelis and stop teaching your children to hate Israelis. Now Israel has got to stop undermining and a classic example of this government, this government undermined the Palestinian Authority, but they allowed Qatar to send $6 billion to Hamas. Hamas was not using that $6 billion to build McDonald's franchise in Gaza. They were building tunnels and you knew it. That was a strategic failure of this government. Second, as you can see, I recommended the IMEC India Mid East Europe Economic Corridor. Cables, ports, energy. You got to get around the Strait of Hormuz. It puts Israel's technological prowess at the center of the most important trade route. So both economically and strategically making Israel, as David Ben Gurion the founding father said, a nation among nations. Second, important is and the critique every country has four tools in its security toolbox. Military power, political persuasion, economic statecraft, cultural attraction. The prime minister has atrophied three of them to the point they're non existence and relied on only one. That is not acceptable. If you're trying to be and have actually security example of that. And I'll pay the calling cards. You can use my AT&T calling card. You have a Syrian government today that said Iran is our common enemy. Syria is the Highway 66 for Iran to Hezbollah you can cut it off. And he wants to. He said the president of Syria I want to come to a security agreement with Israel. The United States is now building or facilitating a building of Iraqi oil through Syria. Call the Syrian president. It's not even a peace agreement. It's a security agreement. The people in the Northern Galilee of Israel would get security and you would actually knock out the trade route from Tehran to Beirut suburbs that fund Hezbollah. That's it. Use your diplomatic tools. The prime minister likes to say he was raised with English. Learn the letter D. It starts first letter in the word diplomacy. Try it. It works.

[Karen Moscow]

You have a long professional familial history with Israel. Your sense of the kind of reception that your speech got there as they look at their elections coming up here is There an appetite for what you kind of proposed in that speech?

[Nathan Hager]

Well, I do think so. I mean look, this is. You get there's a big interview on Channel 12 with Yonit Levy. Nahum Barnei, who is the premier columnist in Israel at Yidiot, wrote dedicated three full pages in the COVID on a Sunday story which was Israel, are you listening? Ram has a message. We need to hear him. So now again, I didn't bust out of the country. I didn't make it up to Kirashmoni in the north or Beersheba in the south. But I was in the kind of Tel Aviv Jerusalem corridor. But everybody knows an example of this. 100 Israeli generals did an open letter that what's happening on the west bank they called it. I did not use this term. Those hundred generals plus Shin Bet leaders called it Jewish terrorism and said it's undermining Israel's security. Nothing I said of the criticism has not been said by leaders of Israel's own security, Mossad, Shin Bet as well as idf. Nothing. And I never referred to it as terrorism. Their own generals and Shin Bet members in an open letter to society. This is what the prime minister is doing. And I have a long history going back to 09 when he publicly I didn't need a war to know what Israel was doing. I publicly I told him what you are doing on housing in the west bank will isolate Israel and lead to perpetual conflict. If there was a, if there was a conclusion I wanted to be wrong on, that was it. He then publicly accused me of a self loathing Jew. Now I believe opposing the settlements and encouraging the President Obama, which he did to fund the Iron Dome are not contradictory but actually complementary to Israel's security. They go ahead and they're heads and tails of the same coin.

[Karen Moscow]

I want to move to domestic policy now, if we could and look ahead to the next election. You've said you're thinking about running, you haven't made a decision yet. What are the factors that you're weighing? You've characterized this as a Baskin Robbins primary in the Democratic Party, 31 flavors. And I'm curious if you're lining up

[Nathan Hager]

to be one of them as I, as I said. Well, in 2024, the Democrats unfortunately didn't have a primary, didn't have a choice. I think that was bad for the party and I think it's bad also for the electoral outcome. And the truth is we didn't really have one in 2020. I do believe in 2028 I said it's Going to be like Baskin and Robbins in 31 flavors. And if I decide to do it, I plan on being rocky road.

[Karen Moscow]

I look at the travel that you've done. Yes to Israel, yes to Europe, to give a speech on NATO. But you've been to Mississippi, you've been to New Hampshire. Talk about what we can draw from the places you visited. Sort of what you're looking at here. Again, perhaps in the interest of you running in the next election.

[Nathan Hager]

One is America faces a series of challenges. But everything that ails America can be answered by what's working in America.

[Karen Moscow]

So look inward, you say, yeah, well I don't.

[Nathan Hager]

By way of example, I don't believe like I went to Mississippi where they're moved from 49th to 9th on reading. If you actually test for other things, they're number one in America. I don't need to go by way of example and look at Manchester, England, it's right here in Mississippi. I don't need to go overseas. It's working here. How do we scale it? I'm going to assume. And in New Hampshire they have their own examples. In La Crosse, Wisconsin, I don't need to go to Luxembourg. La Crosse, Wisconsin's community college system and their high school system in their industry is an example of what's working in that integration of economic growth and educational opportunity. I will soon after Labor Day make a trip to Louisiana. They're the only states whose math and reading scores are now pre Covid numbers. They have figured out the combination to the law. Now I passionately care about education. I cannot believe the country has become complacent where 50% of our kids can't read at grade level. There is no getting from here to there for that student. If they cannot read, cannot do math, cannot not only graduate high school but go into the armed forces vocational ed, community colleges or go on to a four year institution. So my view is I'm going to go down to Louisiana, learn what they have done. I got started to. I read this report from both Stanford and Harvard and from a Tulane professor I talked to yesterday and I want to highlight what Louisiana has done. As every other 49 states are struggling, our math and reading scores are anemic. And I don't think we as a country can give up on a single child in this country. Now if you figured out the combination to the lock, I want to take Louisiana to all 49 states and that's how we're going to reboot the Department of Education to actually do something for the Future. Now, there is no getting from here to there, ever, when only a third of your citizens are reading and doing math at grade level. If you look at the four great moments of American economic growth, Land grant colleges, universal high school education, GI Bill, science and technology, Sputnik challenge, the one through lining constant is when you invest in Americans, America wins. That's what I believe in.

[Karen Moscow]

Just a question about your party, the Democratic Party, going back to these 31 flavors. Do you see it as at all problematic that there is such, I guess, debate or discord within the party right now when it comes to the issue of US Israel policy? When it comes to all of these issues, is it productive, as you see it, to have conversations about policy? I'm a.

[Nathan Hager]

Look, I grew up in a family where dinner table conversations represented the gladiators. So I actually, I'm for. I think one of the things. This is my analysis of the party we come out of, and I'm as guilty as anybody else. In 2008, President Obama wins and we were running around going, demographics is destiny. Look at his coalition. The future is ours. Now. We became, in my view, as a party, intellectually flabby. And we're paying a price for that, both on the political grounds and the policy grounds, and ultimately not just us, but the country, because we're not kind of sharp and rigorous. So I happen to think a debate is way, way overdue. I happen to want. I think we should engage in a policy debate. Look, somebody else has another education ide that doesn't agree with mine. Great. Game on. Let's go. You agree? I said you serve two years national service. We'll give you the money for a down payment. You have another idea on how to solve that? Bring it forward. I believe, as I stated, A 10% tax on the prediction markets and online sport gaming goes into an innovation fund for the National Institute of Health, National Science foundation and the darpa. Double our research dollars. You have another way to advance research and development? Bring it forward. Let's have this debate. We'll be a better party to better serve America's future. My view is that the party has spent too much time just focusing on fighting Trump. I want to prove to the country the majority of America. We know how to fight for America, not just fight against Donald Trump. Get the news you need in just 15 minutes.

[Karen Moscow]

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[Nathan Hager]

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