![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Flake.jpg\")
Now we have Senator Jeff Flake from Arizona<\/a> who has written a book and has published an op-ed essentially saying the Republican Party needs to get some gonads and stand up to Trump, that this is absurd, that everybody\u2019s afraid of Trump and they need to start standing up to Trump. Trump is ruining the Republican Party. Flake says the only solution that we have is to go back to tried-and-true conservative values. That\u2019s the only thing we can do as a party to revive ourselves, and it is the only thing we can do to revive the country.<\/p>\nNow, that may sound good, and it does to me, and you wouldn\u2019t have me trying to throw cold water on that. But I have to tell you something. I\u2019ve studied the Trump campaign. I\u2019ve studied the Trumpster and the people that supported Trump, and I tried to tell everybody during the campaign that a majority of Trump supporters are not first and foremost conservatives. A lot of them are, but it\u2019s not the defining characteristic about them.<\/p>\n
The Trump coalition, the Trump coalition of voters — his voter base — includes a wide swath of Americans. It\u2019s white working-class voters; there\u2019s some African-Americans in there. There\u2019s some Democrats; some moderates; some independents; and all of them, if they have one thing in common that resonated from Trump, it\u2019s this “Make America Great Again” slogan.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the idea that we\u2019re losing the country, that it\u2019s slipping away. It\u2019s not just from a conservative standpoint, there are a lot of Americans who think this, and they coalesced behind the Trump campaign. And my point is that if the Trump coalition is viewed as the winning coalition in the future for the Republican Party, then maybe conservatism, hard and true, is not the magic elixir that Jeff Flake thinks it is. And I\u2019m just ruminating here. I mean, I think all this stuff is wide open.<\/p>\n
I think we\u2019re in the midst of all kinds of shifts, ideological shifts in the country that are going to make it very difficult for any expert to pin down and peg as, for example, what you have to have as a message, as a candidate, to put together this coalition, and will this coalition remain a coalition? Will it remain large enough to elect additional candidates outside of Trump, or is it exclusive only to Trump?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/GOPObamacareTicket.jpg\"){kind=icon}
And a side note here that\u2019s related to this. The Democrats have started winning elections again in state races. You don\u2019t hear about them, but in state races like state dogcatcher, state comptroller, the Democrats are starting to win some elections that they had been losing big time. And that could be seen as a red flag beginning to raise. But I don\u2019t think it means that much.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve got some stuff in both stacks, yesterday\u2019s and today\u2019s, the Democrat Party remains in heap big trouble. And the Republican Party, as a result, is blowing one of the greatest opportunities that it has had in yours and my lifetime, folks. It is in the midst of blowing perhaps the biggest opportunity because in politics there are many things that represent a great opportunity, and one of them is the Democrat Party is literally, literally falling apart.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t look that way because of the media, but the people who run for office on the left, particularly in national elections, are without ideas. They are without a message that they can be honest about. They are disintegrating. They are not universally popular as they have always been, and it\u2019s a tremendous opportunity. And Republicans yet seem to be unable to capitalize on this and take advantage of it.<\/p>\n
I think one of the reasons why is what I just said, probably is not believed. Probably thought not to be the case by elected Republicans in Washington. They probably do not believe the Democrat Party is in the trouble that it really is in.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: The one thing about Senator Jeff Flake saying that the Republicans need to stand up to Trump, what have they been doing? I think that\u2019s exactly what the Republican Party has been doing. The Republican Party has been trying to stand up to Trump.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/TrumpVS-GOP.jpg\")
The Republican Party in Congress, House and Senate, for the most part is doing what it can to stop Trump or to arrest his agenda. I really believe this. I don\u2019t think they\u2019re trying to capitalize on this at all. It\u2019s been one of my big bugaboos. It\u2019s the dominance of the Washington establishment prevailing over party politics.<\/p>\n
You know, throughout my entire career I\u2019ve had callers say, “Rush, there\u2019s no difference in the two parties,” and I\u2019ve seen always pooh-poohed that. And I\u2019ve always tried to tell them there\u2019s a huge difference, at least ideologically and structurally. And there is. If the Republicans happen to practice fealty to their agenda, to their beliefs, to their principles, there\u2019s a huge difference.<\/p>\n
But if the survivability of the establishment is something that takes precedence over party victory, then it isn\u2019t gonna matter what the party\u2019s principles are. And what we\u2019re facing right now, and this is where I think Flake misses the point, the Republican Party is already standing up to Trump. Now, they\u2019re not doing it verbally. They\u2019re not running out there to the microphones and saying, “We object to President Trump. We find President Trump objectable.”<\/p>\n
They\u2019re just simply blocking the agenda. They\u2019re not working hard on getting the agenda done. I\u2019ve been trying to explain this every which way from Sunday. The last thing in the world a lot of establishment types want is an outsider like Trump to succeed. You know it and I know it. And what that requires is stalling the agenda. And to me that is equivalent to standing up to Trump.<\/p>\n
Jeff Flake, when I think of straight down the middle archconservatives, his name doesn\u2019t come up in my mind. Now, I could be wrong about that. But Jeff Flake is as wishy-washy as McCain is on conservatism. So the idea that he\u2019s the standard-bearer, I mean, he may be, I don\u2019t know, but when I think of conservatives in Washington, his name doesn\u2019t — I don\u2019t think of him as an opposition leftist, but I don\u2019t think of him as a doctrinaire conservative. Do you? No. He\u2019s a Never Trumper. He always has been a Never Trumper. And many of them are. And it\u2019s contributing to the biggest blown opportunity in politics in my lifetime.<\/p>\n
This is absurd, this inability to do anything with Obamacare. And now the White House is signaling that they\u2019re gonna move past health care and look to taxes, at least New York Times says this. Folks, I have to tell you something else. And I don\u2019t want this to alarm you. But I\u2019ve gotten worn out with — I told you I don\u2019t watch cable news at night anymore, and I don\u2019t, but I have it on here during the program. And it\u2019s wearing me out, the whole premise that the Trump White House is a disorganized mess, I\u2019m past it. It doesn\u2019t affect me. It\u2019s beginning to bore me.<\/p>\n
It is so constant. It\u2019s so never ending. It\u2019s so single-minded that it doesn\u2019t even rile me up anymore, as opposed to when it first began shortly after Trump was elected, then during the transition, certainly after his inauguration. I was physically livid about it, actively livid about it. But now it\u2019s just gotten to be — when I say “boring,” I don\u2019t mean to say that it doesn\u2019t still present itself as a problem. It\u2019s just I\u2019m not as concerned about it as I have been. I know what\u2019s happening to Trump\u2019s approval numbers in certain polls, 39 or 40%. But I also say it\u2019s still early, this is only the first six months of the administration.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/650-031017-Rush-is-ON-Fire.jpg\")
Just the whole thing, just the whole flavor, the whole direction, the whole tone, it\u2019s so divorced from what\u2019s important to most people in day-to-day life that it holds not enough interest for me anymore to actually get mad about it. If anything, I just laugh and sigh at it. But it just seems childish. The Drive-By Media seems childish and immature and like a bunch of spoiled brats who are not getting their way. And especially CNN, the New York Times, Washington Post just won\u2019t stop with any of this.<\/p>\n
And I have to think if it\u2019s wearing me out, it probably wore you out a long time ago. (interruption) Why are you nodding your head at me? What do you mean, harder and harder to deal? You mean it\u2019s frustrating you more and more? Well, it\u2019s not frustrating me more. It is, but it isn\u2019t. You\u2019re frustrated that it\u2019s continuing to happen. I\u2019m frustrated that it keeps happening, but not because I think it\u2019s effective. It\u2019s just because it\u2019s so mindless. It\u2019s so childish. It\u2019s so predictable. I\u2019m hoping that it just wears itself out at some point with the audience.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll see. And I do, I realize they go in cycles on these things. Like tomorrow, something could happen and I could just get livid again and go back to where I was back in January or February when this stuff was brand-new. But it is childish, and it\u2019s just petulant. It\u2019s not professional. It is so clearly unfair and biased that to me it\u2019s a joke, but I realize that to many people it\u2019s far more serious than a joke. So I\u2019m not sloughing it off, and I\u2019m not ignoring it. I still factor it in here into day-to-day analysis of what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
I have a break coming up, but when we come back just a couple of stories that will detail the blown opportunity that the Republican Party is engaging in right now, these problems that the Democrats are in the midst of.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: This is Nate in Savannah. It\u2019s great to have you, Nate. Welcome. I\u2019m glad you waited. How are you doing?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/RushIsRightSHORT.jpg\")
CALLER: Uncle Rush, it\u2019s a tremendous pleasure to be speaking with you today, sir. I\u2019ve been listening to your show since 2011, and I\u2019ve been hooked ever since. I\u2019ve been wanting to have a conversation with you for a very long time. This is awesome.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Thank you! I appreciate that, Nate.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Well, the reason I called is because of one of the sound bites I heard in your last hour. It was one of your sound bites really warning politicians in Washington not to be swooned and seduced by the establishment and, you know, looking to have favor with the campaign donors and so forth. And it struck me, Donald Trump didn\u2019t have any of that. Donald Trump only had negative press. And he basically had a free ad campaign through the negative press, and that\u2019s because the press is viewed as negative. I mean, no one trusts the media anymore, and so negative press from a negative media equals a positive image. And it worked fantastically for Donald Trump. No one thought he would win except people like me and people like you. And he won.<\/p>\n
RUSH: You\u2019re exactly right. And it\u2019s a lesson the Republican Party refuses to learn. What he\u2019s talking about is my speech to the Republican freshmen in 1994 in which I told them the media in Washington is not gonna like them. They don\u2019t wish they had won. The media is gonna resent it. The Democrats are gonna remain their go-to friends. The Democrats are gonna be portrayed as still running the town. Do not fall for any of the come-ons that the Drive-By Media might make \u2019cause they resent the hell out of you. And Trump actually won the presidency without any of the support in the Drive-By Media that most Republicans seem to crave. And there\u2019s a lesson there. That\u2019s his point.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: Bill, you\u2019re next. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Welcome.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Yeah, Bill from Erie, Pennsylvania. Thanks for taking the call. You mentioned earlier how you think that you believe that the country would have been better off if it had conservative values restored, and I disagree with that. I think it\u2019s conservative spending. I do not believe that conservative social values are the way to go. I believe that it\u2019s more along the lines of liberal… liberal open values and very fiscally conservative spending.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Okay, so you would describe yourself as a social liberal and a fiscal conservative?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/GOPDefeatDemocrats-_-Convention-B.jpg\")
CALLER: Uh, yeah. Yeah.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Well, just a minor little correction — and I\u2019m not blaming you for misunderstanding. I was talking about Senator Jeff Flake from Arizona, who\u2019s written a book and has an op-ed claiming that the Republican Party is failing to stand up to Donald Trump. And along the way he says that the only solution for the problems in America is hard-core, mainstream conservatism. I was quoting him. And, in fact, I made the point that that\u2019s not how Donald Trump got elected. Donald Trump\u2019s support base — his voter base — is not just conservatives. I don\u2019t care whether you\u2019re talking social conservative or fiscal conservative, Trump\u2019s base is broad, and it includes some old Democrats.<\/p>\n
It includes a lot of independents and moderates, white working class, even some minorities. A lot of different minorities make up the Trump coalition. And it would be a mistake — and I don\u2019t know if Flake was saying this, but I think it would be a mistake for anybody to assume that it was, quote, unquote, conservatism that got Trump elected. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a president in our lifetime, outside of Reagan, who has a greater mandate than Donald Trump. Every day during the campaign, minimum three times a day, he spelled it out.<\/p>\n
He was elected precisely because of the agenda items that he kept pounding. And we know what they are. Fix the border, build a wall, get hold of illegal immigration, repeal and replace Obamacare, tax reform, rebuild America\u2019s infrastructure. It\u2019s there. He was elected for specific reasons. And many of those things are not exclusively conservative. Many of them are not exclusively liberal. That\u2019s why Trump\u2019s coalition\u2019s been tagged as populists or nationalists. I think that misunderstands a lot of the Trump coalition.<\/p>\n
If you ask me — and I know many of you would if you had the chance — I think that the unifying element, the glue, if you will, that put together the Trump coalition — the fact that this is true seen more frustrating when you look at the opportunity the Republican Party is blowing. The real glue that keeps that Trump coalition together, that assembled it, is anti-liberalism. People in this country fed up with the Democrat Party, fed up with the left. Fed up with the left on fiscal issues. Fed up with the left on cultural issues, social issues, whatever, just fed up.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Rush-Photos-SMALL-001.jpg\")
They\u2019re fed up with the media. They are fed up with every outward sign of liberalism. It\u2019s glorious! I don\u2019t care that Trump is a populist, a nationalist, a conservative, or what have you. I knew he was the only guy that could beat Hillary. Cruz a close second, but nobody else in that primary was gonna beat Hillary Clinton. Trump could, and I thought so from day one. And it was precisely — this is the interesting thing — precisely because Trump is not ideological that he was able to assemble that coalition, because the media didn\u2019t understand it, and because the media didn\u2019t understand it, they weren\u2019t able to destroy it.<\/p>\n
The media, in all of their glorious ego, refused to understand that it was them and people like them that the Trump coalition opposed! They thought people liked Trump because they were vulgar and they were arrogant and they thought they were Trump Mini-Mes. That\u2019s not why Trump was elected. It\u2019s not because people think that they\u2019re Donald Trump and want to be like Trump. It\u2019s because Trump, whether he knew it or not, was standing up in opposition to the forces that many people think are destroying the culture and the economy of this country.<\/p>\n
And people have become sophisticated because of this program and alternative media to understand that that is liberalism. It\u2019s in the news today. The Democrat Party is seen by more and more people as a statist party, Big Government party. Well, how\u2019s that working for people? It isn\u2019t. And all the people who have supported and voted Democrat under the premise that Democrats are gonna make life better for \u2019em have discovered that their lives are not getting better voting Democrat year after year after year.<\/p>\n
The Trump coalition was put together and kept together by an anti-leftist ideological tent that the media missed in their arrogance — serious people don\u2019t oppose liberalism, so — and all this snuck by them. And it remains the glue for the Trump coalition, pure and simple. That\u2019s what Jeff Flake is missing, and that\u2019s what the Republican Party is missing because they\u2019re blowing this great opportunity to deal liberalism, at least electorally, a minority entity for a generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RUSH: The Republican Party in Congress, House and Senate, for the most part is doing what it can to stop Trump or to arrest his agenda. I really believe this. I don't think they're trying to capitalize on this at all… And it's contributing to the biggest blown opportunity in politics in my lifetime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":242787,"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":"\n