Former Chicago Mayor and Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel sparked a fiery on-air clash Tuesday when he accused Democrats of obsessing over fringe issues—especially transgender bathroom policies—while ignoring the bread-and-butter concerns of everyday Americans.

The heated exchange unfolded during an appearance on the “I’ve Had It” podcast, where host Jennifer Welch demanded that Democrats push back harder against President Trump’s agenda. Emanuel agreed in principle, but issued a stark warning to his party: get real or get left behind.

“We looked mighty strange having some of these arguments,” Emanuel said bluntly. “We had the luxury of being a superpower. We’re having frivolous arguments about things that didn’t matter to people.”

He didn’t hold back, saying Democrats veered from being the “party of acceptance” to promoting “certain things that, in my view, were just nuts.”

That set Welch off.

“One hundred million percent disagree,” she snapped, blasting Emanuel for what she claimed was parroting “right-wing media narratives.”

She especially took offense to Emanuel’s comment that Democrats only excelled “in the bathroom”—a jab at the party’s fixation on gender policies.

“That is such bulls—t,” Welch fired back. “That is total bulls–t. You know who talks about trans people more than anybody? MAGA. MAGA is the most genital obsessed political party I have ever seen.”

Emanuel didn’t budge. He clarified that while he dealt with marriage equality and trans issues as mayor of Chicago, he never saw them as core concerns for voters struggling with daily life.

“I see politicians that are supposed to be leaders in the Democratic Party buy into the narrative that Republicans have defined us by instead of fighting,” Welch countered. “You’re the weirdos that are obsessed with it. Yeah, we’re not going to bully some trans kid.”

Emanuel, unfazed, smirked and said, “There is U-Haul if you want to move out,” referring to Welch’s complaints about living in a red state.

He then closed the argument by stating what many moderates have been quietly thinking for years.

“These are side tangential issues. They’re not core. And they’re not core to what we believe in,” he said.

This wasn’t Emanuel’s first time sounding the alarm on Democratic messaging. In March, he appeared on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, urging his party to stop obsessing over “the locker room” and “the bathroom” and instead focus on “the classroom.”

For Emanuel, who’s floated as a 2028 contender, the warning is clear: Democrats are bleeding working-class voters because they’ve become detached from reality. And Tuesday’s episode showed just how deep the divide is inside the party itself.

Whether the base listens—or doubles down—may decide how far Democrats fall in the years ahead.