Rahm Emanuel Plays Loose With the Rules

CNN’s Jake Tapper never asks Rahm Emanuel if he’s a racist. He never asks Rahm if he will repudiate David Duke or racism or hatred.

Yet, every four years, you can count on media like Tapper to trot out questions about David Duke and any other white supremacists to the GOP front-runner, whoever he is.

You could call it a mainstream media rite of passage.

The media’s strategy is a simple one: Ask loaded questions about Duke to GOP candidates and voters will identify Republicans with racism.

As GOP front-runner, it’s Donald Trump’s turn now.

This week, the Washington Post put together a chronology of Trump’s statements repudiating Duke since 1991. It’s a lengthy list.

Yet, again, the media have never asked Rahm Emanuel or Hillary Clinton if they are racist or if they will repudiate David Duke.

Perhaps they should and here’s why.

Rahm went after Donald Trump this week and said this: "Whether it was dealing with Mussolini or David Duke, his [Trump’s] statements or the lack of clarity around his statements, you know, you sleep in the bed you make. And I think that playing with dark forces come[s] back to haunt you. And this is not a joke."

If anyone would know about “dark forces,” it’s Rahm.

So let’s drop Rahm’s public relations mumbo jumbo for a minute and talk about what’s really important. Let’s talk about what Mayor Rahm Emanuel has actually done to African-Americans in Chicago and how Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has looked the other way.

Worried about his re-election, Mayor Emanuel attempted to suppress the Laquan McDonald police shooting video for an entire year.

The Rahm-controlled Chicago City Council approved a $5 million settlement to McDonald’s family, which many call hush money (the family’s silence was one of the conditions of the settlement agreement).


A federal court had to finally force Emanuel to release the video showing the death of 17 year-old McDonald. The teenager was shot 16 times while walking away from the Chicago police officer.

Doesn’t that make Rahm indifferent to the plight of African Americans? Didn’t he suppress that video to save his re-election bid?

Doesn’t that make Rahm a racist?

I think it does.

Last December, Emanuel opposed the federal probe into his police department. After the public backlash, he quickly changed his position and agreed. Under pressure, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a civil rights investigation into the Chicago Police Department last December.

Doesn’t that make him indifferent? Doesn’t that make Rahm a racist?

I think it does.

Despite the fallout from the release of the McDonald video, candidate Hillary Clinton has emphatically expressed support for Emanuel, one of her major fundraisers.

"He [Rahm] loves Chicago, and I'm confident that he's going to do everything he can to get to the bottom of these issues [racial issues] and take whatever measures are necessary to remedy them," Clinton said.

I don’t think Rahm loves Chicago and this proves it. He has torn the city apart. The City of Big Shoulders is slumping.

In the most recent poll, 59 percent believe Emanuel is dishonest. Only 27 percent approve of Emanuel’s job performance as Mayor and with good reason.

Chicago’s murder rate is worse than it has been in two decades. Distrust in the police is at all all-time high. Police morale is at an all-time low. Race relations are in the trashcan.

So why is Hillary Clinton looking the other way on Rahm? Doesn’t that make her racist?

I think it does.

Democrats are calling on Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to resign over indifference to the Flint water crisis.

But there’s a water crisis in Chicago too and it’s happening under Mayor Emanuel’s watch.

According to the Chicago Tribune, “When Chicago officials tested household tap water for lead last year, they largely bypassed parts of the city that face greater risks of exposure to the brain-damaging metal.”

The Tribune found that of the 50 homes tested only three were on streets where water mains had been replaced. Studies have shown that high levels of lead can leach into tap water for months and even years after mains have been replaced.


Apparently, the City of Chicago has only been testing water on Chicago’s far northwest and southwest sides and these areas rarely have cases of childhood lead poisoning.

Most of the homes tested are also owned by people who work for the Chicago Department of Water Management, which is the agency required to replace lead pipes if the city violates drinking water standards.

Isn’t this a conflict-of-interest? Isn’t this indifference? If the areas most likely to have lead pipes are in poor and African American neighborhoods, isn’t Rahm a racist?

I think he is.

But Jake Tapper won’t ask Rahm that. Will he?

William J. Kelly is an American producer, television and radio host, commentator, media strategist, and critic. In 1994, he ran for U.S. Congress. In 2015, he made waves when he busted the campaign finance caps in the Chicago mayor’s race. He is the founder of RevDigital, an independent TV and documentary production house. Kelly is a frequent contributor to The Washington Times, American Spectator, and others. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.