SEPTEMBER 29, 2026 – Late this morning I accidentally found myself watching live, Senator Cory Booker’s articulate diatribe condemning the Republican-staged persecution of former Special Counsel Jack Smith. The Republican theater was staged mainly for an audience of one, with the unrealistic hope that it will drive Fox audience turnout in November. Being the political junkie that I am, I could’ve stayed glued to the farcical hearing, just as a die-hard Vikings fan could stick with a humiliatingly crushing offense and defense against the Green Bay Packers on the latters’ home turf—and deep into the fourth quarter. But thankfully, in the interest of my mental health, I busted free and embarked on my daily hike to, over, about and back from Little Switzerland.
The focus of Booker’s searing polemic was Trump’s sordid role in the January 6 insurrection. Like a school principal coming down hard on enablers of the school bully, the Senator from New Jersey shamed the Republicans for their support of Trump who instigated and failed to stop the most serious attack on American democracy since the Civil War. Booker stopped just shy of calling Trump’s actions—and inaction—traitorous. As I listened to the senator’s delivery, I hoped against hope that voters from coast to coast would hear or read his clear-ringing charge: While Americans are trying to figure out how to manage their lives amidst so many aspects of the American Dream turning to mush, the Republicans are trotting out the 2020 election denialism—still; yet again—and turning the ugly reality of the January 6 assault on democracy upside down and inside out. Why and how could Republicans excuse or even condone the physical attack on the Capitol, sending Senators and House Members of both parties scurrying for safety, and threatening the life of the Vice President? Why and how could Republicans not condemn unequivocally, the rioters’ physical attack of police officers guarding the building and elected government officials? And how in the world could Republicans tolerate Trump’s brazen pardon of January 6 felons?
As I took all this in, I realized—yet again—just how far the Republic has fallen. Despite what could be seen with our own eyes and heard by our own ears in real time and later in painstakingly methodical presentation of sworn testimony by Trump Administration officials, one after another . . . despite the irrefutable evidence, 77 million people voted to give a second chance to the patently malignant narcissist responsible for inciting, then fanning the January 6 insurrection. And why? Not to improve anyone’s life or fortune but his owns. Lacking any hint of moral courage, Republicans in Congress no longer treated Trump as a King to whom they owed fealty: now he’d achieved deity status and was worshipped accordingly.
But lest I get too carried away . . . later today I listened to an extended interview of Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s sometime chief of staff and later, mayor of Chicago.
Say what you will about Rahm. In his public roles, he knocked heads and rattled brains. Many were put off by his down-and-dirty “damn the torpedoes” style. Fine. Politics is not a game of touch-football at a big happy family reunion. His responses during today’s interview were well taken. One thing he is most decidedly not: a B.S.er.
First, I found his analysis to be the stuff of a serious and comprehensive understanding of what most ails this country and to what our present condition can be attributed: The War in Iraq—based on a big lie; the 2008 Great Recession—triggered by a house of cards built on “liar loans”; and the pandemic. Beyond these factors, however, he points to the rise of China under Xi Jinping and the lack of accountability—political and personal—among the political and financial elite who wrecked not their own fortunes but the prospects for large swaths of Americans. Trump, then, isn’t the root cause of America’s current political crisis. He simply took advantage of it, most strikingly by the demagogic declaration, “I am your retribution.”
Second, Emanuel has experienced—and survived—enough political knife-fights to have learned humility and self-awareness without losing confidence. He understands that long-neglected complex problems take time to solve; he himself isn’t fooled by snake oil, nor does he attempt to hawk it himself. Moreover, he is capable not only of admitting mistakes but learning from them. And most important of all, he has genuine faith in our greatest asset: American resilience.
Third, whether you agree or disagree with Emanuel’s prescriptions, you can’t reasonably challenge his basic proposition: as a nation we face multiple crises that aren’t being addressed, because we’re too distracted by circus acts. Apart from being damn smart, Emanuel exudes genuineness, intellectual courage, and a critical understanding that “we all do better when we all do better”—though he’d take that maxim a step further and argue that “we’re all at risk when so many of us are at risk.”
Emanuel’s interviewer, Katy Tur, asked about his presidential aspirations. His response was guarded. “If you’re insisting on an answer to that question,” he said sharply, “this will be the last interview of me you’ll conduct.” In other words, he’s thinking seriously about 2028—but not ahead of the mission at hand: a Blue wave in November 2026.
It remains to be seen whether Emanuel—and Booker—throw their hats into the ring for a presidential run in 2028. Warming up in the field, meanwhile, is the ever articulate, intelligent, pragmatic Pete Buttigieg. Democrats who are ringing their hands wondering and worrying, “Who we got for 2028?” these three are three to watch, and for solid reasons.
Now, as to today’s hike in the Bernese Oberland . . . What grand views!
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© 2026 by Eric Nilsson
