{"id":379440,"date":"2021-01-20T15:52:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T20:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=379440"},"modified":"2021-01-21T15:51:42","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T20:51:42","slug":"a-review-of-trumps-escalator-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2021\/01\/20\/a-review-of-trumps-escalator-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Just for Fun: A Review of Trump\u2019s Escalator Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: I asked Cookie<\/a> today, I said, “Let\u2019s go back. Let\u2019s have some fun today. Let\u2019s go back to the escalator speech in 2015.”<\/p>\n

Trump and Melania come down the escalator and he announced his candidacy. We\u2019re gonna relive that, and also Trump had an absolutely great farewell address yesterday. Got segments of that that you need to hear if you missed it. So we\u2019ve got that.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: We\u2019re gonna go back to 2015, folks. I thought this would be fun to do. June 16th, 2015, Donald Trump has announced that he\u2019s got a big announcement. He\u2019s at Trump Tower. He\u2019s coming down the escalator. Everybody is wondering what is going on. The rumors are he\u2019s gonna announce a run for the presidency. Other people say, no way. He\u2019s not gonna run for the presidency. There\u2019s no way. He doesn\u2019t want to do that. He\u2019s just gonna do something publicity-oriented to try to gin up interest in his TV show, The Apprentice, but he\u2019s not gonna run.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Then the moment of truth came. The music blared, the lights shone, and there at the top of the escalator Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, they hop on board the escalator, and they ride down to the microphones where Trump announced that he is indeed, or was, a candidate for president of the United States. Let\u2019s listen again.<\/p>\n

TRUMP: Our country is in serious trouble. We don\u2019t have victories anymore. We used to have victories, but we don\u2019t have \u2019em. When was the last time anybody saw us beating, let\u2019s say, China in a trade deal? They kill us. I beat China all the time. When did we beat Japan at anything? They send their cars over by the millions. And what do we do? When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet in Tokyo? It doesn\u2019t exist, folks. They beat us all the time. When do we beat Mexico at the border? They\u2019re laughing at us, at our stupidity.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right. And people were beginning to whisper to themselves and buzz to themselves. Bzz bzz bzz bzz. What is this? We\u2019re not used to politicians talking like this. This is unreal. This guy can\u2019t be serious. And the initial reaction was, “See? I told you. He\u2019s not running for president. Nobody seriously running for president would get even close to talking this way.” But Trump kept talking.<\/p>\n

TRUMP: I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. I tell you that. I don\u2019t need anybody\u2019s money. I\u2019m using my own money. I\u2019m not using the lobbyists. I\u2019m not using donors. I don\u2019t care. I\u2019m really rich, I\u2019ll tell you that. And, by the way, I\u2019m not even saying that in a bragging — that\u2019s the kind of mind-set, that\u2019s the kind of thinking you need for this country. ‘Cause we gotta make the country rich. It sounds crass. Somebody said, “Oh, that\u2019s crass.” It\u2019s not crass.<\/p>\n

RUSH: He\u2019s reacting to an audience member. “Man, that\u2019s really crass to tell everybody you\u2019re rich.” I\u2019m laughing myself silly in this one because he went through it two or three times. “By the way, I\u2019m really rich. I am really — I\u2019m gonna show you in a second.” And he did in a matter of time whip out some paperwork to prove that he\u2019s really rich. And so people said, “Well, he can\u2019t be serious. I mean, nobody seriously running for president would brag about how rich they are. It just isn\u2019t done. So whatever Trump\u2019s doing, he\u2019s not really running,” they said. I said, “No. I think you had better reexamine what you\u2019re fearing.” Now, this next bite, this is what set the world on fire, when he said that Mexico does not send their best people to the United States.<\/p>\n

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TRUMP: They\u2019re sending people that have lots of problems. And they\u2019re bringing those problems with us. They\u2019re bringing drugs. They\u2019re bringing crime. They\u2019re rapists. And some I assume are good people. But I speak to border guards, and they tell us what we\u2019re getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They\u2019re sending us not the right people. It\u2019s coming from more than Mexico. It\u2019s coming from all over south and Latin America, and it\u2019s coming probably, probably from the Middle East. But we don\u2019t know \u2019cause we have no protection and we have no competence. We don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n

RUSH: And that\u2019s when people, “Whoa. What in the name, is this guy serious?” And some people started, “We hope he\u2019s serious. We hope he\u2019s serious. This is the way people have been hoping Washington would look at illegal immigration for decades.”<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: We go back to the two remaining sound bites we have from the Trump elevator press conference. Here\u2019s the first and the last two.<\/p>\n

TRUMP: I would build a great wall — and nobody builds walls American me, believe me, and I\u2019ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall, mark my words. Nobody would be tougher on ISIS than Donald Trump. Nobody. I will find within our military, I will find the General Patton or I will find General MacArthur, I will find the right guy, I will find the guy that\u2019s going to take that military and make it really work.<\/p>\n