RUSH: This is Jennifer. Jennifer in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Great to have you on the program. Hi.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you?
RUSH: I’m great. Thank you.
CALLER: I called Mr. Snerdley, and I said, “I’ve been a Republican all my life, and I can’t believe the Republicans are putting as much effort as they are into trying to stop Trump.” I asked them, “Why didn’t they help push Romney across the finish line?” I mean, their lack of energy to do that versus the energy I see to stop Trump, it’s… I’m incredulous. And it makes me believe that they have never wanted to win. They’ve foisted these candidates on me and as a good Republican voter, I hold my nose, I vote for ’em, but they don’t even want to win.
RUSH: And you know what people are saying to them this year? “It’s time you held your nose. You’ve been asking us to.” You’re exactly right out there, Jennifer. They have been telling us, you know, “Hold your nose. You have a duty to be loyal to us and the party and vote for McCain. You have a duty to be loyal to us and vote for Bob Dole. You have a duty to be loyal to us and vote for Romney,” and people this year are saying, “You know what? You hold your nose this year. You have a duty to go out and help us win for once.”
CALLER: Rush, I’m not some blue-collar worker. I am in… You know, I’m educated. And I am just flabbergasted about my country and the people that supposedly are leading it.
RUSH: Well, I gotta tell, you know, you have a point. I have never seen this kind of energy from Mitt Romney. The energy Mitt Romney is expending to stop Trump, I have not seen this kind of energy in beating Obama. The Republicans are having these… Like the New York Times has this big story yesterday, folks, about this massive effort that’s underway. “Republican Leaders Map Strategy to Derail Trump.” It’s going to be a massive, 100-day event.
It kicks off on April 5th with the Wisconsin primary, and they are energized and they are in gear and they are revved up and they’re going to do whatever it takes to stop Trump. And I will bet you whatever they do, we won’t get 10% of this effort to stop Hillary Clinton. And there is the public. That is what this is all about. Republican voters just like Jennifer here do not see this kind of energy or desire when it comes to beating Democrats. And the vast majority of Republican voters I know think that the real problem in America is the Democrat Party.
And there’s no effort to stop ’em, no push-back. It’s… I’m beating a dead horse making these points, but I understand, Jennifer, where you’re coming from. There’s this story here, folks. This from Mediaite. The headline: “Gingrich, Cotton Among Those Rumored to Be Meeting with Trump Today in Washington — In a series of closed door meetings today in Washington,” that would be War’shington if you’re Newt, “the Republican frontrunner is expected to meet with upwards of two dozen GOP leaders.
“Although none of the politicians have publicly confirmed that they are scheduled to sit with Donald Trump, NBC News has reported on at least a few of the possible attendees. This list includes Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who is reportedly the organizer of the meetings as well as a fervent Trump supporter. … Former Republican candidate Newt Gingrich is also rumored to be in attendance, joined by Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, and New York Representatives Tom Reed and Chris Collins.”
Okay, so it looks like, what is this, 24, two dozen GOP leaders gonna meet with Trump. What’s gonna happen to these 24? What do you think the party establishment’s gonna do? You think they might leak stories trying to impugn the integrity of these 24? They’re not speaking for the party. These 24 guys meeting with Trump, they are not part of the cabal that’s trying to deny Trump. I mean, Newt’s out there; he’s actually a supporter of Trump. You didn’t know that? Newt Gingrich… (interruption) Oh, yeah. Newt’s supporting Trump. Newt Gingrich is supporting Trump on the theory that if you don’t you may as well be supporting Hillary Clinton.
See, that’s what I keep trying to tell everybody I run into, and it’s amazing, folks, how so few people realize this. Look, I can understand it in part. We’re in the middle of a Republican campaign, so the Republican contest is the focal point. I understand that. But what this is all about is beating Hillary Clinton. All of this is all about beating the Democrats in November. But when the focal point happens to be on stopping this Republican or that Republican — and I have to tell you, I can’t emphasize this enough.
This group, this cabal, they don’t want any part of Ted Cruz either. Logic would say that if you want to stop Trump, you’ve got to rally behind Cruz. He’s your second largest vote-getter. He is a Republican. Whatever else you want to say about him, he is a Republican, and there’s no doubt about it. But they don’t want any part of him, either. So the two Republican front-runners (which together combined to collect, what, 75% of the primary votes) are not wanted. The Republican establishment, the RNC, whoever these people are, don’t want to unify behind either of these two.
Because neither of these two are ranking members of the quote/unquote “establishment,” and the establishment holding onto what it has is more important than winning elections. This is… It’s mind-boggling, because the end of all of this is beating Democrats. Not just in the presidential election, but everywhere else you can as well. And at some point, that objective is going to once again be the one. Now, I know. Look, folks, I know. “But, Rush! But, Rush! You’re leaving out a very important fact, and that is a lot of people think Trump can’t beat Hillary.”
Well, you think whatever third-party compromise you come up with is gonna beat Hillary? You think somebody that’s not been in these contests is gonna beat Hillary? You think Mitt is gonna beat Hillary? You think Jeb’s gonna beat Hillary? Pick a name. The establishment has telegraphed they don’t want Trump; they don’t want Cruz. That means they have to be doing what they’re doing to find another name to be the nominee. This is not just about stopping Trump, folks. This is about stopping Cruz as well.
You Cruz supporters don’t automatically assume if they stop Trump it’s your guy. If they want a contested convention, it means they don’t want Cruz, either. Okay, so who do they want? Well, don’t laugh when I tell you Kasich. There are some that would love to have Kasich in there; they’ve been quoted as saying so. There are some that think it would be the way to get Jeb the nomination. Others think Paul Ryan. I know that Congressman Ryan, Speaker Ryan said, “I don’t want this.” Do not pay attention to that. If it comes down to a draft whoever is drafted for the good of the party or whatever will accept it and carry the spear forward for the good of whatever.
The only reason to do a contested convention is to nominate somebody that has either been defeated in the primaries up to now or somebody who has not been involved in ’em. Michael Goodwin writes for the New York Post. He used to write for the New York Daily News. He says he’s a registered Democrat, but not like the Democrats of today. He also is — well, I’m gonna call him a conservative just based on the — I don’t know him. I’ve never met him. I read his work, and his work definitely comes across as conservative.
He had a piece in the New York Post yesterday saying, you know what? It’s time for Trump. It’s time for a revolution. He goes through all the reasons why existing current approved Republican Party candidates are simply not the answer this year. Oh, look at Snerdley. He knows who Goodwin is, and you can’t believe what I just said, can you? And he says he’s got friends telling him, “What, are you sick? What, have you lost your mind? Do we need to admit you to an institution? Are you serious?” And he’s dead serious about it. And one of the reasons why is he thinks Trump can beat Hillary.
He thinks the Trump army can be bigger than anybody knows. He’s one of the people — and there are some — who think that Trump can totally redraw the electoral map. By that he means take Democrats that are traditionally Democrat in the Electoral College, presidential race, and convert them to the Republican column, like New York, like Michigan. But the takeaway here is exactly what young Jennifer said there. Where is all this energy to stop Trump when it comes to beating Democrats? We have never seen anything like this from them when it’s Democrats who are the opponents, have we?
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: You know, I’m really disappointed. The next caller just dropped off, and I was so looking forward to it. I just noticed it about a minute ago, and I looked up again, and the caller had dropped off. But it’s a Cruz supporter, right? He doesn’t like me categorizing every opponent of Trump as a member of the establishment. Who’s getting that idea? You know, I ran into this last week when I was making the point that one of the threats posed by Trump is that a lot of political professionals, if he wins, and even now, are being shown to be unnecessary. Republican consultants, campaign strategists, fundraisers. I mean, Trump’s going against every theory that there is about how to win an election.
There’s a book, folks, there’s a procedure. When you get into a club like this, there’s a way things are done. There are the fund-raisers, the donors, and they provide the money for everything. The donors provide the money to go hire the consultants, the money to buy advertising, the money to charter the plane to take the candidate and the press around. Then there are the strategists who help the candidate come up with what he thinks about things. And then there’s the campaign manager who organizes where you’re gonna go, when, and organizes the events. There are all these people, and it’s a job. It’s a career. And you try to get hired every campaign, and you go to a candidate, and you pitch yourself as the best guy to win the independents, know how to buy media the cheapest.
They pitch their wares. They get hired. Trump isn’t doing any of that. And he’s winning. And, in the process, he is sort of blowing up this book. He’s blowing up this “you can only do this this way.” In every group, you know if you’ve worked at a big company or anywhere else and you try to do something different than the way they normally do it, you hear, “Well, you can’t do it that way. We’ve always done it this way.” Well, that’s what this is. We’ve always done it, we always do it this way. Every campaign has got the same jobs, just different people filling them, has the same fundraiser technique, the same outreach to fundraisers, same dependence on donors or what have you.
So I’m making the point that Trump winning here — and if he goes all the way and wins, he’s gonna blow this book up, he’s gonna blow up this formula. And these are all experts. You can’t win without them. You can’t win without the consultants. You can’t win without the fundraisers. You can’t win without the bundlers. You can’t win without the strategists. You can’t win without the analysts. You can’t win without the media. Trump’s doing all that and those people are gonna be threatened, I said.
Well, it turned out every blogger on earth thought I was talking about him. And they’re writing things, “Is there no principled opposition to Trump?” I’m talking about 10 people. How many consultants are there at the presidential level? They all get recycled. Mike Murphy was the guy that ran Bush. By the way, there’s a story about him. He blew through $115 million for four delegates. They asked him if he felt bad. He said no. No. I don’t feel bad about any of it. We did what we thought would work and it didn’t, but there will be the next campaign. So $115 million. What about the people that donated the money? What’d they get for it?
Bob Shrum on the Democrat side ran the Kerry campaign. He’s run other Democrat campaigns. Never won a dime. He gets hired every year. This is my point. It’s how the establishment works. Well, Trump coming along shows that these guys aren’t necessary. These guys are all telling candidates, “You can’t do this without me. You can’t do this without us.” It’s no different than program directors telling me, “You cannot succeed unless you have guests. And I’m the guy to book your guests. I can get the best guests in the world. You can’t succeed without guests.”
Oh, really? It’s no different. But for some reason everybody opposed to Trump thought I was talking about them being blown up, and I was talking about really a finite few number of people in professional jobs within the official party structure. So many people thought I was talking about them, which surprised me. I thought I had been specific enough.
Anyway, that’s why I wanted to take this guy’s call. He thinks that if you don’t support Trump, that you are establishment. And I’m not talking about voters. I’m not talking about citizens here per se. I’m talking about the establishment. You know, put a moat around Washington. I thought I had been perfectly clear about this. But that’s why I wanted to take the call, straighten this guy out. I’m assuming that’s what he wanted to say. Now I’m out of time here.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: So we had this caller who’s not a Trump supporter. Did he say he was a Cruz supporter, or is just mad at Trump, doesn’t want Trump, and is tired of me calling anybody opposed to Trump establishment. I really wish that person hadn’t hung up. That person probably realized he was wrong and thought I was gonna yell at ’em. But I don’t yell at anybody. I don’t yell. I ought to. If there’s anybody that ought to yell at people, it’s me.
You know, people say, “Rush, have you made the point –” look, I’ve made every point that’s ever been made. There hasn’t been a point made that I haven’t made, and generally first.
Anyway, greetings, great to have you back. Rush Limbaugh, 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program.
When it comes to you voters, I’m not accusing anybody opposed to Trump as being pro-establishment or member of the establishment. All I’m trying to do here is to inform. Look, folks, this really isn’t complicated. I realize there’s a lot of people new listening to the program. Election years always bring in — and there’s new people every day anyway as people grow and find themselves interested, this is the place to come if you want to find out really what’s shaking.
The purpose here, I don’t want to get too lofty. It’s a radio program, number one, so those requirements — and they’re secret — have to be met. It’s a radio program. This is not a political campaign. This is not a political party. It’s a radio show. I’m a host who has opinions about things, and I inform. And there’s a part of me that equates informing with teaching. I’m not accusing anybody here, other than the people that I’m specifically talking about.
Now, you may be a voter, a citizen, an average, ordinary American, and you don’t support Trump, and you tune in here and you hear me berating the people trying to stop Trump and you think I’m talking about you. Are you in charge of the Republican convention? Are you in the RNC? Are you part of the cabal the New York Times is talking about today that’s trying to start this massive 100 day plan starting on April 5th, Wisconsin primary, to stop Trump, to deny Trump the nomination, are you in that group? Well, then I’m not talking about you.
Do you have your card-carrying “I am a member of the Republican establishment” card in your wallet? If you don’t, I’m not talking about you. I’m trying to tell you who they are. Now, if you happen to end up agreeing with them, fine, but I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m trying to explain the people that support Trump are being mocked and impugned and laughed at, and I’m trying to tell you who they are. The only people I really accuse here are Democrats, en masse, liberals en masse, and RINOs en masse. I’m trying to teach, inform, motivate, inspire, whatever, that the real problem our nation faces is continued dominance of the Democrat Party. That’s got to stop.
If Daffy Duck told me that he would oppose Democrats and he is the only guy on the Republican side running, I would vote for him. There is no scenario in which I vote for Hillary Clinton, not one. There is not a single scenario where I vote for Bernie Sanders. But yet there’s Nicole Wallace who was part of the George W. Bush White House communications office. And she’s all over TV, and she’s out there saying today that it might be wise for certain Republicans, if they’re not happy with what happens in the primary, go ahead and vote for Hillary.
I’m sorry. No way, ever, no how. Just like I wouldn’t vote for Obama. I wouldn’t vote for Che Guevara. I wouldn’t vote for Castro. Obama, have you seen the picture of Obama posing with a bunch of Cubans in front of a gray, drab building with a caricature of Che Guevara on it? You think that’s an accident? You think that just happened? Oh, look at what happened to Obama, wait ’til he sees that, do you know how mad he’s gonna be?
Wait ’til Obama sees it? That was planned! Che Guevara is a hero to people on the left. He was a mass murdering communist thug. But because he looked like a real cool guy, Che Guevara looked back in the fifties and sixties like cool guys today look, that’s why Che Guevara is a hero. There are Che Guevara T-shirts and the dolts running around wearing them have no idea. And they’re probably part of that bunch that thinks communism is about individual liberty and freedom and making everybody upwardly mobile and equal. I still can’t believe that, that we had from Chris Cuomo earlier today.
But there’s no way I vote for Hillary Clinton. I don’t care. There is no way. And we have all these principled Republicans running around wringing their hands, and there are some elected Republicans saying it. “I may vote for Hillary if that’s the only way to save the honor and integrity of my party, to save the heart and soul of my party. I simply can’t vote for Donald. I must vote, I might have to vote for Hillary.” Or a third-party that guarantees Hillary.
Sorry, folks, I don’t look at all this as a suicide pact. You know, my character, my honor does not require me to help commit suicide for my country. So, you know, back off and stop taking everything personally. I thought I’d been very clear who I’m talking about here. When I talk about the establishment, when I talk about people, I know that there are average American voters out there impugning and deriding Trump. I know that you’re out there. But I’m not including you in all of this when I talk about the existing power structure that is putting together strategies and plans to stop the guy. They’re free to do it, by the way.
Remember, I’m just telling you what they’re doing. If I think they’re making a mistake, I’ll tell you that, too, which I often do. But what is it, am I such an authoritative figure that people who disagree with me think that I am impugning and castigating and criticizing them? (interruption) Well, that’s true. There is a lot of hypersensitivity out there, and there is a little edginess out there about this. And there’s a lot of frustration. There are a lot of people who are waking up to the reality they don’t have the power to influence any of this, and that’s really got them bugged, and they’re all over the place.