{"id":214484,"date":"2016-09-23T16:23:52","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T20:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/172.24.32.11\/daily\/2016\/09\/23\/monday_night_debate_drama_what_should_trump_do_if_hillary_coughs_\/"},"modified":"2018-01-26T20:04:19","modified_gmt":"2018-01-27T01:04:19","slug":"monday_night_debate_drama_what_should_trump_do_if_hillary_coughs_","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/23\/monday_night_debate_drama_what_should_trump_do_if_hillary_coughs_\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Night Debate Drama: What Should Trump Do If Hillary Coughs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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RUSH: Everybody wondering what the debate rules are gonna be and how much leeway the presidential commission on Hillary winning the debates will give Hillary in her quest to win the debates.  And it looks like the Commission on Presidential Debates for Hillary to win the debates is not gonna make it any easier on her than anybody else, at least on paper.  We won\u2019t know until something actually happens.  <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Here\u2019s the latest.  The debate\u2019s coming up on Monday night, and we know Monday Night Football numbers are gonna be down on the debate because we\u2019re expecting now eight to a hundred million, Super Bowl kind of numbers for the debate on Monday night.  The Clinton camp wanted these debates on Monday Night Football, hoping fewer would watch, just like they scheduled her debates with Crazy Bernie on Saturday nights during the Democrat primary. And fewer people did watch.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not gonna be the case here.  So Mrs. Clinton is 5\u20194 in her flats.  If she wears those little Nurse Ratched heels, she may get up to 5\u20194 and three-quarters or 5\u20195.  Donald Trump is 6\u20192.  Donald Trump is great television, just has it.  Trump looks good on TV.  And then everything he does on TV is an added bonus.  You either have it or you don\u2019t, and that\u2019s why the people who have it earn a lot of money.  It\u2019s one of those genealogical things that some people have and most people don\u2019t. <\/line><\/p>\n

Hillary doesn\u2019t have it.  She doesn\u2019t command the screen. She doesn\u2019t look intimidating, inviting, engaging.  Man, you know what you people ought to do? Remember the audio sound bite we played yesterday where Hillary is speaking to some labor thugs, labor union people, and she said, “Why aren\u2019t I 50 points ahead?”  You ought to see the entire video.<\/a>  Well, it\u2019s 45 seconds.  It is great.  The eyes, the anger on the face.  Sorry, folks, it just doesn\u2019t work.  As I say, it\u2019s not engaging.  It\u2019s not welcoming.  She just doesn\u2019t have it.  I\u2019m not predicting the impact of this, I\u2019m just telling you. <\/p>\nAnd Trump has all of that.  She doesn\u2019t have any of it, and now you throw in whatever is going on with her health, and the people in her camp know what that is.  And the people in her camp, I\u2019m sure they\u2019re scared to death.  ‘Cause they can\u2019t predict and they can\u2019t control when these episodes that she has happen.  Like the coughing spasms or the things that look like seizures or the darting eyes.  <\/line>They try to control it with medication.  Medication has side effects.  She\u2019s been taking a lot of rest in the days of this week, and they\u2019ve said, “Yeah, it\u2019s to prepare and get ready for the debate.” <\/line>\n

I\u2019m sure that the objective in the Clinton camp, unless we\u2019re being set up royally, which the Clintons have a propensity of doing, I\u2019m sure their major task is doing everything they can to make sure she can get through 90 minutes of live TV without any kind of an episode.  But I want you to keep in mind the Clintons set us up royally a number of times, get people expecting like I just mentioned Hillary to have an event and then just come out and just be 110 percent energetic and just mow everybody down. <\/p>\n

Now, she\u2019s not done that once yet on the campaign trail, so it\u2019s a way-out-there possibility.  But with the Clintons you always have to keep it in reserve as a possibility.  So the Hillary people have asked for a stool that she could stand on so as to reduce the obvious difference in height, Trump 6\u20192, Hillary 5\u20194.  The presidential commission on debates said, no, no stool.  You\u2019ve got to stand as you exist.  You can change the height of the podium to accommodate your height, but you cannot have a stool. You cannot have footstool or any of that. <\/p>\n

Now, what happens if she slips into a coughing fit?  What happens if there\u2019s any other medical event during the debate?  Well, the Drudge Report, having inside information, claims she\u2019s just gonna have to power through it, which, by the way, Drudge is very clever.  That is a phrase that the Clinton campaign has been using to describe how tough their candidate is in dealing with all these obstacles.  Yep, our Hillary, she\u2019s powering through it. She\u2019s just gotta power through all this stuff, and so that\u2019s what she\u2019s gonna have to do in the debate on Monday, supposedly, supposedly. <\/p>\n

There are no commercial breaks, period.  If you recall, the reason why that came up, there was a debate — I think it was in Philadelphia — and Martin O\u2019Malley up there and Crazy Bernie and Hillary.  And Hillary left the podium.  She went backstage for ten minutes, and nobody knows what she did.  So the mind begins to wonder.  Was it a bathroom break? Was she on the verge of a coughing spasm and had to get back there and start coughing backstage?  What was it?  Then she came back, Crazy Bernie didn\u2019t try to capitalize on it or any of the sort. <\/p>\n

<\/a>But there isn\u2019t gonna be any of that allowed, according to the rules.  That\u2019s what\u2019s on paper right now.  I will wait to see if any of this really happens, what they choose as their way of dealing with it.  Lester Holt\u2019s the moderator, NBC News.  And, by the way, Lester Holt can see up close and personal what they\u2019ve done to his buddy Matt Lauer <\/a>for daring to ask Hillary questions about her email and her server.  Don\u2019t think that Lester Holt is not aware of what could happen to him by people on his own side at his own network if he actually asks her a tough question or two. <\/p>\n

“The presidential debate commission settled an early flashpoint when Clinton demanded a step-stool at the podium to add height to her 5\u20194 frame. Campaign Chairman John Podesta expressed concern that Hillary would be dwarfed by 6\u20192 Trump. The request was quickly rejected. The commission is allowing for a custom-made podium, which will accommodate the difference in stature.”<\/p>\n

No word on whether there\u2019s a secret teleprompter in Hillary\u2019s podium.  But, folks, I have a serious question for you.  I have a serious question for you.  Whatever else you call to talk about today, I would like your thoughts on this, if you have any.  We\u2019re going to engage in a what-if circumstance.  If, during the debate, Mrs. Clinton has one of her medical episodes, let\u2019s start with coughing first.  If Mrs. Clinton begins while she\u2019s speaking or whether Trump is speaking, or whatever, if she has a coughing spell — now remember, we\u2019re being told no stoppage, no sitting down, both candidates gotta stand up, no commercial breaks. <\/p>\n