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<\/a>“I could have done 40 bites, but I just picked the most interesting — plus a montage, of course.\u00a0\u00a0All these senators and congressmen whining about a guy on the radio.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s unbelievable.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s still all about you, though, anyway, because they\u2019re convinced you caused the shutdown, that you are running the country, and that you are the president.\u00a0\u00a0Except for some people who now think that what makes this even worse is that you\u2019re nothing but an entertainer.”\u00a0\u00a0You know, they go back and forth on this.<\/p>\nDepending on the day, depending on the issue, I\u2019m the titular head of the Republican Party, conservative movement, and the next, “Ah, he\u2019s just an entertainer.” For 30 years, it\u2019s been that styling.\u00a0\u00a0So to give you a flavor, here is the montage.\u00a0\u00a0This is audio sound bite No. 1, and it\u2019s the exasperated Drive-By Media convinced that I am running America.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s some people from “NBC, CNN, PMSNBC, Republican strategerists, syndicated radio host…”<\/p>\n
Oh, really?\u00a0\u00a0Really?\u00a0\u00a0Syndicated radio host?\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m being turned on even by brethren in the business here, and there\u2019s some bloggers and so forth.\u00a0\u00a0So, anyway, here it is.\u00a0\u00a0This is one we don\u2019t… I\u2019m not playing all 40.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t have all 40.\u00a0\u00a0But I\u2019m telling you, the vast majority of the cue sheet here today is me.\u00a0\u00a0Here we go.<\/p>\n
KATY TUR: Rush Limbaugh is in control of the government.<\/p>\n
DON LEMON: President Rush Limbaugh?<\/p>\n
BAKARI SELLERS:\u00a0\u00a0You have a president in Rush Limbaugh.<\/p>\n
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Rush Limbo. (sic) There\u2019s a guy, in a golf shirt down in Palm Beach telling the president what to do. This is crazy. Is Rush Limbo calling the shots or are his listeners calling the shots?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/RIH-RushRunsAmerica.jpg\")
PHIL RUCKER: Well, this week, with the shutdown I would say Rush Limbaugh.<\/p>\n
RINA SHAH: This entire debate has been hijacked by Limbaugh.<\/p>\n
HUGH HEWITT: One person: Rush Limbaugh.<\/p>\n
MARIA CARDONA: … puppet masters in the likes of Rush Limbaugh.<\/p>\n
MICHAEL SMERCONISH: I don\u2019t think we\u2019d be in a partial government shutdown without those voices like Rush\u2019s.<\/p>\n
BRIAN STELTER: This is kind of a Rush Limbaugh shutdown.<\/p>\n
NORMAN ORNSTEIN: This is a Trump-Limbaugh shutdown.<\/p>\n
JENNIFER RUBIN: Maybe the Democrats should go negotiate with Rush Limbaugh.<\/p>\n
RUSH:\u00a0\u00a0Now, you know what they\u2019re trying to do here.\u00a0\u00a0They are attempting to embarrass President Trump.\u00a0\u00a0You know what this all traces back to?\u00a0\u00a0It traces back… I don\u2019t even remember the day, but it was one day last week, and I got word — as everybody did. The word got out that the president was preparing to agree with the continuing resolution that the House had passed that had no money in it — none — for border security.<\/p>\n
It went over to the Senate, and the Senate passed it and the president was ready to accept it, I couldn\u2019t believe it.\u00a0\u00a0Because what really frosted me is there was $1.6 billion for wall construction or border security that got stripped out in this continuing resolution.\u00a0\u00a0So there we started out with $1.6 billion, and then by the time it was ready to go up to Trump for signature, there was nothing in it.\u00a0\u00a0So that\u2019s what I said.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sitting here discussing it saying, “This is a gigantic mistake.\u00a0\u00a0This was the signature issue that got President Trump elected.”\u00a0\u00a0Well, I get a message here from somebody who wishes to remain nameless, who said, “Rush, I\u2019m letting you on behalf of President Trump, this is all wrong. He\u2019s not signing this. He\u2019s gonna veto this.\u00a0\u00a0If there\u2019s no money in it for the wall, he\u2019s gonna veto it.\u00a0\u00a0So don\u2019t worry about it.”\u00a0\u00a0So I was told that whatever I had heard and was telling you about was not true.\u00a0\u00a0It was a message.<\/p>\n
It was a name you would all know, but the person asked me not to mention their name. But I was on the air, and this is how the president chose to get the message, because obviously he was told that I was succeeding that this was an absolute disaster if he would do this.\u00a0\u00a0His point was, he wasn\u2019t gonna do it and wanted me to know. I didn\u2019t talk him into or out of anything.\u00a0\u00a0The message I got was, “Don\u2019t worry.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s not gonna sign this.<\/p>\n
“He\u2019s not gonna sign it until there\u2019s money for the budget.”\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not that he was going to sign it then heard me and changed his mind.\u00a0\u00a0So what the media wants to do is try to humiliate him, make it look like he doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s doing and all that has to happen is some guy on the radio.\u00a0\u00a0But what bothers them, folks, is that their scenario that they constructed where Trump is ready to do what they want and just about ready to sign.<\/p>\n
Then I speak up and say, “No,” and then it doesn\u2019t happen! They just can\u2019t stand that, that that could possibly be true.\u00a0\u00a0So now, it\u2019s time to start denigrating Trump and at the same time denigrate me while building me up at the same time.\u00a0\u00a0But it\u2019s all for the purposes of making Trump look small and indecisive and insecure.\u00a0\u00a0And I can tell you that the only message I got was, “Don\u2019t worry.\u00a0\u00a0Whatever you\u2019re seeing isn\u2019t true.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s not signing this unless there\u2019s money in it.”\u00a0\u00a0Not that, “Okay, Rush, the president heard you. He isn\u2019t gonna sign it!” It wasn\u2019t that at all.\u00a0\u00a0And these people know this.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s Little Brian Stelter at CNN. Yeah, we can squeeze this in before the break.\u00a0\u00a0This is the second bite…<\/p>\n
STELTER:\u00a0\u00a0The president seems very influenced by right-wing news — not right-wing news outlets.\u00a0\u00a0Right-wing entertainers like Rush Limbaugh.\u00a0\u00a0He does not seem so influenced by his own staff.<\/p>\n
RUSH:\u00a0\u00a0His own staff? He had people on his staff telling him what to do, the right thing?\u00a0\u00a0Anyway, they love portraying Trump as not knowing what\u2019s going on, not knowing who to talk to, not listening to anybody, not having any good.\u00a0\u00a0They love this idea that Trump doesn\u2019t know anything and he\u2019s not in control.\u00a0\u00a0I can tell you that they\u2019re a hundred percent wrong about this the way they\u2019re interpreting this.\u00a0\u00a0They\u2019re the ones that created this narrative, not me.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH:\u00a0\u00a0Yeah, it was Chris Matthews who, in the opening montage, said, “There\u2019s some guy in a golf shirt down in Palm Beach telling president what to do. This is crazy.” (chuckles)\u00a0\u00a0Some guy in a golf shirt! Here.\u00a0\u00a0Play it again.\u00a0\u00a0People are finding this hilarious.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019ll do this and we\u2019ll move on to No. 3.\u00a0\u00a0But let me set this up again, folks, what happened last week. The way the press is misrepresenting this, I am doing the program.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m in the middle of a broadcast segment.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MATTHEWS.jpg\")
And the news is the president\u2019s gonna sign the continuing resolution — that the House has passed and the Senate had just passed — that has zero money in it for border security, wall, whatever.\u00a0\u00a0I said, “Wait a minute.\u00a0\u00a0It at least had $1.6 billion in it before these guys started messin\u2019 around with the continuing resolution.”\u00a0\u00a0So found out that that $1.6 billion had been stripped out.\u00a0\u00a0I said, “Trump\u2019s not only getting nothing, he\u2019s getting less than nothing,” and the Drive-Bys pounced!\u00a0\u00a0That was like gold to them, my saying Trump was getting less than nothing.<\/p>\n
They heralded it, they loved it, they thought it was perfect.\u00a0\u00a0They even thought I might be turning on the president.\u00a0\u00a0So I\u2019m reading that the news is saying that Trump\u2019s gonna sign this thing and I\u2019m on the air saying, “This can\u2019t happen, should not happen, there\u2019s no way. Shut the government down. Don\u2019t sign this,” whatever.\u00a0\u00a0At that point, I get an iMessage, direct message from the president. “The president wants you to know he\u2019s not going to sign it unless there\u2019s proper money in it for the wall,” and I mentioned that to you.<\/p>\n
I said, “Folks, I just got a direct message from the president.”\u00a0\u00a0Well, it was somebody sending the message, \u2019cause Trump doesn\u2019t email or message.\u00a0\u00a0He tweets and that\u2019s it.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t tweet.\u00a0\u00a0So he had a third party get me the message.\u00a0\u00a0I shared with you the message.\u00a0\u00a0“I just got a message from the president that he\u2019s not going to sign this. He will veto it unless there\u2019s money in it for border security and the wall.”\u00a0\u00a0The media took that story and turned it into Trump had his pen ready to go. He\u2019s on the verge of signing it!
\nAnd then I start complaining on the air and somebody walks in and says, “Mr. President! Mr. President! Rush Limbaugh… (stammering) Y-y-you\u2019re losing Rush Limbaugh! He\u2019s going nuts,” and Trump stops.\u00a0\u00a0“Oh, really?\u00a0\u00a0I better not sign it.”\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s not what happened!\u00a0\u00a0What happened was the president got word to me that whatever news stories we all had that said he was gonna sign it were not true.\u00a0\u00a0He wasn\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0It wasn\u2019t that anybody had changed his mind.\u00a0\u00a0Now, the Drive-Bys have since reported what I just told you.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s there, he\u2019s poised, he\u2019s got that pen in his hand. He may even have the D already written down! Then they run in there and say, “Mr. President! Mr. President! Rush Limbaugh says you shouldn\u2019t sign it,” and Trump stops.\u00a0\u00a0“Oh, really?\u00a0\u00a0Okay. Well, then I won\u2019t.”\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s not what happened.\u00a0\u00a0But they want you to think that\u2019s what happened because it diminishes Trump.\u00a0\u00a0And it gives them another chance to shoot at me, which they, of course, love doing as well.\u00a0\u00a0And we put together a montage, one more time, of how it sounded over the weekend.<\/p>\n
KATY TUR: Rush Limbaugh is in control of the government.<\/p>\n
DON LEMON: President Rush Limbaugh?<\/p>\n
BAKARI SELLERS:\u00a0\u00a0You have a president in Rush Limbaugh.<\/p>\n
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Rush Limbo. (sic) There\u2019s a guy, in a golf shirt down in Palm Beach telling the president what to do. This is crazy. Is Rush Limbo calling the shots or are his listeners calling the shots?<\/p>\n
PHIL RUCKER: Well this week, with the shutdown I would say Rush Limbaugh.<\/p>\n
RINA SHAH: This entire debate has been hijacked by Limbaugh.<\/p>\n
HUGH HEWITT: One person: Rush Limbaugh.<\/p>\n
MARIA CARDONA: … puppet masters in the likes of Rush Limbaugh.<\/p>\n
MICHAEL SMERCONISH: I don\u2019t think we\u2019d be in a partial government shutdown without those voices like Rush\u2019s.<\/p>\n
BRIAN STELTER: This is kind of a Rush Limbaugh shutdown.<\/p>\n
NORMAN ORNSTEIN: This is a Trump-Limbaugh shutdown.<\/p>\n
JENNIFER RUBIN: Maybe the Democrats should go negotiate with Rush Limbaugh.<\/p>\n
RUSH:\u00a0\u00a0Well… I have a lot of emails, by the way, “I wish you were running the country.”\u00a0\u00a0Which I , of course, understand.\u00a0\u00a0But it\u2019s not the case.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/APP-110618-Rush-podium-Trump-MO.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
So here I am just a guy in a golf shirt in Palm Beach running the country.\u00a0\u00a0Here\u2019s Senator Chuck You Schumer.\u00a0\u00a0This was Saturday on the Senate floor…<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Screen-Shot-2018-12-24-at-1.06.33-PM.png\")
SCHUMER:\u00a0\u00a0Even Rush Limbaugh, one of the biggest supporters of the president, said it was a Trump shutdown.\u00a0\u00a0That he caused it.\u00a0\u00a0He said, quote — this is Limbaugh speaking — “The president wants you to know it\u2019s money for the wall or nothing.\u00a0\u00a0And if it\u2019s nothing, he shuts it down.”\u00a0\u00a0All indications were that the president would sign the bill.\u00a0\u00a0But President Trump, beholden to the far, far right, unwilling to shoulder even the slightest critique from Rush Limbaugh, changed his mind.<\/p>\n
RUSH:\u00a0\u00a0See?\u00a0\u00a0You see how they\u2019re doing this?\u00a0\u00a0Trump was ready to go, and then somebody told him that I was complaining about it. So he stopped, got a message to me and said not to worry about it, he wasn\u2019t gonna sign it.\u00a0\u00a0By the way, Chuck, you missed my program on December 21st, because if you hadn\u2019t missed it, you wouldn\u2019t have said this because this shutdown is all yours.\u00a0\u00a0You own this, and the Republicans have got to stay unified in making that point.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m gonna go through this again.\u00a0\u00a0This may be one of those days I\u2019m gonna have a tough time getting everything in.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s how much there is here.\u00a0\u00a0But they\u2019ve got to stay unified on this.\u00a0\u00a0They have got to stay supportive of the president on this in the sense that this is the Democrats.\u00a0\u00a0The Democrats do not want border security!\u00a0\u00a0The Democrats do not want one thing that would shore up the border and put any limits on illegal immigration whatsoever because they need their permanent underclass and a current flow, inflow of people not being interrupted.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s their base.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s their future base.\u00a0\u00a0They don\u2019t want Trump to have any kind of a victory, either.\u00a0\u00a0But this is theirs.\u00a0\u00a0They could fix this shutdown.\u00a0\u00a0They care about their precious government being open, they care so much? By the way, the government has been shut for three or four days.\u00a0\u00a0How many of you are suffering in pain that you cannot deal with because of this?\u00a0\u00a0How many of your lives have been temporarily ruined or destroyed because your government shut down?<\/p>\n
Zilch, zero, nada.\u00a0\u00a0The Democrats… We spent… You know how much we spent to bail out General Motors? It was $11.5 billion.\u00a0\u00a0We spent $12 billion to bail out General Motors, and General Motors is tanking.\u00a0\u00a0This is $5 billion, and Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff said on TV over the weekend, “We\u2019ll come off the $5 billion.”\u00a0\u00a0Democrats have offered $1.6 billion, but it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n
He said, “We\u2019ll come off the $5 billion, find a happy medium.” They won\u2019t do it.\u00a0\u00a0They don\u2019t think they have to this happen.\u00a0\u00a0They think they can hold out \u2019til they take control of the House.\u00a0\u00a0It has got to be pounded they are the reason for the shutdown and why.\u00a0\u00a0They do not border security.\u00a0\u00a0Pat “Leaky” Leahy, Democrat senator from Vermont, also on the Senate floor.\u00a0\u00a0This was Saturday…<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Screen-Shot-2018-12-24-at-1.06.42-PM.png\")
LEAHY: (whispering) The president had agreed to sign it. We finally had a path for it.\u00a0\u00a0But then Rush Limbaugh started criticizing.\u00a0\u00a0The president\u2019s ego won out over his duties to the country.\u00a0\u00a0He went back on what he had agreed to, and here we are.<\/p>\n
RUSH:\u00a0\u00a0“The president had agreed to sign it.\u00a0\u00a0We finally had a path forward.\u00a0\u00a0But then Rush Limbaugh started criticizing.”\u00a0\u00a0Do you realize this thing that they\u2019re making up here… (chuckling) They\u2019re creating this scenario to diminish Trump and at the same time, I mean, what\u2019s it doing to me?\u00a0\u00a0Once again, they are elevating…\u00a0\u00a0Politico had a story over the weekend. Did you see this?\u00a0\u00a0“Rush Limbaugh Comes Roaring Back.”\u00a0\u00a0Roaring back?\u00a0\u00a0Where did I go?\u00a0\u00a0Where the hell did I go?<\/p>\n
You know, it shows that the way they define — the Drive-Bys, the way they define — success in terms of what I do is, “How much influence is there in Washington on the part of people in the conservative media?”\u00a0\u00a0Will you ever see a story, “Dan Rather comes roaring back,” or “Chuck Todd comes roaring back”?\u00a0\u00a0I mean, those people are never assumed to have gone anywhere.\u00a0\u00a0But somehow because Trump watches Fox News and doesn\u2019t to listen radio, I\u2019m a nonentity.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m a nonfactor.\u00a0\u00a0Trump is totally into Fox, totally into television, doesn\u2019t listen to radio, and, therefore, I am nothing more than a bump on a log?<\/p>\n
Until this comes along and, “Oh, my God.\u00a0\u00a0Limbaugh?\u00a0\u00a0Limbaugh\u2019s still there?\u00a0\u00a0Oh, my…!”\u00a0\u00a0They have no idea how to define the success of this program using business measurements and so forth.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s all just horse race to them.\u00a0\u00a0Such a limited view.\u00a0\u00a0So now I\u2019ve come “roaring back,” even though I never went anywhere.\u00a0\u00a0How do they know I haven\u2019t influenced President Trump before this?\u00a0\u00a0Why are they assuming this is the only time?\u00a0\u00a0How do they know other things the president has done at my behest?\u00a0\u00a0This is the only one that\u2019s been made public.<\/p>\n
Imagine if they knew other things!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RUSH:\u00a0\u00a0I have a lot of emails, by the way, "I wish you were running the country."\u00a0\u00a0Which I , of course, understand.\u00a0\u00a0But it's not the case.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":291223,"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