RUSH: Hi, folks. How are you? Great to have you here. Man, I know that you got a lot of questions. I know you’re wondering about a whole lot of things. And I know you’re looking for explanations. And, you know what? You’re gonna get ’em. You are at the right place. The Rush Limbaugh program and the EIB Network. A delight to be with you each and every day. The telephone number is 800-282-2882, and the email address, ElRushbo@eibnet.us.

Okay. We’ve been here before. The last time we’ve been here — let me explain where “here” is. Here’s the headline: “Trump Stuns Lawmakers With Seeming Embrace of Gun Control.” And the place that we’ve been to before is when Trump did the same thing in that famous televised meeting on illegal immigration. And, in fact, it involved the same senator, Senator Dianne “DiFi” Feinstein.

Now, in the immigration meeting, DiFi said what we’d like to do is do a separate DACA bill and then come back and deal with comprehensive immigration for everybody. And Trump said (imitating Trump), “Dianne, we can do that. We can do that. I’ll take the heat. I need you people to help me out,” and Dianne Feinstein was beyond happy. She couldn’t contain herself, She’s looking around, “Did I hear what I just heard?” The Drive-Bys went nuts. They thought it was great.

But here on the EIB Network there was panic. And not just here. There was panic everywhere in Trumpville. What was Trump doing? Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh. People have been so used to conservative heroes selling them out that people thought Trump had just sold them out on the number one reason he was elected. And I, El Rushbo, warned you that we need to wait because I don’t think that’s what this is. I don’t think Trump is doing this. He’s not that detached.

I think what Trump is doing is exposing the Democrats. Remember that immigration meeting was completely televised, as was this gun control thing. And in that meeting the Democrats made it abundantly clear what they want, what they believe in, what they’re for, without the media covering it up or massaging it to look like something it wasn’t or filtering it. And then sure as the sun rises in the east, Trump pulled back and let it be known that there was no way he was going to do a separate DACA deal and that there wasn’t gonna be comprehensive immigration reform.

And so the Democrats got a little mad, ticked off, the media thought that they had been used. They went through several emotional cycles. They were first shocked and stunned that Trump had not kicked them out of the room after the usual five minutes, but instead let them stay and televise the whole thing. Then when Trump made it look like he was going to enact what the Democrats want, the Drive-Bys couldn’t contain themselves. They were ecstatic. They thought it signaled some new transformation for Trump. And then they realized what had happened, and they went back to being mad all the time.

And it looks like we’re at the same circumstance here. However, I have to tell you that I am detecting a far greater level of concern and worry among Trump voters on this gun control thing than even on the immigration thing. It involved Dianne Feinstein and giving her exactly what she wants. An assault weapons ban and Trump criticizing the NRA and calling people cowards who don’t want to take on the NRA.

I’ve done my best to try to ascertain what people are thinking about this. There’s panic. There is a high degree of concern over this. So I wanted to first tackle this and see what we’ve got. And, by the way, it is related, in a way, at least in terms of the media coverage, it is related to the resignation of Hope Hicks. I mean, because the media are combining the stories. Hope Hicks resigns after testifying that Trump told her to tell white lies, which she did.

Now we’re learning that that was a whole setup. Nine hours of questioning. I don’t even know why they sent her up there in the first place. I don’t know why she went and why it’s nine hours. I mean, nine hours of questioning? For crying out loud. And then you know the Democrats are gonna start leaking everything that happened in that meeting that they think is advantageous. Why do it?

Then you got the stuff going on with Jeff Sessions, what is that about? And now there are reports Anthony Scaramucci, a Trumpist, The Mooch, is out there saying that morale in the White House is at rock bottom, that there is chaos in the White House, one of Trump’s best buddies is saying this. Now, it is thought that The Mooch is saying this because he trying to blame it on General Kelly, the chief of staff, who The Mooch wants out of there.

The point is, there are a whole lot of people agitating and attempting to manipulate, via the media, what’s going on in the West Wing. So there’s a lot to try to figure out, analyze, and ascertain here. Well, let’s start with the New York Times report on the meeting yesterday.

“Trump Stuns Lawmakers With Seeming Embrace of Comprehensive Gun Control — President Trump stunned Republicans on live television Wednesday by embracing gun control and urging a group of lawmakers at the White House to resurrect gun safety legislation that has been opposed for years by the powerful National Rifle Association and the vast majority of his party.

“In a remarkable meeting, the president veered wildly from the N.R.A. playbook in front of giddy Democrats and stone-faced Republicans. He called for comprehensive gun control legislation that would expand background checks to weapons purchased at gun shows and on the internet, keep guns from mentally ill people, secure schools and restrict gun sales for some young adults. He even suggested a conversation on an assault weapons ban.”

Well, that’s pretty much right. I mean, the Times didn’t have to massage this, and they didn’t have to amplify it. That’s a pretty close description of what happened in there. And so we are left to ask ourselves if this is a replay of the open to-the-media discussion on immigration back in January. And that a lot of what was said was just testing the waters. A lot of what was said was trying to draw out the Democrats and get them officially on the table, but that’s already widely known what the Democrats want.

So you don’t really need that meeting yesterday to expose them. I mean, they’re not hiding their gun control agenda at all. In fact, they’re is to hell-bent on it that members of their party worry that there’s gonna be a backlash against ’em because.

So Trump didn’t have to do anything to draw ’em out like you could say that he wanted to do on immigration. “At one point, Mr. Trump suggested that law enforcement authorities should have the power to seize guns from mentally ill people or others who could present a danger without first going to court. ‘I like taking the guns early,’ he said, adding, ‘Take the guns first, go through due process second.'” Well, that is what did it. That comment caused an eruption out there, and not just among Trumpists.

I mean, there are some Never Trumpers who hate Trump, but they in no way… Their hatred of Trump still doesn’t mean they want the Constitution to be trampled. I mean, there’s a lot of people who got concerned. “What? (sputtering) ‘[G]o through due process second’?” So I found something today from Glenn Reynolds. Glenn Reynolds’ Web page is called Instapundit, and I occasionally traverse the hills and dales there, and I found a tweet by somebody named Tom Maguire. I don’t know who Tom Maguire is and I didn’t have time to Google “Tom Maguire.”

He’s probably somebody famous or he wouldn’t be posted here, but I don’t know who he is. No insult intended. Just full disclosure. He tweeted about this, and Tom Maguire at the Instapundit website said, “On Trump’s no ‘due process’ quote: [In my humble opinion] he misunderstood/misstated gun violence restraining order. Procedure is court order, confiscation, hearing to end or extend order.” Now, Trump said (paraphrased), “Screw that! Go get the gun and then we’ll have the court order and the hearing. We’ll do that later.”

What Tom Maguire thinks, according to his tweet, is that Trump conflated hearing to end or extend order with due process. So when Trump said take the guns first, go through due process second, Maguire’s tweet said that Trump didn’t mean due process, that he was confusing due process with the hearing to end or extend the order in the established procedure. So let me try to explain this. It’s tough to follow this when it’s words in a certain order and you can’t see them.

But that’s why I’m here, as a paramount communicator. The procedure now for getting a gun violence restraining order, if that’s what you want to do, you have to go to court and get an order, like the FBI went to the FISA court to spy on Trump. They had the dossier. You gotta go to court and get permission. You have to get a court order, a restraining order against a perp, and then you go get the gun. You go confiscate the gun. Then after you do that, there is a hearing in court to extend or end the court order allowing confiscation.

What Mr. Maguire believes is when Trump said, “Let’s take the guns first and go through due process second,” what he meant was that Trump was just conflating this hearing with due process, that Trump said, “Let’s go grab the gun and then go to court and argue it out.” It’s… (sigh) Well, it’s an attempt to explain it. But it relies on the belief that Trump doesn’t know the difference between a hearing and a court order and due process. What the critics are trying to say here is, “Trump, what are you…? Trump doesn’t care! Trump is an autocrat. Trump is a dictator.

“If he wants your gun, he thinks he should be able to go get it and then you can argue with him later in court.” That’s what they’re trying to say that Trump was advocating — and the Democrats, by the way, would sign onto that tomorrow. The Democrats would sign onto that tomorrow because the Democrats want to take everybody’s gun away. That’s their sole purpose. Everything they say about gun control, it’s all smoke and mirrors. What they want is every gun in this country confiscated.

And if they’ve got a president saying, “Let’s go get ’em and then talk about whether we can do it or not in court after we’ve got the guns,” the Democrats would sign on to that yesterday. So that’s why there’s legitimate concern. Now, Trump himself has tweeted today, walked back some of this. He said, “Many ideas, some good & some not so good, emerged from our bipartisan meeting on school safety yesterday at the White House. Background Checks a big part of conversation. Gun-free zones are proven targets of killers. After many years, a Bill should emerge. Respect 2nd Amendment!”

Exclamation point.

So that’s Trump tweet from this morning and a little bit more consistent with his statements over the past few years. It would have been good if he would have added something in there about respecting due process, but he didn’t. So people are left to wonder. I was watching CNN today where I expected to see giddy gleefulness, and I did. Except when they got to Mr. Conventional Wisdom. If you want to know what the conventional wisdom in Washington is, find out whatever David “Rodham” Gergen is saying about anything.

And there you will find the official consensus of the Washington establishment, of the elite ruling class, of which he is a proud member. And he was on CNN today, and he was warning everybody not to get too excited about this too soon (summarized), “because clearly Trump doesn’t know what he’s doing day to day and changes his mind by the hour and doesn’t know what he’s saying much of the time. So to all of you left-wing activists who want to confiscate guns and think the president signed on to your position, be very careful.

“Because it’s very likely that the president will contradict himself before the end of the day and claim he never said what he said yesterday.” So there is some caution being exuded out there, even amongst the Never Trump crowd. Now, as I say, this has a different feel than the immigration thing did to me. And the Democrats just got… They were giddy! I mean, Jeff Flake, all the president’s enemies are coming out talk about what a great guy Trump can be and how he can eventually, when he gets it right, man…

I mean, these people are showing their hypocrisy and flipping on a dime, but it is a constant vigil.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We’re gonna launch into sound bites from it. This is Breitbart: “President Trump Asks Dianne Feinstein to Add Assault Weapons Ban to Her School Safety Bill — President Trump asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to add her ‘assault weapons’ ban to the overarching school safety bill during a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers [yesterday].

“Feinstein’s bill, which is an enhanced reintroduction of a bill she has put forward again and again, bans over 200 different firearms. During Wednesday’s White House meeting, Trump showed support for the gun control pushed by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Pat Toomey (R-PA). The Manchin/Toomey bill is a gun control bill that the Democrat-controlled Senate rejected on April 17, 2013.” Let me give you another little secret.

There is a gun-control bill that’s running through the Senate (it may be this one), that is right now running through the Senate, and the Democrats are starting to get nervous because it’s looking like it might pass. They don’t want it to pass. They want to be able to act like there’s all kinds of opposition to it so they can continue to move the agenda forward. But they don’t want the bill to pass ’cause it’ll kill ’em at the ballot box. The Democrats don’t really want a gun-control bill until they get the White House and Congress back.

They don’t want it right now, and any bill in the Senate or the House — well, the House throw out. But any bill in the Senate that looks like it’s gonna pass, there’s gonna be panic set in. The Democrats do not want any gun control happening this year. They want it to look like they do, and they want it to look like the only reason it’s not happening is because the Republicans don’t care that people are dying, and the media is right in there pushing that narrative and blaming the Republicans and calling ’em heartless and cold and cruel and all of this. Mean-spirited extremists.

But the truth is (and do not doubt me) the Democrats do not want any gun control bill that they’re at present shepherding through the Senate. They don’t want it to pass. If it looks like it’s gonna pass, they’ll do something to pull it. I mean, there’s already talk at the highest levels of the party that they’re running the risk of a backlash already without even passing the bill. Just all of their anti-gun talk, just all of their expressed dreams and desires is enough to cause a backlash at the ballot box against ’em.

So whenever you hear about gun legislation moving through the Senate that has Democrat sponsorship, do not doubt me. Believe me when I tell you, they don’t want it to pass. They’re happy with it failing. And if it looks like it’s gonna pass, they’re gonna do something about it. The reason why it’s looking like it might pass is because some Republicans are responding to all of this stupid, made-up — well, not all of it, but much of it made-up — opposition to the NRA and guns. Republicans are responding to it like they always do.

And the Democrats are getting worried. They can’t pass it without some Republican votes. So what I would look to happen, if a bill looks like it’s getting close to happening, the Democrats are gonna add some things to it that nobody could support and that some Republicans would then renounce their support. Let’s start with audio sound bites. This is Trump yesterday at the meeting giving everybody here a little scare just he did on immigration.

THE PRESIDENT: This is not a popular thing to say in terms of the NRA, but I’m saying it anyway. I mean, think of it. You can’t buy a handgun. You can’t buy one. You have to wait ’til you’re 21. But you can buy the kind of weapon used in the school shooting at 18. It doesn’t make sense that I have to wait ’til I’m 21 to get a handgun but I can get this weapon at 18. I don’t know. So I was just curious as to what you did in your bill. You don’t address it?

TOOMEY: We didn’t… We didn’t… We… We didn’t address it, Mr. President, but I think —

THE PRESIDENT: You know why? ‘Cause you’re afraid of the NRA, right?

RUSH: Why didn’t you address it? Well, right, ’cause you’re afraid of the NRA, right? As though, what are you being afraid the NRA for? You shouldn’t be afraid. Trump is being critical there of Pat Toomey. That’s the Republican in Pennsylvania. Now, this is the area of the meeting when Trump seemed to not care about due process, where he says go ahead and take the guns now, we’ll do due process later. Remember there’s a tweet, Instapundit website thinks that Trump gets the hearing and all that confused with due process. We’ll find out. But here is Vice President Pence and Trump talking about how to handle confiscating weapons from somebody declared mentally unfit.

PENCE: Allow due process, so no one’s rights are trampled, but the ability to go to court, obtain an order and then collect not only the firearms, but any weapons in the possession of —

THE PRESIDENT: Or might take the firearms first and then go to court, because that’s another system, because a lot of times by the time you go to court it takes so long to go to court to get the due process procedures. I like taking the guns early. Take the guns first, go through due process second.

RUSH: Let me tell you something. If Barack Obama had said that, all of Trumperville would be outraged today and blowing up and opposing it and warning everybody. People voting for Trump heard this, and it’s a throwback to the immigration meeting. And you remember after that meeting, there was all kinds of people dumping on Trump, all kinds that believed that he meant it. I didn’t, and I was advising everybody to be cautious about this.

“Or might take the firearms first and then go to court. A lot of times, by the time you go to court, it takes so long to get the due process procedures. I like taking the guns early.” That’s what the Sheriff Israel guy was asking for in the immediate aftermath of the shooting in Parkland, Florida. That’s exactly what he was saying needed to happen, needed to change, that they needed to be able to go in and yank weapons away and put people in jail just on the basis of tips. And now here is Trump saying it.

And this is the Feinstein bit. This is where she erupted with glee when Trump suggested to Manchin and Toomey that they put more domestic violence regulations in their bill.

THE PRESIDENT: Dianne, if you could add what you have also, and I think you can, into the bill —

FEINSTEIN: Joe, are you ready?

THE PRESIDENT: Can you do that, Joe? Can you do that, Pat? Can you add some of the things you’re not gonna agree with.

FEINSTEIN: If you help.

THE PRESIDENT: No, I’ll help, but can you add what Amy and what Dianne have, can you add them? If you can add domestic violence, paragraphs, pages, into this bill, I’m all for it. I think it’s terrific, if you can do it.

RUSH: And that is why there are people who voted for Trump today who are appalled, frightened, confused, angry, searching for answers.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay. This is working out well. This hour unfolded well. I’m talking about in a formatic sense here. One more bite. John Kennedy, a Republican senator from Louisiana. Stuart Varney on Varney & Co. today on the Fox Business Network asks Senator Kennedy, “President Trump says take guns first and go to court later. Radical, radical stuff. What’s your reaction to that, Senator?”

KENNEDY: I disagree with him. I’m not scared of the NRA. I am scared of public officials, for example, like former Attorney General Eric Holder. If General Holder had that power, he would confiscate guns and give people due process later. Look, some of my colleagues around here, mostly on the Democratic side, they talk favorably about other countries like U.K. that ban guns as if it’s a good thing. You know, my attitude is, if you think it’s such a good thing, carry your happy ass there. I mean, this is America. You have a constitutional right under the Heller decision and under the McDonald decision to own a weapon and defend yourself and hunt with it or use it for whatever you want.

RUSH: If you like where they don’t have any guns so much then drag your happy ass over there and find out what it’s like. Senator Kennedy, quote, unquote, from Louisiana.