RUSH: All right, folks. It was pure genius. I mean, it was instinctive, pure genius last night by President Trump and the State of the Union show. And, of course, I\u2019m gonna explain why I think that. Did you ever think, did you ever think that Donald Trump could cause a bunch of Democrat women — by the way, what was all that vestigial white stuff they were wearing, what was that? Was that solidarity with Ralph Northam? What was that, Wendy? Why were they all wearing white out there? Don\u2019t tell me virginal. We know that\u2019s not applicable here.<\/p>\n
Greetings, folks. Great to have you — 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program. Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Network.<\/p>\n
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Did you ever think that you would see House Democrat feminazis standing up and giving a standing ovation to Donald Trump? I know what you\u2019re saying. \u201cThey weren\u2019t giving Trump a standing ovation.\u201d Yes, they were! Remember how this looks to people watching on television! We all know what was going on. They were applauding themselves.<\/p>\n
You know, I have spent a lot of time today trying to look at various reaction, and there\u2019s a theme out there that kind of disappoints me that people don\u2019t get it. I found a bunch of people asking, “What was all this applause by the women? Why were they applauding themselves? I don\u2019t get this.” You don\u2019t get it? Okay. I\u2019m gonna try to explain this. It\u2019s not complicated at all why the women were applauding, being mentioned as having won elections in the House and so forth.<\/p>\n
If you understand the rage and hatred that propels your average Democrat today, then all kinds of things begin to make sense. If you understand how they all look at themselves as victims who have to overcome all of the obstacles in life placed there by the white male patriarchy. If you understand that they all think that they are discriminated against and mistreated and disrespected, then their behavior becomes crystal clear. But most people for some reason don\u2019t have the ability or just don\u2019t see how these people see themselves. So we\u2019ll explain all this in great detail with illustrations as the program unfolds.<\/p>\n
But I have to tell you, that last night, from beginning to end, was a symphony. It had a simple, great theme. What was the central, great theme? American greatness, and that we should choose it. That it is the only sensible option. It was a continuation of the slogan “Make America Great Again,” although he never uttered those words. He got close a couple times but did not utter the words. It was a simple — I wouldn\u2019t even call it a plea. It was a simple acknowledgment that we can and should choose greatness for America. Donald Trump weaved all of his accomplishments, all of his past accomplishments combined with all of his future goals and his guests into that theme.<\/p>\n
When the president was acknowledging all the World War II heroes and all of the law enforcement heroes and describing what they had done in conquering the Normandy beaches, in rappelling the heights at Pointe du Hoc, at beating back the tyranny of the Nazis and saving the world from tyranny, what do you think your average leftist is thinking when these kinds of exploits are recounted?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what toxic masculinity is to them! World War II heroics, saving Europe from the tyranny of Nazis, celebrating the kind of men who did it and what they did and detailing it and how they did it, that\u2019s what\u2019s become toxic masculinity today. And that\u2019s what the left is attempting to erase and eliminate from men, is that aspect of their character and personality. And there was a reluctance to cheer these people last night.<\/p>\n
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Look at the Democrats every time an applause line came up, they were looking at each other trying to figure out whether to stay seated or do the jack-in-the-box routine. They didn\u2019t know what to do. And it is so delicious to see this because these people all file in, all the Never Trumper Republicans in that audience, all of the Democrats, they all file in. And you could see it on Pelosi\u2019s face. They think they are the smart ones. They have all the arrogance written all over their faces, the arrogance and the condescension, it was written all over their body language. And they were deigning to grace this glorious chamber with their presence to hear this nincompoop boob come in and talk about his wall and his racism and his bigotry.<\/p>\n
But they did it for whatever they thought was the larger cause. And then they sit there and they are clueless how to act. They don\u2019t know what to respond to. They don\u2019t know how to respond to what. Donald Trump had them behaving against their instincts. Donald Trump had them cheering, what looked to people watching on TV, him! These pictures last night are gonna make some of the greatest television ads for Republicans running for office in 2020 that I can imagine.<\/p>\n
This was one of the best State of the Union addresses that I remember, one of the best speeches by anyone in politics in recent memory. There weren\u2019t any platitudes. There weren\u2019t any impossible objectives. I would even object to people who say that all Trump did was pay attention to his base. That\u2019s what sets this speech apart! He was reaching out to everybody who had the sense to understand it. It was going way beyond his base. He has his base. He doesn\u2019t have to secure his base.<\/p>\n
This speech may have been the prelude to a 2020 campaign. But if it was that plus whatever else it was, it was pure genius. I also think that people… I started getting messages, “Rush, is this a longer-than-usual State of the Union?” “Yes, it is. He\u2019s approaching Obama territory here.” “Why? Why? You know, people get bored.” I said, “I\u2019ll tell you why I think he went long. To push Stacey Abrams further into the depths of the end of prime time so that fewer and fewer and fewer people would hang around to watch the response,” and I think that was smart thinking.<\/p>\n
I have no doubt that that was part of the calculation here. But, man, folks, the two areas where he just killed it — and there were some Never Trumpers tweeting thorough last night and they were mad because he was killing it. They begrudgingly today are having to talk about what great retail politics that was last night. So we start out with the president in one of these great examples. We\u2019ve got audio sound bites to back all this up, but I just want to set the table. Here\u2019s the president talking about the need for or his support of federal paid paternity leave.<\/p>\n
Family leave, paid.<\/p>\n
Now, this happens to be a pet project of the first daughter, Ivanka Trump.<\/p>\n