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RUSH: This is George Will yesterday on the roundtable of ABC\u2019s This Week. They were talking about Trump and Herman Cain. It\u2019s George Will.<\/p>\n
WILL: Between now and 2016 both parties have to do some serious thought as to whether they can develop some filter to prevent this process — particularly with mad proliferation of debates — from being hijacked by charlatans, entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurial charlatans who simply —<\/p>\n
AMANPOUR: Who would you label as one of those?<\/p>\n
RUSH: All right. Now, what is your initial reaction to that? ‘Cause I have a bit of an alternative view. Cain\u2019s out of the race, so we can “MoveOn.org” from that. Whether he was doing a book tour, trying to up his speech fees, get a cable TV gig, what have you, some people say, “The system worked. George ought to not be as panicked as he is. System worked.” No, it didn\u2019t, because system did not get rid of Obama. The “system” didn\u2019t inform anybody who Obama really was. So now the next thing is, “Okay, you Republican candidates, when you gonna get some gonads? When are you gonna stand up and say, ‘Enough of the circus?\u2019 All these debates are bad enough but now you\u2019re gonna have one moderated by Trump?”<\/p>\n
Well, the alternative view is, “When are you Republicans gonna stand up and stop letting all these liberal media outfits moderate your debate? When are you Republican candidates gonna stand up and finally assert that the media is not gonna pick which one of you wins this nomination?” Ergo, what\u2019s so bad about Trump moderating a debate or me or anybody else? Why must these debates be moderated by the Wolf Blitzers and the MSNBC\u2019s of the world for them to have any credibility? Why must these Republican debates be moderated by people who have one objective, and that\u2019s to see that whoever wins this nomination loses? Let me put it a better way: Why should these Republican candidates repeatedly subject themselves to debates moderated by people whose only objective is to see Obama win? <\/p>\n
That\u2019s my take on this. I\u2019ve got no brief for Trump; don\u2019t misunderstand. But I don\u2019t find this as reprehensible as George Will does. I\u2019m more alarmed that we have to put up with never-ending debates moderated by people who have as their express purpose the reelection of Barack Obama and the defeat of any of these Republican nominees. Now, I know the other side of this is, “Hey, Rush, the media is what it is. It isn\u2019t going to change,” and I agree with that. I tell people who… (sigh) I get so sick of it. Folks, you can\u2019t believe. I\u2019m surprised I can do this show with a smile. I am so surrounded by negativism, you can\u2019t believe it. (sigh) I went to dinner with some friends last night and I actually started pounding the table, I got so mad. I hadn\u2019t seen \u2019em in a while and they asked me what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
said, “I can\u2019t escape the negativism. Where I go, every meal, every e-mail I open is, ‘The media\u2019s killing us! What are you gonna do about it? The media this, the media is that.'” The media is who they are. I understand this. The media is who they are. “The media is not gonna change and so, Rush, having these Republicans participate in debates moderated by these people is good preparation for when they win the White House.” I understand that thinking. They gotta deal with this media. The media is hostile; the media is always gonna be hostile to Republicans. I understand that. But at the same time, it\u2019d be nice, if these Republicans stood up and said, “Let\u2019s do a debate moderated by some friends, just like Obama gets to do.” <\/p>\n
Every debate Obama\u2019s gonna be in, every moderator is gonna be one of his friends, every moderator is gonna be oriented towards his reelection, and every moderator is gonna be oriented towards our defeat. These are Republican debates. This is a Republican primary process where, ostensibly, every Republican is trying to put their best foot forward. So this cuts both ways, as far as I\u2019m concerned. You can sit there and lament that Trump\u2019s gonna be moderating a debate but I can also lament the fact that every other debate we\u2019ve had has been moderated by somebody who wants to kill whoever wins this nomination on our side. Moving on. Trump is not happy, obviously. This morning on Fox News Channel they had a discussion about the presidential race. Gretchen Carlson said, “You say that you may throw your hat in the ring again. Is this the way to keep your name alive, sell some books, or are you really serious?”<\/p>\n
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RUSH: Right. He\u2019s talking about his Apprentice show that ends in May, and he can\u2019t do anything on that show without having it come back to him equal time and so forth. I\u2019m looking for something. Somebody\u2019s written a hilarious piece here. Did I put it at the top of the stack? Somebody has written a hilarious piece that said whatever Republican that\u2019s gone by to visit Trump has ended up dropping out of sight afterwards. (laughing) Newt\u2019s going today (laughing) and every Republican that\u2019s gone in and paid tribute to Trump has seen their numbers plummet shortly after. It\u2019s a humor piece. We\u2019ll see what happens to Newt after he goes and visits trump. Anyway, the next question was from Clayton Morris: “Let\u2019s talk about the debate, Donald, because you took a lot of heat this weekend from entrenched conservatives — George Will among them — who said we need to get away from people like you moderating debates, this party is being hijacked by entrepreneurial charlatans like you and Herman Cain; basically saying he thought your idea moderating a debate was absurd. What do you say to people like that this morning?<\/p>\n
TRUMP: I\u2019ve read George Will over the years. He\u2019s third-rate.<\/p>\n
HOSTS: (chuckling)<\/p>\n
TRUMP: He makes so many wrong predictions that if you just follow his predictions you\u2019ll find out he shouldn\u2019t even be doing what he does. I think we\u2019ll have tremendous viewership. We\u2019ll probably get the highest ratings on the debate, which is important when we\u2019re trying to get a message out.<\/p>\n
RUSH: What is the network that this is on? Is it the ION network or the EON network? Don\u2019t bother looking it up. Well, I never heard of the network when I saw what it was on. That\u2019s why I can\u2019t remember what it is, but its December 27, two days after Christmas, and Trump is predicting record ratings for this debate. “George Will\u2019s third-rate, shouldn\u2019t be doing what he\u2019s doing.” Now Karl Rove dumps on Trump also on Fox & Friends today. Gretchen Carlson said to Karl Rove, “Okay, we had Trump on earlier today. He\u2019s hosting this debate on December 27th. Two of the candidates have said they\u2019re not gonna take part: Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman. If you, Karl, were advising a candidate, would you advise him to take part in this debate?”<\/p>\n
ROVE: They\u2019re all gonna get stuck going to his debate, but it\u2019s really odd. It\u2019s on a cable network that is not well viewed, and it\u2019s gonna be a giant ego trip — and anybody who thinks that Donald Trump is gonna be the equivalent of Bret Baier or any one of the other moderates we\u2019ve had is kidding themselves.<\/p>\n
ROVE: If you\u2019re gonna be a candidate, be a candidate. Don\u2019t make it contingent upon whether your show is renewed or not. How trivial is that? How does it trivialize the most important decision that we Americans have which is who we\u2019re gonna elect as our president?<\/p>\n
RUSH: Oh, now we\u2019re worried about trivializing the presidential race, or trivializing the election. So, anyway, here we have Will, George Will dumping all over Trump and Cain. Trump comes back and says George Will is “third-rate. Look at his predictions. He doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s talking about; shouldn\u2019t be doing what he\u2019s doing.” Karl Rove comes back and says if anybody thinks Trump\u2019s gonna be equivalent of somebody who knows what they\u2019re doing that, they have another think coming. So they went back to Trump. (laughing) They called him! Here\u2019s what he said.<\/p>\n
TRUMP: Karl Rove gave us George Bush, and George Bush crashed and burned — and because of that we have Obama. And, you know, Karl Rove… I mean the problem that this, frankly, that the Republicans, they have to get rid of the Karl Roves and they need fresh blood because Karl Rove is gonna lead them into doom. Believe me.<\/p>\n
RUSH: All right, so here we have… (laughing) Here we have Barack Obama floundering, polls that are under — worse than — Jimmy Carter, and look what\u2019s going on on the Republican side here! Look what\u2019s happening here? George Will goes after Trump and Cain. Trump goes after Will. Then Rove goes after Trump, then they call Trump back at Fox & Friends and Trump goes back after Rove. Look, Rove gave us Bush, and Bush gave us Obama and be these guys don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing! They\u2019re taking the Republican Party down the hill in a hand basket. If we stick with guys like Rove, we\u2019re being led into doom.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not through. Then on MSNBC, The Daily Rundown today, Chuck Todd interviewed Trump. Todd says, “You wanted to respond to the poll that says more Republicans in Iowa and New Hampshire say that your endorsement in the Republican primary would make \u2019em less likely to support that candidate.” So F. Chuck Todd says: Hey, Trump, we got polling data here that says anybody you endorse, Republican voters say they will be less likely to support.<\/p>\n
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TODD: Yes, I did. After —<\/p>\n
TRUMP: — trying to get me on the show so your statement is false. You said quote, “Donald Trump wanted to respond to a poll.” Well, I didn\u2019t want to respond. Your people called my office about 40 times asking me to go onto the show so it\u2019s dishonest what you\u2019re saying, Chuck. I wish you would just sort of say it like it is. I think you\u2019d do better. I actually think you\u2019d be getting better ratings by doing that. I\u2019m doing NBC a favor by going onto your show.<\/p>\n
RUSH: That\u2019s Donald Trump taking it to F. Chuck. You know, this is a typical media ploy. I saw an example of it. I was watching a football game a couple years ago, and I don\u2019t want to embarrass the announcer crew; they\u2019re just football guys, but one of them got all excited. “Hey, look who\u2019s walked in here and asked to say hello! Why, it\u2019s Dick Vermeil, the former coach of the St. Louis Rams,” and Vermeil sat down, “I didn\u2019t ask to come in here. You guys invited me. I was on my way somewhere else; somebody stopped me in the hall,” and the guy said (stammering), “Well, well, well, well, well… Okay. We\u2019re still glad to have you here,” and went on with the question. Vermeil answered the question, and got up and proceeded on down the hall. So apparently MSNBC said Trump called \u2019em and wanted to talk about this poll when they\u2019ve been calling Trump and they wanted him to answer this poll, which he didn\u2019t know about. <\/p>\n
Trump is an NBCer. He says, “Chuck, I\u2019m trying to help you. You\u2019ll get better ratings if you listen to me.” (laughing)<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: Do I have to do everything? I just got an e-mail during the break and I read e-mails during the break. (I told you I read \u2019em and I do read \u2019em.) “So, Rush, you tell us all this, what does in between? What does it mean? What does all this to mean? Trump, Rove, George, what does it all mean?” All right, notice who is on the attack. Donald Trump is minding his own business. He\u2019s agreed to moderate a debate on something called the ION network two days after Christmas, right? Just that little thing has set off time bombs within the Republican establishment, and they\u2019re all out attacking Donald Trump for moderating a debate. Simply for moderating a debate, they\u2019re out attacking Trump. So Trump, being who he is, is going on television and making phone calls and defending himself. <\/p>\n