Overview of Ari Emanuel on Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Mixing Business with Politics
In this New Yorker interview, talent agent and media executive Ari Emanuel reflects on how ambition, rage, and relentless dealmaking shaped his career—and how those same instincts guide his dealings with powerful and polarizing figures such as Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman. Emanuel argues that in business, especially entertainment, you have to talk to people you disagree with, stay flexible, and focus on leverage, scale, and results rather than ideological purity.
Key Themes and Takeaways
Rage as fuel, not just a flaw
- Emanuel says his drive has long been rooted in anger, competition, and a need to prove himself.
- He frames rage as part of ambition: something that can sharpen focus and push action.
- He connects this to his upbringing:
- A household with high-achieving siblings, especially Ezekiel Emanuel and Rahm Emanuel.
- A childhood shaped by dyslexia and ADHD, which he says made him feel underestimated.
- A mother and father who insisted he could succeed despite those challenges.
The real path into Hollywood was the mailroom
- Emanuel says he discovered the agency business through a friend working in the William Morris mailroom.
- That became his entry point into a career with no backup plan: “plan A was make it.”
- He describes agency work as fast-moving, confrontational, and heavily dependent on phone calls and constant relationship management.
Entourage and Ari Gold
- He says the Entourage character Ari Gold captured both his strengths and his flaws.
- Emanuel admits he recognized himself in the character, especially the rapid-fire speech, aggression, and emotional conflict.
- He says the show’s portrayal of the business was often very accurate, even if it made him anxious to watch.
Business, Power, and Politics
Mixing business with politics is unavoidable
- Emanuel repeatedly emphasizes that he does not want to live in an “echo chamber” or a “cult.”
- He argues that business leaders have to maintain relationships across ideological lines.
- His view: you can disagree strongly with someone and still talk to them, negotiate with them, and sometimes even learn from them.
Donald Trump
- Emanuel says Trump was once his client and that they still have a relationship.
- He does not call Trump an authoritarian, but he criticizes:
- Trump’s self-enrichment
- Congressional deference to him
- His approach to the press
- He calls Trump “an incredible politician,” while still disagreeing with much of his politics.
Elon Musk
- Emanuel describes Musk as one of the great innovators of the era and says he has moved humanity forward.
- He acknowledges disagreements with Musk’s politics but says he values the relationship.
- He rejects the idea that Musk is beyond conversation and insists people can influence one another through direct dialogue.
- He also frames his business outlook around live experiences—sports, music, and events—as a counterweight to AI and digital disruption.
Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi investment
- Emanuel discusses doing business with Saudi investors and says the region is a major source of capital in global entertainment.
- He acknowledges the controversy around Jamal Khashoggi’s murder but says the world is full of gray areas and that he has seen changes in Saudi Arabia, especially regarding women’s rights and extremism.
- He does not express moral certainty; instead, he presents his approach as pragmatic and business-oriented.
Free speech and ownership
- Emanuel says he supports the right of business owners to make their own decisions, even when they involve controversial speech.
- On the Robert Kraft/Macklemore example, he argues that owners have the prerogative to decide what happens in their venues.
Ari Emanuel’s Current Business Outlook
Why consolidation matters
- Emanuel argues that in modern entertainment, scale is essential.
- He supports larger media combinations because he believes:
- They create competition
- They give talent leverage
- They help projects get financed and made
Paramount, CNN, and the future of media
- He argues that a stronger, larger media ecosystem can benefit creators.
- He says competition with Netflix, Amazon, and Disney is necessary.
- He downplays fears about media consolidation harming free press, suggesting that strong editorial leadership can preserve journalistic independence.
The live-events bet
- Emanuel says the most durable business opportunity in an AI-heavy future is live entertainment:
- live sports
- live music
- live events
- theaters
- He points to his work with TKO and related ventures as part of that strategy.
- He also mentions a new company, Mari, and a push into major theater acquisitions, reinforcing his belief that “live” is the opposite bet to AI.
Personal Reflections
Success changed him, but not his ambition
- Emanuel says he is more contained now than he used to be, but still deeply ambitious.
- He suggests that success gave him some peace, but not full satisfaction.
- He says psychedelics, including MDMA and 5-MeO-DMT, helped him think differently about ego, legacy, and identity.
Family loyalty
- Despite the family dynamics and political prominence of his brothers, Emanuel says the Emanuel family is deeply loyal to one another.
- He says he would back Rahm Emanuel “ride or die” if he runs for president.
Bottom Line
Ari Emanuel comes across as a hard-charging dealmaker who believes that the entertainment business—and politics more broadly—requires engagement with powerful people across the spectrum. He is unapologetically pragmatic, openly ambitious, and willing to defend relationships with controversial figures if he believes the business logic holds. At the same time, he draws some lines, especially around self-enrichment and the need for real competition in media.
Notable Lines of Thought
- “I don’t want to live in a cult.”
- “Rage is both catalyst and metric of desire.”
- “The only thing that will survive is live.”
- Success, in his view, is less about purity than about leverage, relationships, and execution.