Less than 24 hours after leaving office, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has landed a new gig — in journalism.
The Atlantic, where Emanuel has written a dozen essays in recent months, has made him a “contributing editor,” the national magazine announced in a statement Tuesday.
“The Atlantic will be the primary home for Emanuel’s writing, with the former mayor contributing frequent essays to The Atlantic’s Ideas section,” Anna Bross, a magazine spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement.
His latest, titled “It’s Time to Hold American Elites Accountable for Their Abuses,” was posted early Tuesday.
In the essay, Emanuel, whose critics around Chicago often called him “Mayor 1 Percent,” said the national college admissions scandal has added fuel to an ongoing middle-class revolt against the “elites” that has larger political implications for the 2020 election. “This middle-class revolt is the most important barrier standing between Democrats and the White House,” he wrote.
He went on: “Think of what’s happened over the past decade and a half. America endured a war sold on false premises, a bailout of bankers issuing entirely toxic debt, and a massive public effort to prop up auto executives who were building cars that weren’t selling. Is it any wonder so many middle-class taxpayers resent the elites?”
Emanuel acknowledged in the piece that he was White House chief of staff under former President Barack Obama, who in the early days of his administration pushed through an $80 billion bailout of the American auto industry.
Emanuel, a frequent media critic who liked to mix it up with local reporters, decided not to run for a third term. He wrapped up his eight years in office Monday, when Lori Lightfoot took the reins as Chicago mayor.
Lisa Donovan is the host of The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
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