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PENCE: I\u2019m especially pleased, and I know the president-elect is especially pleased, that we\u2019re wrapping up this transition on schedule and under budget.<\/p>\nRUSH: We had a couple of press conferences today from Sean Spicer, who\u2019s the new White House press secretary and the vice president, Mike Pence, and it was really refreshing to hear some normal, mature adults answering questions from the media and explaining things in a way that didn\u2019t cause suspicion or anger. It was just decent. It was not dishonest, it was not misleading, it was just… It was refreshing. I\u2019m gonna give you a couple of examples. Here is Pence, and… Oh, by the way, Trump in Washington is going to stay at his hotel.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s called Trump International. He\u2019s gonna stay there. In fact, he walked in there earlier, got a standing O from the employees! That made the media mad. They thought the employees shouldn\u2019t show that kind of respect for the owner when he comes in. That\u2019s just not right. Now, the press can bow down and kiss the feet of Obama when he walks in the pressroom, and that\u2019s fine. But the people that work for Trump, they\u2019re not supposed to lose their composure like that, by giving him a standing ovation.<\/p>\n
And now they\u2019re upset that Trump is staying in his other than hotel. You know why? Because it\u2019s said to be a conflict of interest, that Trump, as the president-elect, soon to be president, staying at his own hotel, is free advertising. And he is benefiting from his powerful position by choosing to stay at his own hotel. The media raised these questions today in the press conference. “Don\u2019t you think the president is a little bit unseemly here. I mean, there\u2019s clearly a conflict of interest, being seen walking into his own hotel and staying there. I mean…” What\u2019s he supposed to do, go over to the Harry Reid suite at the Ritz-Carlton? It\u2019s unbelievable.<\/p>\n
Anyway, here\u2019s Pence, just one sound bite just to show you what mature adults who inspire confidence sound like.<\/p>\n
PENCE: I\u2019m especially pleased, and I know the president-elect is especially pleased, that we\u2019re wrapping up this transition on schedule and under budget.<\/p>\n
CROWD: (chuckling)<\/p>\n
PENCE: We will actually return some 20% of taxpayer funding back to the U.S. Treasury, and that is just exactly in keeping with the president-elect\u2019s expectations going forward. He is a businessman that knows how to sharpen his pencil.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Speaking of that, folks, there is a story in TheHill.com today that is just over-the-top amazing. Here\u2019s the headline: “Trump Team Prepares Dramatic Cuts.<\/a>” Now, we\u2019ve seen stories prior to today that mention ballpark figures, like Trump\u2019s gonna cut 10% here, 20% there. This story details it, TheHill.com. It starts this way: “Donald Trump is ready to take an axe to government spending.” This is just… This is throwing gasoline on the fire that\u2019s already burning. This may be throwing cherry bombs on the fire that is the Democrat Party and the media.<\/p>\n “The departments of Commerce and Energy would see major reductions in funding, with programs under their jurisdiction either being eliminated or transferred to other agencies. The departments of Transportation, Justice and State would see significant cuts and program eliminations.” Let me tell you something. The Department of Justice alone you could get rid of half of it. You wouldn\u2019t believe the obscure, oddball, interagency departments that they have. You have the civil rights division. You have the one-armed amputees on 4th Street civil rights division. You have the voting rights civil rights division.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve got so many of these creepy little divisions in the Department of Justice that nobody knows they\u2019re all there. There\u2019s all kinds of stuff that could be cut. There is redundancy after redundancy, and there\u2019s unnecessity after unnecessity. And they\u2019ve identified it. And over him at Commerce… Do you know what 80% of the Commerce Department is? I have told you before. How many of you remember? The Commerce Department is about what it says: Commerce. Commerce is what? Well, that\u2019s economic activity between entities.<\/p>\n Eighty percent… Are you ready? I read this in a… I can\u2019t recall the place I read it, but I\u2019ve seen a number of different places. Eighty percent of the Commerce Department is the National Weather Service and everything the National Weather Service does. You\u2019ve got all satellites up there, you have the weather forecast, you have the fraud that exists with global warming. Some of that is located in the Commerce Department. Some of the fraud with global warming is over at NASA as well. But basically the Commerce Department is the National Weather Service, and 20% of it is not.<\/p>\n The point being there\u2019s room to cut there, and the Department of Energy? You could get rid of it! You could get rid of it. The Department of Energy has become the headquarters for climate change activism in the United States government no matter who the president has been. Here\u2019s more from TheHill.com story on Trump\u2019s dramatic budget cuts. “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting would be privatized, while the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities would be eliminated entirely.” (choking)<\/p>\n Folks, wait \u2019til the people involved in those two find. Jeez! It\u2019s like painting that rainbow flag monochrome. Oh, no! This is gonna be… I don\u2019t want to around if this happens. “Overall, the blueprint being used by Trump\u2019s team would reduce federal spending,” Ae you ready for this? “By $10.5 trillion over 10 years.” The national debt is $20 trillion, and Trump says he\u2019s gonna cut half of it in over 10 years. How many of you have heard, “Well, you can\u2019t cut the budget”? I\u2019ve heard this from think tanks, I\u2019ve heard it from conservatives, I\u2019ve heard it from liberals, I\u2019ve heard it from the media.<\/p>\n Everybody just says, “Yeah, can\u2019t cut that.” He most certainly can. The debt is $20 trillion, and $10 trillion of it added in the last eight years. It\u2019s beyond anybody\u2019s ability to comprehend how much money this is. And the idea that all of it is being legitimately spent and that we still don\u2019t have enough, a $20 trillion national debt means we\u2019ve spent $20 trillion that we don\u2019t have in addition to what we have spent. And now people come and say, “No, no, no! We need even more, and we certainly can\u2019t cut.”<\/p>\n It\u2019s one of the big myths that has been spread for decades out of Washington, across the hinterlands, you can\u2019t cut the federal budget, and it\u2019s been said for so long that people have just accepted it. “The proposed cuts hew closely to a blueprint published last year by the … Heritage Foundation, a think tank that has helped staff the Trump transition.” Uh-oh. You heard that? Heritage Foundation? Think tank? Conservatism? These are the guys telling Trump where to cut the budget? Oh no.<\/p>\n Do you realize most think tanks have been sort of marginalized precisely because of the Trump campaign and because of the Trump election, and yet the Heritage Foundation is still front and center and right in the center of the mix. And, by the way, Heritage for decades has been working on legitimate budget cuts. It\u2019s not something they put together overnight for the last six months. It\u2019s something that\u2019s been ready to go for anybody brave enough in Washington to give it a whirl. We\u2019ll see if Trump is that guy.<\/p>\n TheHill.com and the Democrats are clearly worried that Trump is the guy that\u2019s going to try to seriously reduce the size of government. Do you realize how many people are gonna hope he fails here? Ho-ho-ho-ho! (chuckling) Can you say half of the conservative movement, all of liberalism and the entire Washington establishment will be right in there hoping to hell Trump fails, within unless the way he does it is hews very closely to conservative doctrine. If he does that and reduces, then I take back what I say about half the conservative movement.<\/p>\n Because Trump is viewed as a “populist,” and conservatives don\u2019t like populists. Conservatives think populism is a dangerous substitute for conservatism, it really isn\u2019t, and Trump say populist within, they claim. Conservatism, one of the foundational aspects of it is shrinking government, reducing government, getting government out of people\u2019s way, but there hasn\u2019t been much success of it. There hadn\u2019t been any success to speak of. We\u2019ve had the sequester and there\u2019ve been a couple of marginally successful efforts.<\/p>\n But nobody\u2019s tried anything like this. Conservatives have been advocating it for years. If Trump… And TheHill.com, I guarantee you the left is gonna convinced he\u2019s gonna try it. And they\u2019re worried about they can\u2019t stop it, folks, they don\u2019t have the votes to stop anything. This piece in The Politico that I mentioned earlier, “Democrats in the Wilderness,” I can\u2019t wait to share this with you \u2019cause it gets right to the nub of it. They can\u2019t stop anything. That\u2019s why they have to have CNN do stories on what if Trump doesn\u2019t make it to the inauguration? What if something happens?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/RushEconomy.jpg\")
<\/a>I mean, Trump\u2019s already assaulted their sensibilities by winning but now he\u2019s actually gonna do what he said he was gonna do? Oh, no. “Staffers for the Trump transition team have been meeting with career staff at the White House ahead of Friday\u2019s presidential inauguration to outline their plans for shrinking the federal bureaucracy, The Hill has learned. The changes they propose are dramatic.” Here\u2019s what TheHill.com is reporting might come under Trump\u2019s budget knife:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/TrumpJobsThink-Different.jpg\")
<\/a>I\u2019ve heard, “You can\u2019t cut the budget! There isn\u2019t enough discretionary spending.” I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve heard this: “60%, 70% of the budget is entitlements,” meaning government giving, meaning Santa Claus. “I mean, you can\u2019t cut Santa Claus! You\u2019ve got 60, 65% of the budget untouchable. Sorry, no way to cut it,” and everybody\u2019s just accepted it. “Whoa, yeah! Can\u2019t cut Social Security. Yep, can\u2019t cut Medicare. Yep, can\u2019t cut SSI. Yep, can\u2019t cut” what the hell ever else is out there under the umbrella of entitlements and whatever. “Can\u2019t cut that!”<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Defeat-The-Democrats-_-Convention-B.jpg\")
<\/a>That\u2019s why they\u2019re encouraging all their protests. Same with John Lewis. You know, this pathetic crowd of little kids, childish adults standing on supposed principle. The Democrats wouldn\u2019t know principle if it was staring them in the face and they\u2019re claiming because of principle they can\u2019t go to the inauguration. You know what they\u2019re scared to death of? You know what every Democrat is most afraid of today and tomorrow going forward? That Trump is going to succeed. Half of the Republican Party probably fit into that camp of being frightened, too, because the Washington establishment has been telling us it\u2019s the best that can be done.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Rush-Images-CIGAR-B.png\")
<\/a>Oh, by the way, folks, there\u2019s a rumor going on that Antonio Brown was at it Trump luncheon and that\u2019s why there\u2019s video of it. He\u2019s not there. He was practicing today with the Steelers, getting ready for the Patriots on Sunday night.<\/p>\n