{"id":4107,"date":"2016-02-24T17:34:07","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T17:34:07","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2016-02-24T17:34:07","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T17:34:07","slug":"donaldus_maximus_dominates_nevada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/02\/24\/donaldus_maximus_dominates_nevada\/","title":{"rendered":"Donaldus Maximus Dominates Nevada"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: Let\u2019s go to Nevada here. Trump wins, third time in a row, by margins that actually outstrip most of the optimistic polls, and this is kind of interesting because I have here (in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers) a story from (What is this?) TheHill.com. “Rubio: Trump Underperformed in Nevada Caucuses.” It\u2019s an amazing analysis from number two. Oh, we gotta get to John Kasich too. Everybody\u2019s starting to ask, “What is he hanging around for?” I\u2019ll tell you exactly what he\u2019s hanging around for. <\/p>\n

Do you know what he\u2019s hanging around for? (interruption) You don\u2019t? I\u2019ll give you a hint. It\u2019s not to win Ohio. That\u2019s not why John Kasich is hanging around. Even if he won Ohio, big whoop! That\u2019s all he\u2019s gonna win, and… (interruption) Oh, damn right he does. Everybody\u2019s got it wrong. Everybody\u2019s thinking that what ought to happen is that Rubio ought to go to Kasich and sign him up as his VP, and that gets Kasich out of the race and takes Kasich\u2019s six or seven or whatever points he\u2019s got. Added to Rubio, that makes it a real race<\/line><\/p>\n

Why would Kasich go away? Rubio\u2019s not gonna win. Rubio hadn\u2019t won anything yet. That\u2019s another thing. Rubio\u2019s another second place, second place, second place. We\u2019re talking Rubio. Rubio\u2019s hasn\u2019t won diddly-squat. Trump\u2019s running away with this. The only guy that\u2019s beat Trump so far is Cruz. Cruz needs to make some adjustments, I think. But no, Kasich… (interruption) Well, I don\u2019t know, but common sense is that he\u2019s hanging around waiting for Trump to ask him to be VP. Why sign up with somebody who\u2019s not gonna win this thing? <\/p>\n

Why wouldn\u2019t you want to be the VP of the front-runner? Which would be Donaldus Maximus, the Trumpster. Why wouldn\u2019t you sign up with him if you\u2019re from Kasich\u2019s at some point? That\u2019s what I think he\u2019s doing. This is for Kasich. I mean, he\u2019s not gonna win this. He\u2019s not gonna be any more than governor unless he becomes somebody\u2019s VP. He\u2019s 63, 64 years old, whatever. And this is the biggest shot that he\u2019s gonna get. So I\u2019m sure that\u2019s why he\u2019s hanging on. And if he can do well in Ohio, that could send a signal. <\/p>\n

Trump could arguably say he\u2019s from Florida, could arguably say he\u2019s from New York. You\u2019ve got Trump. Trump can say he\u2019s (chuckles) wherever his plane happens to be that day. And Kasich\u2019s from Ohio. That\u2019s what I think Kasich\u2019s doing. Kasich kind of telegraphed when he told a crowd yesterday, “I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m doing here.” Did you see that? “I don\u2019t know that I\u2019m in this to win the presidency.” He said, “I\u2019m just in this and we\u2019ll just see where it all falls out. We\u2019ll just see where it goes.” <\/p>\n

Well, where it\u2019s going, I\u2019m sure Kasich\u2019s told all of his people, “Stay off the phones, and wait for the call to be veep from somebody.” If Rubio calls him to be veep, he\u2019d have to take the call, he\u2019s have to consider it. But why would he do it? Why would he do it? The only reason to do that would be on the come, on the theory that, “Okay, if I take my support here — my (sigh) voluminous support of whatever it is, six points, seven points — and then I add that to Rubio\u2019s, I\u2019m still 10 points behind Trump. And that\u2019s the way I\u2019m gonna get to the vice presidency.” <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think he\u2019s gonna see it that way. I could be wrong. Look, this not my business. I\u2019m just a commentator here on the radio responsible for all this mess. (laughing) You… (interruption) Oh, yeah, it\u2019s still going on. I mean, they brought Fred Barnes on at Fox to talk about it yesterday. David Asman did. I don\u2019t even want to get into it. It happens every election. Every election the people that don\u2019t get what they want, it\u2019s my fault. It is. Whoever\u2019s losing, it\u2019s my fault for not signing up. It\u2019s my fault for not endorsing. It\u2019s my fault for not doing this or that.<\/p>\n

And the winners all think that I\u2019ve been on their side. And they all thanking me and praising me. So. And I haven\u2019t done anything. I\u2019m not doing anything differently. But, anyway, Rubio is saying… This is Wednesday, right? Rubio said that Trump had underperformed in the Nevada caucus. He said last time Mitt Romney got over 50% so Trump actually underperformed what Romney did, not once but twice in this state. Rubio was on Fox & Friends today, and he was talking about 2008, 2012. I hate to break it to him, but this was a slam dunk. <\/p>\n

Let me find the numbers. The turnout was a record. The turnout was a all-time high. In 2008, the turnout was 44,000 Republican side Nevada caucus. In 2012, it was 32,000. Yesterday it was 73,000. Yesterday\u2019s turnout was almost exactly equal to the combined turnout of 2008 and 2012. And Trump won 46%. He\u2019s looking at this and says, “Mitt Romney… Whatever percentage Romney got in terms of real votes is in Trump\u2019s rearview mirror, no matter how you slice this.” But I understand what Rubio\u2019s doing. <\/line><\/p>\n

I mean, Rubio wants to stay in this and considered to be a very close front-runner. And you know, perception is reality to try to get it out there that Trump underperformed, because that would be a first outside of Iowa. But, anyway, let\u2019s go through the rest of this. Trump wins Nevada, third primary\/caucus in a row by margins that actually outstrip most of the polls that were optimistic. He actually did better. He outperformed the polls. There might be a Trump Effect out there going on. <\/p>\n

There might be, meaning fewer people who say they\u2019re gonna vote for Trump than actually do. I mean, more people vote for him than say so on polls, \u2019cause he\u2019s over-performing, he\u2019s outperforming the polls. And for a third time in a row the Republican turnout broke all previous records, and again in Nevada turnout yesterday was almost equal to the combined turnout of \u201908 and \u201912. Trump even won by a percentage that exceeds the total of 2008 and 2012. Now, here\u2019s the thing about this. <\/p>\n

I realize you had to stay up until what, 11:30 or midnight last night to have any idea what was happening, and there was a… I don\u2019t know. Attitudinally, I think a lot of people say, “Nevada? It\u2019s way out there. It\u2019s casinos. Come on! It doesn\u2019t matter what happens in Nevada primary. No big deal.” And then you see that the Republicans that live there showed up in a record number, and you find out that there isn\u2019t any off state here. There isn\u2019t any state where people are ho-hum about this.<\/p>\n