RUSH: Bobby Jindal. I want to give you a little tidbit with the sound bite. We have one audio excerpt of Bobby Jindal at the press club today, but I got to share with you the entire open to put this in context. Because he launches at Trump, both barrels, and it’s clear to me I think what Jindal’s objective is here. And I’ll say this before I play the sound bite and read to you the transcript of at least the opening of his speech. I think what Jindal’s doing…
I could be wrong, of course. It’s rare, but I could be. There’s a New York Magazine story that says Bobby Jindal is upset that Trump is stealing his act. Okay. Now, I don’t know specifically what that is. But from that article, New York Magazine: “Bobby Jindal has carefully planned to carve out a niche as the candidate of choice for Republicans who want a bombastic xenophobe in the White House but find Ted Cruz too intellectual.”
By the way, that’s New York Magazine name-calling. Jindal does not think of himself as a xenophobe and he does not think of himself as bombastic. This is New York. This is a liberal media characterize. This is why I don’t know why… Why would you go talk to New York Magazine? You know what’s gonna happen there. And why would you go talk to, in Trump’s case, Rolling Stone? What is the point? Rolling Stone makes things up about rapes on campus that don’t happen. What do you think they’re gonna do to you?
Oh, well, I’m not advising these people. I’m not their consultant. So I just have to deal with it in frustration like you do. But the New York Magazine piece says “Bobby Jindal has carefully planned to carve out a niche as the candidate of choice for Republicans who want a bombastic xenophobe in the White House but find Ted Cruz too intellectual. JindalÂ’s antics included a video of himself taking part in a push-up contest. But Donald Trump has waltzed in and stolen his act, relegating Jindal to obscurity.”
Now, before Jindal went out to the National Press Club speech today, his campaign promised on Twitter that they were going to see “Bobby the Brawler” today. We’re gonna see Bobby the Brawler today in a speech attacking Trump as unserious. He’s an excerpt before I read to you from the actual open. This is Jindal at the National Press Club this morning.
JINDAL: Donald Trump is not a serious candidate. He’s a narcissist! He’s an egomaniac! The only thing he believes in is himself. The idea of the Donald Trump act is great. The reality o-o-of Donald Trump, however, is absurd. He’s non-serious. He’s a carnival act. Here’s the truth about Donald Trump: Donald Trump is shallow. He has no understanding of policy. He is full of bluster; he has no substance. He lacks the intellectual curiosity to even learn. Donald Trump is for Donald Trump. Ask the question for conservatives is this: Are we gonna rely and trust proven conservative principles, or — or are we gonna turn to a man who believes in nothing but himself?
RUSH: Okay, now, that is from the body of the speech. I told you Snerdley, I told you he was gonna fire both barrels. He’s the open. And the open is a little bit different flavor from that, which is why I want to read it to you. “Today, I’m going to put my own political mission aside and talk about something more important than myself, more important than any single candidate or person. Our country is slipping away right before our very eyes.
“We are descending down the path to socialism, dependence on government is becoming the new American Dream, we are unfazed by the selling of body parts as commodities, and we are pathetically weak in international affairs. America is slipping away, right in front of us in real time. And yet this is a moment of great opportunity for America. This is a time when we can make dramatic changes, we can embrace conservative ideals, and we can literally turn our country around. I believe the country is ready for that.
“You can see it in people’s eyes, you can read it in the polls, America is ready for a politically incorrect conservative revolution. The liberalism and incompetence of the Obama administration have pushed us to the edge, to the point where you can literally see the idea of America slipping away — and people are dreading it, and they are ready to stop that from happening. The American people have a massive appetite for a rebirth, a massive appetite for making America Great again. So that is the context and the reason for what I’m going to say next.”
And what he says next is the audio sound bite I just played for you. This is why it’s fundamentally important for you to have heard the open to the speech, rather than just the sound bite. Because, you see, I could have come here just played for you that one excerpt and I could have given you an entirely different impression of Jindal’s speech. What he said next is this “I like the idea of Donald Trump. I like the idea of a DC outsider. I like that he doesn’t care about political correctness. I like the fact that he says things people are thinking but are afraid to say.
“I like that he uses Ronald Reagan’s theme of Making America Great Again. Trump’s diagnoses is correct — the professional political class in Washington, including the Republicans, is incompetent and full of nonsense. He is right. The political class in Washington has abandoned us. Trump has performed an important service by taking on the political class and exposing them for being completely full of nonsense. But, here’s the problem. Donald Trump is also full of nonsense. Don’t get me wrong. His act is tremendous.
“It’s a sellout show, and I’ve enjoyed it. I laughed out loud when he read Lindsey Graham’s cell number on live TV. I got a kick out of him giving kids helicopter rides at the Iowa State Fair. And I was amused when he said the people at Jeb’s town hall were sleeping. But, it is now time for us to do what Donald would do, and say the thing that everyone is thinking, but is afraid to say out loud. So I’m going to do it. The Donald Trump Act is great, and the idea of Donald Trump is great. BUT the reality of Donald Trump is absurd, he’s a non-serious carnival act.
“So here’s the truth about Trump that we all know, but have been afraid to say: Donald Trump is shallow. Has no understanding of policy. He’s full of bluster but has no substance. He lacks the intellectual curiosity to even learn.” This, you recognize from the sound bite. “Donald Trump is not a serious person,” Jindal said. “It’s all a solo act, it’s all just a show, and the joke is on us. He’s laughing all the way to the bank, or to the polling location.
“P.T. Barnum was never more right,” and then near the end of the speech, Jindal said: “Summer is over, it’s time to get serious about saving our country. It’s time to send Donald Trump back to reality TV — it’s time to tell Donald Trump — it’s been great, you’ve been great for ratings, you are almost as fun as Don Rickles, the show has been a blast. We do in fact need to make America Great Again. We do in fact need to fire everybody in Washington. We do in fact need to get rid of political correctness. That is all true. And we can make America Great again.
“But we will not do that by putting an unserious and unstable narcissist in the White House. Our country is worth saving, and this is our time to save it. The conservative cause deserves more than a power-hungry shark who eats whatever is in front of him, because sooner or later, we will be his next meal.” That’s Jindal, that’s the thrust of Bobby Jindal, from a full transcript of his speech at the National Press Club today.
(interruption) No, I’m just sharing it with you. I had the sound bite, played the sound bite. In light of everything here, you can now expect Trump is going to be loaded and fire back — and it’s what Jindal wants, remember. Jindal… Don’t forget now, this New York Magazine piece theorizes that Jindal is trying to carve out a niche here and he’s trying to replace Cruz, replace Cruz with people who like Cruz but think he’s “too intellectual” or whatever. So, anyway, there’s a strategy behind all this is point.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here’s another Bobby Jindal line, ladies and gentlemen, about Mr. Trump. He said (paraphrasing), “We know that Mr. Trump has not read the Bible, and we know this for a simple reason: Donald Trump is not in the Bible. So we know he has not read it.” It’s cutting. It’s slicing. And apparently these guys all recognize now what they have to do to break out. What they have to do to get named and mentioned, and that is get on Trump’s bad side. ‘Cause he’ll come after ’em.