{"id":5836,"date":"2015-07-21T16:51:27","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T16:51:27","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2015-07-21T16:51:27","modified_gmt":"2015-07-21T16:51:27","slug":"the_drive_bys_missed_my_point_on_trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2015\/07\/21\/the_drive_bys_missed_my_point_on_trump\/","title":{"rendered":"The Drive-Bys Missed My Point on Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

RUSH: So I\u2019m reading and I start getting e-mails and text messages, saying, “They\u2019re talking about you on CNN. You\u2019re all over CNN.” Of course, nobody tells me. In fact, most of these e-mails say, “I assume you know that you are all over CNN.” No, I don\u2019t know, because I don\u2019t have CNN on at the time. It turns out that Anderson Cooper\u2019s show was on. They were talking about me rallying you, the audience of this program, to Donald Trump\u2019s defense. And then another e-mail said, “You\u2019ve probably seen it but the New York Times is all over this and you today.” <\/p>\n

No, I haven\u2019t seen that, either. I went and found it and got it. Here it is. It\u2019s a blog section of the New York Times posted last night by Maggie Haberman, who used to be at The Politico. “Rush Limbaugh Rallies Listeners to Donald Trump\u2019s Defense<\/a> — The conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who has a substantial following among grass-roots Republicans, came to the defense of Donald J. Trump on Monday as prominent leaders in the party stepped up their criticism of Mr. Trump\u2019s pointed comments about Senator John McCain. <\/p>\n

“Such a defense is not entirely surprising, since Mr. Limbaugh\u2019s distaste for the Republican establishment is deep and well documented.” No, it\u2019s not. I mean, just last week the New York Times and the Washington Post or somebody was writing about how I run the Republican Party. You know as well as I do that one day I\u2019m running the Republican Party or I\u2019m the titular head of the Republican Party. The next day I\u2019m just an entertainer. But last night in the New York Times, I have a “distaste for the Republican establishment is deep and well documented.” <\/line><\/p>\n

“But the supportive words from Mr. Limbaugh may provide Mr. Trump with the inoculation he needs to survive the scorn of the party\u2019s elders long enough to be included in the presidential debates,” something that never came up on this program yesterday. Trump surviving whatever, we didn\u2019t talk about it here. They may have elsewhere. And then they quote me accurately. When they start quoting me accurately, it isn\u2019t bad. The thing… Look, I don\u2019t want to make too big a deal of it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m the one who tells you, “You really can\u2019t trust the Drive-Bys, and they don\u2019t get it right a lot.” My point yesterday was not to come to Trump\u2019s defense. My point yesterday was to illustrate a teachable moment<\/a> for the American people with a chance to see something they don\u2019t often see, haven\u2019t seen in a long time. I\u2019m sorry to be redundant, for those of you who were here yesterday. But for people who weren\u2019t, I want to set the record straight on what happened on the program yesterday. <\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t complicated at all. Here\u2019s the setup: The conventional wisdom in circumstances like this goes this way: You have a Republican public figure who says something that constitutes stepping in it. In this case, it\u2019s Trump\u2019s supposed comments about McCain, but even those were distorted. And whatever the perp (always a Republican, never a Democrat) says is something so bad, so beyond the pale that the entire media establishment and the Washington establishment immediately demand that the perp apologize. <\/p>\n

And usually the perp does.<\/p>\n

The conventional wisdom is, “The perp apologizes, begs forgiveness, says (sobbing), ‘That wasn\u2019t me! I don\u2019t know who that was, but that\u2019s not what I really think. I really didn\u2019t mean it,\u2019 and they apologize, and they slink away, never to be heard from again.” And the key point… This was not talked about all night and even today on CNN. The key point that was not mentioned that makes all of this come together, as far as I\u2019m concerned, is the element of all of this conventional wisdom is an assumption that the outrage expressed by the media and the Washington establishment echoes national outrage. <\/p>\n

So you have the networks, Drive-Bys, the newspapers, all the media people, the Washington establishment, and they\u2019re all telling everybody how horrible it was what Trump said. “How over the top! How this is beyond the pale! This is the last straw. He\u2019s gotta go. This is not who we are. This is not what our politics ought to be.” You\u2019ve heard it all, and the assumption is that everybody in America feels the same way. The assumption — the presumption, in fact — is that the outrage you see in the media is reflective of a majority of the American people. <\/p>\n

<\/a>I\u2019ll give you another example to try to illustrate all this. Let\u2019s go to back to Indiana and the religious freedom law which was passed which ultimately led to a little pizza shop being shut down by the Gay Mafia and a bunch of trolls on Twitter, or one of the sewers of Twitter because the little woman proprietor said in response to a question that they would not cater a gay wedding. A pizza shop! They\u2019d never been asked to cater one. <\/p>\n

We had a media reporter that was shopping around the whole state for controversy and walked into this little pizza store 30 miles outside of Indianapolis. “No, we would not cater a gay wedding here at Pete\u2019s Pizza, whatever, because of our religious beliefs.” Well, that made the news and then, of course, there was outrage over that. The media had outrage. The Gay Mafia was outraged. Twitter was outraged. The political establishment was outraged. <\/p>\n

The assumption was that everybody in America thought that little pizza shop should be shut down, sent packing, never to be heard from again. My point has always been that that is what makes this collective outrage and demand that a public figure apologize and go away work: This assumption that a majority of Americans agree that whoever and whatever the perp did is just unacceptable and intolerable, and we must get rid of this person. I\u2019ve always believed that\u2019s not the case. <\/p>\n

I know it isn\u2019t the case from my own personal experiences. So what I said yesterday is, “We\u2019re having this put to a test now. We have an opportunity to see, because Trump isn\u2019t following the rules. Trump is not doing what perps are supposed to do.” Your average Republican who steps in it — and, by the way, it\u2019s always the media and the establishment that define whether somebody has stepped in it, not the American people. If the media find what Trump said outrageous, that\u2019s all you need, and if the establishment finds that it\u2019s outrageous, that\u2019s all you need.<\/p>\n

And then you act like everybody thinks so. And then the perp apologizes, begs forgiveness, and is never to be seen or heard from again. Trump didn\u2019t do any of that. He doubled down. He doubled down on his criticism of McCain. He tried to switch the focus of the issue from him and McCain to Veterans Affairs. In doing so, the American people have seen something they haven\u2019t seen in a long time, and that is a target stand up and refuse to go away, a target stand up and refuse to apologize.<\/p>\n

On the basis that the target doesn\u2019t want to be run out of the race by a bunch of media people or the Washington establishment. If the target\u2019s gonna be run out of the race, it\u2019s gonna be by virtue of votes or what have you. So Trump\u2019s not playing by the rules and he\u2019s hanging around, and he doubled down, and the point I tried to make yesterday was we\u2019re now going to see. The American people are gonna be polled over the next few days and weeks, and we will see if what Trump said about McCain actually hurts him or not.<\/p>\n

The reason that\u2019s important is because when the outrage originally happens — when the media hears what Trump says about McCain and blows their gasket, then the Washington establishment blows their gasket — that is presumed to be the end of Trump. This is how it works. This is how they get rid of Republicans. Should I throw a name out there? Sharron Angle. Todd Akin. Any number of them. I mean, the list is long. They tried to Sarah Palin over and over. This is how they get rid of Republicans.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always an arbitrary decision or judgment that some Republican has said something so intolerable, so politically correct, so reprehensible that civil discourse demands this person just go away. Maybe even die! But certainly get out of our sight and stop talking. That\u2019s always what happens, because the perps fall for the belief that the majority of the American people share that sentiment. But we never really know. We never know because the perps leave too soon. So there can\u2019t be any polling data a week or two afterwards, based on the perp\u2019s staying in and fighting. <\/p>\n

Trump is staying in and fighting, and we\u2019re gonna have some polling data on this, and we\u2019re gonna find out. Now, it just so happened that at the end of the day yesterday the Washington Post and ABC News released a poll<\/a>, and it showed Trump with twice the lead over Scott Walker, like 24 to 13. It was reported in some places, “Oh, my God! Trump survived it! Oh, my God, this is horrible! Oh, my God, it didn\u2019t hurt Trump! Oh, my God, it even helped Trump!” <\/line><\/p>\n

It\u2019s too soon to know, folks. It\u2019s too soon. We don\u2019t know yet. This is the point. The last day of the ABC\/Washington Post poll was the first day of the Trump-McCain contretemps, and the day before Trump was at 30 in this poll. The next day he fell to 24. He fell six points, and then the poll ended. The poll period ended. So we don\u2019t know whether Trump\u2019s comments have elicited a similar level of outrage and opposition with the American public as they did with the media and the establishment. <\/p>\n

We will find out because Trump is staying in. He\u2019s doubling down. He\u2019s in South Carolina. He\u2019s not apologizing, and he can\u2019t apologize now even if he had a change of heart and wants to. He\u2019s gone too far; he can\u2019t. Even McCain is saying, “I don\u2019t want an apology. I don\u2019t want one. We just gotta move on. I\u2019m tired of this,” and so forth and so on. So we\u2019ll find out. None of this was offered in support of Trump. I was simply offering cutting-edge analysis, and I was observing something that I thought was a teachable moment that we don\u2019t see much. <\/p>\n

Most of the time the targets of these kind of things are dealt with and done away with and sent packing. I mean, what was the little…?<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: The Drive-Bys, the media, the establishment in Washington are all trying to figure out why is Trump getting so much support. Why is he getting it? I\u2019ll tell you why. On my left hand here, I\u2019ve got the Planned Parenthood story, where we are murdering babies in the womb and selling body parts for profit. Planned Parenthood is doing it, bragging about it, setting prices, woman saying she wants to get a Lamborghini. Over here we\u2019ve the got Trump saying words about McCain. And in those two circumstances what\u2019s everybody upset about? Trump. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a sordid lack of proportion in this country, and my contention to you is that the American people are far more fed up with what they learned about Planned Parenthood. A vast majority of Americans are livid and scared and shocked and repulsed by what they\u2019ve learned about Planned Parenthood, to the point that makes Trump\u2019s comments about McCain pale in importance and comparison. And yet over here we have the establishment and the media, and they haven\u2019t said a word about Planned Parenthood, but they\u2019re beside themselves with anger and shock and dismay over what Donald Trump is saying. I mean, you talk about disconnect. <\/p>\n

People in Washington, DC, at all levels of the political class — being media, elected officials, people that work at lobbying firms, fundraisers, the whole mess, the bureaucracy, I don\u2019t think they have the slightest idea what it is that\u2019s on the minds of your average American citizen these days. So, the average American does everything he or she can to get their attention. In the case of Republicans, sit home and not vote and let Barack Obama be elected. <\/p>\n

No doubt in my mind that the four million or so Republicans that so the home in 2008 didn\u2019t vote for Romney, or in 2012, didn\u2019t vote for Romney, did that as the only way they could get a message to the Republican establishment. They were disgusted, they were fed up, asked for money, and never being listened to. So, to me, this is evidence of just how sick our whole political structure, and maybe culture at large, is right now. <\/line><\/p>\n

Anyway, we\u2019ve got a bunch of sound bites from CNN last night, and even this morning. This conversation about me and Jeffrey Lord from the American Spectator. God bless! Jeffrey Lord did everything he could to explain, \u2019cause he was the guest last night and this morning on CNN. He did everything he could to explain to these people why they were upset at me. He did everything he could to explain to them what happened on the program yesterday here. And it was good. <\/p>\n

But we\u2019ll find out, folks, in not too long a period of time. My guess is that Trump\u2019s not gonna suffer long-term polling damage over this, precisely for the reasons that I have given and more. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Frank in Des Moines, Iowa, you\u2019re next. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hey, Rush! Every time Republicans allow ourselves to play by liberal rules, we get our face shoved in the mud, and I don\u2019t think Trump ought to apologize for anything.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, it\u2019s too late now. He can\u2019t if he changed his mind and wanted to anyway. It would really ring hollow.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, if you notice the people that are outraged by these comments directed towards McCain, they aren\u2019t friends of McCain\u2019s anyway. They\u2019re just out to throw it the face of each Republican candidate, “What\u2019d you think of Trump\u2019s comments?” I actually attended the Family Leadership Summit in Ames on Saturday. I heard the comments live. People were actually more upset about Trump saying a couple of other things. One —<\/p>\n

RUSH: I know. This is the untold story. Trump said he had never asked God for forgiveness. He is in more trouble with that audience in Iowa on Saturday than for this McCain stuff.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Our last caller from Iowa, he\u2019s exactly right. The audience that was gathered for this get-together Saturday in Iowa where Trump made these comments about McCain, he said something… This guy was exactly right. What he said about McCain, it didn\u2019t cause much of a ruffle in there. It just wasn\u2019t that big of a deal. See, folks, this is my point. I hate having to be redundant, but I made this point I don\u2019t know how many times yesterday, and it still didn\u2019t get mentioned in all that was said and written. <\/line><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think it was overlooked. I just think it somehow didn\u2019t register. The point here is, to me the important thing is this conventional wisdom about how you get rid of a Republican public figure. There is an assumption. A Republican public figure says something that somebody in the media at first and then the political establishment finds unacceptable, just outrageous, such as, “I don\u2019t respect people that get captured. I like people that don\u2019t.” I have no idea. Whatever it is. <\/p>\n

There is a presumption that guides everything in this, and that presumption is that a majority of the American people, when they hear about it, are just as outraged as the media reporting it and are just as demanding that the candidate be done away with as the media is. And I have never seen proof of that. Because these targets never stay in long enough. They apologize, they ask for forgiveness, they grovel, and they go away. They don\u2019t hang around long enough to find out. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve thought this is part of the trick of getting rid of Republicans, is this assumption that everybody agrees. This is what\u2019s bothered me about liberalism from the beginnings of the time that I\u2019ve been following it, is this presumption that everybody is one! There\u2019s clearly a presumption that a majority of people support gay marriage, and they don\u2019t. And it\u2019s plummeting, by the way! If I get to it today, the number of people now objecting to the Obergefell decision the Supreme Court is plummeting. <\/p>\n

The Gay Mafia is panicking a little bit because remember it\u2019s not enough that they get what they want. You must love them afterwards, and if there\u2019s any lack of passion or support, then they panic and they\u2019ve got a problem. But this has always been one of the major frustrating things for me is this… Let me make it even simpler. The idea that the mainstream media reflects majority public opinion, I just reject that. I don\u2019t believe it. <\/p>\n

I look at polling data on the media, and I see most people don\u2019t hold them in high regard, and I see that most people think they\u2019re biased. We\u2019re looking at 70% now think they\u2019re biased, untrustworthy. So why in the world should we automatically accept that the media is speaking for a majority of people on every controversial issue, whether it be part of the liberal agenda being advanced or whether it be outrage at something some public Republican has said?<\/p>\n

The opportunity we have… Trump is not playing by the rules of begging forgiveness, apologizing, flogging himself, and going away. Trump is hanging in and doubling down, and now after today, he is tripling down. We\u2019re gonna find out. We\u2019re gonna find out by way of polling data just what the American people think of this, rather than have us all be told what the media thinks, and, by association, what the majority of the American people think. By the way, I\u2019ll bet you I\u2019m not the only one. <\/p>\n

If you happen to be a person who thinks we\u2019re losing the country… I\u2019ll just give an example here. If you happen to believe in traditional values, the institutions that have defined this country\u2019s greatness — you believe the seminal Judeo-Christian values that formed this country — and if you believe that we\u2019ve lost them, that we are a minority, why do you believe that? My contention is you believe it because you get sucked into the way media treats all this. <\/line><\/p>\n

The media treats all this as though we and you are the kooks, a raging minority of kooks in a vastly changing country where you have just been blindsided, and you have no idea what\u2019s happened except that you know you\u2019re in the minority now. I\u2019ve never believed it. I just have never believed it. Just to use the example of the pizza shop in Indiana again, as that story was reported. A lone local infobabe went out and found that little pizza shop and found that little female proprietor, who said she wouldn\u2019t cater a gay wedding, and all hell broke loose!<\/p>\n

Did you not think when you watched that that every American in this country was also outraged at that little pizza shop? Didn\u2019t you get the impression that a majority of Americans were also upset? And didn\u2019t that depress you because you thought, “How can this be? What?” Well, I don\u2019t believe it! I don\u2019t believe that a majority of Americans sided against that pizza owner. I don\u2019t believe a majority of Americans side against a bakery or a photography shop that exercises its religious freedom not to participate in a gay wedding. <\/p>\n

But what choice do you have? <\/p>\n

You watch the media cover it, you listen to people talk about it, and you conclude that America\u2019s changed and that you are in the minority. And I just don\u2019t believe it. By the way, as you know and I\u2019ve reported this countless times, we have conducted research on the trolls on Twitter that mount campaigns against us. It\u2019s 10 or 12 people who have come up with algorithms (violating Twitter rules, by the way) to make themselves look like they are thousands. <\/p>\n

An illustrative example: I\u2019m not gonna name a business; I\u2019ll make one up. The XYZ Widget Company in Oshkosh. They decide to advertise on the Oshkosh affiliate EIB Network, and all of a sudden they\u2019re inundated with tweets and e-mails from thousands of people, maybe hundreds. They get scared. “Oh, my God!” We have found that 90% of those e-mails come from out of state. They\u2019re not even customers or potential customers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all a manufactured campaign, and it\u2019s 10 to 12 people who make themselves look like thousands. I\u2019m telling you that\u2019s happening throughout. That\u2019s what Twitter is. That\u2019s what the underbelly, the sewer of Twitter is. That\u2019s who lives there. Those are the people who\u2019ve made it their home, and I do not believe that\u2019s the majority of America. It happens not just to me. It happens to everybody. <\/p>\n

And I believe it\u2019s happening to Trump on this McCain business, and I believe it\u2019s happened to any number of Republican public officials, politicians, you name it. I guess the point that I\u2019m really trying to drill home, which I did yesterday and I\u2019m gonna drill it home again so everybody understands what I\u2019m talking about. For all of this to work, for all of this supposed mass outrage, supposed, all these outrageous statements, Trump and his McCain statement, the idea that the media outrage represents a majority of the American people is just balderdash. <\/p>\n

Why do you think, as an element of proof here, why do you think the media will not report an iota of the Planned Parenthood story?<\/a> Believe me, folks, if a majority of the American people were actually pro-choice and pro-abortion, no matter what, and if a majority of the American people were not bothered by this at all, Planned Parenthood would be a star today, and the Drive-By Media would be putting them on a pedestal. Instead, the Drive-By Media and the Democrat Party and Democrat elected officials are ignoring what we\u2019ve learned about Planned Parenthood. Why? ‘Cause it\u2019s nowhere near representative of a majority of thought in this country. <\/p>\n

Truth is, the majority of thought in this country is repulsed, sickened, and outraged by this, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s not reported on. If they could figure out a way to report this and make it look like it isn\u2019t any big deal and most Americans don\u2019t have a problem with it, they would. But they can\u2019t, because they can\u2019t find a Hillary Clinton to come out and give it her stamp of approval. And they can\u2019t find a John Kerry or a Chuck Schumer or a pick your Democrat, to publicly endorse what we\u2019ve learned about what Planned Parenthood\u2019s doing. <\/p>\n

So from this instance, we are able to learn the truth, that this is really, really fringe, sick stuff that has been made to appear, in all these previous years, as though a majority of Americans love Planned Parenthood, want Planned Parenthood to get federal money, don\u2019t mind their taxes going to Planned Parenthood. Don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything wrong about what Planned Parenthood\u2019s doing. We\u2019ve been peppered with this for 25 years. If so, why are they not doing this story? Proves itself. <\/line><\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. I promised \u2019em long enough; time to get to \u2019em now. I\u2019ve covered much of the other stuff in the news. So yesterday, last night, the New York Times had a little blog post that was supporting Trump — I was not supporting Trump — that I was rallying you to supporting Trump which is not what I was doing. But they got other quotes accurately. So it was not bad, because they quoted me accurately. The only thing they messed up was I\u2019m not rallying support for Trump, here. <\/p>\n

All I said was — just to repeat it one more time — that normally targets like this apologize, beg for forgiveness, go away, and we\u2019re rid of them. Trump\u2019s not doing that. The presumption always is that a majority of the American people are also offended, also outraged, also want the candidate to slink away, go away. I\u2019ve never believed that\u2019s the case. I\u2019ve never believed that the media speaks for a majority of people in circumstances like this. Anyway, all of this ends up being talked about last night on CNN. Anderson Cooper talked with Mark Halperin, Jeffrey Lord from the American Spectator, and Kathleen Parker. There\u2019s a whole bunch of people. This actually is a montage first of the discussion that took place with all the people commenting.<\/p>\n

ANDERSON COOPER: (b-roll noise) Rush Limbaugh actually talked about today and praised today…<\/p>\n

MARK HALPERIN: Rush Limbaugh defended him today.<\/p>\n

JEFFREY LORD: The biggest news from today on this subject was not that poll, but Rush Limbaugh.<\/p>\n

KATHLEEN PARKER: Rush Limbaugh is already on this.<\/p>\n

HOWARD FINEMAN: Rush Limbaugh\u2019s approval doesn\u2019t prove that Donald Trump can get anywhere near the Republican nomination. As popular as Rush Limbaugh is, he\u2019s a niche character in the landscape of the media.<\/p>\n

RUSH: That was Howard Fineman, who was obviously miffed that I had hijacked the Trump story. If anybody should have been mad that I hijacked the Trump story, it\u2019d be Trump, but it was Howard Fineman. “Rush Limbaugh\u2019s approval…” There wasn\u2019t approval! My “approval” was based on the fact that Trump is not act like a coward and slinking away! I\u2019m sorry, folks. I\u2019m sorry for being redundant. I know you\u2019re probably sick of me explaining this today. But you see how…?<\/p>\n

No matter how many times I explain, some people are incapable of understanding it. No matter how great a communicator I am, no matter how crystal clear I am on this! (impression) “Rush Limbaugh\u2019s approval doesn\u2019t prove that Trump can get anywhere near the nomination. As popular as Limbaugh is, he\u2019s a niche character in the landscape of America,” which means, “He doesn\u2019t mean anything compared to us, the Drive-By Media, the mainstream media.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re huge! We\u2019re big! Limbaugh\u2019s off in the corner, just a niche.” That\u2019s what he meant. He didn\u2019t mean that I was a niche within the influence of the American people. Anyway, here is the first bite with Anderson Cooper last night talking to Jeffrey Lord about all of this, and the question Anderson Cooper says, “Look, in your mind, was Trump taken out of context with these comments on McCain? Do people misunderstand what he was saying?<\/p>\n

LORD: I absolutely think he was taken out of context. I actually think that the biggest news from today on this subject was not that poll, but Rush Limbaugh spending a considerable portion of his show addressing his very conservative audience about how this is a teachable moment in terms of how the media treats conservatives. Somebody makes a misstatement or something that the media wants to emphasize, statement X. They zero in on \u2019em and go after them until they sort of put their tail between their legs and apologize and leave. And Donald Trump is not doing that, was Rush\u2019s point, and that this kind of thing happens all the time.<\/p>\n

RUSH: And this is different. He was quoting me accurately saying this is different; then they continued the conversation from that point.<\/p>\n

COOPER: Isn\u2019t this also what Rush Limbaugh does? He plays sound bites on his show and discusses them in great detail. I mean, that\u2019s what he does. So it\u2019s a little disingenuous to suddenly say we\u2019re picking on words here.<\/p>\n

LORD: Well, you know, I listen to Rush every day for three hours so I think that the media representation of Rush is not exactly what the actual Rush show is.<\/p>\n

COOPER: I — I — I — I agree with you on that.<\/p>\n

LORD: He gives a lot of context, so.<\/p>\n

COOPER: And I agree with you on that. I\u2019m not making a blanket statement about him.<\/p>\n

RUSH: So, so. Jeff Lord characterized the program correctly and Anderson Cooper agreed. Yeah, yeah, I get it. What this was about, is Jeff Lord really is agreeing with Sharyl Attkisson, who reported the Washington Post actually misreported what Trump said about McCain. They actually misreported it. She has written a piece clarifying it. She\u2019s not supporting Trump; she makes it clear. She says the Washington Post did not get the story right. They did not report that Trump four different times said that McCain is a war hero.<\/p>\n

He is, and he\u2019s a hero because he was a prisoner of war and captured. Trump said that four different times. The Washington Post did not report that. Jeff Lord is talking about how he thinks a lot of what\u2019s been reported about Trump is out of context, and Cooper said, “Well, you know, Limbaugh does the same thing. He plays these sound bites and he only takes little clips of what people say, then he launches.” But the point here is, if I may speak in my own not defense, but to explain how we do things here. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

You know, the thing that I don\u2019t think people who don\u2019t listen to this program obviously don\u2019t get about it and people on the left who do listen, is I have no desire to trick people into believing things that aren\u2019t true. There\u2019s nothing to be gained from doing that. There certainly is no future in it professionally. But if you\u2019re one who cares about things like I do, and if — as I\u2019ve admitted — I\u2019m trying to persuade people to agree with me, I want it to be substantive and honest. There\u2019s no way I want people to end up agreeing with me if I\u2019m lying to them.<\/line><\/p>\n

So I look to include as much context about every sound bite I play here as I can because we don\u2019t have time to play the whole sound bite. We edit it for length based on a whole bunch of factors, and I spend a lot of time setting every one of them up. I do a better job and a more honest job of explaining liberalism and what liberals say than they do. I dare say that you, the people of this audience, have a greater understanding of liberalism than simply watching a liberal news network would teach you.<\/p>\n

Because they\u2019re about camouflaging who they are.<\/p>\n

They are about masking themselves. <\/p>\n

I want you to know exactly who they are. <\/p>\n

I try to put as much of this in context as possible, \u2019cause I want you to get the point and the real point. Why…? I guess some liberals think whatever it takes to convince people. If they have to lie, if they have to leave things out, put things out of context, they\u2019ll do it. I don\u2019t see any purpose in that. I don\u2019t see how it benefits me or anybody to get you to believe something if it isn\u2019t true. Anyway. This conversation continued with Jeffrey Lord, now talking about the conservative base and how they might be reacting to Trump.<\/p>\n

LORD: The base, if you will — the conservative base, the conservative movement, the Republican Party — certainly feels that the media does this to various conservative figures over the years.<\/p>\n

COOPER: Yeah.<\/p>\n

LORD: Including Rush Limbaugh, I might add.<\/p>\n

COOPER: Right. Absolutely.<\/p>\n

LORD: And that the end result desired is to get the guy, whoever it is, off the stage. And here you have Donald Trump saying: Not only am I not going, I\u2019m gonna double down and you\u2019re not gonna get me outta here.<\/p>\n

COOPER: Arguably, I agree with you on that.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: So Jeff made his point, and he convinced these people of what we were actually talking about on the program yesterday, and he was back on CNN this morning! He was back. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay, just a couple of more here. This is CNN\u2019s New Day today. Ana Navarro, who is a Republican consultant\/Jeb Bush supporter, and Jeff Lord from the American Spectator is back, and Alisyn Camerota is the anchor. She says, “All right, what\u2019s your take on Rush Limbaugh?” Now, I\u2019m not running for anything, folks. I\u2019m not a candidate. It\u2019s just last night and today I hijacked a couple of networks. Anyway. here\u2019s what Ana Navarro says.<\/p>\n

NAVARRO: Rush Limbaugh is a guy that goes against the current. Uhhh, he is the type of guy that takes on these causes. Here\u2019s the thing, though: Rush, who is a conservative, a true conservative, is coming to the rescue of a guy who is a fraud! He is not a conservative.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah, a lot of people… I\u2019m not coming to the rescue of anybody. I guess I\u2019m gonna have to figure out, “Why do people think this?” (interruption) Okay, okay. Maybe \u2019cause I\u2019m not dumping on him that they think that means I\u2019m coming to his rescue? You know, I\u2019m the actual observer. I\u2019m a great example of an objective observer here, if you want to know. I\u2019m acting as America\u2019s Real Anchorman. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m just watching what happens here and I\u2019m telling you what\u2019s different about us and I\u2019m saying, “It\u2019s gonna be cool to find out what we learn from this, \u2019cause I think it\u2019s a teachable moment.” And then Jeffrey Lord says, “Well, now, look, Donald Trump has given millions of dollars to various causes, to veterans over the years. What\u2019s Governor Bush done? I\u2019m asking just generally. I don\u2019t know.”<\/p>\n

NAVARRO: Well, I think you should look it up! Maybe instead of listening to three hours of Rush Limbaugh every day and reading, you know, Ann Coulter\u2019s book — every time you come on here, that\u2019s what you quote — maybe you should go and have some original research and original thought. Jeb Bush was very good for the military. As you know, Florida is a big place for veterans. Something that he focused on.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh-ho! Jeff\u2019s question kind of got under her skin there a little bit. “Well, maybe you ought to go do your own original research and get some original thought.” Jeffrey Lord is original. Make no mistake. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: That\u2019s right. You know, I\u2019ve been acting in this whole Trump story like a Drive-By journalist. No. No. I\u2019ve been acting like a real journalist. I\u2019ve been looking at the Trump thing objectively, and nobody recognizes it as what it is. They think it\u2019s support, because I\u2019m not condemning him. See, this is my point. Because I don\u2019t join in the condemnation of Trump like everybody else apparently is, I must have been supporting him. And I haven\u2019t uttered a syllable of support for Trump. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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