{"id":4654,"date":"2015-12-14T17:27:44","date_gmt":"2015-12-14T17:27:44","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2015-12-14T17:27:44","modified_gmt":"2015-12-14T17:27:44","slug":"cruz_forces_trump_blunders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2015\/12\/14\/cruz_forces_trump_blunders\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruz Forces Trump Blunders"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

RUSH: On this program, ladies and gentlemen, we have praised repeatedly the way Ted Cruz has been behaving in this campaign. We have praised his strategy. We have recognized what he\u2019s doing and have praised it, called it out, and this program has been front and center in telling everybody, “Keep a sharp eye on Cruz because when all the shouting\u2019s done, when everything shakes out, don\u2019t be surprised if Ted Cruz leads the pack.” <\/p>\n

And now we\u2019ve got at least two polls with him way up in Iowa, including the Des Moines Register poll, which among the Drive-Bys is among the most respected polls ever. And because Cruz has been playing this whole campaign brilliantly, because he has not criticized Trump, he has not moved, he\u2019s not been part of the chorus. Cruz has been exhibiting manners that are considered to be old-fashioned. Politeness, restraint, not getting in people\u2019s faces and wagging a finger and shouting them down. He really has been engaged in what I believe are time-honored behavioral techniques that represent manners, breeding, sophistication, maturity, and all that. And doing so has forced Trump into a couple of major blunders here. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not so much Cruz\u2019s behavior per se. It is the polling data coming out of Iowa that has shocked everybody except me, and including Trump. I mean, when Carson was leading Iowa, ah, nobody really thought that was gonna last. I mean, let\u2019s be honest. But Cruz, Cruz has been everybody\u2019s dark horse. You cannot legitimately and honestly criticize Cruz\u2019s competence, his intelligence, his abilities. He\u2019s as bright and competent and capable and smart as anybody, and they all know it. (interruption) What\u2019s that? (interruption) Ah, screw it, dark horse. Did I just say dark horse? Well, don\u2019t distract me with that stuff \u2019cause that\u2019s not the point here. Melissa Harris-Perry would say it\u2019s racist, but the point is that Cruz\u2019s behavior here — and I can\u2019t think of another word to describe other than just respectful and polite, treat your enemies with kindness, you know, turn the other cheek, all that sort of stuff. The virtues that are found in the Bible, for example. Cruz has been living them. <\/line><\/p>\n

He\u2019s not made himself a target in the way others who play the in-your-face insult game make themselves targets. He gets enough excrement thrown his way anyway because people are so afraid of him. But when you couple the way Cruz has behaved, his steady, consistent campaigning, his unrivaled and unparalleled, in this field, conservatism, and you couple that with this series of polls that have shown up in the last week, it has discombobulated everybody much the way Trump discombobulated people early on. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: I\u2019m not sure that Donald Trump understands the way Ted Cruz has been behaving, some might say “playing the game.” But a lot of people have observed. I mean, it\u2019s nothing earth shattering for me to tell you that when the world has piled on Donald Trump, Ted Cruz has not, and a lot of people have noticed, and a lot of people have been cynical about it. A lot of people have said, “Come on, you\u2019re not real if you don\u2019t criticize Trump. Trump\u2019s not a conservative and you are.” I\u2019ve heard people, I\u2019ve had the e-mails from people, they\u2019re mad at Cruz for not jumping all over Trump for what Trump isn\u2019t versus what Trump claims to be, and I\u2019ve always known what Cruz is doing. <\/p>\n

Cruz is positioning himself or has been positioning himself to be able to take advantage of any slippage that might occur with Trump. I mean, let\u2019s face it. The entire political establishment has been waiting for Trump to implode. They\u2019ve been hoping, they\u2019ve been praying, they\u2019ve been predicting, they\u2019ve been thinking, they\u2019ve been assuring themselves that Trump was going to goof it up somehow. Or they\u2019ve been telling themselves that Trump isn\u2019t serious and at some point\u2019s gonna drop out once he\u2019s got his grins and jollies filled with all this. <\/p>\n

I mean, they\u2019ve been grasping at all kinds of straws to tell themselves that when they finally get down to the convention that Trump is not gonna be there and he\u2019s not gonna be the nominee and they\u2019ll not have to face it and so forth. And in my opinion Ted Cruz has been considering that possibility as he campaigns and has purposely and strategically avoided piling on any of the criticism of Trump. The only time it\u2019s really happened it was caught on tape at some kind of a donor thing where somebody was there. I don\u2019t even remember what Cruz was accused of saying, Trump being unstable or I don\u2019t know what it was. But it was the only time that Cruz has on record condemned Trump. <\/line><\/p>\n

Now, he also distanced himself a little bit from Trump on the banning of Muslims and so forth, didn\u2019t agree with Trump, but he did not go after him and criticize him. He studiously, purposely avoided doing that. And I think there\u2019s many reasons for it. I think one of them is character. Depending on how you\u2019re raised and what your values are and where you get your virtues, it may sound strange to young people today, but there have always been time-honored ways of behaving for mature, sophisticated, responsible people. And there have been many do\u2019s and don\u2019ts in that list of things. <\/p>\n

One of them is you never brag about anything. You never talk about how much money you have or don\u2019t have. You never condemn anybody for not having enough or too much. You don\u2019t go there. The old argument, turn the other cheek. If somebody throws something at you, don\u2019t reduce yourself to their level. Turn the other cheek and smile. Basically this is where Cruz comes from. I think he\u2019s extremely sophisticated, well-rounded, great character, proper virtues. I think he\u2019s just a great guy, dependable, “Here\u2019s what I am,” no phoniness about him, which I find funny because a lot of people think he is phony. A lot of people think that he\u2019s manufactured and contrived and a little plastic in his presentation, and I don\u2019t. That\u2019s who he is. And he\u2019s not hiding anything. He\u2019s clearly illustrating who he is, likes who he is and so forth. <\/p>\n

So the moment that a lot of people have been waiting for, or at least a version of it happened with the release of polling data late last week and over the weekend. In a Washington Examiner story headlined, “Cruz Triples Support in Iowa, Dominates Republican Race,” Des Moines Register\/Bloomberg poll. Most respected survey in Iowa politics. And it is. Whether it\u2019s deserved or not, it is. I mean, the point that you need to know here is this poll, the Des Moines Register\/Bloomberg poll is always treated as gospel. It has been for election after election after election, 30 years. And it has Ted Cruz with a solid lead in Iowa. Texas senator now 31% in the new survey, Trump 21, Ben Carson at 13, Marco Rubio at 10, and Jeb Bush is at six. <\/p>\n

Now, here\u2019s what\u2019s remarkable about it. In the last Des Moines Register poll in October, mid-October, Cruz was at 10%, which means that he has more than tripled his support in the last eight weeks. Trump is holding steady. He isn\u2019t losing anything, not gaining anything. He\u2019s holding steady there at 21 points. Now, here\u2019s something that Cruz also knows. While Trump is leading within the Republican field, one of the reasons for that is the Republican field is big. The Republican primary vote is being split in any number of ways. But it isn\u2019t gonna be long before it isn\u2019t because the field is gonna shrink. We have a debate tomorrow night, but after the Hawkeye Cauci, maybe even before it, you\u2019re gonna see this field shrink quite a lot. <\/line><\/p>\n

So while Trump leads in the Republican field in all the states if you add \u2019em up and average \u2019em, Trump leads the field. The undeniable fact when you look at numbers is that more Republicans oppose Trump than support him. If you add all of the support of all the other Republicans, I mean, quite logically, that\u2019s not unique to Trump. That would be the case with any leader unless he had 50, 60 percent. The number of Republicans opposing Trump is far larger than the number of people who support him. So the question\u2019s always been, when these candidates start dropping out, pick your name. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m not trying to force anybody out here, but when Kasich goes out, when Jeb goes out, Christie goes out, Rand Paul goes out, Graham, Santorum, their voters are gonna go somewhere. And this is why I think Cruz has been just brilliant in the way he\u2019s been behaving. I can\u2019t think of any other word. The way he has been comporting himself. He is positioning himself well. He\u2019s just been Steady Eddie, and now this tripling of support in Iowa. It\u2019s understandable, Iowa, the Hawkeye Cauci on the Republican side, a lot of evangelicals vote there. Remember Santorum won it in 2012. So winning the Hawkeye Cauci does not guarantee anything. It doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re gonna go on and win the nomination. I think Huckabee won it in 2008. So the last two Republicans to win Iowa, it\u2019s not a guarantee of anything. <\/p>\n

But this is a shot across the bow because this was not expected, and especially by Trump. So I think the combination of these polls, particularly the Des Moines Register poll and the way Cruz has just been floating along there kind of not beneath the radar, but he\u2019s not been making news the way everybody else has been making news, and I think that it\u2019s shaken Trump up. As I say, Ben Carson leading in Iowa I don\u2019t think a whole lot of people took that seriously, but with Cruz leading Iowa, there are a lot of people taking him seriously, because when you get to the Republican establishment, folks, there is as much fear — in fact, there may be more fear of Cruz in the establishment than there is of Trump. There clearly is a lot of anger at both of them. But the fear — because the Republican establishment fears Goldwater all over again. <\/p>\n

The Republican establishment fears two things, Nixon and Goldwater, two landslides, and that\u2019s what they equate with conservatism, particularly Goldwater. They never for some reason equate conservative with landslide Reagan victories. And you know what else that amazes me? You know, Siri thinks I asked her a question. Let me turn this off for a second. I didn\u2019t say anything to you. My phone. <\/line><\/p>\n

I look at all of these conservative commentators and media people and Republican politicians. Let me ask you a question, a very serious question. What is the political movement, period of time, what and when did these people have more power than they\u2019ve ever had in their lives politically? The 1980s, Ronald Reagan. When conservatives won, when the Republican Party won a two-election landslide, \u201980 and \u201984. The Republican Party had more power during those eight years than they\u2019ve ever had since. Now, they might argue think they had a lot of power with Bush 41 but they couldn\u2019t have or he\u2019d have won his reelection. And Bush 43, let\u2019s face it, folks, I mean, the power there, that was kind of diffused by foreign policy. <\/p>\n

My point is that all of these Republican establishment types and all of these conservative media types routinely attack the political movement that gave them more power than they\u2019ve ever had in their lives. I would think they would want to return to it. I would think they would want to return to conservative victory and dominance. But I guess such is the power of suggestion in the Washington establishment that if you\u2019re conservative and you\u2019re in the establishment in Washington, you are not being in the big clique, you\u2019re persona non grata, you\u2019re laughed at, made fun of, or what have you. But it\u2019s always amazed me, that the most powerful opportunity, the most powerful the party has ever been is that period of time they routinely disparage, the Reagan eighties. <\/p>\n

Okay. Quick time-out. I\u2019ve got these two sound bites and I\u2019ll play you. I\u2019ve not been teasing you. I\u2019ve been trying to explain it and build up to it, where I think Cruz, in the way he\u2019s been handling everything, really forced what could be some potentially huge errors for Trump. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Fox News Sunday, Donald Trump was on with Chris Wallace who said, “What do you think of Ted Cruz?”<\/p>\n

TRUMP: I don\u2019t think he has the right temperament. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s got the right judgment. You look at the way he\u2019s dealt with the Senate where he goes in there like a… You know, frankly, like a little bit of a maniac. You\u2019re never gonna get things done that way. You can\u2019t walk into the Senate and scream and call people liars and not be able to cajole and get along with people. He\u2019ll never get anything done, and that\u2019s the problem with Ted.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Whoa. Wait just a second here. Doesn\u2019t that kind of describe the way Trump has been dealing with people he disagrees with? I mean, he\u2019s been calling them stupid, he\u2019s been calling them incompetent, he\u2019s been saying you can\u2019t get anything done with these people. But for the people in the Trump support base who are conservatives, and who may not even have any affinity for Cruz… The conservative base of the Republican Party likes a lot of different people. <\/p>\n

But even people who are not particularly aligned with Cruz on the right have gotta be curious about this because this is no different than what the media would say about Ted Cruz. This is no different than what the Democrat Party would say. I mean, this is what the Republican establishment would say, for crying out loud. I mean, this is akin to saying, “I\u2019m the guy who can cross the aisle and work with the other side.” That hasn\u2019t been the way Trump has come off up \u2019til now. He\u2019s not positioned that way.<\/line><\/p>\n

He\u2019s come across as somebody who\u2019s gonna beat somebody in negotiations, who\u2019s gonna beat them down. He\u2019s gonna tell them how it\u2019s gonna be. This… This is so obvious. You know, I\u2019ll tell you what this is. This is obviously the Trump campaign deciding to use the most common criticism against Cruz because they see that Cruz has negatives. They see that Cruz is not liked by the Republican establishment, and so they\u2019re just piggybacking on that, I think, as a way for Trump to maybe score some points with the Republican establishment.<\/p>\n

‘Cause after all, he needs \u2019em on his side for the nomination if he wants there to be the respect and unity, and not have to go third party. So he\u2019s decided to go after Cruz here in the way the establishment Republicans go after Cruz, in the way the media goes after Cruz, in the way the Democrats go after Cruz. He\u2019s essentially put on his John McCain hat here and is saying, “I\u2019m Donald McCain, and I\u2019m the guy that can cross the aisle and work with the other side. Ted Cruz can\u2019t.” I was kind of surprised by that. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what kind of damage if any this gonna do to Trump because, frankly, folks, if you look at Trump\u2019s support base, the majority of it is not conservative. In fact, if you look at the Trump support base… I\u2019ve maintained this for I don\u2019t know how long. If you look at the demographic makeup of Trump\u2019s support, it\u2019s exactly what the Republican claims they want. There\u2019s a lot of independents in there, there are a lot of different ethnic groups in there, but it\u2019s it is not majority conservative or Republican base. There\u2019s a sizable number of them in there. <\/p>\n

But this is almost a rote criticism of Cruz. This is almost… You know, if you have to go to a playbook or a manual and say, “Okay, time to criticize Ted Cruz. What do we say? What do we say?” “Well, the manual says, ‘Go after him for not being able to work together in the Senate,'” and so forth and so on. So I\u2019m not sure that Mr. Trump even knows who Cruz really is in this regard. No, my only point is for somebody running for the Republican nomination who has set himself up as anti-establishment, to join the establishment in that kind of criticism of Cruz, I don\u2019t get it. <\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense. <\/p>\n

Now, Trump\u2019s not trying to portray himself as a conservative, either. So it\u2019s not a violation of that. But he\u2019s clearly making himself out to be anti-establishment, yet he joins them here. And then he dumped on Cruz for being opposed to ethanol? In other words, we as Republicans must support government subsidies to corn farmers in Iowa if we\u2019re to have any chance of winning Iowa? We\u2019ve gotta stand for subsidies? And that, again, is not a conservative position. To go after Cruz on that basis, is again the way the Democrats and the media would go after him, and then there was this Sunday morning on CNN\u2019s State of the Union, Jake Tapper. <\/p>\n

“What do you think of Justice Scalia\u2019s remarks, and where are you today on affirmative action?”<\/p>\n

TRUMP: I thought it was very tough to the African-American community, actually. I don\u2019t like what he said. I actually saw it in print, and I\u2019m going… I read a lot of stuff. I\u2019m going, “Whoa.” I have great African-American friendships. I have just amazing relationships. But, yeah, I was very surprised at Scalia\u2019s statements, actually.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, they weren\u2019t “Scalia\u2019s statements.” They were arguments that had been submitted to the court that he was engaging in oral argument over. But these are two things that… If you\u2019re a conservative voter in the Republican primary, these two things have gotta raise some red flags for you people, I would think.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Now despite all that we got the latest Monmouth University poll. Trump is up to 41% in the Monmouth University poll after releasing his proposal to ban Muslims, to have a moratoriums on them entering the country. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/line> RUSH: My questioning here about the way Trump has gone off Cruz here, calling him a maniac, refusing to work with people in the Senate, the reason I\u2019m focusing on that, folks, \u2019cause that\u2019s so unlike Trump. I mean, that\u2019s a huge mistake. On paper it\u2019s a huge mistake. Trump gets away with his mistakes. Such is the bond of loyalty that his support base has for him that he gets away with them. And I don\u2019t think he\u2019s made that many. Don\u2019t misunderstand. But for any of you who are holding out hope that Trump is a genuine conservative. A genuine conservative, even in the Republican field, would not go after Cruz this way. So that just raised a red flag for me, made me somewhat curious. <\/line><\/p>\n

There are two other things I want to get to here before we have to go to the break. One is from Nomiki Konst at TheHill.com. “Ted Cruz Isn\u2019t Just Surging — He\u2019s Winning<\/a>.” Now, this is somebody\u2019s opinion here. Some pull quotes here. “You may wonder why Cruz surged this week? A predictable phenomenon in GOP primaries is occurring: As the flavors of the month rise and fall, the candidates focused on the long game benefit. Last week, Cruz picked up evangelical support from rival candidate Ben Carson, who dropped from 32 percent to 13 percent in the past six weeks in Iowa alone. And with 65 percent of South Carolina GOP primary voters identifying as evangelical or born-again, Cruz will most likely jump ahead a couple more points in the next few weeks.” Although Trump owns South Carolina right now. That\u2019s still to shake out. <\/p>\n

“But perhaps the most intriguing factor contributing to Cruz\u2019s success is Trump\u2019s overt extremism.” Remember, now, this is in TheHill.com. “Suddenly, Cruz … is the palatable conservative alternative for likely GOP voters — and even the GOP establishment. When asked about Cruz\u00c2\u2019s toxic relationship with his colleagues, a high-ranking GOP consultant told me that ‘the GOP establishment may hate Ted Cruz, but they fear Donald Trump.'”<\/line><\/p>\n

Did you ever imagine — honest question here. It\u2019s not rhetorical. Well, it may be rhetorical, but I\u2019m serious. Did you ever imagine that you would see the day that someone who is a staunch defender of the Constitution and the concepts of separation of powers and individual liberty and limited government, would be called extreme? It\u2019s another indication of where we are. You know, the media, when the UN and their lapdogs over there announced the stupid global warming deal, the journalists in the audience stood up and cheered. Yeah. The media stood up and cheered, illustrating once again there is no media. There are just Democrat Party hacks and leftist activists who are assigned to pretend to be journalists and reporters and so forth. But they\u2019re really apparatchiks. They\u2019re party hacks. <\/p>\n

You got this principal at the New York public school who\u2019s wiping out Santa Claus, wiping out Christmas, wiping out Christmas trees, wiping out Thanksgiving, and prohibiting the Pledge of Allegiance, because those are not the values anymore that this school wants to promote. And you can\u2019t have more American values than those three things. There\u2019s an all-out war on these things. There\u2019s an all-out war on this country. And now, somebody who believes in freedom, individual liberty, separation of powers, the US Constitution, now is called extreme. Ted Cruz. “Perhaps the most intriguing factors contributing to Cruz\u2019s success is Trump\u2019s overt extremism.” You got Trump and Cruz, the two leaders are now the extremists. For what? They\u2019re not extremists. They\u2019re mainstream, for crying out loud. They\u2019re mainstream red, white, and blue patriotic American. And yet that has become extreme. Another pull quote. <\/p>\n

“If Cruz remains smart, he will continue to praise Trump. In the meantime, for those worried over the demise of our Constitution under President Trump, have no fear. Ted Cruz, former clerk to late Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, is here to stay. Hyper-disciplined, Cruz\u2019s multifaceted strategy … has solidified support across all primary states. And in coming weeks, as candidates fade, expect Trump\u2019s tirades to continue, and watch as Cruz quietly capitalizes.”<\/p>\n

So what this guy\u2019s theory is, I\u2019m assuming, I haven\u2019t read the whole piece to you. But what he\u2019s assuming is that as Cruz continues to gain ground, Trump is gonna continue to criticize Cruz in the same way the establishment does, which is gonna irritate the conservatives in Trump\u2019s support base and they are gonna abandon him and go to Cruz. <\/p>\n

This is the theory by this guy at TheHill.com. He says, “Which is why, at this point in the campaign, we should prioritize ‘likely GOP voter\u2019 polls in early primary states over national and ‘total registered GOP voters\u2019 polls — like the Monmouth University poll out last week taken of Iowa GOP voters who have voted in previous caucuses, which shows Cruz winning at 24% (Trump is at 19%). Or, Sunday\u2019s Des Moines Register poll of likely Republican caucus-goers, which has Cruz at 31% and Trump 10 percentage points behind.”<\/p>\n

He thinks “we should prioritize ‘likely GOP voter\u2019 polls” like these. It\u2019s his way of saying, keep a sharp eye on Cruz, because when you ask legitimate Republican primary voters, it\u2019s no contest. Cruz is beating Trump. That\u2019s his point there. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Let\u2019s hit the phones because people have been patiently waiting, and really, I always appreciate that. I really do. This is Rick in Fremont, Ohio. Hi, Rick.<\/line><\/p>\n

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Rush, just to give a little background here. Number one, I just thank the Lord Jesus Christ every day for you, Rush, \u2019cause you give me hope. I just want to give you a little background on myself. I\u2019m a Christian, I\u2019m a conservative, I\u2019m a Tea Party guy, I\u2019m a registered Republican. And I was in favor of Ted Cruz until Donald Trump came along, and the reason why is because I watched over the years the establishment Republicans trying to take out the conservatives. They hate conservatives. They wanted to get rid of us. I believe the Republicans want to use Ted Cruz to take out Trump right now \u2019cause they know that Trump can win. I do not think that Ted Cruz can win. He\u2019s a conservative. Trump has Democrats in favor of him. He has Republicans in favor of him, and he has independents, and he\u2019s strong. I look at Ted Cruz as being a little bit soft, a little bit soft. I hate to say that —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Uh, now, hold off on that. I\u2019ve gotta stop you. Cruz is not soft, but that\u2019s not what I want to ask you about. I need to ask you a very important question, for my understanding. There\u2019s no right or wrong as far as you\u2019re concerned. Just my understanding here. You\u2019re a Tea Party guy. So without question, you\u2019re an unapologetic conservative, right?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Socially conservative and fiscally conservative.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right. So are you thinking Trump is the same or does it not matter as much to you?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Here\u2019s the way I look at it. It\u2019s over for the United States if we don\u2019t win this election. Trump can win. We have to win back our country. We cannot have another Romney. We cannot have another McCain. And I look at Ted Cruz as being almost like a Romney; he\u2019s gonna lose.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, but wait. He\u2019s not like Romney in any way shape manner or form other than if he would lose, he might have that in common, but that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah. That\u2019s what, I mean.<\/p>\n

RUSH: But you\u2019re not worried that Trump isn\u2019t who he says he is? There\u2019s none of that? You don\u2019t have any doubts? There are no red flags?<\/p>\n

CALLER: I mean, you know, I\u2019m not gonna agree with everything that Trump does, but I just want him to win back our country, our freedoms, and just get our jobs back so people are working again here in the United States.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. Well, so you\u2019re taking him at his word.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yes.<\/p>\n

RUSH: When you hear him jump on Cruz the same way Democrats in the media and the Republican establishment jumps on Cruz, that doesn\u2019t raise a little red flag for you?<\/p>\n

CALLER: He\u2019s gotta do his strategy, okay? Trump has to do his strategy. I don\u2019t know what his best strategy is. You see his polls going up, Rush, his numbers going up.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Hey, I\u2019m just asking. You know, I\u2019m not hiding an opinion in my question. Don\u2019t anybody think that. You see what I\u2019m getting here, folks?<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Here is Bill in Southampton, New York. Hey, Bill, great to have you on the program, sir. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Thank you, Rush. I\u2019m not accusing you of saying that you threw Donald Trump under the bus in that first hour, but I am accusing you of relegating him to the back of the bus, and I want to know why.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I didn\u2019t do anything of the sort. You\u2019re talking about sound bites I played where he went after Cruz. That puzzled me. That doesn\u2019t sound like the Trump that I have known throughout this campaign. That sounds like Trump parroting anything you\u2019d hear from the Washington establishment or the Democrats or the Drive-By Media. <\/p>\n

CALLER: I\u2019m not buying it, Rush. I\u2019m not buying it. I don\u2019t buy it.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: What do you mean? There\u2019s nothing to buy. You either don\u2019t believe what he said or — he said what he said. He said (paraphrasing), “I don\u2019t think Ted\u2019s got the good temperament. I hear him talk and criticize the Senate, you can\u2019t get anything done that way. You gotta be able to work with people.” Trump doesn\u2019t even believe that. Trump wants to steamroll people that stand in the way.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Amen to that. God bless him for that.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, then why jump all over Cruz for basically being the same way?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hmmm, good question. But explain it a little bit more, if you would, please.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right. When I hear any Republican, like the last one I heard saying it was Chris Christie, I cringe, and it was just a few short weeks ago. Are you tone deaf? Christie said, <\/line> “Look, I want the Democrats to know –” Well, what do you want the Democrats to know?<\/line><\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah.<\/p>\n

RUSH: “I want them to know I will work with them. I can cross the aisle. And if they have good ideas, I\u2019ll work with them.: And I said, what are you? This is John McCain. This is Mitt Romney. This is exactly how we lose. Our side does not want us working with the other side.<\/p>\n

CALLER: — a lot of time. (crosstalk)<\/p>\n

RUSH: They want us defeating the other side.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Christie lost me the moment that he announced his candidacy by saying that we are not angry, but we are more disappointed by our politicians in Washington.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay, fine, same thing.<\/p>\n

CALLER: That isn\u2019t the truth. We\u2019re angry. We\u2019re really angry about what\u2019s happening to our country.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right. The only thing I\u2019m saying here is that the way Trump went after Cruz, he\u2019s free to go after him, don\u2019t misunderstand. I mean, it\u2019s a primary campaign. But to go after Cruz for not cooperating with the Democrats? Where has Trump said he\u2019s going to? And if that\u2019s what he\u2019s gonna do, I damn well want to know it. You don\u2019t want Christie to cooperate with Democrats. We want to beat \u2019em.<\/p>\n

CALLER: When you say that, I\u2019m sorry, Rush, I really feel like you put him in the back of bus when you say that.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I didn\u2019t put him in the back of pus. Grab sound bite number 10. I want you to listen to this with me again.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Okay.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Trump on Fox News Sunday yesterday —<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yes.<\/p>\n

RUSH: — Wallace asked him, “What do you think of Ted Cruz?” <\/p>\n

TRUMP: I don\u2019t think he has the right temperament. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s got the right judgment. You look at the way he\u2019s dealt with the Senate where he goes in there like a… You know, frankly, like a little bit of a maniac. You\u2019re never gonna get things done that way. You can\u2019t walk into the Senate and scream and call people liars and not be able to cajole and get along with people. He\u2019ll never get anything done, and that\u2019s the problem with Ted.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: Sounds exactly like what McCain would say of his opponent in the Republican primary, sounds exactly like what Romney would say. “I\u2019m the guy that can go into the Senate and I can work with the Democrats and I can get along with \u2019em, and Ted can\u2019t.” And my reaction, “I didn\u2019t know you wanted to get along with the Democrats, Mr. Trump.” This is the first I\u2019ve heard of that. That\u2019s my only reaction. That\u2019s not throwing Trump anywhere. I\u2019m just reacting.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Okay.<\/p>\n

RUSH: If I\u2019m Trump and I got Cruz coming on and on, I can think of a lot better ways to criticize him without making people in my coalition question whether I\u2019m really conservative or not. A lot of people are supporting Trump for a whole lot of reasons, and some of his support is made up of people who think because of his anti-establishmentism and his willingness to take on these establishment issues, that there\u2019s a conservative streak in there, and he\u2019s flirting with making people question that. Anyway, I\u2019m up against on time. I\u2019m out of it, folks, I\u2019m sorry. Thanks for the call. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. I think I\u2019m pretty sure what\u2019s going on here, in this Trump and Ted Cruz dustup, and I think it all goes back to that report in the New York Times last week citing two anonymous sources at a Madison Avenue luncheon with Cruz. Two anonymous sources told the New York Times that during that luncheon with Cruz on Madison Avenue that Cruz questioned Trump\u2019s judgment. He did not disagree with Trump on the Muslim thing. He didn\u2019t disagree with Trump on the Mexican thing. He didn\u2019t disagree with Trump on the, uhhhhhhhh, whatever thing.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t disagree with Trump. He just said that he questioned Trump\u2019s judgment, and he has not done that publicly, which was one of my premier points in the first week. In response, the Cruz campaign… After that New York Times story came out, the Cruz campaign sent out a statement blasting the story. Now, what I think happened here is that Trump responded in kind, which is his MO. And I\u2019m not defending anybody. I\u2019m not anybody\u2019s payroll. I\u2019m not… I\u2019ve not endorsed anybody. I\u2019m not in anybody\u2019s camp here.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m doing what I always do in these primaries, and I\u2019m just telling you what\u2019s what, what I see, what I think, on what various things happen day to day. So New York Times has a story: Two anonymous sources at a luncheon with Cruz say that Cruz questioned Trump\u2019s judgment. Cruz then issues a statement denying it, ripping the New York Times story. Trump, his MO: When somebody hits him, he hits \u2019em back, and that\u2019s what happened here. And he hit back on the same level that he thought Cruz hit him. And that is, if you go back to this Trump sound bite… Grab number 10 again. Listen to the first two sentences in this, and I think this will confirm my interpretation of what\u2019s going on here.<\/p>\n

TRUMP: I don\u2019t think he has the right temperament. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s got the right judgment. You look at the way he\u2019s dealt with the Senate where he goes in there like a… You know, frankly, like a little bit of a maniac. You\u2019re never gonna get things done that way. You can\u2019t —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. That\u2019s it. So he reads a story in the New York Times where Cruz is reported to have questioned his judgment. So Trump responds by questioning Cruz\u2019s judgment. “I don\u2019t think he\u2019s got the right temperament. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s got the right judgment.” And I just… (sigh) Folks, it\u2019s disappointing to hear Trump hit Cruz the same way that the Republican establishment hits Cruz and with the same things that the media hits Cruz and the Democrats do. You know, this is a big deal to me, this Republican belief that somehow the voters want a candidate who can compromise, who can make Washington work. <\/p>\n

I mean, I just get revolted at that. That\u2019s not what voters on our side are looking for. That is the problem, working with Democrats, joining them on amnesty, joining them on Obamacare. That\u2019s the problem. We don\u2019t want somebody who can walk into the Senate and compromise what we believe with these people. We want somebody walk in the Senate and defeat them, and ditto in the House, and ditto nationwide! And that\u2019s what Trump has been expressing he can do, wants to do, and will do. <\/line><\/p>\n

And justifiably, he has just a huge groundswell of support, because I know I\u2019m right. People who have voted Republican are fed up with this idea that what\u2019s missing is our unwillingness to compromise. Screw that. We are compromising! There isn\u2019t any gridlock. We are compromising. We\u2019re going out of our way to compromise, and we have been for years. The problem is there really isn\u2019t any disagreement in Washington. And Cruz has been just as vocal as Trump. <\/p>\n

I mean, Cruz has taken it to the floor of the Senate and taken it to the Democrats on the Senate and done exactly what conservative voters claim they want to happen. But then to turn around and accuse him of not having temperament or judgment, not being able to work with these guys? It\u2019s just disappointing, \u2019cause Trump\u2019s not working with people. Trump\u2019s campaign\u2019s not based on his ability to compromise and work with people. Trump\u2019s campaign\u2019s based on the people currently doing things are goofs. They\u2019re dumb. They\u2019re not competent. We need smarter people in there doing these things. <\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t made it a process by which the two parties compromise and work together. That\u2019s for losers. That kind of talk and that kind of belief is for Republican losers. And I can name them for you: Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and anybody else in this field who talks about it. Anyway, that was one thing. Then the Trump hit on Scalia! I\u2019m just telling you, they raise red flags for me, folks. That\u2019s all. I think it\u2019s unfortunate. (sigh) Antonin Scalia is the last, best hope of Supreme Court along with Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito. <\/p>\n

Scalia is not the problem there, and to not know that, to not know that Scalia wasn\u2019t using his own words, that he was discussing theories that had been advanced by other academics including Thomas Sowell and Stuart Taylor, who had formally been a reporter for the New York Times. They were talking about it. They were the ones theorizing about affirmative action and admissions policies with African-Americans at major American universities. Scalia was banding it back and forth, just like Obama does. It was like a faculty lounge conversation among academics. <\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t Scalia opining. But, man, the whole media, they hit their narrative. They\u2019ve got their template. Somebody goes out and says something they think is racist, they\u2019re all on it. This been one of the most misreported things in recent memory, that Scalia engaged in racist, discriminatory language while discussing a case at the Supreme Court. Nothing of the sort happened, and it doesn\u2019t even take a lot of digging to find that out. And Trump has previously praised Scalia to the skies. So I just wonder what\u2019s going on.<\/line><\/p>\n

Look, folks, it\u2019s no more complicated than this: We all agree that the establishment in Washington is disconnected from us and way out of touch, and to attack a candidate the same way that establishment would? I don\u2019t know. It was just unfortunate. That\u2019s all. But I\u2019m not gonna sit here and pretend it didn\u2019t happen. As I say, it\u2019s probably not gonna matter. In the Monmouth poll that\u2019s out, Trump\u2019s up at 41%. The relationship that Trump has with his supporters, I don\u2019t think the establishment has the slightest idea of understanding it, slightest ability to understand it. <\/p>\n

They don\u2019t have anybody who\u2019s ever had that kind of relationship. It\u2019s really true to point that out. And, as such, they don\u2019t understand. They don\u2019t understand that kind of loyalty. The loyalty they understand flows from dollars and cents, and to hell with cents. The kind of loyalty they understand flows with dollars. You get some dollars; in return you\u2019re loyal to who gave them to you. And that\u2019s not… Trump\u2019s support is not based on money. It\u2019s not based on quid pro quos. It\u2019s totally based on ideas. It\u2019s one of the things that scares everybody in the establishment about Trump\u2019s campaign. <\/p>\n

They studiously avoid trying to connect with people on ideas. Because if they did they would have to compromise what they think on ideas. I mean, the Republican establishment can no more come out and criticize amnesty than the Democrats can come out and criticize abortion. They just can\u2019t do it. They couldn\u2019t even fake it, and they couldn\u2019t get away with faking it. So they have to get about it in a different way. And they chose the Jeb way, and that was getting the nomination without the base. And how\u2019s that working out for \u2019em? It isn\u2019t. So it\u2019s… You know, there\u2019s still a lot of upsides here, that ideas triumph and matter, that money is not the sole determining factor. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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