RUSH: Here’s Megyn Kelly, as she opened her show last night, portion of the opening monologue.

KELLY: Mr. Trump did interviews over the weekend that attacked me personally. I’ve decided not to respond. Mr. Trump is an interesting man who has captured the attention of the electorate. That’s why he’s leading in the polls. Trump, who is the front-runner, will not apologize, and I certainly will not apologize for doing good journalism. So I’ll continue doing my job without fear or favor.

RUSH: Yeah, so there you have it. Everybody’s decided to move on here. They’ve… (interruption) What are you frowning at in there? What in the world’s wrong with this? (interruption) All right. Just keep a sock in it, then. I knew she wasn’t gonna apologize, and I knew Trump wasn’t gonna apologize — and good, by the way. We’re overwhelmed with all these apologies.

I spoke about that a little bit yesterday. Everybody’s apologizing. What does that mean, you didn’t say it? Does an apology wipe away what you said? “Well, it wasn’t me, you know? I don’t know who that was, but is not who I am.” Yes, it is. You said what you said. Big deal. I guess it’s human nature, but the way words upset people in the midst of actual destruction?

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RUSH: Downers Grove, Illinois, head to the phones, this is Carl, great to have you on the program, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Well, hi, Rush. It’s a real honor to be on the phone with you. I’ve been listening to you for probably over 20 years. But, anyway, to my point, just an observation. I don’t see it reported out there much, as everybody seems to be caught up with Trump and all his popularity right now. But we seem to be losing sight of the fact that still, with his 30% polling numbers, 70% of the people are still looking for true, I would say “constructionist.” People are more substantive in their views.

RUSH: Wait a minute. What are you saying people are looking for?

CALLER: Well, I think most people are still looking for people that are strong on the Constitution and have more substance to their beliefs.

RUSH: What, are you seeing this in the polling data itself or are you opining?

CALLER: Opining. Absolutely opining. I guess I’m taking a different spin on things than that.

RUSH: Okay. So what you’re saying is that Trump’s 32% should not fool us —

CALLER: Correct.

RUSH: — because you don’t think it isn’t anything about celebrity and personality, and you think most people want somebody far more substantive and knowledgeable and articulate when it comes to issues like Constitution and founding and that kind of thing. I don’t mean to be words in your mouth, but is that what you’re trying to say?

CALLER: That’s exactly my point is that 68% of Republicans are still looking at —

RUSH: You can’t really —

CALLER: — candidates that are big on the Constitution.

RUSH: No, no. You can’t look at it that way. You can’t say, “Okay, here’s a poll at 32% prefer Trump, which means 68% want whatever Trump isn’t,” because you have to then look at: Well, who else is in the poll, and does it all add up to a hundred, or does it exceed a hundred, or does it come in under a hundred. And if so, about how much?

CALLER: I don’t know the answer on that, Rush. I’m not a pollster, obviously.

RUSH: Well, no, it’s in the data. I just don’t have it in front of me. I don’t have it off the top of my head. But like Cruz was in second place with 13 or 14 or 20 or 18 or whatever. If you add it all up, there’s nothing in the poll that says 68% are dissatisfied are whatever Trump is doing. I mean, Bill Clinton won the White House twice and never got 50% of the electorate.

CALLER: We’re not talking about the White House here,. People in the Republican Party who have been polled and asked, “Who do you prefer at this point?” and I feel that as we get closer to the election, people are gonna be wanting more substance.

RUSH: Okay. Okay. Okay. I got it now. I find… This is why I, as host stick, with people where other hosts unable to hung up politely or otherwise. This caller from Downers Grove, Illinois, is saying all of this right now doesn’t matter because it’s too early. It’s too, too soon, too far out from the election. This is just name recognition, popularity contest, celebrity TV personality, recognition, all that. As we get closer to the election, what old Carl here is saying is that people are gonna wake up.

They’re gonna want somebody serious, they’re gonna want somebody doesn’t go around, whatever his view of what Trump’s doing, people are gonna tire of that and they’re gonna want somebody really substantive and really intelligent and all that, and that’s just his opinion. He doesn’t see the data anywhere, and it’s just his opinion on things. That’s why I was specifically asking. This is pretty close to the establishment view that Trump’s eventually gonna peter out, burn out, wear out what have you. That’s essentially what old Carl there was saying.

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RUSH: David, Granger, Indiana, you’re next here on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER. Thanks, Rush. I think that the clip you played in the beginning of the one o’clock hour with Megyn Kelly trying to explain some success in the polls is extremely shallow and oversimplified. I believe the more fundamental explanation is that the media has lost control of the narrative. They now have become the useful idiots to their audience, and the evidence is Trump and the anger the audience has towards the media manifests itself in how well Trump is doing in the polls. Some viewers want the media to be wrong, and they love when they are.

RUSH: Okay, let me see if I understand this. Don’t be insulted here. Part of this is due to the fact I didn’t hear but half of what you said, and I had to read it transcribed, which I think was perfect, but I’m having to put things together here on the fly. You think that a lot of Trump’s support is people simply wanting to stick it to the media. The media doesn’t want Trump, people hate the media, so people are voting for Trump in the polls. The media is hated and despised, and since they hate and despise Trump, people are going, “Pfft you! I love Trump”?

CALLER: I think independents, moderate Democrats, people who are on the fence that are fed up with the political games, those are the people that are piling on, if nothing more than to just say, “I’m sick and tired of all the nonsense going on.”

RUSH: So you don’t think the support for Trump is real and deep?

CALLER: No. I think that it is sincere, and I think that it’s a way that everybody wants to get on to just to let their view be heard.

RUSH: Okay, so Trump is a way for people to get a message to the media: “You’re not fooling us anymore. We don’t respect you. We don’t like you. We have resented deeply what you’ve tried to do to us and our candidates, so take this.” Hey, I’m not gonna sit here and deny that as a factor because I am fully aware of the… Oh, frustration, anger, rage. Look at, the rage and anger I’m talking about is a reasoned, substantive anger. It is not an overreaction. This has built for seven years.

There are people in this country who feel that they have not had any representation whatsoever after having been promised that their point of view would be represented and would triumph and that all of this Obama stuff, there would be a series effort to stop it and beat it back, and they haven’t seen much, if any. I think this anger is deep, and I know… How many people have called here over the years asking what more can they do besides vote?

There are a lot of people with a pent-up desire to do something, to get involved somehow, other than just make phone calls, get-out-the-vote, and plant yard signs. You know, all the usual stuff. These are people that want to do something, and they want everybody know how they feel. They don’t have a microphone, they don’t have a radio or TV show, they don’t have a book deal, they don’t have a cable gig. All they’ve got is polling data opportunity and elections and maybe calling programs like this. But it’s real, and it’s big, and it’s not irrational, is the point.

All of these establishment types, they think all this anger is irrational and it’ll eventually blow over and fade out. But because it isn’t irrational.

It has a long, long life span.