In a segment where they directly cited the recent Democratic Party “primaries in Minnesota, Wisconsin and elsewhere” were the Democratic Socialists either won or played huge roles, CBS News Sunday Morning demonstrated why the purported rightward lurch of the network wasn’t actually a thing. In an interview with longtime Democratic politician Rahm Emanuel, national correspondent Robert Costa pressed him about his refusal to help those far-left candidates and nominees appeal to independent voters.
The segment started with Costa and Emanuel talking about his career while they hung out on Chicago’s Riverwalk. After getting Emanuel to talk up his toughness in his career, Costa noted that Emanuel had recently directed that toughness against “the left, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic Socialist. This year, Sanders and his allies have been factors in primary after primary.”
Costa confronted Emanuel with the Democratic Socialist-wing’s rise within the Democratic Party and their excitement with pushing aside the “establishment” like him:
COSTA: They think they`re pushing you aside and your allies inside the Democratic Party.
EMANUEL: Well, I just --
COSTA: This is not some just academic debate. The arguably the most prominent Democratic socialist in the country, Senator Bernie Sanders recently said this on CBS --
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I, VT) [Clip from July 26, Face the Nation]: People are sick and tired of the Rahm Emanuels and the Democratic establishment and [audio fades out].
“Well, here`s what I would say to you, yeah, I`m about flipping red districts to blue; I`m not about taking blue districts and making them midnight blue. You want to see a raise in the minimum wage? Winning over Democratic districts is not the way to get it there,” Emmanuel told Costa, who continued to poke and prod at the infighting.
The purported rightward lurch of CBS News has been greatly exaggerated.
Here's the network pestering Rahm Emanuel about not helping the democratic socialist-wing of the Democratic Party court "centrist" voters. pic.twitter.com/6zfBh2wyoR— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) August 17, 2026
Costa pushed back with the far-left’s argument that the establishment wasn’t doing enough and that Emanuel didn’t have enough “passion” for leftist causes, but rather passion for standing against them:
COSTA: I`ve covered these Democratic socialist candidates. A lot of their voters feel members of the Democratic establishment, long-time Democratic leaders, just don`t get the economic pain they are in. How do you show them the passion, the commitment to their own grievances with the economy?
EMANUEL: You -- you don`t think I bring any passion to what I do?
COSTA: Emanuel is passionate about keeping the left at bay.
As their conversation progressed, Costa took to pressing Emanuel on what he would do if one of the far-left nominees called him up looking for help courting “centrist” voters. Emanuel gave him a reality check:
COSTA: If a Democrat Socialist calls you on the phone and says, I want you to come campaign, help me win over centrist voters, what do you say?
EMANUEL: I don`t -- well, first of all, it`s a hypothetical. And let me break the news to you --
COSTA: The calls haven`t come in --
EMANUEL: -- the calls haven`t come in. And everybody knows the number. So, I don`t -- I don`t see that happening. Look, there`s fundamental differences. And that`s -- I`m comfortable with that.
“So, you don`t want them to use the Democratic Party as a vehicle,” Costa said. Emanuel responded by calling out their insane policies: “You know, I don`t -- I don`t think they should, because I think they`re a separate party; that`s one. Two, I don`t believe in defunding police. I don`t believe in open borders.”
For what it’s worth, while Costa did not that Emanuel had a softer position on Israel than the far-left, he did allow a discussion about “the antisemitism that has emerged alongside it” (click “expand”):
COSTA: Emanuel is also offering Democrats his own path on an issue roiling them: Israel.
Speaking in Tel Aviv last month, he was sharply critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and called for a peace deal that features, quote, "Palestinian dignity" and "Israeli security."
EMANUEL [Clip from July 9]: You cannot fight indefinitely against a world that has stopped believing you have a right to fight. You must instead find a new sustainable path to peace, to security and prosperity.
COSTA: As Emanuel, who is Jewish, engages in this fierce debate, he is deeply troubled by the antisemitism that has emerged alongside it.
EMANUEL: You don`t have to agree with the Israeli government to be concerned with the rise of antisemitism in America, and more than the antisemitism which always existed, the way it`s being manifested with violence and killing.
In all, the CBS segment was largely about piling on against one of the left’s most prominent establishment figures in the media and hammering him from the left; suggesting his lack of support and stubbornness would be what hurt those far-left candidates.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CBS News Sunday Morning
August 16, 2026
9:28:17 a.m. EasternJANE PAULEY: After this past week`s primaries in Minnesota, Wisconsin and elsewhere, we`re one stop closer to November`s midterms. Former Congressman Rahm Emanuel won`t be on the ballot, but he tells our Robert Costa, he`s keeping close watch on what`s ahead.
[Cuts to video]
ROBERT COSTA (voiceover): On a sunny afternoon in Chicago, along the Riverwalk he helped expand, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel was beaming about the city he led for eight years.
RAHM EMANUEL: All along this Riverwalk, one mile, you have people from all parts of this city, and guess what, all parts of the country and all parts of the world.
COSTA: What is it about Chicago that tells us a little bit about you?
EMANUEL: Oh, well, its grit, its toughness, it`s no-nonsense.
COSTA: And you`re tough.
EMANUEL: Yeah, I am tough -- I`m -- yeah, when I -- when I believe something`s right, you`re going to get it done, yeah.
COSTA: That toughness extends to interviews, where Emanuel is known for pushing back -- on reporters, and on the left, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic Socialist.
This year, Sanders and his allies have been factors in primary after primary.
They think they`re pushing you aside and your allies inside the Democratic Party.
EMANUEL: Well, I just --
COSTA: This is not some just academic debate. The arguably the most prominent Democratic socialist in the country, Senator Bernie Sanders recently said this on CBS --
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I, VT) [Clip from July 26, Face the Nation]: People are sick and tired of the Rahm Emanuels and the Democratic establishment and [audio fades out].
COSTA: You`ve taken Senator Sanders on. You wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed, it`s not me pulling something out of thin air, saying, "Bernie bros` could spoil the midterms."
EMANUEL: Yeah. Well, here`s what I would say to you, yeah, I`m about flipping red districts to blue; I`m not about taking blue districts and making them midnight blue. You want to see a raise in the minimum wage? Winning over Democratic districts is not the way to get it there.
COSTA: I`ve covered these Democratic socialist candidates. A lot of their voters feel members of the Democratic establishment, long-time Democratic leaders, just don`t get the economic pain they are in. How do you show them the passion, the commitment to their own grievances with the economy?
EMANUEL: You -- you don`t think I bring any passion to what I do?
COSTA: Emanuel is passionate about keeping the left at bay.
If a Democrat Socialist calls you on the phone and says, I want you to come campaign, help me win over centrist voters, what do you say?
EMANUEL: I don`t -- well, first of all, it`s a hypothetical. And let me break the news to you --
COSTA: The calls haven`t come in --
EMANUEL: -- the calls haven`t come in. And everybody knows the number. So, I don`t -- I don`t see that happening. Look, there`s fundamental differences. And that`s -- I`m comfortable with that.
COSTA: So, you don`t want them to use the Democratic Party as a vehicle.
EMANUEL: You know, I don`t -- I don`t think they should, because I think they`re a separate party; that`s one. Two, I don`t believe in defunding police. I don`t believe in open borders.
COSTA: Over a long career -- mayor, congressman, ambassador, and top aide for two presidents, including chief of staff in the Obama White House -- Emanuel has been a key, and combative, moderate in showdowns over health care and the economy.
These days, he wants Democrats to focus less on taking on capitalism, and more on matters like lowering costs -- and on President Donald Trump.
If they win the Senate, they win the House, do you believe Democrats should impeach President Trump next year? You -- you said he has corruption across the board, you`ve called his business deals dirty money.
RAHM EMANUEL: Yeah.
COSTA: Worse than Castro, one of your phrases.
EMANUEL: Yeah. So, I said he`d make an alderman in Chicago blush for the kind of corruption he`s doing.
They`re just out there taking money left and right. The president of the United States is $4 billion richer, and you`re $4 trillion poorer. And I think that this is a travesty of his constitutional responsibilities, let alone the responsibilities of what he`s done. He wants a ballroom, you`re going to get the bill. He wants his $450 million Qatari plane, you get $4.50 a gallon. He`s building an arch, and your family can`t afford a meal at the Golden Arches. So that, to me, is the indictment to make.
COSTA: Emanuel is also offering Democrats his own path on an issue roiling them: Israel.
Speaking in Tel Aviv last month, he was sharply critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and called for a peace deal that features, quote, "Palestinian dignity" and "Israeli security."
EMANUEL [Clip from July 9]: You cannot fight indefinitely against a world that has stopped believing you have a right to fight. You must instead find a new sustainable path to peace, to security and prosperity.
COSTA: As Emanuel, who is Jewish, engages in this fierce debate, he is deeply troubled by the antisemitism that has emerged alongside it.
EMANUEL: You don`t have to agree with the Israeli government to be concerned with the rise of antisemitism in America, and more than the antisemitism which always existed, the way it`s being manifested with violence and killing.
And for all of us, regardless of our positions, whether it`s expressions of anti-Muslim attitudes, as some members of Congress have done, or whether it`s encouraging or creating an environment that`s conducive to antisemitism, or not calling out antisemitism when you should call it out so that in fact it doesn`t become violent.
COSTA: For Emanuel, this moment rouses memories of relatives who perished in Russian pogroms and the Holocaust.
EMANUEL: In our family room there was a wall. In the center of the wall was my grandmother`s little pushka, the little purse, framed. And above it in the frame was Grandma, and Auntie Ida, and Auntie Gitti`s passports. That`s what brought them to this country in 1914.
And on either side of that was a picture of relatives of Mom and Dad, who never made it to America. And it was my parents` reminder to us daily that, "You are -- you are the fortunate few. You`re not to be frivolous with this. And you have a responsibility to make other people`s lives better."
My faith is important to me. It`s a moral guiding principle for me. And I think the bigger challenge isn`t my faith. Again, if it`s a problem for you, you need to work on that, not me. The faith we need to work on is the fact that Americans have lost faith in America. That`s our joint mission. If you`re an American, that`s what we have to work on together.
This is spin free --
COSTA: Spin free.
EMANUEL: -- tour.
COSTA: Working through a presidential campaign might be next; earlier this summer, he was in New Hampshire on a bike tour.
You have a small footprint. You know, it`s just you and your friends taking a bike trip across New Hampshire, stop in at coffee shops. You`ve been ambassador, a congressman, a mayor, a White House chief of staff, this is a little different, a little bit more low-key.
EMANUEL: Yeah, that`s okay. You meet people where they are.
COSTA: At 66, Rahm Emanuel says his fight, now and in the future, is bigger than him, and his party.
You put in this river walk expansion?
EMANUEL: Yeah!
COSTA: Seems like a perfect place to announce your presidential campaign.
EMANUEL: We could do it right here on Sunday Morning, but it ain`t going to happen. Okay?
COSTA: [Laughter]
EMANUEL: I`m at a point in my life where I`m going to leave it all on the field. I think this is a great country. I am the son and the grandson of an immigrant. I think being an American is winning the lottery ticket of life. And I look at a country that I know, that I love, and the passion, that has lost its nerve, has basically raised the white flag. And I`m not about that. And so, given that this is a great country, given everything that I have, sure, could I hang up the jersey? That`s not what I`m about.
