{"id":241774,"date":"2017-07-24T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=241774"},"modified":"2017-07-25T15:52:15","modified_gmt":"2017-07-25T19:52:15","slug":"republicans-are-squandering-a-chance-we-never-thought-wed-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2017\/07\/24\/republicans-are-squandering-a-chance-we-never-thought-wed-see\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans Are Squandering a Chance They Never Thought They\u2019d See"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: We\u2019re living at a time in our lives, you and me — politically, we\u2019re living in circumstances — I don\u2019t think very many of us ever thought we would have.<\/p>\n

Do you realize that aside from the embeds and the career people that have been appointed to the various levels of bureaucracy by previous presidents going all the way back to Jimmy Carter…? Aside from that, the Republican Party, on paper, runs Washington, D.C. The Democrat Party, on paper, has not had this low a power profile since the 1920s. I\u2019m referring to elected positions held. Now, don\u2019t forget the caveat: I know there\u2019s all kinds of Obama holdovers and Clinton holdovers at the Pentagon, the DOJ, and I know that matters. I know that counts.<\/p>\n

\"\"But they still do not have the power that the Republicans have, and it is one of the most perplexing and frustrating and angering things, a circumstance… I don\u2019t know how many of you ever really thought the Republicans would win the White House, control the Senate and the House at the same time, with such majorities. Two seats in the Senate. But even Trump\u2019s electoral victory. Yet, despite that, what outward evidence of it do we see? I would submit that most of you think that the media and therefore the Democrats still run Washington.<\/p>\n

Even though the media hasn\u2019t been elected to anything. The media does not hold elective power. The Republicans do. It is one of the most exasperating things. Six months into a Republican administration, after how many years of promises to, say, repeal Obamacare, and we\u2019re not an inch closer to it in reality than we were before last year\u2019s election? It\u2019s not gonna get any better than this. The only way it could get better is if this Republican majority were populated by more conservatives and different ideological types.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not gonna happen in our lifetimes, it doesn\u2019t look like. This is it! It doesn\u2019t… It\u2019s not gonna get any better than this, and I cannot believe that this opportunity is not seen by these very Republicans we\u2019re talking about in Washington — in the House, in the Senate, throughout the administration. (interruption) No, no. My head\u2019s not in the sand; I understand they all hate Trump, or enough of them do. I understand all that. Actually, folks, it\u2019s one of my points here. It\u2019s an opportunity being squandered, and I know it has you frustrated.<\/p>\n

What Trump is talking about here is: Why aren\u2019t these Republican committees, why aren\u2019t these Republican investigators — why isn\u2019t my attorney general — looking into Hillary Clinton\u2019s crimes? If you\u2019re gonna investigate what-all went on with Russia, how in the world do you leave the Democrats out of it? How do you leave Hillary Clinton out of it? The Republicans run the show! It\u2019s time for the Republicans to start acting like it. Politics is what it is. The Republicans don\u2019t appear to want to play the game.<\/p>\n

\"\"I know the old saw: They didn\u2019t think they were gonna win, therefore they weren\u2019t prepared. So what? They did win. It ought to be euphoric. It ought to be exciting. Apparently, it isn\u2019t. Apparently, it\u2019s frustrating and challenging and all kinds of things you would never associate with victory. Victory shouldn\u2019t be a problem. Victory shouldn\u2019t be a negative. We\u2019re in a huge battle in this country, and it isn\u2019t populists and nationalists versus conservatives or conservatives versus moderates or moderates versus progressives.<\/p>\n

We are in a battle for the future of the country. You could call it “patriots versus progressives.” You could call it “Americanism versus liberalism.” You could call it what it is. Whatever you want to call it. It is what it is. It is us against the progressives who are attempting to change and transform this country away from what it was founded to be, and there just doesn\u2019t seem to be any push-back, especially with all of this power. And do not doubt me: They have loads of power, and they\u2019re not using it.<\/p>\n

We can come up with all the guesses (and we would be right eight out of 10 times) why they\u2019re not investigating Hillary, why they are not investigating the Democrats\u2019 connection with the Russians. By the way, there\u2019s new news out today that the FBI did get hold of some computer equipment from Debbie “Blabbermouth” Schultz\u2019s IT guy that they would not turn over to the FBI. There\u2019s a potential gold mine there to be investigated of Hillary and the Democrats and the Democrat National Committee, and there just doesn\u2019t seem (that we know of, anyway) to be any energy to uncover it.<\/p>\n

All of the energy seems to be focused on getting Trump and getting rid of Trump — which I, of course, am not denying that they want to do that. We\u2019ve chronicled it here. But an opportunity is being squandered the likes of which (chuckles) we never thought we were gonna get. We hoped for it, and it probably is not something we could reasonably expect happen again. If it does, it\u2019s only because the Democrats are so hapless.<\/p>\n

Even in the midst of all of this, the Democrats still cannot come up with an issue-oriented agenda to appeal to voters. All they\u2019ve got is their phrase, “Well, we\u2019re not those guys,” or “Trump sucks,” or whatever it is they\u2019re running around saying. They don\u2019t have… They can\u2019t come up with one thing to give people a reason to vote for them. That\u2019s how decrepit their agenda actually is. It just adds to the frustration that the opportunity we all see in front of us being squandered presents.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: One play a sound bite here from Brit Hume since we\u2019re talking about this. This was this morning on America\u2019s Newsroom, Fox News Channel. Shannon Bream was talking to the analyst emeritus at Fox News — senior political analyst emeritus — Brit Hume. Shannon Bream said, “Let\u2019s start with health care. A lot of the senators say that they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re gonna be asked to vote on, that they don\u2019t know what\u2019s in this, so they don\u2019t know if they\u2019ll vote to proceed to debate or not.”<\/p>\n

\"\"HUME: If that happens, it will be one of the most colossal failures we\u2019ve seen by any political party in power in a very long time indeed. It will be the first entitlement reform of any size in a long time. It is something the Republicans have long committed themselves to doing and which, for the ultimate financial and fiscal health of the country, clearly needs to be done. If Republicans can\u2019t even do this, it will signify, I think, Shannon, that entitlement reform — which is something, you know, nearly everybody agrees needs to be done — can never happen. Because if the Republicans can\u2019t do it when they control the White House and both houses if Congress, you gotta ask the question: When can it ever happen?<\/p>\n

xRUSH: You know, that\u2019s an interesting point, kind of along the lines up of the point that I\u2019ve been making: We\u2019re never gonna have this opportunity again. Well, in some of our lifetimes we\u2019re not gonna have in opportunity. Let\u2019s face it, folks: Psychologically, attitudinally, a lot of Republicans in Washington never dreamed of this going to happen. They thought Trump was toast. They all did. Everybody in that town. Now, there\u2019s some exceptions, of course, but I\u2019m talking about dyed-in-the-wool insiders in Washington.<\/p>\n

Every one of them thought Hillary Clinton was gonna win. It was only a question of how big was her landslide going to be. We\u2019ve had Republicans admit that they weren\u2019t prepared to win, they weren\u2019t, therefore, planning on actually governing. They were planning on resisting. Which they didn\u2019t think they were gonna have much success at resisting \u2019cause they didn\u2019t think that they were gonna have much power. I know for a fact that a number of them thought that the first female president was gonna be just as impossible to deal with as the first African-American, meaning:<\/p>\n

“You can\u2019t criticize her, \u2019cause if you criticize her, the press will call you a misogynist or a sexist or a pig.” So they were prepared to basically get walked over again like they have been the last eight years under Obama. And then, all of a sudden, the unexpected happens and nobody\u2019s prepared for it. And because nobody was prepared for it, there was nobody that actually… If you don\u2019t think it\u2019s possible, really don\u2019t think it\u2019s possible, then how do you attitudinally\/psychologically prepare yourself for the thing that you don\u2019t think is possible? You don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

So Trump wins, and it\u2019s an absolute shock, and then the added bonus — or detriment depending how you look at it — is a lot of Republicans won because of Trump. It wasn\u2019t just that Trump secured victory for himself. He\u2019s right! He did pull many of them across the finish line. He is the reason the Republicans have a majority in the Senate. He is the reason the Republican majority in the House expanded. You couple that with two things: They never expected it to happen, and some of them wish it hadn\u2019t happened. So here\u2019s Brit Hume saying if Republicans can\u2019t get rid of entitlements…<\/p>\n

\"\"You know how important that is? Reducing the size of government means reducing government spending and reducing the role of government in people\u2019s lives, in terms of oppressive regulation, things like that. It\u2019s something the Republicans have ideologically stood for. It\u2019s been part of their brand. It\u2019s been part of their positioning for who knows how long. If they can\u2019t do it, if the Republicans can\u2019t reduce the budget, if the Republicans can\u2019t stop growing government, if the Republicans can\u2019t even repeal a horrible health care bill, then who can?<\/p>\n

Who will? And this is his point. But I think you can\u2019t take Trump out of this equation. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s right to say, “If the Republicans can\u2019t do it when they control the White House…” It\u2019s if the Republicans won\u2019t do it. That, to me, is a far more accurate description of what\u2019s going on: If they won\u2019t do it. And I\u2019m telling you, much… I know it\u2019s redundant and repetitive, but some of this is due to the fact that there are people in that town (both parties) that just do not want Trump to succeed because that could be the worst thing for them that could happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: The Republicans run the show. It's time for the Republicans to start acting like it. Politics is what it is. The Republicans don't appear to want to play the game. I know the old saw: They didn't think they were gonna win, therefore they weren't prepared. So what? They did win. It ought to be euphoric. It ought to be exciting. Apparently it isn't.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nRepublicans Are Squandering a Chance They Never Thought They'd See - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2017\/07\/24\/republicans-are-squandering-a-chance-we-never-thought-wed-see\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Republicans Are Squandering a Chance They Never Thought They'd See - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: The Republicans run the show. It's time for the Republicans to start acting like it. Politics is what it is. The Republicans don't appear to want to play the game. I know the old saw: They didn't think they were gonna win, therefore they weren't prepared. So what? They did win. It ought to be euphoric. It ought to be exciting. Apparently it isn't.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/GOPLose.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"George Prayias\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2017\/07\/24\/republicans-are-squandering-a-chance-we-never-thought-wed-see\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/GOPLose.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/GOPLose.jpg\",\"width\":585,\"height\":270},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2017\/07\/24\/republicans-are-squandering-a-chance-we-never-thought-wed-see\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2017\/07\/24\/republicans-are-squandering-a-chance-we-never-thought-wed-see\/\",\"name\":\"Republicans Are Squandering a Chance They Never Thought They'd See - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2017\/07\/24\/republicans-are-squandering-a-chance-we-never-thought-wed-see\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-24T17:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-25T19:52:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2bc43fbe4b4e1ff4d1f092c6086a349\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2017\/07\/24\/republicans-are-squandering-a-chance-we-never-thought-wed-see\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2017\/07\/24\/republicans-are-squandering-a-chance-we-never-thought-wed-see\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2017\/07\/24\/republicans-are-squandering-a-chance-we-never-thought-wed-see\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Republicans Are Squandering a Chance They Never Thought They\\u2019d See\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2bc43fbe4b4e1ff4d1f092c6086a349\",\"name\":\"George Prayias\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a43c262983f0228d5f474ce08e691cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a43c262983f0228d5f474ce08e691cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"George Prayias\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/georgeeibnet-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Republicans Are Squandering a Chance They Never Thought They'd See - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2017\/07\/24\/republicans-are-squandering-a-chance-we-never-thought-wed-see\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"Republicans Are Squandering a Chance They Never Thought They'd See - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"RUSH: The Republicans run the show. 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