Democrats, ‘take a chill pill,’ you aren’t winning anytime soon, Rahm Emanuel says

Democrats need to “take a chill pill” because they aren’t going to have national power anytime soon, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says.

“It ain’t gonna happen in 2018,” Emanuel said Monday at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business in California, according to the Chicago Tribune. “Take a chill pill, man. You gotta be in this for the long haul.”

Emanuel says Democrats need to put moderate candidates up in Republican districts, picking battles exploiting disagreements within the GOP.

“Winning’s everything,” he said. “If you don’t win, you can’t make the public policy. I say that because it is hard for people in our party to accept that principle. Sometimes, you’ve just got to win, OK? Our party likes to be right, even if they lose.”

The former Obama White House chief of staff also slammed his own party for infighting about its own ideological direction, and he urged Democrats to unite against the Republicans, according to The Hill.

“I don’t go to moral victory speeches. I can’t stand them. I’ve never lost an election. It’s about winning, because if you win, you then have the power to go do what has to get done.”

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This story was originally published February 8, 2017 at 1:58 PM with the headline "Democrats, ‘take a chill pill,’ you aren’t winning anytime soon, Rahm Emanuel says."