RUSH: You know, I often joke around, calling myself America’s Real Anchorman. You know, I really am. I really, really am, particularly on this whole Trump story, folks, as I made clear toward the end of the program yesterday. That’s why the Drive-Bys misunderstand what I’m doing. They don’t understand objectivity. They don’t understand reporting on something without an opinion attached to it. They really don’t.

That’s why they think I’m supporting Trump because I’m not denouncing him. If I’m not denouncing Trump, I’m supporting him, and it’s not at all what I’ve said or done. They understand the nuance. They finally figured out I’m very nuanced. I’m not this simpleton. Well, today they think that. I’ll be back to being a simpleton next week sometime. Anyway it’s a fascinating case study.

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RUSH: Here’s Kevin in St. Louis. Kevin, I’m glad you called. It’s great to have you with us. Hi.

CALLER: Thank you for taking my call. Don’t you think that Donald Trump knows exactly what he’s doing and knows that there’s a majority out there that support him? Kind of like what you did when you first started. You know, you knew that you were gonna be attacked and whatnot, but you just kept pressing on and knew that you were right in what direction you were going in.

RUSH: That’s an interesting question about Trump and what he’s doing and why and what he knows. Now, if you take him at his word, if you take Donald Trump at his word, here’s what’s going on. He’s fed up with both parties and the almost formulaic way they talk and act and get nothing done or make things worse. I think there’s also something that’s happened that we don’t know, maybe a series of things, and the latest one was maybe the straw that broke the camel’s back that finally, he ran.

Because Trump’s been toying with this for how many election cycles? Even this one, as recently as first week of June, I had people asking me about, “Do you think Trump’s gonna pull the trigger this time?” and I said, “Nah, I doubt it. I think he’s just setting up a big audience and renegotiation for The Apprentice.” But then he did it. He actually pulled the trigger. And then when he started losing support of Macy’s and NBC, he stuck with it. So something’s changed with Trump, and he’s attempting to accomplish something.

But the big thing that I think sets all this apart for everybody else among everything else that’s happening, is Trump is literally having the time of his life. He is thoroughly enjoying this. Every bit of it. He’s enjoying the big crowds. He’s enjoying the way he is in everybody’s face. Somebody comes along and insults him, and he’s right back at them, and he views every one of those confrontations as he is winning. He’s just having fun. He’s literally enjoying immensely all of this, and I don’t doubt that he’s like all of you in one regard.

I think he really does care about the country, and I think like a lot of people, he is really, really worried about what’s happening to it. What I hope is that if Trump is serious about this, look at what he was able to do with the immigration issue. When that whole thing started, he was the issue. What he was saying about Mexicans — and what he was saying about the type of people immigrating, what he was saying about our government permitting all that to happen — he was the issue. Everybody was talking about a reprobate he was.

Everybody was talking about how impolitic he was, how crude, how extremist. And then Kate Steinle was murdered in a sanctuary city, San Francisco, and all of a sudden the issue became the issue. Well, what if Trump decided to pick up this Planned Parenthood thing? And then what if Trump decided to pick up economics and then pick up Obamacare? What if Trump started doing on all these other issues, what he has done on immigration? So far the value of Trump… If Trump were not in this race, I guarantee you…

Well, I can’t guarantee, but if none of what Trump… Well, if none of this had happened, I dare say immigration still would not be on the table. Immigration would still be an issue where the focal point of it was, “Republicans better get on board and support this! Republicans better get on board and support amnesty! The Republicans better do it!” If everything that has happened except Trump being in, that’s what we would be looking at: A traditional Republican campaign with all these different guys getting in and all vying for the same votes, voters, and so forth.

The universe is being expanded here.

Trump is not running as a Democrat. He’s attracting Democrats. He’s attracting people from all over the place. So he has the ability to illuminate all of these issues that I know all of you are frustrated by because the Republicans don’t seem to oppose the Democrats on them, and Trump is the one guy who does. Trump’s the one guy who’s going against conventions on everything. I think that’s part of the reason that he’s popular at this stage. Now, as to your question about he knows the opposition is small, I don’t know how he looks at that.

I think that Trump thinks that he’s immensely popular before he even does this. His TV show’s popular. His books sell. When he goes out and does a lecture, the crowds are big. So I think he already thinks he’s popular. I don’t think that any of this is about testing that, finding out what his reach is. Here’s a story, by the way, from TheHill.com: “Trump’s Success Annoys GOP — Republican insiders are reconciling themselves to the idea that Donald Trump won’t be exiting the stage anytime soon — and their main concern now is limiting his damage to their party.”

Uh! Uh! Uh Wait, wait, wait just a second! Just a second. Trump’s comments about McCain were supposed to be the end. The Wizards of Smart in both parties told us that Trump could not survive that. The Wizards of Smart in the both parties said, “This is it! This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. This is what we knew was gonna happen. We knew this charlatan was gonna come along, and if we just put a pile of excrement in front of him, he would step in it. Well, here it is!” That was just over the weekend, Sunday and Monday.

This is only Wednesday. Trump was supposed to be history by now. And it was your host, El Rushbo, who said, “Whoa. Put the brakes on it, here. Wait just a second. We don’t know this yet, ’cause Trump’s not playing by the rules.” If Trump were your average, ordinary, cuckolded Republican, he would have apologized by now, and he would have begged for forgiveness, and he would have gone away. And the establishment would have claimed another scalp, claiming that they had protected the sanctity of campaigns.

But Trump’s not playing by those rules. He’s doubling down. Now he’s giving out Lindsey Graham’s telephone number and talking about how much fun it is! He said, “Why should I care about Lindsey Graham? Have you seen what he is in the polls? It’s zero, folks! Why should I defer to somebody that’s got zero?” The American people have not seen this in a while. They haven’t seen this kind of braggadocio that’s done in a way that’s fun. Trump’s braggadocio is not off-putting except to its victims.

But to the average, ordinary American watching this, it’s a show. They’re having fun, they’re enjoying it and they’re enjoying Trump enjoying it. (interruption) Well, in a way it’s a live reality show, but it’s a show. There’s no question it’s entertaining. It’s entertaining as a show. As Frank Sinatra said, “If they sell booze in it, it’s a saloon. I don’t care if it’s a ballroom, I don’t care if it’s a casino. If they sell booze there, it’s a saloon.” Okay.

Well, if there’s entertainment going on, it’s a show. All I know is that Trump was not gonna be able to withstand that McCain insult, he was not gonna be able to survive that, and now “Republican insiders,” just three days, four days after Trump stepped on that pile of excrement, “are reconciling themselves to the idea that he won’t be exiting the stage any time soon. The GOP establishment is almost universally hostile to Trump,” it says here.

“Among Washington Republicans, the hope is that voters will tire of such comments –” such as Lindsey Graham’s a “jackass” and McCain’s not war hero, whatever. “– and that Trump will have to push his boat out into ever-murkier waters to continue to command attention.” So they’re terrified of the guy. They’re terrified of him. See, can you imagine the shock? Can I give you some names? Todd Akin. Does that ring a bell? Sarah Palin. Does that ring a bell? O’Donnell, the woman in Delaware. Sharron Angle. All these names that the Republican establishment effectively did away with.

Not only are they unable to vanish Trump, but Trump is triumphing and it’s so far out of the rule book and the Republican manual for procedure that they’re having trouble defining what it all means. But they all do agree that this is ultimately gonna be seen as a sideshow and destructive and eventually it’s all gonna end. Until that happens, they’re just gonna do their best to weather the storm and do what they can to make sure — this is their thinking — that Trump does not destroy the entire Republican brand.

I’m sure there are a lot of you, when I say that, shouting at the radio, “No, no, no, no, it’s not Trump that’s gonna do it. They’ve already done that.” A lot of people already think the Republican establishment has inflicted its own damage and that Trump didn’t need to add any more to it.

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RUSH: Let’s go to the Trump audio sound bites, since we have reached that transition. This morning on Fox & Friends, Trump is being interviewed by Elisabeth Hasselbeck. She said, “Do you regret giving Lindsey Graham’s phone number out? Do you feel that that was a mistake?”

TRUMP: Not at all. I mean, he just came out, he started calling me a jackass on every program. The guy’s got zero in the polls. He’s got nothing going anyway. I don’t even think he’s very popular in his own state, because you heard the applause I was getting. And I did it for fun, and everybody had a good time. And we had a packed house — we had a beyond packed house. We had auditoriums next door that were packed. I mean, place was amazing — South Carolina — it was amazing. And no, I don’t regret it. I mean, it seems to have gotten a lot of press, but I don’t regret it at all, no. He calls me names. You have to fight back. I mean, all of a sudden these guys are calling me names. I’m trying to be nice. I want to be nice. I’m a nice person. But everybody’s calling me names, and I guess since I went to number one in the polls, they’re having a field day on me.

RUSH: (Imitating Trump) “Hey, I’m just a nice guy. I’m just minding my own business. I’m not bothering anybody or calling me jackass. Well, screw that! They’re the jackass. Yeah, I’m just I’m just a nice guy. I’m not hurting anybody out here. Who’s he? Getting zero. I mean, who the hell is he? Why do I have to — cause he’s some senator? Big whoop. I have to act like, ‘oh, my God, I’ve offended a senator?’ Screw that. I’m rich. Have you seen how much money I have? I’m really rich — how much money so he can get nothing.” Yay, Trump.

And so then he wasn’t through. Poor Elisabeth Hasselbeck could not get another question is because Trump kept going.

TRUMP: Well, our country should be that way. We have so many things going wrong. Who are the people leading our country? We have people that are just incompetent. You look at this Iran deal, which is a total disaster, and we don’t even get our prisoners back. We give them a scientist, but we don’t get our prisoners back, because they said it was too complicated to ask. If you had the right messenger — like if I did it, or if I picked somebody that did it that knew about negotiation, not somebody that goes into a bicycle race and breaks his leg at 73 years old — we would have gotten the prisoners back a long time ago.

RUSH: John Kerry, he’s talking about. (Imitating Trump) “The secretary of state, goes riding a freaking bicycle, breaks his leg at 73, he’s giving away the store. I wouldn’t give away the store.”

By the way, I guarantee you something. I just gonna tell you right now. When people heard that this morning — people watching Fox & Friends — I will guarantee you they stood up out of their couches or from their kitchen tables or wherever they were and started cheering:

(Imitating audiences) “Our country should be the way I’m treating people, our enemies and the people we disagree with.” Look at this Iran. It’s a total disaster. We don’t even get our prisoners back because we’re told it’s too complicated?” I think Trump is tapping in, and I’m not at all worried about saying this. I think he’s tapping in, because of what I believe to be is a majority of people in this country are so frustrated they’re about to burst.

And frankly, I’m gonna tell you something else, folks. What Trump is doing — not the way he’s saying it per se, maybe even that, but what he’s saying — is everybody that’s voted Republican since 2010, has expected this from the Republican Party. This is why they were elected. This kind of opposition. This kind of making it hard for the opposition to succeed.

A landslide Republican victory in 2010, another one in 2014, a possible presidential win in 2012 if four million Republicans had decided to vote instead of stay home. This is what they thought they were getting when they voted, or this is what they wanted.

Is this kind of stand up to the opposition, the Democrats kind of behavior, effective behavior? You know, I hear people say, well, it’s not just enough to want the fight. The fight’s not what people want. They want to win, but they realize you can’t win sitting on your butt. You have to fight first. Winning comes after that.

Now, this whole notion that, well, you know, Trump’s tapping into people that just want the fight is even trying to denigrate that. By the way, what’s wrong with fighting? What do you think the Democrats are doing? What’s wrong with that? That’s what this is all about, is prevailing. That’s what happen constitutional republics all about. You prevail. You have to fight to prevail.

And I’m telling you, I know, like I know anything, that a huge number of Republicans who have voted have expected this kind of opposition to the Democrats. That’s what they have wanted when they voted for it, and they haven’t gotten it, and it’s why they’re responding to Trump. It’s not the only reason, by any stretch, but it’s part of it. Anyway, I have to take another time-out. There’s more.

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RUSH: Now, Mr. Snerley just told me — I had not seen this myself — Snerdley just told me he saw a video of Lindsey Graham, Senator, South Carolina, in a very funny video destroying his cell phone, obviously because Trump has ruined it. Now, he wouldn’t have to destroy the phone. He could just get a new SIM card, but how do you have fun destroying a SIM card in a video? So he got some golf clubs and a barbecue pit and he literally destroyed his cell phone, making fun of the fact that Trump has destroyed it by giving out his number.

Anyway, greetings, and welcome back, folks, it’s great to have you, Rush Limbaugh, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, right here behind the Golden EIB Microphone. 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program.

Here’s Dana Bash. This is last night, Anderson Cooper 360, and the subject is Trump, Dana Bash reporting on what she had seen in Bluffton, South Carolina.

BASH: What struck me about being at the event today, and I’ve been to many a campaign rally in my time, was that he had them really in the palm of his hand. And you couldn’t necessarily tell the traditional way by watching people stand on their feet and scream and cheer like a rally. They were sitting in their seats in this auditorium. Now, granted it was a retirement community, but they were mesmerized. You could almost hear a pin drop as they watched what wasn’t really a stump speech. It was a one-man show.

RUSH: They were listening. Did you hear that? Yes, they were listening, these old codgers, these old seasoned citizens. The Democrats love seasoned citizens when they just get their Social Security checks and shut up. But when they actually get involved, get involved with politics and so forth and start showing up at Republican rallies, then all of a sudden they become idiots. Dana Bash is stunned. (imitating Bash) “My God, they were actually listening. My God they were mesmerized! And it wasn’t a political speech, no. It was a one-man show. Well, it was a political speech.

Anyway, this is, I think, another indication of the media, not that any of you need it, I mean, you all know the media as well as I do or anybody else does, but I’m constantly amazed that they are so willing to portray their own arrogance. Why wouldn’t a bunch of people at a Trump rally listen? What is it about a conservative audience that is shocking when they listen? What is shocking that they’re able to listen?

If your assumption going in is that conservatives are rabid, just meat-eating, quasi-sub-humans, and then you walk into someplace at a rally where you expect that kind of behavior and you see polite attentiveness, why, it just conflicts with every preconception you have. And make no mistake, they have that conception of conservatives and Republicans and more. It’s even worse.

So, anyway, that’s what’s happening here with Trump, the latest, and as I say, I’m sitting here, I’m actually behaving as America’s Anchorman on this. I’m the one watching it and commenting on it and telling you as it happens with no prejudice, prejudicial comment before or after. And that is what the Drive-Bys don’t understand. They think that because I’m not on this bandwagon criticizing Trump, that I must be supporting him, and they don’t recognize objectivity when they see it. Or impartiality, however you want to characterize it, they don’t recognize it, because they aren’t objective. Which we also know.