When a quarter of a million people descended on Grant Park on January 21 in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington, one man was curiously absent: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The official public schedule from the Mayor’s Press Office gave notice the night before the demonstration that “Mayor Emanuel will attend the Women’s March on Chicago” at 11:30 AM.
Organized by Clinton operative David Brock—who The Nation has described as a “conservative journalistic assassin turned progressive empire-builder”—Democracy Matters is a summit billed as an attempt by the blue team to rebuild itself from the pile of smoking rubble it’s been since a certain low-rent con man beat their candidate in November. Brock has positioned himself to be for the Dems what the Koch brothers are to the GOP—the party’s moneyman and puppetmaster, creating a political machine and donor network needed to win future elections. Emanuel’s fellow Clinton administration vet James Carville was one of the “top Democratic strategists” slated to speak at the “What the Hell Just Happened?” election recap on the morning of January 20. Next, the mayor was scheduled to take the stage around the time Trump was sworn in during the inauguration ceremony. The discussion was described as a look “at what actions Trump may take in his first 100 days and how we can resist these regressive and dangerous actions Trump may take.”
