RUSH: Here’s Bill in Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, great to have you on the program, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush, very much. Rush, you need to explain to me why I should even bother voting for the Republicans in 2016. I know that if Trump pulls out, my wife, my son and my daughter aren’t voting. If he goes third-party, regardless, they’re gonna vote for Trump. Me being a long-term listener and understanding that third-party is a guaranteed loser, I’m still gonna show up and vote for the Republicans. But I will not, as you used to put in the nineties, be voting for the Republicans, be voting affirmatively. With everything you’ve been discussing today the first hour of your monologue, I think the Republicans don’t fear me as a voter. They think they’ve got me so they can say anything and do anything they want and I’m still gonna show up like a little drone. I think if Trump pulls out, you’re gonna see a lot of Republican enthusiasm lost.
RUSH: Wait just a second. Hold on. You just said something that I want to explore with you. You just said the Republicans take your vote for granted, they just assume that you’re gonna show up like a little drone, right?
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: Let me ask you a question, Bill, all of you, seriously, now. I am not trying to depress anybody. Understand that’s the last thing I want to do, and I don’t want anybody thinking negatively, but we deal with what is. Can you tell me…? Since the Republicans won the House in 2010 and the Senate last year, can you show me, can you tell me where you see any evidence that they have won? In their behavior, in policy, do you see any difference in when they win or lose in what they say or do?
CALLER: None. None at all.
RUSH: Okay, now, that’s important, because what I was gonna say you is, I don’t think they even… When you say they look at you as a bunch of little drones and just expect you to fall in line and vote for ’em, the point is nothing changes when they win. I mean, they still act like they haven’t won anything. They still don’t oppose Obama. They don’t try to stop Obama. They don’t do anything. I don’t see any evidence of the victory.
The frustrating thing for people like you and all of us is, you vote on the premise that you are voting for an opposition, and particularly in 2014. That was a “Stop Obama” midterm election. It was, “Stop Obama,” and you even had Republicans using that phraseology shortly after the election to convey to us they got the message. But there isn’t any effort to stop Obama. There’s no effort stop this Iran deal. Immigration.
CALLER: Well, they act like they’re a monopoly like, “Where else are you gonna go?” and I think they already have their agenda. They already have what they want.
RUSH: My point is I don’t think they even care about winning! It doesn’t change anything, when they lose they still are gonna get what they want. I mean, they don’t suffer when they lose. They’re still there. I mean, they may lose office. Some may lose office. But when they win, nothing changes, at least in modern times. I’m talking about the last five, six, ten years, maybe, max. It’s just weird!
CALLER: Well, other than your show, where do I go for motivation and enthusiasm? I mean, really. I’m not being fake here when I say, “Rush, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t follow any news, any media, nothing.” I mean, Fox is totally alienated me with their pundits saying, “Hillary’s got it.” I’ve been hearing, “Oh, wait, Hillary’s unbeatable until she’s beatable.” You know, “Trump is gonna implode,” until he doesn’t implode. I mean, so you’re the only one that has any credibility. I don’t think you really understand how much credibility you have.
And the only reason why I am showing you in 2016 — and I’ve been voting since the New Hampshire primary in ’84 when I voted for Reagan when I was 18 — is you’re the only one that’s kept me motivated or at least… Well, enthused and motivated. But at least showing up since ’08. Right now, I’m like, you know, I’m having a really, really hard time deciding, “What am I gonna do in 2016?” ‘Cause if Trump pulls out — and again, I’m not dissing the other candidates, but if Trump pulls out, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I know my family’s gonna do.
RUSH: Look, I can relate almost a 100% with what you’re saying. I could translate what you’re saying. I know the depths. I mean, you feel we’re losing and there’s no end to it. And you’re tired of it, but you know you’re not the one. You’re doing everything you can, but the people you’re voting for are not doing anything. You don’t know what else you can do, and so you’re starting to think that what you’re doing is pointless, and you’re just gonna tune out and try to live your life as best you can unaffected by all this stuff, rather than go through every day ticked off, mad, depressed, or what have you.
Now, I look at this… I feel same way some days. But I look at it as an ongoing process, and that defeat is never final. It’s never ultimate. Because there’s always the next day in politics, and there’s always the unknown, and the unpredictable. Who would have predicted Trump? I mean, as recently as a month ago, the smart money all said, “Trump’s not gonna run! He’s just promoting The Apprentice. He’s not gonna run! He’s never gonna release his financial data. He’s not nearly as rich as he brags about. He’s not gonna admit that. Trump isn’t gonna do any of that.”
Trump’s done all of that.
Now it’s, “He’s gonna see implode. You just wait. It’ll be by September.” The thing that might happen here… Look, folks, do not ever think of me as trying to offer you false or phony optimism. But it’s a proven fact that people see, people witness, people learn, and make no mistake: There are people within elected Republican politics who are seeing what Trump is doing. It could well be that, at some point, somebody is going to be try to emulate it, somebody that has a more traditional political career or history. And I know. On the other side of that is, “But that person’s likely going to be bought by the establishment or harassed or corrupted or what have you.” But even with that, in this current Republican field, if Scott Walker’s the nominee, I’m gonna as enthusiastic as I’ve ever been.
If Carly Fiorina’s on the ticket, I would be as enthusiastic as I’ve ever been. If Cruz is somehow involved… I mean, there are reasons to be hopeful here. I know it’s close, in terms of getting to the point of no return, but even that is a bit extreme because we’ve been more divided and more partisan. The Civil War. We’re not nearly there yet, and we came out of that. We came out of Great Depression.
So, the great concern is for your kids and grandkids and what kind of country are they gonna grow up in. Will it be free? Will they be free? Will they be free to be the best they can be and use all the talents that they have? You know, time will tell on this, but I don’t think any defeat is permanent. And at some point this current crop of Republicans is going to be gone for a whole host of predictable reasons.
But, having said all that, I’m not gonna try to talk you out of what you said. If you want to sit out if Trump’s not the nominee, have at it. I’m not gonna do that. I couldn’t. I can’t envision a point where I say, “It’s worth giving up the fight.” It’s worth too much. And I know that cyclical, generational change happens.
I don’t want to harp too much on this Uber thing. I don’t want to make it bigger than it is, but who would have ever thought when Uber started that it would end up being a valuable, teachable technique for young people to learn about what big government really means? Who would have ever thought that? My only point is that things happen that you can never predict. And I don’t know that Uber’s gonna approve massively beneficial in that regard anyway. Has the chance to. Opposition’s not just gonna sit down and let it happen.
But, anyway, I draw also faith in the facts that we I think we have learned here. Don’t forget that Washington Post poll from last week that I cited. It was the poll that shows people do not like — a majority in the 60 percentages do not like — the social direction this country’s taking and do not support it. This is all happening against the will of the majority. Trump is illustrating that that majority is willing and can be motivated to act and so forth.
Look, it’s a wordy answer, but I’m just saying there are reasons to not give up the fight. And the biggest reason is the country is just too great, and it’s the only place. It’s the last best hope of humanity, and I don’t want to be part of a group that gives up on that. Too many people have, I mean, really sacrificed for it. Too many people are dead. Too many people have lost their lives. Too many people have given up everything they had to preserve it. I don’t see caving or quitting or giving up as an option, no matter how frustrated I get. ‘Cause if everybody decided to do it, then the other side would win.