RUSH: Sean in Houston is next, and it’s great to have you with us. I appreciate your patience. What’s up? What’s happening?

CALLER: What’s up, Rush? How you doing today? I’m a longtime listener, first-time caller.

RUSH: Thank you, sir. Great to have you here.

CALLER: I’m just calling because I really do think that Kasich is wasting all of our time. He needs to get out of this race immediately. I think he is spoiling it for Cruz, and in my opinion he’s either got really big juevos or he’s dumb.

RUSH: (laughing) Really big juevos. First I’ve heard of that. Why do you think that he is hanging in?

CALLER: Well, I think that he’s hanging in because, like I said, he really has no idea what the American people want, and what they don’t want, and they do not him, that is for sure. And obviously, you know, maybe ten years ago we would have wanted someone like him, but he is wasting everybody’s time. This process, this election is so important right now. For him to be in it and doing what he is doing, he knows dang well that he is spoiling this poor —

RUSH: Wait a minute. I guaran-damn-tee you that in his mind this is all about him, see. This is important to him. He said the other day the Republican Party owes him for everything he’s done for the party. The Republican Party owes him for staying in this thing and denying Trump the outright victory in terms of delegates. I mean, he’s routinely talking about how remarkable what he has done. He comes as the son of a mailman, from McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, to where he is now running for president of the United States. It’s about him. It’s a remarkable story. And he needs to stay in to see where this remarkable story ends up.

CALLER: How sad, honestly. Yeah, sure, he did some great things for Ohio, no doubt about it, we’re very grateful for that, but obviously we want an outsider, Trump or Cruz. Trump is not somebody who we want. Obviously anyone who is a real conservative like myself knows that he is not a conservative. Let’s get real here. Cruz is a real conservative. He is somebody who I’ve actually supported for a long time before he was a senator, before he started running for Senator, this man knows what he’s talking about. When I heard him get up in front of the public and speak, he actually really meant what he was saying. I really knew this man was gonna go into Washington and stir up trouble.

RUSH: See, this is the… That’s why I was just… It’s a good point. What I was just trying to explain, is the fact that he is that clear. Understand, that’s what’s threatening about him, and many other aspects, too. Look, Sean, I appreciate the call. I do. One thing I want to mention here, I talked about this at the top program, and because of the way things have fallen out today haven’t gotten to this. But I want to mention these ’cause it’s only Wednesday, so I have a couple days and the rest of this week to get to them. There are two or three stories I have here from the pessimists in the media who think, “This is over.”

This election is over. It’s over for the Republicans, and it doesn’t matter what happens. Either way. Trump wins, gets the nomination, loses the White House. It’s over. Trump wins the nomination, wins the White House, it’s over in the Republican Party. Jonah Goldberg has a piece today: “Nominating Donald Trump will wreck the Republican [P]arty as we know it. Not nominating Trump will wreck the Republican [P]arty as we know it.”

Now, without getting into details and sharing with you excerpts, this is exactly what I was trying to explain in the opening hour of the program today when I was doing my best to explain to you establishment opposition to Trump, that it is personal. The people I’m talking about, imagine they’re Supermen, and this is all kryptonite to them. Everything happening threatens them with a diet of nothing but kryptonite. Their power, their prestige, their positions, their futures, their present — their reputations as opinion makers, their reputations as relevant people who matter in terms of Washington and policy, whatever — all of that is threatened.

Those people’s positions exist because there is a Republican Party that is controlled and run by people like them and them. And when you see a column saying nominating Donald Trump will end the Republican Party as we know it, and so will not nominating him ruin the Republican Party or end it as we know it, the translation of that… If you take that personally, if you apply this personally to people whose very existence, stature, security, financial and otherwise, depends not only on the party existing, but them being in positions of power, defining and controlling it, you understand how separate things are for them.

My only point is that it’s personal. When you see people say, “I’m gonna vote for Hillary Clinton before I the vote for Cruz! I’m gonna the vote for Hillary Clinton before I vote for Ted Cruz…” When you hear Republicans saying that, you realize it’s not about the country, it’s not about what’s best for the country. It’s about what’s best for them. It’s about holding onto whatever it is they think they’ve got.