{"id":295204,"date":"2018-12-20T16:12:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T21:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=295204"},"modified":"2018-12-21T16:40:01","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T21:40:01","slug":"do-the-right-thing-and-be-a-hero-mr-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2018\/12\/20\/do-the-right-thing-and-be-a-hero-mr-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Do the Right Thing and Be a Hero, Mr. President"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Well, once again, my friends, as we open the program today, the Drive-By Media and the Washington establishment are again breathless. Breathless they are! There is an unscheduled meeting that is either starting right now or will start soon at the White House. Earlier today the Republican conference in the House of Representatives canceled their daily press conference — or their weekly press conference, however they do them — and instead they\u2019re heading up to the White House for a meeting with President Trump.<\/p>\n

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So everybody is breathless here over what\u2019s going on. There was a lot of action on the floor of the House. Congressman Mark Meadows basically came out and just unloaded and said, “President Trump, veto this bill. We will have your back. We will have your back throughout the entire process.” President Trump called for a meeting with House Republicans today, and it\u2019s either happening now or imminently, very soon. A lot of people think that this is to discuss elements of the procedure of shutting down the government, vetoing the spending bill.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s give you the details of what happened last night. “The Senate passed a continuing resolution to fund several government agencies including Justice, Commerce, Department of the Interior, and Agriculture through February 8th. This to avert a partial government shutdown,” because of course as everybody knows (sobbing), “We cannot shut down our precious government! Oh, my God. We\u2019ll die! We\u2019re gonna be so harmed politically!” The fact of the matter is, folks, the biggest government shutdown in the history of government shutdowns in terms of Washington\u2019s memory is 1995.<\/p>\n

It was the big budget battle with Newt Gingrich and the Republicans and Bill Clinton. There was a shutdown, and Clinton had arranged a deal with federal workers that they would get their Thanksgiving turkeys and money for Christmas presents if they just stuck with him. They shut down the government, and that set the stage for every government shutdown that\u2019s followed because the media coverage is, “The Republicans hate government.<\/p>\n

“Republicans hate anybody that likes government! Republicans don\u2019t want government! Republicans don\u2019t want you depending on government! Republicans suck! Republicans are horrible! Republicans are mean-spirited.” So that media coverage has determined and shaped Republican thinking ever since, all the way back to 1995. But here is the down-and-dirty. In the immediate elections following — the midterm election, the presidential election following — that \u201995 shutdown, the Republicans were not wiped out. They were not significantly damaged.<\/p>\n

It is a myth that government shutdowns deal an insufferable blow to the parties that are blamed for it. It\u2019s a typical media myth, and it has survived since 1995. But there is no evidence that the party blamed for a government shutdown suffers tremendous electoral losses in the future. There\u2019s another aspect of this that needs to be mentioned, and I\u2019ve made this analogy two or three times; I\u2019m gonna make it again. I beg your indulgence. All of my lifetime, the Democrat Party accused Republicans of wanting to cut Social Security, of wanting to kick senior citizens out of their homes — and, at first, it worked.<\/p>\n

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Senior citizens can\u2019t take the chance that that might be right. So they voted Democrat on the belief that the Democrats were not gonna take anything away, that the Democrats were not gonna kick \u2019em out of their homes. But the Republicans hate everybody, see? “The Republicans hate seasoned seasons! Republicans hate their own mothers and fathers. Republicans hate their own grandparents and want to see them kicked out of their homes — and then their water poisoned and then their air made unable to breathe.” People can\u2019t take the chance. So seasoned citizens voted Democrat.<\/p>\n

But after a while… Democrats kept every election making the same charge. But after awhile, seasoned citizens began to say, “Wait a minute. They keep saying this, and it never happens. My Social Security has not been taken away, and I haven\u2019t been kicked out of my home. And, by the way, I haven\u2019t even seen a serious effort to take my Social Security away.” So eventually the Democrat threat became diluted and watered down, and people stopped panicking every time the allegation was made. That\u2019s where we are right now with this government shutdown business.<\/p>\n

The Democrats have been crying wolf about government shutdowns since 1995. There have been plenty of them. There\u2019s a government shutdown when there\u2019s a half-inch of snow in that town. The government shuts down many times a year that we\u2019re not even told about. They\u2019re procedural and they\u2019re formal. Because there\u2019s no politics attached to \u2019em, nobody ever talks about it. Bbut the federal government has elements of it that shut down constantly. But even these shutdowns that occur because of political action, nothing hands!<\/p>\n

Life goes on! Nobody dies! Nobody doesn\u2019t get their check. Nobody is unable to get their food stamps and use them. Nobody who is dependent on government suffers! There might be an occasional thing (and CNN ballyhoos it) where the sleigh ride concessionaire in Yellowstone National Park may shut down. So CNN goes out there and talks to this guy. That\u2019s it! The sleigh ride concession. But in terms of the government shutdown literally harming people, it doesn\u2019t! There was polling data earlier this week from the AP documenting that people are getting tired, they\u2019re getting worn out, of all of the assaults on Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Their emotional reservoirs are empty. They\u2019re getting tired of it. They don\u2019t react to it as they used to. They kind of greet it with a ho-hum. It\u2019s just more of the same. Nothing ever happens with all of these apocalyptic predictions. The world doesn\u2019t end. People don\u2019t die. People don\u2019t starve. In fact, what happens is more of the same that people oppose. So the weapon of accusing Republicans of wanting to shut the government down used to be a very powerful one. It\u2019s kind of diluted now and watered down.<\/p>\n

The frustration is that the Republicans in Washington still think it\u2019s 1995! Even in 1995, I need to point out again, it did not hurt them electorally! At the next election, it did not hurt them. Now you talk about the reasons for a shutdown, and we\u2019re not even really talking about a shutdown here. We\u2019re talking about a veto of a spending bill that does not contain even a measly $5 billion for border security. When you hear the term “wall,” you need to substitute in your mind “border security,” because that\u2019s the debate.<\/p>\n

The media and the Democrats would love you to think that it\u2019s strictly about a wall — concrete, steel slats. It\u2019s about border security and the fact that the Democrats do not care a whit about it because they want open borders. And, sadly, some Republicans do too for their own reasons. We have a federal budget in excess of $4 trillion and a rounding error of $5 billion can\u2019t be found for border security. It\u2019s very clear: They don\u2019t want it. The problem is, Donald Trump does. Donald Trump promised it and Donald Trump is already fit to be tied.<\/p>\n

If you go back to April of 2017, we\u2019ve been here! I went back to my own transcripts, my own show archives from 2017<\/a>. Let me read to you what I said on April 25, 2017. Quote me: “I\u2019m not happy to have to pass this on. I\u2019m very, very troubled to have to pass this on. And I want to say at the outset that I hope my interpretation is wrong, and I hope this is not the case. But it looks like, from here, right here, right now, it looks like President Trump is caving on his demand for a measly $1 billion in the budget for his wall on the border with Mexico.”<\/p>\n

It was $1billion in 2017. “The Democrats are threatening a government shutdown. It\u2019s the same day old, same old, and I was hoping that Trump would throw this shutdown thing right back in their face and have everyone realize they\u2019re the ones engineering these shutdowns that nobody would notice anyway unless a big hullabaloo was made about it.” By the way, that\u2019s important thing. If they shut the government down and nobody told you, you wouldn\u2019t even know it, folks, because it happens all the time. Now, back to me.<\/p>\n

Again, April 25, 2017: “The Democrats seem to have successfully used this stupid, silly threat of a government shutdown to get their way. What Trump is saying is if we need to get this done, then I\u2019ll delay the spending on the wall until September. And it\u2019s just a measly billion dollars.” It was a billion dollars just a year and a half ago. “But the problem here, folks, is one of politics. If this happens, if Trump does cave \u2014 and I use the word ‘cave\u2019 guardedly.<\/p>\n

“Trump, I\u2019m sure, does not ever think he caves on anything. But outward appearances are what they are. And the bottom line is that if he is willing to withdraw a demand of his for a measly billion dollars for the wall because the Democrats are threatening a shutdown, then the Democrats will have just learned that this threat works on Trump, too, not just all the other Republicans,” and guess where we are? Eminently predictable!<\/p>\n

\"\"We are right back where we have been. This is like the third or fourth time a spending bill, temporary spending bill, is threatened by a shutdown. Trump knows his history. A tweet: “When I begrudgingly signed the Omnibus Bill, I was promised the Wall and Border Security by leadership. … It didn\u2019t happen!” Trump knows. He\u2019s been promised this twice, folks. For agreeing to previous spending bills, he has been promised twice that the next one would contain what he wants for border security.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

“Last night, the Senate passed their continuing resolution to fund several government agencies through the 8th of February to avert” a precious and partial “government shutdown.” But the Senate did not include any money for the wall or securing the border or for border security. The senators passed this CR by a voice vote so that nobody\u2019s vote would be on record. A voice vote! This continuing resolution will push the next shutdown showdown to right before what? Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

In February (sobbing), “Are we gonna throw federal workers out right before Valentine\u2019s Day? Oh, my gosh! Are we heartless? We can\u2019t throw federal workers out of their jobs right before Valentine\u2019s Day. They won\u2019t get their flower deliveries. We can\u2019t!” It\u2019s the same thing. Folks, this is a game. It is fake. It is being replayed. The thing that I worry about is what I call the Nixon Syndrome. Richard Nixon was in a similar position with the media and the left during his presidency, and Nixon thought that he could buy his way out of it.<\/p>\n

He thought he could buy their support or buy their love or that he could purchase an end to their criticism. (chuckles) So what did he give \u2019em? He gave \u2019em brand-new government agencies like the EPA, and he gave them OSHA! He expanded the federal government like it hadn\u2019t been expanded before! And it didn\u2019t stop a syllable of hate or criticism for Richard Nixon! By the same token, Donald Trump cannot buy their love. He cannot buy their acceptance. He shouldn\u2019t want it! He shouldn\u2019t care about being accepted by the people who are trying to destroy him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the way out of this. There\u2019s a fascinating piece by my old buddy Conrad Black at National Review today<\/a>, and his point is the Democrats don\u2019t know it, but they\u2019re making fools of themselves, and they are losing each and every day they push every one of these spectacles against Trump. I\u2019ll share it with you as the program unfolds. But this is not just about a campaign promise, although it is. It is about the American way of life. It is about Donald Trump\u2019s instinctive understanding of what is right and wrong in America.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about the fact that he acknowledged and got elected on the basis that he understands the importance of border security. This constant flow of a permanent underclass for the Democrat Party has got to stop, because if it doesn\u2019t, the America that was founded will eventually cease to exist — which happens to be the objective of the American left. Which is a socialist-based — socialist-and-worse based — movement. It is demonstrable that vetoing this and would be one of the most tremendous and heroic things.<\/p>\n