RUSH: Mary Jo, Jenison, Michigan. You’re next. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Good afternoon, Rush. Thank you for taking my phone call.

RUSH: You bet.

CALLER: I’m calling, Rush, because I’ve been listening to you, and you’ve done a very thorough job discussing the establishment who oppose Trump, and you have acknowledged those of us who oppose Trump and also vehemently oppose the establishment. But I feel as if — I believe that you have not maybe done as thorough a job explaining why we oppose Trump while we still oppose the establishment. And I think I can bring it down to a couple of words —

RUSH: Have at it.

CALLER: I would say, for me, and a number of other people I have spoken to, it comes down to character and integrity, Rush.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: And I believe that the reason we are in the position we are in right now with the country is because we have had a president for eight years and his administration that completely lacked character and integrity. And I find that to be true of Donald Trump. And I don’t want to just throw that out there without giving you some examples. I can start with one, and that, Rush, is the way that Donald Trump deals with issues about Ted Cruz.

Ted Cruz is a conservative of substance who doesn’t even need any explanation. No one needs to explain that he’s a conservative and that he would actually be a superb president. But, whenever Donald Trump is asked about Cruz or he feels any threat about Cruz, he immediately says “lying Cruz, lying Cruz.” He refers to him as a liar. He refers to him as a Canadian citizen. And, Rush, I learned from you that when liberals don’t like the substance that’s being brought to them, they attack. They attack with names. They attack with threats. They attack with phony accusations, and I see that consistently with Trump. And I don’t think that would change when he became president, and I do believe character matters when it comes to being a president.

RUSH: You can cite many things. You could cite —

CALLER: I can. I can even cite another thing, Rush, that I haven’t heard —

RUSH: Well, have at it. I mean, I’ve thrown the floor open to you. Have at it.

CALLER: Okay. When Ted Cruz’s — when Rick Tyler, who works for Ted Cruz, I can’t remember exactly what it was, there was some questionable things that wasn’t — I don’t even know if it was actually proven that he did something intentionally, that he lied intentionally, but immediately Donald Trump started calling for Ted Cruz to fire him. And actually Ted Cruz did let him go within a 24-hour period. But the campaign manager for Donald Trump grabbed what you call the Trump Bart reporter, grabbed her by the arm, clearly bruised her arm.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: And then what did Trump do? He let his campaign manager attack her, attack her integrity. He attacked her integrity. He did not stand up for the person who brought forth an actual claim with proof. He stood with his campaign manager. But he told Ted Cruz that if he had any integrity, he should fire his. That is not in character —

RUSH: I remember the incident. Somebody posted something about somebody that wasn’t true, I forget what it was, and Tyler repeated it.

CALLER: He repeated it. He probably should have checked, but he didn’t make up a lie on his own and propagate it.

RUSH: I understand. Ted didn’t fire him because Trump demanded it. Ted fired —

CALLER: No. Because he’s a man of —

RUSH: That’s right.

CALLER: — character and integrity. He decided he did not want that sort of thing going on in his campaign.

RUSH: That’s right. What about Trump and his… what would you call it, focus on Megan Kelly?

CALLER: Well, I think to me that shows a lot of immaturity. I think that shows a man that can’t handle someone who brings hard questions to him. Both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio had to deal with that same sort of line of questioning in the Iowa debate that Donald Trump refused to participate in. They had very difficult videos brought before them that they had to explain, and they did it. They stood up. They were men.

RUSH: What would you say about the dirty trick that Ted Cruz pulled on poor Ben Carson?

CALLER: I would say that that was not a dirty trick that he pulled on poor Ben Carson. He had nothing to do with it. It’s been proven. And, Rush, you have said numerous times that was not a dirty trick.

RUSH: I know. I just wanted to find out what you thought about it.

CALLER: And that’s another thing. Donald Trump propagated that lie. Nobody really talks about the fact that in Utah Donald Trump started telling people when the caucus was going on — I’m sorry. Not in Utah. I believe this was in Nevada — that Ted Cruz had left the state, he had given up and he had left the state, and Ted Cruz was at a caucus event at that very time.

RUSH: Right. Well, I mean, Trump’s out there saying that Mitt Romney is not a Mormon, then he pulled it back.

CALLER: I’d like to know, Rush, why do you feel that you need to spend so much time talking about, kind of explaining Trump to people, when we have this incredible man running for president who needs no explanation whatsoever?

RUSH: Now, that’s not what you’re asking me. You think that I am supporting Trump and you don’t know why, and I should be openly supporting Cruz, and that’s not —

CALLER: I don’t believe that not necessarily, Rush. I know you say you don’t, so I believe you.

RUSH: All right.

CALLER: I just don’t —

RUSH: Integrity.

CALLER: — think there’s a need to spend this much time explaining a man who needs so much explanation. If you are a conservative, if you are a person of policy —

RUSH: I’m not explaining him. I am explaining, to the best of my ability, the people who support him and why. I am trying to help people who are beating their head against the wall trying to understand why Trump has support. I’m trying to explain it to them so that it might be helpful to them in making a play for them.

CALLER: I wonder if it would be helpful to them if you explained to people like me.

RUSH: Why you don’t like Trump?

CALLER: Yes. And it’s not just… It’s not… I feel that a lot of people who are voting for Trump are angry. They are angry, and they are making decisions in anger. And, you know, nobody makes their best decisions —

RUSH: When they’re mad.

CALLER: — in a moment of anger.

RUSH: “Never go to bed mad.” I agree with you.

CALLER: Stop and think.

RUSH: Well, the reason I don’t explain to people why Trump is disliked is because it’s manifest. You know, it’s obvious. It’s everything that you said. It doesn’t need to be explained. And because those things are obvious, people don’t understand why he has support. Everything you just mentioned (and others that you could have mentioned) that you equate with lack of character, lack of dignity, a careless attitude and a disrespectful attitude toward people. That has to be explained to people, because it’s easy to understand why people wouldn’t like a guy like that.

But it’s not so easy to understand why people do. And the reason… I’m peppered with it all the time. I got more people who want to know — because they don’t understand it — from all walks of life. So I’m just… All I’m trying to do is be informative, explanatory, and helpful. Not engage in any advocacy here. I find it fascinating, too. Why do these things that you listed…? And you could spend the rest of this show listing them and not repeat yourself, what you would consider character defects. I know people who support Trump who never in my wildest dreams would they have accepted a candidate like that before.

But in this case they do, and it fascinates me why. So I’ve endeavored to explain it and to understand it. I would think, by the same token, Mary Jo, many Cruz supporters, like you, who believe completely in Ted in terms of every which way that’s good — character, integrity, honesty, conservatism, honor — all these things are unquestionably present. Unquestionably Ted Cruz possesses all of them. Why isn’t he the front-runner? Fascinating question. Why? When you have what a lot of people are calling the closest thing we’re ever gonna get to Ronald Reagan who won two landslides, why?

People have that question, too. And, you know, to endeavor to explain that would take some effort, and I’m sure that puzzles you, too. I’m sure that’s a big question a lot of people have. Whether Trump’s in the race or not. And that, even if you don’t like Trump, why is the Republican Party passing Cruz by and trying to come up with a contested convention that consists of nobody currently running, except maybe Kasich?

There’s a lot of things I’m sure that you’re scratching your head over trying to figure out that don’t make any sense. Me, too. So do my best to try to explain them as best I can here to people. I do have one other point. I’ve gotta take a break, though. But there’s one other Trump characteristic that I think above all else, besides the character stuff that you described and the coarseness, if you will, that many people assign to Trump, there’s another characteristic that he has that scares people, and I will share that with you when we get back.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Look, a lot of people, when the listen to Trump talk about anything, they’re rubbed the wrong way, for a host of reasons. It may be he said something that they think is immoral or indicative of character problem, morality, integrity, whatever. But there’s something else. What is Trump? He’s a CEO. As a CEO, Donald Trump’s day, like any, is solving problems. People present a problem, you made a decision to deal with it, and you move on. And that’s what you’re hearing. You’re hearing a blunt problem solver.

They don’t speak in cliches.

They don’t speak in sign language hoping not to offend people and yet hope that people understand them. They just tell it straight out: “You need to do this. This is what we are going to do. I’ve got this problem; I’ve gotta solve it.” A lot of people say, “Nobody’s supposed to be that sure of themselves. Nobody’s supposed to be. No! They’re supposed to be asking questions, maybe seeking other people’s opinions, seeking counsel. Nobody’s supposed to know everything. Nobody’s supposed to be able to that.” It puts a lot of people off, and I think that’s one of the characteristics, above and beyond the other things that our previous caller mentioned.