{"id":299646,"date":"2019-02-13T15:55:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T20:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=299646"},"modified":"2019-02-14T15:58:28","modified_gmt":"2019-02-14T20:58:28","slug":"drive-bys-decide-ive-given-trump-my-blessing-on-the-border-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/02\/13\/drive-bys-decide-ive-given-trump-my-blessing-on-the-border-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"My Prediction: El Trumpo Will Sign the Bill and Declare an Emergency"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Looky here. Even at Fox News, “Rush Limbaugh Gives Blessing to Possible Border Wall Deal.” Fox News! It was a media theme. It was a media meme all day today! We have the audio sound bites: Drive-Bys decide Rush Limbaugh gave Trump the okay to sign the bill!<\/p>\n

Is that what I did yesterday? Is that how you interpreted what I did yesterday? I thought what I was doing was trying to explain what I thought the White House thinking on all\u00a0 this might be. No, I am not gonna put the kibosh. I think I have an idea what\u2019s going on here now, and because of a simple news story here that I detected and found, I think I have an idea what\u2019s going on. I\u2019ll run it by you here in just a second.<\/p>\n

Greetings. Great to have you here. Rush Limbaugh, 800-282-2882.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So the Drive-Bys are out there, CNN is saying, “Sources Say Trump to Sign Spending Bill.” The Drive-By Media is saying that I have given Trump my blessing to sign, and even at Fox News<\/a>, “Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on his show Tuesday told his listeners not to underestimate President Trump\u2019s desire to address illegal immigration and secure the southern border with Mexico, even if he does sign a compromise to avoid another shutdown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, that\u2019s true. I did tell everybody whatever happens here, do not think it means Trump\u2019s not gonna build this wall or has given up on building. Whatever he does, it doesn\u2019t mean that the wall is kaput. It probably means that he\u2019s more committed to it than ever. I think this is ticking him off.<\/p>\n

If we can sit here and realize that this thing started out at $20 billion and the Democrats pared it down to $1.6 billion, then took that out so that Trump had less than nothing, and now this deal puts back $1.375 billion, that\u2019s got to tick him off like crazy! So we\u2019ll go through this, and I\u2019ll tell you what I think is gonna happen here in just a second.<\/p>\n

But I saw a story.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: The border deal. Here\u2019s the story — and it is also from Fox News<\/a>, but it\u2019s all over the place. “President Trump appeared to be moving Tuesday toward approving a border security compromise after speaking with the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee.” That\u2019d be Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama. “The president tweeted that he had been ‘presented the concept and parameters\u2019 of the agreement by … Sen. Richard Shelby.<\/p>\n

“‘Looking over all aspects knowing that this will be hooked up with lots of money from other sources. … Will be getting almost $23 BILLION for Border Security. Regardless of'” money allocated for the wall, this bill has in it $23 billion for border security. This has more money for border security than the original $20 billion, but there\u2019s a limit in it on how much could be spent on the wall, which is a key here. And then Trump reminds everybody that the wall “is being built as we speak!”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So I think what\u2019s gonna happen here, clearly he… I mean, you look at the government shutdown, and Gallup is out today with a story on Trump\u2019s skyrocketing poll numbers. In Gallup, he\u2019s gone from 38% to 45%. He\u2019s at 52% over at Rasmussen. Gallup is saying that his numbers skyrocketed after the shutdown ended. I could argue that I think, you know, the shutdown doesn\u2019t hurt Republicans, contrary to what everybody thinks.<\/p>\n

And I think this demonstrates it. But I think that nobody wants another shutdown \u2019cause it doesn\u2019t have any leverage in it. If there were leverage in a shutdown to get more for the wall, Trump would do it. There isn\u2019t any leverage in it. It doesn\u2019t leverage anything. What it does is put federal workers out of work and gets the media all worked up about their suffering and so forth, but it doesn\u2019t leverage the Democrats \u2019cause it\u2019s a 2020 election year.<\/p>\n

And any pain that happens to people in America, Democrats are gonna relish and blame it all on Trump. So he doesn\u2019t do another shutdown because there\u2019s no leverage in it. I also know — this is just common sense — that $1.375 billion allocated as a number for the wall is insulting, particularly when the ask is $5.7 billion, and in the Senate bill back in December, $1.6 billion was in it before it was pulled out. It\u2019s now at $1.375 billion. He\u2019s ticked, \u2019cause I don\u2019t think this is political for Trump.<\/p>\n

Now, the media and everybody else can\u2019t avoid looking at it politically, the horse race politics. But for Trump it is a legitimate national security issue. Yeah, he made the promise. Yeah, he made the commitment. But why? He wasn\u2019t trying to get votes with it. This is the thing people don\u2019t understand about Trump. He\u2019s not a politician first. He\u2019s a patriot first. He\u2019s a citizen first. He believes in America as founded — and when I say he\u2019s not a politician first, meaning he\u2019s not an insider.<\/p>\n

He did not propose a wall and the idea of shoring up the southern border and stopping illegal immigrants because it was a political position he thought he could leverage and win the presidency. It\u2019s \u2019cause he really believes it! He means it! And anybody with any common sense knows this is gonna have to stop. We\u2019re still not going in the right direction. Because of these loopholes with asylum, look at the numbers of people still trying to get into this country.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We still haven\u2019t reversed the flow. It goes up and down, but we\u2019re in a period of time now where more people than ever are trying to get here, and it\u2019s got to stop, and $1.375 billion isn\u2019t enough to accomplish what Trump wants. But when you read this story and you find out here that there\u2019s $23 billion in it that specifically isn\u2019t targeted for wall usage or building but it is allocated for border security…<\/p>\n

“Shelby told reporters that he had explained to Trump that the $1.4 billion represented a down payment on the wall, and reserved discretionary funds for detention facilities. Shelby described the president\u2019s tone as ‘very, very good\u2019 and said that while Trump was concerned that he wasn\u2019t getting all that he wanted in the agreement, ‘if he\u2019ll evaluate it himself, he\u2019s getting a good down payment.\u2019 … When asked about a possible shutdown, Trump told reporters Tuesday: ‘I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to happen.'”<\/p>\n

Well, I think it\u2019s probably common-sensical he\u2019s gonna take the deal. But that\u2019s not gonna be the end of it. He\u2019s gonna sign this bill. Now, the House doesn\u2019t vote on this \u2019til tomorrow night so anything can change here. But this is an election year. I went through this yesterday. We\u2019re into the 2020 campaign year, and there\u2019s a lot of things involved in this. Trump wants to be reelected. The Democrats want to defeat him and so forth. They\u2019re drawing the line here on the wall.<\/p>\n

The Democrats think if they can thwart Trump from succeeding on this No. 1 campaign promise, that they\u2019re gonna have a better opportunity of defeating him in 2020. Well, Trump knows this too. I think… I\u2019m just gonna make a wild-hair prediction here. I think Trump is so serious about this, about this wall… He hasn\u2019t wavered on it once. He hasn\u2019t wavered on it at all during his presidency or even during the campaign. He\u2019s the one guy that\u2019s continued to fight for it. We had a caller yesterday who said, “Why not do both, Rush?<\/p>\n

“Why not sign this thing and take that negative off the table — go ahead and sign the thing — and then do the declaration of a national emergency at the same time?” Because Mick Mulvaney has said they\u2019ve got the money. They\u2019ve got the money they need to build the amount of wall that Trump wants. They\u2019ve already found it, and then Shelby is talking about this $23 billion that\u2019s gonna be in this legislation above and beyond whatever is allocated for the wall.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t be a bit surprised if that\u2019s what they\u2019re thinking, to declare a national emergency (or at least threaten to) as part of signing this thing, because the point is gonna be made that this isn\u2019t enough. Trump is not gonna sign this and think, “Deal over.” He\u2019s not gonna sign this and take it and think, “We\u2019ve fixed it, solved it,” and move forward. This is not the end of this. It can\u2019t be. It can\u2019t be. Building the wall is fundamental. What could be…? As we enter the 2020 campaign… I just want to present a variable out there. What if we get into late 2019, into the year 2020…?<\/p>\n

The campaign\u2019s heated up and construction on the wall is taking place and there is video of the wall being built and there are pictures of the wall — and it\u2019s a big, beautiful wall, the kind of wall Trump\u2019s talked about? If that\u2019s happening during the campaign, what do you think it does to Trump\u2019s reelection chances? Because every politician… He wants to be reelected. He knows how important the wall is to the country, first and foremost, and also to his reelection. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s going…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Whatever this ends up being, whatever he ends up signing here is not the end. It is going to be the next stage of getting the wall built. And if they have to declare a national emergency and go through the courts and have the Democrats go through the motions of trying to stop it, then all the better! Let the Democrats demonstrate as often, as loudly as they can that they do not want border security. That\u2019s what I think\u2019s gonna happen.<\/p>\n

There. You\u2019ve heard it. (interruption) Nope! I haven\u2019t told anybody. You\u2019re the first people I\u2019ve talked to about this. I haven\u2019t spoken a word of this to anybody.<\/p>\n

C\u2019mon, folks! Get real!<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: So, yeah, you might say that I think the president has a Plan B here. My only point is that if he signs this… I don\u2019t think he\u2019s happy with it. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s… I think he\u2019s offended by it. I think he\u2019s ticked off. Look, folks, it is truly pathetic that the president of the United States has to ferret out ways to pay for something that truly is a matter of national security, that he cannot get cooperation from the opposition party on something as dire and as consequential as national security.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time. I mean, you know, FDR had to pull some strings to get us into World War II because there were a lot of isolationists then saying, “It\u2019s not our problem, it\u2019s not our fight, we don\u2019t want to go there.” You know, some people think they knew about the attack on Pearl Harbor. I\u2019m not saying I believe that. I don\u2019t think they did. But I just think it\u2019s pathetic that these kinds of arrangements — you know, finding money from elsewhere in the budget — have to be done because a major political party…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You know, I said that they (chuckles) don\u2019t want open borders. They may not even want a border! I mean, if you listen to the extreme leftists of the Democrat Party and of the world… And, you know, this is… Trump said, “Looking over all aspects knowing that this will be hooked up with lots of money from other sources. … Will be getting almost $23 BILLION for Border Security.<\/p>\n

“Regardless of Wall money, it is being built as we speak!” I think that $23 billion is not… It comes from elsewhere. This is the stuff that Mulvaney and these other people have said they have found. They\u2019ve got the money. They\u2019ve got more money than they need for what they want. They just need a trigger to be able to use it here. That\u2019s where the national emergency declaration once again becomes relevant.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: I want to go through this $23 billion, where out of nowhere that seems to have come from. And Trump was talking about it yesterday. Also, this from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. This is a left-wing rag unlike many left-wing rags. It\u2019s down in Ft. Lauderdale. But they\u2019ve got the story here. “Florida Voter Support Surges For Mexico Border Wall, New Poll Shows; Trump Approval Inching Up.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is of Florida voters. \u201cFlorida voters are much more supportive of President Donald Trump\u2019s signature issue \u2014 building a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico \u2014 than they were a year ago. A Florida Atlantic University Poll released Tuesday reports a majority of Florida voters now support the idea. FAU pollsters also found Trump\u2019s approval rating has ticked up in Florida.\u201d He\u2019s still underwater, but it\u2019s ticking up.<\/p>\n

So this $23 billion, this story here in TheHill.com by our old buddy Neil Munro, Neil Munro, the journalist who was chased out of the Rose Garden by other journalists when, during an Obama press availability, he asked a question when no questions were permitted. It was a no questions press event in the Rose Garden. I don\u2019t even remember what it was about, but Munro asked questions and these guys chased him practically to the Washington Monument, the rest of the press corps.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Donald Trump touted construction of the border wall on Tuesday, even though the draft budget for the Department of Homeland Security adds only enough funds to contract for just 55 miles of new wall in 2019.
\nThe draft deal offers far less than the $5.7 billion and 234 miles requested by Trump.\u201d We talked about this yesterday. \u201cTrump spoke before a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, and hinted he might redirect more funds for wall construction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the border wall with Mexico — I want to go through this, because I don\u2019t think enough people know what the status of the wall or walls and construction at the moment is. \u201cThe border wall with Mexico is a mix of old metal panels and new bollard walls 30 feet high. Some of the wall sections include two walls with a road in between. In January 2017, when Trump was inaugurated, the stretch of various walls added up to 654 miles along the border.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how much wall we had, and it was of varying quality, varying height. It wasn\u2019t uniform because states had been involved in the construction of the wall through their territory. \u201cA document from DHS says officials need a total of 762 miles of border wall.\u201d That is the target. Total miles of barrier needed, according to Homeland Security, 762. Three hundred and sixteen miles of new primary border call and 174 miles of primary border wall system in place of less effective designs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So this is where the 65 mile figure comes from. That is the difference between 654 miles of wall already in place and the amount of new wall the CPB says is needed. But it\u2019s confusing because the CPB also want 174 miles of the current wall to be replaced, modernized. And that\u2019s how we get to the 214 mile total that Trump is calling for. And when I say Trump is calling for it, this is Trump following recommendations of Border Patrol and ICE and the people responsible in law enforcement for patrolling the wall.<\/p>\n

Now, \u201cMoney provided in 2017 and 2018 is funding new construction, says DHS, including: Work On-going or Planned: More than 115 miles (FY 2017 and FY 2018 funding), including: [Roughly] 83 miles of new primary wall in place of less effective existing barriers in San Diego, El Centro, Yuma, and El Paso Sectors. [Roughly] 14 miles of new secondary wall in place of less effective existing barriers in San Diego Sector. [Roughly] 13 miles of new levee wall system in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. [Roughly] ~8 to ~12 miles of new steel bollard wall system in the Rio Grande Valley Sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the work that\u2019s currently underway, which the mainstream media claims is not happening. This work is underway. It has been underway since 2017. When you hear Trump saying, “We\u2019re building the wall” he\u2019s telling you the truth. It\u2019s happening. The media is acting like he\u2019s been shut out, he\u2019s been stopped, that every attempt to modernize, rebuild, or start new construction has been thwarted. It hasn\u2019t been!<\/p>\n

Obama and George W. Bush authorized the money for some of the construction that\u2019s happening now. Obama, the Democrats have participated in already authorizing lots of money to do what\u2019s currently being done! And it\u2019s important to contrast the fact that they\u2019ve already allocated money and agreed to allocate even more prior to Trump becoming president when they have become zero. They have shut it down.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re acting like they don\u2019t like a wall, want a wall, Trump doesn\u2019t need a wall, we\u2019re not gonna get a wall, after they have already allocated, appropriated millions and millions of dollars for current new construction and upgraded construction. A lot of work underway. In reality, the $1.375 billion in the proposed deal would keep the construction teams busy probably for the rest of the fiscal year through October, the end of September, which would give the national emergency funding time to work its way through the courts.<\/p>\n

See, this is why that little reference there tells me all need to know what I think\u2019s gonna happen here. El Trumpo is gonna sign this bill whenever it\u2019s presented to him, and he\u2019s gonna declare a national emergency. The $1.375 billion will take us through the end of this fiscal year, through the end of September. It will be used to complete current under-construction projects. Declare a national emergency, go use this other $23 billion.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Democrats will go to court, shut it down, bring it to a screeching halt. They will claim Trump doesn\u2019t have the constitutional authority, that this is not a national emergency like a hurricane would be or an earthquake or some such thing. He\u2019ll declare the national emergency and let it wind its way through the courts through the balance of this year, probably find its way through by the end of the fiscal year and bammo, then get a favorable ruling on it, which he will ultimately at the Supreme Court if it goes that far. And bammo, here comes the other $23 billion and then the next two years Trump is building the wall in the run-up to the 2020 presidential campaign. That, my friends, is what I see.<\/p>\n

All put together from the realization here that the stories are abundant out there that there\u2019s $23 billion. Look at the existing projects under construction, how much the $1.375 billion would fund. The downside to the national emergency is — and this is something that Inside Washington constantly frets over. Whenever the prospect of, say, using the nuclear option in the Senate and getting rid of the filibuster comes up, what\u2019s the objection that\u2019s always mounted? \u201cWell, we can\u2019t do it because you know the Democrats are gonna be in power one day, and then what if they do it and we can\u2019t stop \u2019em? We don\u2019t have any moral high ground.” Yeah, you\u2019re right, better not do it.<\/p>\n

Well, the same thing is gonna be said about this national emergency. I guarantee you what\u2019s gonna happen. There are gonna be people opposed to the president declaring the national emergency because, look, the Democrats are gonna win the White House someday and what if, as an example, they want to declare climate change a national emergency and go marching right to doing whatever they want to do without legislation, without congressional approval, without the opinion of the American people behind \u2019em.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s gonna be thrown up to the president. “Don\u2019t do it, don\u2019t do the national emergency. It\u2019s just gonna open the doors for the Democrats to do it.” Well, climate change is a national emergency. Democrats will still have to go to the Supreme Court because if that happens, the same thing\u2019s gonna play out in reverse. Some Republicans will go to court, try to get it shut down. “A president can\u2019t declare national emergency on climate change. All we\u2019ve got is models. We don\u2019t even know if it\u2019s really happening,” blah, blah, blah.<\/p>\n

Bottom line is that, yeah, it\u2019s a campaign issue, but more than that with President Trump, Donald Trump, it\u2019s needed. It\u2019s needed to protect and defend the country, to maintain our culture and society. It was the first thing he talked about when he came down the escalators in June of 2015. There\u2019s no leverage in a shutdown. It doesn\u2019t get him anywhere. Because a shutdown does not panic the Democrats sufficiently so to letting him have what he wants.<\/p>\n

Plus, he doesn\u2019t need a shutdown now. The shutdown served its original purpose, as we had a caller point out a couple days ago. The shutdown resulted in the media spending every day for, what, a month explaining what was going on at the border and all the people flooding in. You and I have to keep in mind that a lot of Americans do not know anything if all they watch is the mainstream media.<\/p>\n

So anything Trump can do that expands the universe of things the Drive-Bys talk about, and because they are obsessed with him and obsessed with destroying him, they will spend a lot of time focusing on things that he talks about in their attempt to ruin him. In the process they end up informing a lot of people about things Trump cares about that they otherwise wouldn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

\"\"BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Here is Ray in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Ray, you\u2019re up first here today. It\u2019s great to have you with us. Hi.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, thank you, Rush. I just wanted to say that you nailed it again with Mr. Trump. I\u2019m sure you realize that he put signs out there saying, “Finish the wall.” He\u2019s already campaigning for 2020. He knew he wasn\u2019t gonna get the money he needed to finish the wall here, now. So let\u2019s get it going for 2020. I mean, he\u2019s so far ahead of them, it\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah, this is a good point. I mentioned this yesterday when it was announced what the deal was, $1.375 billion. We had a couple people here saying, “If he signs that, I\u2019m done. I\u2019m out.” I understand that. That\u2019s people who want to smoke the Democrats, and they look at this as the Democrats winning, nailing Trump, screwing Trump, denying Trump what he wants and so forth. But that\u2019s not the way to look at it.<\/p>\n

The Democrats are being who they are, but there are ways to make them pay prices for this — and it doesn\u2019t mean that Trump doesn\u2019t want the wall. He does. And you\u2019re right. At the rally in El Paso: “Finish the wall.” Great slogan. I talked about that yesterday as well. “Finish the wall.” Democrats hated the slogan, the media hated the slogan, because they live in the world where if Trump only gets $1.375 billion the Democrats have won and Trump has been stopped.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s not looking at it this way. If anybody thinks that Trump is not going to see this wall built, they don\u2019t know Donald Trump, and I still maintain that as the 2020 campaign unfolds, if the wall is being built and there\u2019s video of it and still shots, what will that be? Donald Trump keeping promises. Donald Trump following through. Donald Trump thwarting the Democrats. Donald Trump winning. However you want to analyze it.<\/p>\n

And, meanwhile, the Democrats, you know what their campaign\u2019s gonna be. They\u2019re gonna be arguing with each other over who can get us out of the world the fastest and who can raise taxes on the rich the fastest and who can bring on socialism the fastest. It\u2019s gonna be a great contrast.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: If you missed the first hour, the highlight was my prediction of what\u2019s gonna happen here based on all of the data available and how I have read it, read between the lines and absorbed it all. I think the president\u2019s gonna sign this deal with $1.375 billion in it and then declare a national emergency to access all of the money that he says and that Mulvaney and the administration say that they have rounded up. It may total $23 billion, and that doesn\u2019t count the $14 billion they could seize from El Chapo!<\/p>\n

Joaquin Guzman, El Chapo, has been convicted and given life imprisonment yesterday. And the amount of money they seized from him in that conviction is $14 billion. Ted Cruz says use that to build the wall. I guess it\u2019s… You know what Obama would do with money like that? I\u2019m not making this up. Any time that there were seized assets like this or the asset forfeiture, you know what Obama would do with the money? He would give it to left-wing activists and community organizing groups. That\u2019s how they got funded.<\/p>\n

\"\"(interruption) No, no, no, no, I\u2019m not making that up. That\u2019s public and they were very proud of it. They did their best to hide it, but they used fine money and asset on forfeiture money and things like the money seized after the El Chapo verdict to give, in part, to people like Planned Parenthood or other left-wing extremist organizations to fund them. So why shouldn\u2019t we do what Cruz says and take some of El Chapo\u2019s $14 billion, use for the wall? Anyway, I think it\u2019s gonna happen.<\/p>\n

Because I don\u2019t think Trump is gonna accept defeat on building the wall. That\u2019s not gonna happen. The wall is gonna get built. It\u2019s underway now. Much of it\u2019s under construction, renovation. It\u2019s gonna continue. There\u2019s no leverage in a government shutdown. There\u2019s no way to get what he wants shutting the government down again. So I think he\u2019ll sign it, and I think there will be declaration of a national emergency because this $1.375 billion happens to be enough money to continue construction projects that are already underway.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not gonna go through the details again, but I did just in the last half hour. There is current wall construction and current wall renovation going on all along the border at various spots. The $1.375 billion is enough to continue the construction or visions that are happening now, while a national emergency declaration would wind its way through the courts. That $1.375 billion is enough money to keep working on wall projects through the end of September. That\u2019s the end of the fiscal year. Now we\u2019re back at that point to coming up with a new budget.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all predicated on the fact that I don\u2019t think that the president is going to abandon this project. I don\u2019t even think he sees it as a campaign promise. It is, but I think he sees it as something much more important. It\u2019s national security, and it\u2019s protection of America. It\u2019s all part of “Make America Great Again.” It\u2019s part of rebuilding America and maintaining America as founded by controlling the border and controlling who gets in and who doesn\u2019t. That has to happen. It has to happen. You know what I would really favor?<\/p>\n

I would favor just right now putting an immediate stop to all immigration, just a time out. Nine months, six months, nine months. Get a handle on what\u2019s happened up to date. Just stop it. You people remember that we essentially stopped immigration from the 1920s to 1965. After the gigantic wave of immigration — legal — from Europe after World War I, we shut it down. There wasn\u2019t… I mean, people were authorized. There was some. It was not zero.<\/p>\n

But mass immigration was shut down while we assimilated all those millions that came in through Ellis Island and other places from the late 1800s into the early 1900s. We need to do something like that again. Just shut it down. The Democrats are raise holy hell if that happened! ‘Cause the Democrats use illegal immigration as the way to keep their current requirements of a number of their people being in an underclass.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s how they keep that constituency populated. Here\u2019s the president, by the way. This was in the Oval Office. He met with the president of Colombia, Ivan Marquez, and during the Q&A with reporters, a reporter said (impression), “The congressional legislation… Mr. President! Mr. President! Will you sign it? Will you sign it?”<\/p>\n

THE PRESIDENT: We\u2019re building a lot of wall right now with money that we already have, and when people see what we\u2019re doing, I think they\u2019ll be very surprised. We\u2019re doing a lot of work. I think a point was made with the last shutdown. People realized how bad the border is, how unsafe the border is, and I think a lot of good points were made. But I don\u2019t want to see another one. There\u2019s no reason for it. And we\u2019re gonna look at the legislation when it comes and I\u2019ll make a determination then.<\/p>\n

\"\"RUSH: Another reporter (impression), “Mr. President, is there the same money this time as what was on the table a few months ago?”<\/p>\n

THE PRESIDENT: The numbers are almost $23 billion, which you don\u2019t report too often. It\u2019s about an 8% increase over last year. So if you look at the total funding, it\u2019s almost up to $23 billion. It\u2019s about 8% higher. The border area is happening. It\u2019s going to happen at a really rapid pace. We\u2019re giving out contracts right now and we\u2019re gonna have a great wall. It\u2019s gonna be a great, powerful wall. We\u2019ve got a lot of funds for a lot of other things. But with the wall, they want to be stingy. But we have options that most people don\u2019t really understand.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Look, the $23 billion is DHS funding, the Department of Homeland Security. That\u2019s what\u2019s up 8%. So there\u2019s some money there that they can get. They\u2019ve identified — I think Mulvaney said the number is — $8 billion or $10 billion, I forget which. But they say they\u2019ve found it elsewhere. Then you\u2019ve got the $14 billion from El Chapo. But the point is that the Democrats have gone along with authorizing a budgetary increase for DHS for $23 billion.<\/p>\n

When Trump says they\u2019re just being stingy with the wall, that\u2019s the allocation for the wall they\u2019ve agreed to: $1.375 billion. But I think I know how this is gonna go. I mean, it\u2019s a prediction, but I\u2019m pretty sure, \u2019cause he\u2019s not gonna give up. This is not gonna be the end of it in any way, shape, manner, or form.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Fox & Friends, Ainsley Earhardt talked to Sarah Sanders and asked her what was coming, and this is what Sarah Sanders said.<\/p>\n

SANDERS: We\u2019ll see what the final package looks like. The president will make a determination on whether or not he\u2019s gonna sign it. But you can rest assured the president promised he was gonna build the wall and he\u2019s gonna deliver. Just like he said he was gonna run for president and win and he has. He said he was gonna make better trade deals and he has. He said he was gonna rebuild the military, and he has. He said he was gonna grow the economy, and he\u2019s done that. He\u2019s promised to build the wall and he\u2019s gonna get that done too.<\/p>\n