Current Affairs • Sep 5, 2025
Political Elites Just Make Up New Enemies Whenever They Need Them
Former Chicago mayor and Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has an op-ed in theWall Street Journal encouraging Americans to put aside their differences, stop hating each other, and focus on hating China instead. As a piece of anti-China propaganda, it’s a remarkable document, because of how little evidence it presents that China is actually a threat to the United States. Instead, Emanuel is quite open about encouraging animosity toward China only because it would serve domestic political purposes (namely, tamping down the left-wing and right-wing political movements he dislikes).