{"id":213707,"date":"2016-06-01T17:41:38","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T21:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/172.24.32.11\/daily\/2016\/06\/01\/what_s_presidential_\/"},"modified":"2016-06-01T17:41:38","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T21:41:38","slug":"what_s_presidential_","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/06\/01\/what_s_presidential_\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Presidential?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n

RUSH: Phillip in Sarasota, Florida.  I\u2019m glad you waited, sir.  You\u2019re up first today.  Big responsibility.  How are you?<\/p>\n

CALLER:  Hey, thanks.  Thanks for taking the call.<\/p>\n

RUSH:  Yeah.<\/p>\n

CALLER:  All right, so with Trump criticizing the media, I like what he\u2019s doing.  I like what he\u2019s doing.  But the attitude of contentiousness, well, it definitely reflects the population at large with their attitude of contentiousness toward the media with all their lies and collusion. <\/p>\n

But, in order to make my point, I want to flash back to the 1960s, Cold War, the Soviet spies were getting a lot of information from our news sources, and President Kennedy held a speech formally to the press at the Waldorf Astoria where he admonished them to basically use safer practices, more wise practices in their reporting of the news. And he really procured a very amicable relationship with the press there between the president and the press.  And so I think I\u2019d like to see a President Trump do something similar to —<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH:  Of course we would.  Everybody would love the press to treat their guy the way they treated JFK.  Oh, my God.  That would be nirvana.  The press thought they were going to King Arthur\u2019s roundtable every day.  They thought they were heading into Camelot.  They thought they are part of the story.  JFK was in there, Jackie, I mean, it was idyllic. <\/p>\n

I remember reporters and JFK chuckling and laughing during press conferences.  Oh, yeah, that would be fabulous.  Never gonna happen.  If you hold out for something like that as your definition of a successful candidate who can have a relationship like that with the media, it isn\u2019t gonna ever, ever happen.  Not in our lifetimes.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Steve in Columbus, Ohio, it\u2019s your turn.  Great to have you, sir.  Hi.<\/p>\n

CALLER:  Hi, Rush.  Thanks for taking my call.<\/p>\n

RUSH:  You bet.<\/p>\n

CALLER:  I just wanted to know who it was out there that\u2019s defined what it is to act presidential.  It just kind of irritates me because, to me, Mr. Trump is acting presidential.  He\u2019s strong. He doesn\u2019t want anyone to run over him.  He\u2019s principled, in my opinion.  And I\u2019m proud of him.  And I\u2019ll tell you what, nothing makes me more sick than seeing these “read my lips” Republicans not supporting him.  Anyway, I just wanted to get your feedback.<\/p>\n

RUSH:  That\u2019s a good question.  Who defines presidential?  Nina Easton just said that she hoped Trump would become presidential.  She\u2019s by no means alone.  There\u2019s all kinds of people suggesting that it\u2019s time now for Trump to pivot from the primary campaign attitudes and to assume the presidential attitude now, whatever it is.  I guess we\u2019d have to say the establishment defines that. <\/line><\/p>\n

Now, if you want to go for the real definition of presidential, go read the Federalist Papers.  The Federalist Papers will go into great detail about what the founders thought was necessary in an executive leader.  And you know what was at the top of it?  Morality, character, decency.  John Adams, I believe it was, who said the Constitution was written for men of character, people, he meant, of character.  If it ever fell into the hands of people without character or morality, that it was as worthless as the paper that it was on. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s an interesting thing to discuss, how has the Constitution survived.  I mean, there\u2019s no penalty.  The Constitution\u2019s not gonna eat you if you ignore it.  The Constitution\u2019s not the gonna call somebody and have you shot.  And yet for most of our 200 years there has been total adherence to it, or remarkable adherence.  And this has come from the character of the leaders that we\u2019ve had.  This is the definition of the rule of law and why it\u2019s so important, respect for the law, the rule of law, that nobody\u2019s above it, and so forth. <\/p>\n

Well, now we see that we have somebody in the White House to whom the Constitution\u2019s become an obstacle, and he\u2019s by no means the first, and he\u2019s by no means the only.  All kinds of liberals.  And many of them in his cabinet, many of them in his Regime who also think the Constitution is an obstacle that has to be overcome, swept out of the way, either privately or publicly or what have you.  But regardless, the Constitution is a great obstacle to totalitarians and statists and authoritarians. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s one definition of presidential, is what the founders thought.  And it\u2019s much deeper than just character and morality.  But if you look at the qualifications that are spelled out in the Constitution, basically birth and age.  I mean, you don\u2019t have to pace past any mental test.  The founders thought the people, the voters would take care of things like that, that we wouldn\u2019t elect somebody criminally insane.  But what is presidential in the modern context, who is defining that?  Would you say that it\u2019s elements of the Washington establishment, or is it the media? <\/line><\/p>\n

Is the definition of the term “acting presidential,” does it simply mean anything but what Trump does?  Is acting presidential being boring?  Is being presidential being substantive and wonkish and policy focused at all times?  What is “acting presidential”?  Particularly when so many in the Drive-Bys think that Trump is not being presidential, he\u2019s not acting presidential.  Why?  Well, because he insults people, and he blames people.  He targets people.  He calls people names.  He calls his own party members names.  He calls members of the press names.  That\u2019s not presidential.  Well, depends. <\/p>\n

I mean, there have been a lot of presidents in private, the things they say about people, they\u2019re just like you and me, folks, in what they think about other people and what they say about them.  I\u2019ve had firsthand experience with three different presidents.  But that\u2019s the private side.  Publicly is a president like George W. Bush who never responds to critics.  Does press conferences, lets the press ask whatever they want, hems and haws around, answers whatever he wants and tries to not answer anything else, and then lets the chips fall where they fall.<\/p>\n

Being presidential like Bill Clinton does, with what goes on in the Oval Office with people like Monica Lewinsky, and then lying about it with your wife standing at your side.  What is presidential?  What\u2019s “acting presidential”?  Well, in the current context, what is meant by Trump must act presidential is that Trump must change.  Trump must stop being who he is, \u2019cause Trump, as he is, is unacceptable to us. <\/p>\n

Does the press act presidential?  Is the White House press corps presidential?  Are they overflowing with respect and moral turpitude and other such things?  Where is this standard of behavior etched in stone, and who did it?  Who gets to define who is and who isn\u2019t presidential?  Obama has called Republicans hostage takers and terrorists.  Was that presidential? <\/p>\n

Hillary said the media shamed Trump into giving his $1 million donation to the vets.  She\u2019s lying.  Is lying like that acting presidential?  Is Mrs. Clinton presidential? (imitating Hillary) “I ain\u2019t no ways tired.”  “I\u2019m going to call anybody whatever name I want to call \u2019em because I can\u2019t seem to –”  Is that presidential?  Showing up in Mao pantsuits every day with orange, red, bright, vibrant colors presidential?  I mean, what is this?  We all know what it is. <\/p>\n

Quincy, Illinois, next and Jeff, great to have you EIB Network.  Hello, sir.<\/p>\n

<\/a>CALLER:  Hi, Rush.  I think what Trump is doing, he starts out by being himself, calling people sleazes and slime and getting massive responses at his rallies the second he mentions the press, but I think he then has pivoted to do more of what you do, and that is, pick out a specific example, like Katie Couric<\/a>, and then just barbecue her.  And I don\u2019t think — you know, you mentioned yesterday that the press liked to be called a sleaze because they could use that as a new badge of honor and —<\/p>\n

RUSH:  Well, partly they do.  I mean, there\u2019s a couple reporters today actually writing they wish Hillary would insult them so they\u2019d have something to work with here on the other side.  It\u2019s a badge of honor, make no mistake.  This guy that was called a sleaze, his kids, that\u2019s one of the first things they\u2019re gonna be taught about who their father is.  It\u2019s a moment of great achievement in the media.  It is.  Don\u2019t doubt me on this.<\/p>\n

CALLER:  You\u2019re right in that they receive so notoriety in that regard, but I don\u2019t think Katie Couric, who is exposed very specifically for very poor journalism, I don\u2019t think she looks upon it as a badge of honor —<\/p>\n

RUSH:  Oh, no, no, no.  You\u2019re right.  That\u2019s exactly right.  But it\u2019s a big different thing.  When Trump identifies somebody personally and calls them a sleaze, that\u2019s a badge honor.  In many ways the media will say, “Success, I got Trump off his game. I really upset Trump. I really bother Trump.  And that\u2019s what I\u2019m here to do.”  And so it becomes an incident where you put a notch in your belt. <\/p>\n

The Katie Couric thing, there\u2019s nothing admirable about that.  She\u2019s just not a good person, and every such incident that she\u2019s involved with just confirms that.  You\u2019re exactly right.  There\u2019s no comparison.  She\u2019s not proud of that.  She wishes she could strip that away.  And her friends in the media will help her.<\/p>\n

CALLER:  Yes.  And, Rush, I\u2019d also add that your listeners, we hear what you\u2019ve said about the press for years.  The public at large and moderates and so forth, they hear the moniker, “Oh, the press is liberal,” and they don\u2019t even really… I don\u2019t think they get it.  But when Trump starts using specific examples, I think people\u2019s eyes are being opened. You know, whereas to some extent you preach to the choir, you know, Trump is now preaching to a much larger national and even international audience, and I think people are finally seeing maybe what many of us conservatives have seen for 20 years.  They\u2019re now being exposed for the first time, and it\u2019s very unique.<\/p>\n

RUSH:  You know what?  I think it\u2019s a good point in terms of Trump. By virtue of being a candidate and therefore being on the news all the time, the low-information crowd can\u2019t escape him.  And they\u2019re watching what\u2019s happening, and it has to be eye-opening, just as some of these exposes on the Clintons are for a lot of people who are young and were not alive or old enough back then to have the slightest idea what happened. Nor were they influenced by the slavish Clinton State-Controlled Media covering up for him all those years.  So that\u2019s a good point, too.  I\u2019m really glad you called, Jeff. <\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Phillip in Sarasota, Florida.  I\u2019m glad you waited, sir.  You\u2019re up first today.  Big responsibility.  How are you? CALLER:  Hey, thanks.  Thanks for taking the call. RUSH:  Yeah. 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