RUSH: Now we go to the Upper West Side of Manhattan where Joshua whispers quietly to us on his cell phone in a crevice in an alley. How are you doing, sir?<\/p>\n
CALLER: Thank you for taking my call, Rush. Last time I tried to get through, I got disconnected so I\u2019m really happy I got through. My point is, what\u2019s clear is that the Republican establishment will not give Trump a legislative victory even if that means them going in the wilderness, like Lindsey Graham said, for 25 years.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Yeah.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/0-RushBig-Voice-041917.jpg\")
CALLER: And I think the only solution, Rush, is that maybe you gotta go back to TV, \u2019cause I think Trump likes TV, and maybe if he starts tuning in to you, he\u2019ll realize that not only is the Democrat Party establishment against him, but even more so, the Republican establishment will not give him any victory. They are severely impeding his efforts, and I really wish he would start realizing that.<\/p>\n
RUSH: You wish — well, let me ask you a question about this. Do you think that Trump is — don\u2019t misunderstand my tone here; it\u2019s a serious question. There\u2019s no contentiousness here. Do you think Trump is unaware of the Republicans\u2019 efforts to block him and stop him? Do you think he needs to be told by somebody on TV what\u2019s going on?<\/p>\n
CALLER: Yes and no. I think he really does because he looks at politics like a sports game where you defeat the other person, you give a handshake. He doesn\u2019t realize that this is politics, and when the left wins they crush the enemy, and he doesn\u2019t have that instinct to realize exactly what\u2019s up against him, whether it\u2019s the Democrats or even the Republican establishment. Like you\u2019ve always said, someone\u2019s trying to throw him out of their country club and they\u2019re not gonna let anyone do it. So I think he realizes it, but he doesn\u2019t see the killer instincts of politics. And even if he finally realized it now, it\u2019s really late in the game.<\/p>\n
RUSH: You know what I think you\u2019re really saying? Because I think he understands all that stuff. I think what you\u2019re really saying is that he doesn\u2019t use his political power, or may not know how political power is different from business power, in several ways. Look, I appreciate your compliment. You\u2019re thinking Trump doesn\u2019t listen to the radio, watches TV, and he really needs to hear what I\u2019m saying, \u2019cause you think he may not know it on his own.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Absolutely.<\/p>\n
RUSH: I just find that incredibly hard to believe that Trump may not, after this many months of the Republicans obstructing everything he wants to do, you think he\u2019s really falling for their ruse that they\u2019re trying to but they just can\u2019t seem to unify?<\/p>\n
CALLER: Rush, you mentioned your meeting with him in Mar-a-Lago where he didn\u2019t realize that. A lot of people realized it before that meeting, and he just doesn\u2019t see things that way. Now, maybe he\u2019s realizing it —<\/p>\n
RUSH: But he\u2019s got people who do, for crying out loud. He\u2019s got people around him who know as well as I do what\u2019s going on out there.<\/p>\n
RUSH: A good example I think of what you\u2019re talking about is Trump let the Clintons off the hook rather than go in there and pound the final nail into the casket that puts Cruella de Vil and the family in the ground forever. He let \u2019em off because why? He was trying to show magnanimity in victory. He didn\u2019t want to pile on \u2019cause everybody thought Hillary was gonna win, and she was obviously devastated, and so forth. That stuff doesn\u2019t buy you anything in Washington. It may buy you goodwill in business, it may buy you good vibes. That doesn\u2019t buy you a thing in Washington. It just tags you as either weak or a sap or a fool or what have you.<\/p>\n CALLER: Correct.<\/p>\n RUSH: Because, as you say, it\u2019s play for keeps there when you\u2019re talking about the kind of power that we are talking about. Look, his comment about Mar-a-Lago, if you didn\u2019t hear it, it was back in February, and I asked Trump what was the thing that most surprised you, that the country hadn\u2019t unified yet. He thought it\u2019d take a while but they\u2019d get over it, the election, and the strife and eventually everybody come around. And he was surprised it hadn\u2019t happened yet. I was unable to hide my shock and surprise at that.<\/p>\n But I\u2019m flattered by your comment that he needs to hear this program. Other people call me — well, nobody calls me. You know, that\u2019s a euphemism. Trump says that somebody called him. I say somebody called me, nobody ever calls me \u2019cause I can\u2019t hear \u2019em on the phone. So if somebody emails me, it\u2019s a call. It\u2019s parlance to convey, to help in communication. But to be precise, I have people tell me all the time, “You know, I know Trump listens to you. My gosh, every time I listen to Trump it sounds like something you\u2019ve said.” I said, “No, he doesn\u2019t listen to radio. He\u2019s a total –” “No, no, no. He has to be.” “No, no. I\u2019m telling you, he doesn\u2019t.”<\/p>\n Now, he did call before he was inaugurated. I was playing golf out at Bel Air Country Club, I\u2019m on the 13th hole and the phone rings, it says unknown. I said, “Screw this. Phone never rings. It\u2019s always a wrong number.” I put it in my pocket, and it rang again. And I didn\u2019t answer it, and it rang again. A guy said, “You know, you\u2019re not supposed to have that out there.” I said, “Okay, I\u2019ll put it on ‘Do not disturb.'” It rang again, I said, “What is this?” It was Trump\u2019s office in Trump Tower. He wanted to talk to me. He just wanted to say thanks.<\/p>\n The point is I\u2019m running out of time here, he said, “I listen to you more than you know, and you\u2019re a genius.” I don\u2019t know how he has time to do that. He\u2019s a television animal, totally.<\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n RUSH: So get this. Somebody said, “Rush, you don\u2019t really need to get a TV show if you want Trump to hear what you say. Just go on Fox & Friends and sit close to Ainsley Earhardt. He can\u2019t miss you.”<\/p>\n By the way, welcome back. It\u2019s always great to have you here. Rush Limbaugh at 800-282-2882.<\/p>\n Back early in the campaign — I just remembered this — Trump had jury duty and he went out to his car at lunchtime so that he could listen to the program. And he told the press that he always listened to this show whenever he could. I remember that. And, in fact, in the early stages of the Trump campaign — he was very strategic about this — whenever he was conducting a rally, at the beginning of every rally he would mention some people and say “great guy, great guy.”<\/p>\n And he would measure the audience reaction to the names that he dropped to see what kind of reaction they got, to see if it was worthwhile mentioning the name in other places. And every time he would talk about having talked to me or say, “Yeah, I heard Rush on the radio the other day –” the audience would go nuts and applaud so he would get positive feedback. And we did interview him once when he was down at Doral, down at his property in Miami. But when he called me and I was on the golf course at Bel Air, it was nothing but a thank-you call. It was just appreciation and so forth. And Vice President Pence was on the phone too.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/310-Trump-oval-300x300.jpg\")
CALLER: Well, like you said in your first segment, Kelly\u2019s not gonna be letting too many people in there.<\/a> So, you know what? I think it\u2019s just fine. Kelly doesn\u2019t let anyone in, you go back to your TV show and he\u2019ll listen and he\u2019ll see everything that he needs to see.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/0JoinRushJuly2017.jpg\")
<\/a>I said, “You know, that\u2019s something to think about. Trump\u2019s a big TV guy. What we need to do is get the Rush Limbaugh app on his phone so that he can watch the program on the Dittocam<\/a>.” At night he can listen to the podcast or watch the Dittocam version. He\u2019s a TV creature, although I\u2019ll tell you this. I did remember this.<\/p>\n