RUSH: Now, this just happened not long ago. It was this afternoon in Marion, Indiana, during a campaign event, Ted Cruz is confronted by Trumpists. We have two sound bites here. This little exchange, these two bites, could serve as a microcosm for this entire primary. Let’s see what we get here. Again it’s Marion, Indiana, Cruz and an unidentified Trump supporter have the following exchange. Here’s the first of two bites…

CRUZ: (outdoor noise) What do you like about Donald?

TRUMPIST: Everything.

CRUZ: You… Give me one?

TRUMPIST: The wall.

CRUZ: Okay, the wall.

TRUMPIST: That’s the main thing. Immigration.

CRUZER: Ted’s —

CRUZ: All right, hold on a second.

WOMAN: Hillary Clinton!

CRUZ: You know on the wall that Donald told the New York Times editorial board he’s —

WOMAN: That’s right!

CRUZ: — not going to build a wall and he’s not going to deport anyone?

TRUMPIST: You’re lyin’.

CRUZ: Well —

TRUMPIST: Lyin’ Ted!

RUSH: So here’s Cruz. He’s got the facts on his side in this. Cruz says that was part of Trump’s New York Times interview that hasn’t been released. But don’t forget, a bunch of New York Times people have written about it. They know what Trump said in the editorial board meeting, and nobody will authorize the release of the tape or the meeting. There have been two Times columnists maybe three — I think one was MoDo, I’m not sure — who have written about it. If you know how to connect the dots…

They’ve heard the tape, they know what Trump has said, and there are references to the fact that Trump told them at the New York Times that he’s not gonna deport anybody. He’s not gonna build a wall, and that the columns written about this have been of the nature of what if people learned this. And you could tell, the reporters at the Times who had been privy to the tape who had heard it, were trying… Remember when this all happened, they were accused of leaking, Trump accused them of leaking, Cruz demanded that that Trump release it.

Trump wouldn’t do it. The New York Times won’t. And because Trump won’t, the Times can’t. So people at the Times have been trying to get it out there in disguised ways. You remember all this. Okay, so that’s the first bite. And then it continues here with Trump and the same unidentified Trumpist. Cruz begins this bite saying, “Well, no, sir. You know, actually…” and then the guy interrupts him.

CRUZ: (outdoor noise) Well, no sir. You know actually —

TRUMPIST: He’ll take down ISIS. He’ll take down the whole damn match up!

CRUZ: Civilized people don’t just scream and yell at each other, and I’m not yelling at you.

TRUMPIST: (crosstalk) Let me tell ya —

CROWD: (noise)

CRUZ: Do you know that Donald’s words were caught on tape?

TRUMPIST: (crosstalk) Let me tell ya —

CROWD: (noise)

TRUMPIST: Career politicians is destroyin’ our country!

CRUZ: The New York Times recorded the whole thing. It’s publicly recorded.

TRUMPIST: How ’bout your mistresses.

CRUZ: Uh, that’s a total lie. Made up by (crosstalk)

TRUMPIST: Ohhhh, lyin’ (unintelligible) Lyin’ Ted!

RUSH: I think that kind of sums up this whole campaign. It’s exactly how it’s being perceived out there. On the one hand, you have Ted Cruz, who is straight and narrow — a straight-down-the-middle, brilliant the guy. He is lined up with the facts, he’s got the evidence, and he’s up against the Trumpists, who believe he’s a liar because of (Trump impression) “Lyin’ Ted! He holds up the Bible, he waves the Bible around, and then he lies! Lyin’ Ted. Lyin’ Ted! I talked to Tara, and he’s lying!” And his supporters all think that’s true.

So here’s Cruz. “No, sir, Donald’s words were caught on tape. Do you know the New York Times recorded the whole thing? It’s publicly recorded,” and the Trumpist says, “How about your mistresses, Lyin’ Ted? How about your mistresses?” Cruz says, “That’s a total lie.” “Okay, Lyin’ Ted.” Does that not epitomize…? Doesn’t that kind of…? What’s the word I’m looking for? Not character. It summarizes… Anyway, in a nutshell, these two bites show us the difference in the two campaigns. And the Trumpists, they’re not interested in what anybody has to say about Trump. They don’t care.

They showed up… This is the mistake, by the way. If I could offer counsel here, I made it myself. When you’re being interviewed by the media, they don’t care what you think. They’re not there to learn, they’re not there to be taught, they’re not there to learn what you think. They’re there to discredit you. And the Trump people, they’re not there to hear anything that they may not know about Trump. That’s not why they’re there. And so Ted’s trying to persuade ’em. He’s treating them as voters. He’s respectful to them. He’s trying to give them facts as he knows them, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s the biggest problem conservatives have in dealing with opponents is the facts are never what any of this is about.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: One more similar sound bite here. Ted Cruz. You might have heard about this. This was in La Porte, Indiana, yesterday at another campaign event. Cruz was interrupted by a brat kid who started yelling at Cruz. A 10-year-old or some such thing started yelling at Ted Cruz and even said, “You suck!” to Cruz. This is how that sounded…

CRUZ: Apparently there’s a young man who’s having some problems.

BRAT: Yeah! You suck!

CRUZ: Thank you, Son. You know, I appreciate your sharing your views. You know, one of the things that hopefully someone has told you is that children should actually speak with respect.

CROWD: (cheers and applause)

CRUZ: Imagine what a different world it would be if someone had told Donald Trump that years ago.

CROWD: (cheers and applause)

CRUZ: You know, in my household, when a child behaves that way, they get a spanking.

RUSH: Okay. This sound bite, once again, offers a classic opportunity to illustrate massive generational changes that have taken place in this country. Let’s go back to the top. Cruz starts out when he hears the kid out there, and he says, “Apparently there’s a young man who’s having some problems.” Then you hear the kid said, “Yeah! You suck!” And Cruz, I mean, he’s got a crowd of adults around here. What does he do with this? So his instincts kick in, and he says, “Thank you, Son. You know, I appreciate your sharing your views.”

That’s what you have to do in politics. You have to praise and compliment the reprobates. And then he said, “You know, one of the things that hopefully someone’s told you is that children should actually speak with respect.” Now, this crowd cheered, but I guarantee you in much of America when they heard Cruz say that, they started laughing at him and they started ridiculing him.” What world do you live in, Ted, where children respect adults? What, are children to be seen and not heard, Ted? Is that what you think? Get ’em out of the way? We don’t want any kids out of the way!

“When kids speak, is that only with the permission of the adults, Ted? Is that what you…?” That’s the kind of thing that circulated on social media. Because kids are precious today and whatever they say is right. We can’t damage them. “Their poor self-esteem!” So if a kids lashes out this way, we must praise Little Johnny for having the courage to speak his mind and so forth. There’s no such thing anymore as a kid being impolite or rude. Well, in certain sectors, segments of the country. There’s accommodation. There’s understanding. There’s even, in some cases, praise. “Hey, isn’t it cute what Little Johnny said to Ted Cruz?

“He told him, ‘You suck!’ That’s great, Little Johnny,” and give him an extra ice cream cone on the way home. It is considered fashionably old-fashioned to sit here and think that children must respect their elders. “That’s such an antiquated period! What do you mean, children should respect their elders? How many parents, how many adults do you respect? Why should their kids respect anyone? They’re reprobates; they’re losers! Why should the kids respect them?” We are in a massive, massive generational evolution and shift here. And this bite illustrates it.

Here’s Ted Cruz responding as an adult would in the 1960s. Now, as I say, his crowd, because they’re Ted Cruz supporters, they cheered. They understood exactly what he’s talking about. But Cruz is being vilified for this. “He’s not your son, Ted Cruz! We don’t get to tell him how to behave. We don’t get to do that. That’s what’s wrong with you conservatives! You want to tell everybody how to behave.” It’s all out there. It’s all over the social media. And the piece de resistance is when Cruz said that in his day, his dad gave a spanking for misbehaving like that.

Now they’re out there ripping Cruz for supporting corporal punishment of children because Cruz would spank the kid. Here’s the way I compare this. The way I analyze it and look at these things, is my dad took my brother and I, in 1964, over the river to Illinois ’cause Barry Goldwater was going through on one of these old whistle stops on the train. And he was gonna stop wherever. It was some little train station about a half hour from where we lived and Goldwater was just gonna stop for like five or 10 minutes from the back of the train, waving.

You know, “Go Goldwater, go!” It was gonna be historic just to be able to see it, a presidential campaign, as a 13-year-old. I’ll guarantee you that if at that thing some little kid had said to Goldwater, “Yeah, you suck!” everybody would have turned on the kid. The parents would have been embarrassed and would have tried to find somebody to apologize to. They would have taken the kid out. Today when it happens, there is some of that still, but there’s all kinds of other stuff, too, like praising the kid, excusing the kid.

Social media finds people to say, “Hey, we can’t damage the kid! He’s too young to be told no. He’s too young.” It’s like outcome-based education: 2 + 2 = 5 until they figure out it isn’t. But you don’t dare tell ’em because it might give ’em a complex. It might make ’em feel stupid ’cause they don’t already know. It makes teaching impossible. If some little 10-year-old kid stood up and said to Trump, “Yeah, you stuck!” what do you think Trump’s reaction? You can only guess.

But what do you think Trump’s reaction would be? Trump would probably launch into a diatribe about what a bunch of worthless parents that kid obviously has — I’m just guessing — or some such thing. But Cruz resorted to how it was, the reasonable way to raise kids to be polite, be respectful of results, behave themselves and have manners and all that. And clearly that is considered old-fashioned. It’s just out of fashion. We don’t do it that way anymore. And those kinds of people are out mocking Cruz on social media today.