RUSH: Here is another question I have. So you have this group of conservatives that have their big powwow yesterday about finding a third-party candidate ’cause of their sense of honor and duty and loyalty to conservatism, and Trump is not conservative. They’ll never vote for Trump. “Never. No matter what we do, we’ll never, ever, ever gonna vote for Trump.” So they want to vote for somebody, so they’re looking for maybe third-party candidate, somebody they think they could take. Then you got Paul Ryan, the rest of the Republican establishment trying to keep Trump from getting it. Can I ask a simple question?
Why is the third-party group not joining Cruz? Something I don’t understand. Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe I’m not fully up to speed on what they’re doing and maybe they have. Maybe Cruz is in their… I don’t know. But when I hear third party, what I hear is they don’t like current options. You’ve got Cruz running second behind Trump. The current thinking is that neither can get to 1,237. “But if one can, it’s Trump. So we’ve gotta stop that.” You’ve got the Republican establishment gang talking about a contested convention so that they don’t have to do Trump.
If it’s not Cruz, who the hell you gonna run? You gonna throw one of your establishment buddies in there? Are you gonna try to engineer it so Kasich can be the nominee? I mean, clearly that’s what he’s angling for. I don’t think there’s much doubt about that. Why not Cruz? Well, I know I’ve already answered it. I’m trying to… By asking the question I’m making its own point here. So essentially the establishment is saying that neither of the top two vote-getters via the democratic process in the Republican primary are suitable.
Do I have that right? Neither of them are suitable, and the third-party group seems to be saying the same thing, unless I’m missing something. Why would you go for a third-party guy instead of getting behind the Cruz effort? Am I missing something? Seriously. I haven’t studied ’em. You look at that Washington Post piece that we talked about yesterday, the sheer panic Washington Post piece, which said, “To Defend Our Democracy, the GOP Must Aim for a Brokered Convention.”
Well, I know they’re not thinking of Ted Cruz, either. They hate Ted Cruz. But did you notice what followed? “As a moral question, it is straightforward. The mission of any responsible Republican should be to block a Trump nomination and election.” Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait just a second. Do you understand about what they’re saying here? Washington Post. Let’s reverse the order. “As a moral question, it is straightforward,” they wrote.
“The mission of any responsible Republican should be to block a Trump nomination and election.” The headline of that editorial: “To Defend Our Democracy, the GOP Must Aim for a Brokered Convention.” Excuse me, folks, but it’s democracy that has gotten us Trump number one, Cruz number two. So the Washington Post is actually saying that in order for the GOP to ensure a democratic America, it must block the democratic result of the Republican primary. I’m telling you, these people are being driven insane by this campaign.
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RUSH: Next up we have Daley from Houston, Texas. Hi, Daley, great to have you on the program. You’re 14; is that right?
CALLER: Yes, sir. Hi, Mr. Limbaugh.
RUSH: Hi. Great to have you on the program, Daley.
CALLER: It’s such an honor to speak to you. First of all, I want to thank you so much for all you do.
RUSH: Well, thank you.
CALLER: I’ve actually been listening to you since I was a baby, and I love your show so much. You’re doing so much for America, and I can’t thank you enough.
RUSH: Well, you have made my day. I can’t… It is I who thank you. I really appreciate that.
CALLER: My question is: Do you think that Cruz still has an honest chance to win? I really like Cruz, and he’s inspired me, and I think that he’s the kind of leader we haven’t seen since Reagan. And I was wondering if you think he has an actual chance to win.
RUSH: Have you met Senator Cruz?
CALLER: Yes, sir. I have.
RUSH: So obviously you’ve been inspired by him. How long a time did you have to speak with him?
CALLER: Well, actually he was at an event in Houston, and he took four questions, and I got to ask him a question, and he answered it, and so probably about like 15 minutes.
RUSH: Let me answer your question this way, Daley. The question, basically, young Daley here wants to know is if I think that Ted Cruz has a chance to win. And in answering that question, let’s take a look where he is. He, right now, is in second place, and because of something I said earlier, I think the fact that Ted Cruz is in second place is astounding. Ted Cruz has been ignored from the first day of his campaign. Whatever the news of the campaign is, day to day, he is not in it. And particularly from last summer through the fall and winter, he was not there.
The news was always about Trump, but then it was either about Jeb or Marco or Governor Christie. Even at the debates. Ted Cruz is smoking everybody at the debates, and he never is reviewed as such. It’s never commented on. After the debates, the postdebate coverage is usually how did Trump do or what did Trump say about this moderator or that moderator. But, Daley, my point is Ted Cruz is in second place; he has been given no time by the Drive-By Media. He has been shown no respect. They have not treated him as a viable candidate.
He has been hammered over and over by every other candidate one way other another. Ted Cruz has been lambasted. He is very rarely given a chance to rebut the things that are said about him. He is routinely one of the speakers at each debate that speaks the least. There’s some exceptions in some debates, but for the most part he’s among the least. He is hated by the establishment, and they are the ones that totally ignore him. The party has not lifted a finger to help him, and even now when they are starting to, they make it known that they’re not happy to be doing it.
CALLER: You’re completely right.
RUSH: Now, hang on, though. He is being dwarfed and swamped by unprecedented coverage of Trump, who hasn’t had to spend any money to get it. Ted Cruz has raised money left and right. There are all kinds of people giving money to Ted Cruz, and nobody talks about it. Nobody wants to talk about Ted Cruz. We’re told over and over that everybody in the Senate hates him. We’re told over and over everybody in Washington hates him. But yet he’s in second place and he’s won nine states. So you’re asking me if I think Ted Cruz can win? Yeah, I do. I don’t think it’s anywhere near over yet.
Everybody wants you to believe that it is. Everybody wants you to believe one of two things: It’s over, Cruz is not gonna get there, Trump is, and we’re gonna go to a contested convention and it’s gonna be between Kasich and whoever else the establishment can throw up. It still amazes me, Daley. You have the establishment types with their secret dinner meetings like last night near here in Palm Beach trying to figure out how to game the convention so that one of theirs can get the nomination. Then you have these conservatives who are plotting trying to come up with a third-party candidate.
And here, again, nobody’s talking about Ted Cruz. And he’s there every day, and he’s out campaigning. He’s going everywhere, and he is in second place despite all of the obstacles that have been put in his way. So I think he can win. Now, if it goes contested, the establishment doesn’t want him even more than they want Trump. But I think it’s remarkable what he’s been able to accomplish and pull off here, given the way the deck has been purposefully stacked against him. What do you think of that, Daley?
CALLER: Thank you so much. I completely agree. You’ve made my day, too. Thank you.
RUSH: You bet. I’m glad you called. Hey, Daley. Have you read my books, the Rush Revere books?
CALLER: Yes, sir. I have.
RUSH: You have. Okay.
CALLER: I love them. They’re awesome.
RUSH: You have an iPad, by any chance?
CALLER: No, sir, I don’t.
RUSH: Would your parents mind if I sent you an iPad, do you think?
CALLER: I don’t know.
RUSH: Sounds like… It sounds like they would. I tell you what. You ask them.
CALLER: I’d be so grateful.
RUSH: Cool, okay. They’re saying it’s fine. So you want a big one or do you want the little one? You want the iPad Air or you want the iPad Pro?
CALLER: I think the iPad Air. Whatever, is great. I… Thank you very much.
RUSH: Okay. All right. Well, Daley, do you have big hands or small hands?
CALLER: I have small hands.
RUSH: Small hands. Okay, small hands. But you can grow into the Pro. The Pro is like 13 inches. The little one’s like 10 inches, but the Pro is bigger.
CALLER: Really? Whatever you think is best. You know it.
RUSH: I knew I liked you, Daley. Really, so few people ever say that to me. “Whatever you think best, Rush.” Nobody ever says that to me. You made my day.
CALLER: Thank you so much.
RUSH: Okay, hang on. Mr. Snerdley will get your address. We’re gonna FedEx it; you’ll have it tomorrow.
CALLER: Thank you so much.
RUSH: You bet.
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RUSH: Here’s Janice in Billings, Montana. Janice, you’re the last call today. Great to have you with us. Hi.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. I want to suggest a way to stop the plan for a contested convention.
RUSH: Okay.
CALLER: This is the way. Trump and Cruz agree to be running mates. One of them suspends his campaign; the other one wins the remaining delegates. Problem solved.
RUSH: Well, okay. Who goes number two in your scenario? Who is the veep?
CALLER: I think Trump should be president first because he’s the older front-runner. And so we could have two Trump terms and two Cruz terms. And they’d be great together. You know, Trump understands messaging; Cruz understands the Constitution. And I want both of them.
RUSH: Well, you know what? The nominee is gonna be one of the two of ’em.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: You can say all you want, but when you boil this down, the nominee is gonna be one of those two people. These people that have their dreams and fetishes can do all they want. It’s gonna be one of these two people.
CALLER: They’re great men. They’re both strong men.
RUSH: That’s true. The only… I don’t know. Some Cruz people might abandon him if he did it. I mean, the anti-Trump vitriol is pretty vitriolic. But it’s an interesting thing to chew on over the weekend. I’m glad that you make it through here, Janice.