RUSH: Here’s Dino in Chicago. Dino, glad you waited. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Hello, Rush. I just would like to say, I’m 23 years old, I’m a graduate of Northern Illinois University, and I’m calling because I feel compelled. I see some shocking similarities between the runoff to the 2008 election and the run-up to the 2016 election.

RUSH: I think I know what this is gonna be. I think I know what you’re gonna go with, but go there anyway.

CALLER: Okay. So to paint the picture for you, in 2008 we were in, you know, Bush’s second term.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: The economy was doing poorly. There were wars going on. People wanted something different. They didn’t know what they wanted, they just knew that they wanted something different. So the Democrats pull out Barack Hussein Obama. He had a different complexion. He talked differently. He had a slick delivery. He was what appeared to be a new type of politician. People were wooed by this, and they rallied around him and we all know what we’ve gotten. Well, I believe we’re at a crossroads in this country, where we’re either gonna continue on the same path of socialism or we’re gonna go back to our founding principles.

So to bring you to 2016, it’s the end of Obama’s second term. Much the same conditions. The economy is still doing poorly, there’s perhaps more wars going on, and people are even more divided and really want change. But this man Donald Trump, I think he has a lot of attributes that Obama did. He speaks differently, he speaks through the Washington speak, and he has a different appearance. He’s not a politician; he’s a businessman, so people are rallying around him. I’m worried because people are not probably vetting out this man, I don’t think. I don’t think he’s a true lover of liberty, and I don’t think he’s gonna do what needs to be done. I think we need somebody that’s a strict constitutionalist. I think luckily for us this man is running in the race.

RUSH: Okay, I’ll bite. Who is that?

CALLER: Rand Paul, sir.

RUSH: Rand Paul.

CALLER: I don’t work for Rand Paul. I’m not telling you or your audience to vote. What I am saying is listen to the man. A good place to start is his State of the Union Address. You can find that on YouTube. He did it in January as a response to President Obama.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: His op-ed piece called DonÂ’t Fall for a Fake Conservative. This will just take 15 minutes of your time and I feel that everybody owes this to themselves and the country to do this.

RUSH: Let me take back to the early part of your comment, because I have heard it, and this is… I’m not trying to diminish what you said. I’m just saying, I’ve even heard it from the conservative inside-the-Beltway media who are very worried. The way I’ve heard it expressed is, “Oh, my God, we’ve got another Orwellian demagogue! Oh, my God, the people are falling for another phony! Oh, no! Except this time, it’s our people!

“This is horrible! Another phony! And look what we got the last time,” meaning Obama. So let me ask you a question about this. I’m serious now, taking your comments seriously. I’m responding seriously here. Do you think there’s any difference in the people who embraced Obama and made him whatever they wanted him to be — is there any difference between those people — and the people who are embracing Trump?

CALLER: Yes. And the difference — I’m glad you brought that up — is that I think Trump is bamboozling a whole different sector of people that haven’t been tapped into, and that’s Tea Party people. That’s patriots. That’s the grassroots movement. I’ve heard so many people calling in to your program and others that are Tea Party people, and they’re just enamored with Trump speaking. They’re enamored with it.

RUSH: Wait a minute. Now, hold on. Nobody that’s called here has identified themselves as Tea Party. So you’re assuming that.

CALLER: No I’m not saying to your program. I’m saying I do listen to other programs and I’m just… I’m saying maybe not on your program they’re Tea Party, but I know I’ve heard on other shows.

RUSH: What do you…? Okay, so let’s… Jeez. You know, you are on thin ice here. But I’m a great guy, one of the greatest, and I’m gonna stick with you for one more comment. See, I happen… The reason I asked you is because I think there’s a huge difference in terms of substance and knowledge and awareness between the mind-numbed robots that glommed on to Obama out of hatred for America and what they had been told to hate about America for four or five years prior. The group glomming on to Trump is out of love, and they were far more substantive than the people that glommed on to Obama in 2008.

CALLER: I do agree with you about the Obama people, why they followed him. But I kind of think a lot of people are following Trump out of fear. I think that’s the difference. I don’t know if it’s necessarily love all the time. I think it’s fear that you’re gonna end up with another Obama.

RUSH: No, no.

CALLER: You’re just going to a different guy.

RUSH: Love of country. Not love of Trump, love of country. The Obama crowd had anger at America. Anger here, anger there, everywhere. There’s anger in the Trump group, too, but they’re angry not at the country but at specific politicians and what they’re doing to it. I think there’s a huge difference. And I think it’s typical of Washington to try to, A, take what happened 2008 and discredit ’cause was it a disaster.

It gave us this Obama guy. He’s been a total disaster. To try to equate that with what’s happening now, gives us an idea of what Washington really thinks of average, ordinary Americans. They are mind-numbed robots led around by a bunch of Svengalis and so forth. They can’t be trusted! The money people have to run the show. We can’t leave it up to these people. They’re too flighty, they’re too unsophisticated, they’re too unknowledgeable or what have you.

But I think there’s a huge difference in the level of information, knowledge, involvement, any number of characteristics between the people that are supporting Trump — and it is broad-based, not just Tea Party — and the people that were glomming on to Obama. I mean, the difference in left and right. I don’t care. Say Trump’s not a conservative. I guarantee you most of the people on his side are. But not just that.

But most of them are. The people glomming on to Obama? Jeez, that was just a bunch of Julias out there, people that wanted to be led every day by the government, at the government’s Garden-to-the-Government School, the Government Cafeteria, the Government Television, to the Government Radio Station, to the government whatever it was. And then go back home and sleep on government sleeping pills, for crying out loud.