Zakaria Zings Rahm Emanuel: Blue Cities 'Are Terribly Run'

Alex Christy
March 1st, 2025 11:50 AM

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If CNN’s Fareed Zakaria is the proverbial blind squirrel, then “terribly run” Democratic cities are his nut. On the Overtime segment of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, Zakaria confronted former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s attempt to dodge Maher’s question of why the current mayor has an approval rating of 6.6 percent.

Maher simply wondered, “What's going on in Chicago?”

Emanuel gave a long, rambling non-answer that first tried to say Chicago wasn’t alone, as if that made it better, “Look, I mean, this is, we were talking about this a little earlier. I mean, you have also, the mayor of New York not doing well, obviously other things also here in Los Angeles, not doing well, the mayor here. Look, and then you got mayors, like the mayor of San Francisco and other cities that are doing well.”

 

 

After conceding that having to lock everything at a Walgreens and CVS up was not a positive development, Emanuel tried to turn the tables and blame conservatives for having the wrong priorities:

I don't wanna hear another word about the locker room. I don't wanna hear another word about the bathroom. You better start focusing on the classroom… We had the worst reading, we had the worst reading scores for 8th graders in 30 years, and nobody, not a governor, not a mayor, not a president, not a secretary of Education is talking about it. We're all wrapped up. Look, in 7th grade, if I had known that I could have said the word “they” and gotten in the girls' bathroom, I would have done it. Okay, this is, we, we literally are a superpower. We're facing off against China with 1.4 billion people, and two-thirds of our children can't read eighth grade level. So no more about the left.

Zakaria tried to interject, “Wait a second.”

Emanuel, however, kept going, “I'm not on a roll for a second. No more, I don’t want to hear another… But I don't wanna hear another word about the classroom. I don't wanna hear another word about the bathroom until you tell me what you're gonna do with the classroom. Enough.”

Zakaria then replied, “But I think, I think. To be fair, Rahm. This is… a huge Democratic Party problem. If you look at Democratic cities, they are terribly run. They have incredibly high taxes. It is impossible to build, so the cost of housing, let me finish, let me finish. I gave you your chance. The cost of housing is crazy in places like New York and Chicago.”

He further wondered what his taxes were getting him, “If you look at Democratic states, you know, look, you go to look at New York versus Florida. Okay, roughly the same population. The budget of New York State is twice that of Florida. What do they have? Streets paved with gold? I live in New York. I pay the highest taxes in New York. You get nothing for it, and I think that is the image people have of the Democratic Party. Lots of taxes, lots of regulation, but nothing gets done.”

To add one thing to Zakaria’s answer, it is not only that everything costs too much; it is also Emanuel’s attempt to dismiss “the locker room.” If society can’t even agree on who belongs in which locker room, then how can it reasonably expect to educate the next generation?

Here is a transcript for the February 28 show:

HBO Real Time with Bill Maher Overtime

2/28/2025

2 minutes, 42 seconds

BILL MAHER: What's going on in Chicago? 

RAHM EMANUEL: Look, I mean, this is, we were talking about this a little  earlier.  I  mean, you have also, the mayor of New York not doing well, obviously other things also here in Los Angeles, not doing well, the mayor here. Look, and then you got mayors, like the mayor of San Francisco and other cities that are doing well. 

So, I would say, look, there is a general rule. I had this when I was mayor: safe streets, strong  schools, stable  finances.

Focus on those three things and your city's gonna be fine. We've gone through five years where people became way too permissive as a culture. They were all, which is why everything's locked up at Walgreens and CVS, and that is a disaster. And our school, and I'll say this about our schools.

I don't wanna hear another word about the locker room. I don't wanna hear another word about the bathroom. You better start focusing on the classroom. I'm not, no, I'm--

MAHER: No, I agree.

EMANUEL: We had the worst reading, we had the worst reading scores for 8th graders in 30 years, and nobody, not a governor, not a mayor, not a president, not a secretary of Education is talking about it. We're all wrapped up. Look, in 7th grade, if I had known that I could have said the word “they” and gotten in the girls' bathroom, I would have done it. Okay, this is, we, we literally are a superpower. We're facing off against China with 1.4 billion people, and two-thirds of our children can't read eighth grade level. So no more about the left.

FAREED ZAKARIA: Wait a second.

EMANUEL:  I'm not on a roll for a second. No more, I don’t want to hear another—

MAHER: I gave him the light.

EMANUEL: But I don't wanna hear another word about the classroom. I don't wanna hear another word about the bathroom until you tell me what you're gonna do with the classroom. Enough.

MAHER: I couldn’t agree more.

ZAKARIA: But I think, I think. To be fair, Rahm. This is--

EMANUEL: I was being fair.

ZAKARIA: No, no, this is a huge Democratic Party problem. If you look at Democratic cities, they are terribly run. They have incredibly high taxes. It is impossible to build, so the cost of housing, let me finish, let me finish. I gave you your chance. The cost of housing is crazy in places like New York and Chicago.

If you look at Democratic states, you know, look, you go to look at New York versus Florida, Okay, roughly the same population. The budget of New York State is twice that of Florida. What do they have? Streets paved with gold? I live in New York. I pay the highest taxes in New York. You get nothing for it, and I think that is the image people have of the Democratic Party. Lots of taxes, lots of regulation, but nothing gets done.

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