Former President Barack Obama's first chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is warning President Donald Trump that his "big, beautiful bill" hands a huge gift to Democrats.
Trump demanded that his GOP majority in the House and Senate pass a single bill that contains an extension of his 2017 tax cuts, border security, funds for his mass deportation and more, all while making cuts to things like food stamps and Medicaid. While the House has approved it, the bill now faces several Republican senators who are opposed to several provisions in the bill.
Writing for the Washington Post, Rahm Emanuel told Democrats that while they don't control any congressional gavel" they should focus "on what's winnable." That means focusing on the 2026 midterm elections. Emanuel previously served as the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
"At core, the 2026 campaign will be a referendum on President Donald Trump and his rubber-stamp congressional Republicans," he wrote. "Our task is to help the public understand what the Republicans are doing and how it affects them. That job begins with Trump’s audaciously named One Big Beautiful Bill."
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Emanuel called the legislation "the most significant" to pass in Trump's term, and he wants Democrats to ensure Americans understand it is "tax cuts for the wealthy, health-care cuts for the many. The simplicity of that binary is its virtue."
He noted that Trump is a "chaos machine" who will spend the next year trying to distract with a number of scandals. He called it a "trap" and said Democrats should stay "laser focused on points that will deliver strategic value."
"Recent history is clear. When a single party controls both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, as the GOP does today, the midterm political landscape adheres to a certain architecture," he continued. "The opposition’s base is energized. Swing voters steer clear of the entrenched party. And the incumbent party’s base is depressed by comparison to the prior election."
It means Democrats are already starting with the wind at their backs.
While Americans want reforms on several things, they also want "protection against Trump's chaos," he said. With Republicans as nothing more than a rubber stamp for Trump's demands, he thinks they'll be looking "for a check on his chaotic corruption."
"That’s why the One Big Beautiful Bill is target rich," he continued. "Trump and the GOP Congress want to cut taxes on well-connected billionaires by slashing health care for working families. That might not be corruption the way Washington good government groups define it, but it’s how the public sees a corrupt system at work. Democrats have yet to make this the signal through the noise."
Read his full column at the Washington Post.