TKO CEO and and former agent to Donald Trump, Ari Emanuel stated that he maintains a complex relationship with the former president that defies easy political categorization. Speaking on The New Yorker podcast, Emanuel offered candid assessments of Trump’s abilities while drawing clear lines where they diverge.
“I think he’s an incredible politician. You can’t argue that. One of the best as a politician,” Emanuel stated. Yet he immediately followed with a qualifier: “I don’t agree with his politics as it relates to the press and all the other things.”
The relationship between the two men dates back to before Trump’s presidency, when Emanuel represented him as a client. On election night 2016, Emanuel recalls speaking with Trump around 11:30 PM.
The president-elect asked if he was Emanuel’s most important client. Emanuel’s response was characteristically blunt: “You can’t make me any money anymore.”
Emanuel says he never voted for Trump and made that clear to him.
“I didn’t drop him. He was the president of the United States. I didn’t represent the president,” Emanuel explained. He then went on to add, “I mean, I didn’t vote for him. He knows I’m a Democrat.”
When pressed on whether Trump is an authoritarian or fascist, Emanuel rejected the characterization.
“I don’t think he’s an authoritarian,” he said. “I think he uses a lot of these maneuvers to deflect on other issues going on.”
However, Emanuel did not shy away from criticizing specific Trump actions. When confronted with estimates that Trump has enriched himself by over two billion dollars during his current term, Emanuel’s response was measured but pointed.
“That’s disappointing,” he noted. “It’s completely disappointing and completely wrong. There’s no other word that that there hasn’t been some look at what’s going on. I do not agree because if I did agree, I would have represented him and I could have made a lot of money. I don’t agree with self-enrichment.”
On execution of policy, Emanuel sees problems.
“I think there’s a lot of times that the president has very good ideas. I don’t agree with a lot of the execution,” he said. Yet he maintains the relationship, noting, “I have a very good relationship with the president. We talk.”
Emanuel, who identifies as a Democrat and whose brother Rahm is considering a presidential run, defended his willingness to engage across political divides. “I don’t want to live in an echo chamber. I don’t want to live in a cult. I want to live not in a cult, but in a society. And in a society, you have to have conversations.”
