![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/APP-011020-AOC-Pelosi.jpg\")
<\/p>\nRUSH: Breaking news, breaking news. Nancy Pelosi says that she\u2019s not gonna send the articles of impeachment to the House today. Really? What a gigantic surprise that is. Breaking news, breaking news, Nancy Pelosi says she\u2019s going to take steps to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate next week. Really?<\/p>\n
JOHNNY DONOVAN: And now, from sunny South Florida, it\u2019s Open Line Friday!<\/p>\n
RUSH: What does that mean, she\u2019s gonna take steps to send the articles of impeachment to the Sentate next week? With all due respect to the ChiComs and the Chinese, I think the Democrat Party\u2019s becoming a Chinese fire drill. I don\u2019t think they know what they\u2019re doing over there. I think they literally are the equivalent of a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off, and it\u2019s really tough to figure out who\u2019s running that party, outside of the press, outside of the media.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: The Democrat Party is standing in quicksand. And there are a number of reasons for it, and I may want to try to explore a little today why that may be.<\/p>\n
There is something very, very fascinating happening with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her fundraising that is way outside the standard way it has always been done. Essentially one of the reasons Pelosi or any other Speaker has such a hold on the job is that the Speaker is always a prolific fundraiser because of the power of the gig. And Pelosi has always, as Boehner did and as Paul Ryan, shared the wealth.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You go out and you tell various members, \u201cHey, you want to be reelected? Hey, you want my help in being reelected? Hey, support the stuff that I tell you to support and I\u2019ll give you money.\u201d And that\u2019s how you buy loyalty. That\u2019s standard operating procedure. Think of it as what you will, but that\u2019s how it\u2019s always worked.<\/p>\n
Well, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is out raising money on her own and not sharing it with anybody in the Democrat Party. You know what she\u2019s doing with it? She\u2019s coming up with people to primary incumbent Democrats in the leadership that she doesn\u2019t like because they\u2019re a bunch of fossils. They\u2019re a bunch of relics. They\u2019re a bunch of old-fashioned “we don\u2019t do it that way anymore” type people.<\/p>\n
And Pelosi has no control over her. And she, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, you could say that she is the energetic figurehead leader of the wacko, radical leftists in the Democrat Party that Pelosi is not in charge of. And so it could be said that Pelosi\u2019s doing everything she\u2019s doing here to try to mollify that group.<\/p>\n
But, folks, the Democrats… We\u2019ve noted here over the course of this busy broadcast week all the Democrats breaking with Pelosi. We\u2019ve had Senator Feinstein break. We\u2019ve had Chris Coons break. A number of them don\u2019t understand what\u2019s going on. “Okay, we got the articles. Send \u2019em over!” She won\u2019t send \u2019em over. They want the articles sent over. She has been trying to do something, and it\u2019s blown up in her face.<\/p>\n
Her strategy was to hold those articles and force McConnell — because of some kind of imaginary public pressure that was gonna be applied to him — to accede to her demands on the trial (i.e., there would be witness; i.e., there would be Bolton; i.e., there would be a whole bunch of people that the House didn\u2019t call) and Pelosi for some reason thought that holding the articles and not sending them over would somehow apply pressure on McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate would say, “Okay! Okay! If you want to call witnesses, just send \u2019em over.”<\/p>\n
But that hasn\u2019t happened. McConnell has stood firm. As the Turtle, he hasn\u2019t moved. She hasn\u2019t… None of this has worked. Bottom line: None of what she was attempting has worked. She\u2019s no closer to getting what she was aiming for — i.e., an expanded investigation under the guise after trial in the Senate. So now the Democrats are breaking away. They\u2019ve grown impatient. “What the hell are you doing? Send them over!” She said she was gonna send \u2019em over.<\/p>\n
I guarantee you… She said some things yesterday, and people literally thought we had it yesterday. Democrats and the media really thought she was gonna send \u2019em over today. In fact, you might have gone to bed last night thinking you\u2019re gonna wake up today and the articles of impeachment would be delivered to the Senate. Well, had you listened to me yesterday, I would have told you that\u2019s not the case, not gonna happen.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/APP-010920-Pelosi.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no way it\u2019s gonna happen, particularly after I heard what Pelosi said yesterday. After I heard what Pelosi said yesterday, I gave her some advice. Grab audio sound bite number 2. This is the advice I gave Pelosi — and I think this is still operative. I\u2019m not gonna believe that those articles of impeachment will ever get to the Senate \u2019til I actually see it happen. She said today she\u2019s going to “take steps” to deliver the articles of impeachment to the Senate. Take steps? What\u2019s “take steps” mean?<\/p>\n
Well, she\u2019s gonna have a meeting with her caucus on Tuesday. There\u2019s no need for a meeting with the caucus unless there is still a gigantic amount of indecision — and there is, because none of this has worked the way they intended. I\u2019m just gonna remind you again. Not one thing, starting with Russia meddling in the election and Russia colluding with Trump — not one thing — has worked. Stormy Daniels didn\u2019t work, Cohen didn\u2019t work, Avenatti didn\u2019t work, the attack on Kavanaugh didn\u2019t work, the Ukraine crap didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
Nothing has worked. They are (do not doubt me) beside themselves. This is unknown territory. They\u2019re not used this kind of impotence. In their minds, they\u2019ve got all the weapons and they\u2019ve got all the firing mechanisms. They\u2019ve got the media. They\u2019ve got public opinion! They can shape and bend and flake and form anything they want. Nothing has worked. The original idea was the whistleblower characterizing the Ukraine phone call — that alone — was supposed to cause people to demand that Trump leave!<\/p>\n
That alone! Without even doing any hearings in the SCIF, without even calling any witnesses, the whistleblower alone — and then Trump releases the transcript and blows that to smithereens. But this whole effort has been designed to create massive public opinion fleeing from Trump. It hasn\u2019t happened. They don\u2019t have the goods to get rid of Trump in an impeachment or an impeachment trial or the allegation of colluding with Russia \u2019cause there isn\u2019t any.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no evidence Trump has done any of this. This has always been an effort to move public opinion in massive percentages to anti-Trump, and it hasn\u2019t, and they\u2019re lost. They don\u2019t know what to do now. So now, “Trump is committing war crimes! He took out the terrorists. There was no imminent threat.” I mean, they\u2019re just flailing away. Meanwhile, Trump goes to his rally last night in Toledo and is just laughing at \u2019em.<\/p>\n
Poking fun at \u2019em, having more fun at their expense, properly characterizing Pencil Neck and talking about Pelosi, begging — begging — for the Democrats to nominate Biden so that he, Trump, can ask him about Hunter nine times during the debates. Trump is on top of the world, sitting there with overflowing confidence, having a grand old time — and these people on the Democrat side are at a loss.<\/p>\n
Now they are asking themselves, “Who the hell is in charge of over here anyway?” (interruption) No, no, no. Don\u2019t doubt me. They don\u2019t know who\u2019s running the Democrat show right now, other than the media. Who\u2019s in charge? Now, here\u2019s the advice I gave Pelosi yesterday, audio sound bite number 2.<\/a> Three… two… one…<\/p>\n RUSH ARCHIVE: She should be pushing the Turtle to dismiss the charges based on what she just said here. \u201cDismiss equals admission.\u201d There\u2019s your solution, Madam Speaker! There is your answer. She should be pushing for a dismissal of charges and then run around and say, \u201cThe Senate knows Trump\u2019s guilty, and that\u2019s why they dismissed the charges \u2019cause they don\u2019t have the guts to do a trial.\u201d When the truth is, there\u2019s nothing to try because she doesn\u2019t have a case, and her articles of impeachment do not present a case. This is why she\u2019s not gonna send \u2019em over.<\/p>\n RUSH: Yeah. Look, I know I\u2019m a lone wolf. She\u2019s saying they\u2019re gonna go over there Tuesday. I\u2019ll believe it when I see it. Well, she didn\u2019t specify Tuesday. She said next week she\u2019s gonna “take steps.” But she said yesterday, “Dismissal of charges equals admission of guilt.” That\u2019s what she\u2019s saying. If the Turtle dismisses the charges, he\u2019s essentially saying that Trump\u2019s guilty. Well, she ought to be pushing for that, then, \u2019cause that\u2019s as close as she\u2019s gonna get.<\/p>\n And then go out and try to make that case. It\u2019s kind of like the advice I gave her. “Madam Speaker, all you\u2019ve got here… The only thing you can do is to accuse the Republicans of bias and partisanship and mean-spiritedness and bigotry and all the rest — and that\u2019s why your articles are not gonna get a fair trial because of the Republicans. You gotta dump on the Republicans.” Those are the two options that she has left, \u2019cause, folks, if they… (chuckling) If they go to a trial, there\u2019s gonna be an acquittal — and if that happens, she\u2019s toast.<\/p>\n You talk about shooting yourself in the foot or elsewhere?<\/p>\n Talk about self-forced errors?<\/p>\n That would be the creme de la creme!<\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n RUSH: We start here with Jim in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Great to have you, sir. Hi.<\/p>\n CALLER: Hello, Rush. I am really honored to be speaking with you and it feels like I\u2019m talking with an old friend, too.<\/p>\n RUSH: Thank you, sir.<\/p>\n CALLER: I\u2019ve been listening to you since the early days of WGL talk radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana.<\/p>\n RUSH: Yes, sir! I remember that well.<\/p>\n CALLER: I\u2019m holding in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers a Rush is Right bumper sticker. So my reason for calling is that Trey Gowdy wrote an editorial for Fox News<\/a>, I believe, yesterday, saying the real reason for the impeachment delay is to try to flip the Senate. His point was that when Schiff inadvertently told the truth about the reason for — as he called it — “the pause” in transferring the articles of impeachment to the Senate, that it was really calculated to place moderate Republican senators in a bind and cause \u2019em to vote as many times on impeachment as they could, so that their Democrat rivals could run 30-second sound bites and use it to try to flip those four or five seats that would be critical, because they know they can\u2019t get rid of Trump as the Senate is currently configured.<\/p>\n RUSH: All right. Let me ask you this. Has that worked? Do you think that strategy that Trey Gowdy has outlined has worked for the Democrats?<\/p>\n RUSH: Well, but wait. Can you name for me any moderate Republicans that have flipped?<\/p>\n CALLER: No. No.<\/p>\n RUSH: Can you think of any moderate Republicans who have done or said anything to give these Democrats fodder for campaign ads in November?<\/p>\n CALLER: (sigh) You know, I don\u2019t… Well, the ones that are vulnerable, I think they think may do it, like what\u2019s his name in Colorado, Cory…?<\/p>\n RUSH: Cory Gardner?<\/p>\n CALLER: Cory Gardner. That\u2019s one that sort of targets… I think they\u2019re looking at these purple states thinking they can put enough pressure on to make it happen. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s happened yet, no. I don\u2019t think… They don\u2019t seem to be saying that. I mean, you got some out there —<\/p>\n RUSH: Okay. So let me see if I understand this. I may be misunderstanding this. The theory is — Gowdy\u2019s theory is — that the reason for the delay is to put pressure on some of these moderate senators. What does this theory require? Does this require that people like Gardner vote to acquit and then that makes them vulnerable in November? What am I…? Is that right or wrong? I\u2019m not sure I understand this, to tell you the truth.<\/p>\n CALLER: I think he\u2019s saying… I think he\u2019s saying that he wants to like… Okay, where… When Schiff said, you know, that they were fleshing out where they stand, they\u2019re trying to get — they\u2019re trying to delay as much time to see if they can get these moderate, supposedly moderate Republicans in these purple states to —<\/p>\n RUSH: Right. To do what, though? To do what?<\/p>\n CALLER: To vote for impeachment, to push it going forward so that they can use that to say, “Hey, look! Therefore, they\u2019re for this,” and try to — or against it, and then say, “Okay. Hey, we need to get Democrats in.”<\/p>\n RUSH: Wait, wait, wait, wait. You have to forgive my stupidity and thickness here.<\/p>\n CALLER: No, no.<\/p>\n RUSH: How does it help for a moderate Republicans to come out for impeachment? Democrats think that will make them vulnerable when it\u2019s reelection time in November because they\u2019ve gone again Trump?<\/p>\n RUSH: So then the fear…? They want these moderates to oppose impeachment numbers of times so that they can then say, “These guys, you don\u2019t want to reelect them, they love Trump,” or some such thing?<\/p>\n CALLER: Exactly. I think that\u2019s the theory, yes. It does make sense, that — like you said, too — they can\u2019t get it with Trump. They can\u2019t get it now. They\u2019re not gonna impeach Trump in the Senate.<\/p>\n RUSH: I know. They\u2019re not gonna get an acquittal and so forth. Look, I have all the respect in the world for Trey Gowdy. In fact, I met him over the holiday break. But (sigh) I don\u2019t think this is as… I don\u2019t think the Democrats have that degree of control over this. They may be trying to affect something like that, but I think it\u2019s just indication of how deluded they are.<\/p>\n If they think they can turn this into somehow a… That\u2019s not even when this is about. Now, I can understand somebody that still lived and breathed inside the Washington Beltway for all these years thinking that there\u2019s a theory here above and beyond just impeachment, but I just don\u2019t think the Democrats are that sophisticated right now to be able to pull something like that off.<\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n RUSH: This is Fred. Fred\u2019s in Rockford, Michigan. It\u2019s great to have you, Fred. Hi.<\/p>\n CALLER: Thank you, Mr. Rush. And an early happy birthday to you.<\/p>\n RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much.<\/p>\n CALLER: The point I\u2019d like to make is I\u2019m in my seventies, I\u2019ve been following politics for 50 years, and I have never in my life seen a congressman who came into Congress with the gravitas and the importance that AOC did. And I believe that\u2019s a product of the press, which Pelosi thinks is on her side, and the fact she can\u2019t put AOC in the right box is because these people that she thinks are her friends have given her this big problem.<\/p>\n CALLER: Correct. She thinks the press are her friends, the mainstream media, and they\u2019re the ones that dumped this problem in her lap.<\/p>\n RUSH: Okay. So let\u2019s carry your theory forward. The press has made Cortez.<\/p>\n CALLER: Correct.<\/p>\n RUSH: And The Squad.<\/p>\n CALLER: Well, made \u2019em more important than they are.<\/p>\n RUSH: Made Cortez more important than she is?<\/p>\n CALLER: Well, if I think back over the last 50 years, I don\u2019t remember any freshman congressman coming into the House of Representatives with all that importance.<\/p>\n RUSH: Precisely, and yet this one has.<\/p>\n CALLER: Correct. It\u2019s the press.<\/p>\n RUSH: It is the press, but why?<\/p>\n CALLER: Well, they just look for the newest and freshest thing. I don\u2019t think the press really thinks, to be honest with you. I don\u2019t think they ever look at the long-term implications of what they do.<\/p>\n RUSH: That could well be. But there\u2019s some conventional wisdom about the press that people always cite. I\u2019m not accusing you, don\u2019t misunderstand. When the subject of bias comes up and people say, “No, they\u2019re not biased. You\u2019re missing the point. What they are is X, or what they are is Y.\u201d It\u2019s a crock. They are biased. They are liberals, 98% of \u2018em vote Democrat.<\/p>\n Now, are there other things? Yeah. They have become pro-government, pro-establishment. That\u2019s their real allegiance now. Their real allegiance, instead of being watchdogs on power, they have joined it. They think they\u2019re joined at the hip with it. And that would traditionally be Pelosi. By definition, she\u2019s got the years of service, she has the legitimate power as Speaker. And yet, you\u2019re right, they have focused on this young bartender. Now, one of the things the press is is interested in things that are new. There\u2019s also the demographics. I mean, this babe is closer to their age than Pelosi is.<\/p>\n CALLER: Correct.<\/p>\n RUSH: She\u2019s also as stupid as they are.<\/p>\n CALLER: (laughing)<\/p>\n CALLER: Oh, I agree with that. I agree with that.<\/p>\n RUSH: Yet she is heralded as some new, brilliant newcomer. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything brilliant about her unless you want to talk about the strategies that she\u2019s using to raise money and to go up against Pelosi. Now, one thing she\u2019s doing — and Fred, I appreciate the call.<\/p>\n I mentioned this earlier. The way that leadership — this is both parties — the way that leadership holds onto power is by buying it. The amount of money that pours into political parties and candidates in Washington is bigger than you can even imagine. It\u2019s bigger than you think. And it is used in any number of ways in addition to being converted into personal use when they leave. But that\u2019s for down the road.<\/p>\n So Pelosi will go to each new freshman class — and Paul Ryan would do the same — “Hey, you like it here?”<\/p>\n “Yeah, I love it.”<\/p>\n “Do you want to stay here?”<\/p>\n “Yeah, I want to stay.”<\/p>\n “Okay, here\u2019s how that\u2019s gonna happen. You\u2019re gonna do everything I tell you to do. You\u2019re gonna support the legislation the leadership supports. You want a good committee?”<\/p>\n “Yeah, I want to really be on a good committee.”<\/p>\n “Fine. Then you gotta do exactly what we\u2019ll tell you. And if you do, we\u2019ll help you get reelected. We\u2019ll help fund your campaign. We\u2019ll find donors that will assist you. And these donors will be beneficiaries of legislation that your name is on. And if you just work with us, then your future\u2019s guaranteed.”<\/p>\n So the leaders take in all this money and then they go spread it around to up-and-coming freshman, sophomore members of Congress. Well, Pelosi tried that, and Cortez was not interested. She didn\u2019t want from the beginning to be associated with Pelosi. She didn\u2019t want to be beholden to Pelosi. She didn\u2019t want to have to vote with Pelosi. She didn\u2019t want to have to do anything the leadership did.<\/p>\n Instead, she set up her own fundraising apparatus. And it\u2019s pretty big, because the press, as Fred just pointed out, has made her a big star in these circles. So she\u2019s raising her own money, but she\u2019s not sharing it with Pelosi or the leadership. She is using it to find people to challenge the leaders in primaries because Cortez believes that Pelosi and the leadership is a bunch of dinosaurs. They\u2019re artifacts of a bygone era. They\u2019re not nearly hip enough. They\u2019re not nearly radical enough. They\u2019re way too establishment liberal.<\/p>\n So she\u2019s become a genuine competitor to Pelosi in all ways. And what is different about this is Pelosi has no control over her or any of the others in The Squad. And I can\u2019t tell you how frustrating that is. So Pelosi, I think a lot of this impeachment business has been to try to keep The Squad happy and to keep them off her back and to hold on to her speakership.<\/p>\n I think Pelosi is in all new territory here. I think Paul Ryan was in all new territory and he don\u2019t want to be so he resigned to go out and do something else, and ditto Boehner. Pelosi\u2019s hanging on because that\u2019s all there is. But The Squad bunch, they\u2019re not happy with the way Pelosi\u2019s done impeachment. They think she\u2019s blown it. They think Trump is guilty of far more than what\u2019s in these articles. They think these articles of impeachment are a bunch of pap. They think that they are throwaways. They think they\u2019re gutless.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/APP-122319-Pelosi-shrugs.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/APP-112019-IMPEACHMENT-HEARINGS-RUSH-SHAM.jpg\")
CALLER: I actually don\u2019t think so because I think… As you\u2019ve said many times, and — anybody who is really paying attention… I don\u2019t think anybody cares about impeachment except the leftists in the House.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/APP-112219-Schiff-Pelosi.jpg\")
CALLER: All right. Well, here\u2019s what he said. This is actually right from what he said. He said that he “deemed” — that Schiff, when he\u2019s talking… He\u2019s now talking about Schiff and his moment of truth. He said, “He ‘deemed it fleshing out where these Republicans stand.\u2019 That is California-speak for making Republican senators in tough reelections cast as many votes as possible on impeachment so their Democrat opponents can run as many 30-second ads against them as possible.” That\u2019s what he said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/APP-040119-AOC-Cortez.jpg\")
RUSH: So the theory is that AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has become the media darling. Because of that, she\u2019s being promoted and heralded, singled out at the expense of Pelosi and the rest of the Democrat leadership. Therefore, the press is responsible for Pelosi even having a perceived challenge in opposition to her leadership position? Is that your theory?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/APP-070919-Rush-Dem-D.jpg\")
RUSH: Well, ignorant. I mean, whatever you want to say. I mean, clearly the woman — she may have some strategery smarts in terms of going up against Pelosi, but the stuff that she knows or thinks she knows about America and American history couldn\u2019t be more wrong, for example.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/APP-FEDERALIST-TEARAWAY-011020.jpg\")
<\/a>Now, to me, that ought to be an opening paragraph rather than a closing, because he doesn\u2019t answer who\u2019s in charge. If he does, I was not able to figure it out reading the piece. But essentially it is about his opinion that Pelosi has blown this as badly as it could have been blown, that the Democrats are beginning to defect, that this has not galvanized the Democrats. It has not hurt Trump in any way, shape, manner, or form.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/APP-040819-Rush-DEMOCRATS.jpg\")
“Should Democrats lose the House in 2020, who steps up to the plate considering the age of the leading Democrats at the moment? And if this is the last major strategic decision she made, how does that impact Pelosi\u2019s legacy? Perhaps that question will be answered in the multiple biographies planned for the speaker at the moment. But for now, if you were only reading the front-facing mainstream press, it remains a mystery as to why Pelosi chose this pointless gambit which ended up dragging this impeachment process out without any apparent benefit to her conference.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/APP-011020-Trump-Rally-Toledo-2.jpg\")
It means there isn\u2019t a Democrat out there that could put together one rally like Trump did in Toledo last night, and he could do it every week if he wanted to. There\u2019s not a one of them that engenders that bond, that support, that excitement. They have no enthusiasm. They don\u2019t have any policies. They don\u2019t have any money. They don\u2019t have a success track record on anything in the last three years other than winning the House in 2018. And to top it off, who the hell are they depending on to bring them out of the wilderness? Rich old white guys.<\/p>\n