The 'American Dream' has 'become a nightmare': DC insider explains what motivates MAGA voters

Elvert Barnes from Silver Spring MD, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

In an article for the Wall Street Journal published Sunday, former Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) argued that the recent images of the National Guard stationed in Washington, D.C. should not be dismissed as just the latest MAGA affront to American democracy. Rather, he said, they symbolize a deeper and more troubling trend: a partisan zeal to “occupy” domestic institutions, whether the “deep state” or Wall Street, as a means of political assertion.

"It reflects a new zeal among partisan activists for “occupying” adversarial domestic institutions—the “deep state” for some, Wall Street for others. Occupation wasn’t always so important to reformers—but now it’s close to an obsession," he wrote, saying this takeover represents "division and dysfunction in our politics."

Emanuel, who most recently served as the U.S. ambassador to Japan under former President Joe Biden, asserted that this obsession with occupation reflects a breakdown in mutual civic faith, in contrast to earlier eras when external threats — Nazism, the Cold War, and even 9/11 — united a diverse nation.

He traced today’s fissures back to the Bush-era Iraq quagmire and the post-2008 financial crisis bailouts, which, lacking an external villain, fueled domestic movements like Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party.

These movements, he warned, eventually mutated into the MAGA insurgency and the violence of January 6, 2021. Emanuel further argued that while an organized sit-in differs from storming the Capitol, both stem from the same fear — that the American Dream no longer guarantees opportunity, and that institutions no longer serve working people.

"The American dream—the belief that working hard and playing by the rules offers everyone a clear path to a middle-class perch—has become a nightmare. Too many Americans struggle to keep their heads above water. They’re right to be angry—and they’re justified in wanting relief," he wrote.

In a twist of historical irony, he suggested that China may now be the adversary capable of refocusing American purpose. It is a real threat — demographically vast, economically advanced, and poised to challenge U.S. global leadership — not just a political foil.

Yet U.S. policy, under what Emanuel terms “Trumponomics,” veers toward a domestic state-directed model, risking erosion of America’s traditional strengths: its research universities, legal system, financial dynamism, and talent magnetism.

Emanuel noted that the voices defending American exceptionalism have been silenced, leaving political discourse dominated by those who wish to seize and occupy institutions. Meanwhile, China advances unchallenged, exploiting internal divisions. He warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping intentionally views an internally fractured U.S. as an advantage and that restoring cohesion requires refusing to mimic authoritarian models.