RUSH: Let me address something. I’ve had a couple of emails today, and I should mention this so that you don’t think I’m trying to sweep anything under the rug here. I’ve had emails today from people who say, “You sound awfully enthusiastic about this guy. You know, Trump’s not a conservative, Rush. You should be out there pushing Ted Cruz. With all this talk about getting rid of Trump, it’s an opportunity to get Ted Cruz back in as the nominee. You’re a conservative leader. You ought to be leading that movement.”
I said, “Wait a minute. I have not misled anybody at any point during this campaign. From the moment the primaries began, I have been blunt-force up front with everybody about the objective here, which is to beat Hillary Clinton. I don’t care with what. There isn’t anything worse.” We can’t… Folks, we can’t withstand — culturally, economically, politically — we can’t withstand another four years of what we’ve just had the last eight, and that’s what it would be, and it would be worse because it would be four more years on top of what are already 7-1/2 (by that time eight) years of genuine destructive politics from the highest office in the land.
Do I wish Trump were better at certain thing? Do I wish Trump were more instinctive? Of course. But I think no matter who the nominee was, we were going to have problems. Some people would have more problems than others, given who the nominee was. But I can go through the list of people that might have been the nominee and I can pretty much recite what objectives from various Republicans would be. But the greatest unifying aspect we have in this race is Hillary Clinton.
And, look, I know, folks. Within the conservative movement and within the Republican Party and any other group that’s, by definition, not liberal there are all kinds of people worried to death that various things are being abandoned here. Various concepts, precepts, principles are being abandoned. And I know that there are people who think that we’re gonna get slaughtered no matter what we do. And, worse, I know some people who want us to be slaughtered.
There’s all kinds of people on our side who think the best lesson that could happen is if Trump gets beaten in huge landslide so that we don’t make this mistake again. I’ve heard that philosophy argued one way or the other since the beginning days of this program. And there’s one thing I’ve learned: I don’t ever see the advantage in losing. I just haven’t been able to find it. I haven’t been able to find victory in losing.
And in this case, defeating Hillary and everything else that goes along with that is paramount to me. I’m by no means confident that it can happen, and I want to be, so I’m looking for hopeful signs that this can happen, and I do think they’re there. I think she’s a weak, weak candidate. I think she has vulnerabilities left and right. She is not loved. She’s not adored. Her negatives? You talk about Trump? Her negatives are almost as high as his are to the point they cancel each other out.
But my support for defeating Hillary Clinton is not meant and does not in any way signal that I am — what’s the term? — going soft on core beliefs or core principles. You know, my favorite phrase has become a cliche. But I still like it. “It is what it is.” You have to be… I’m the mayor of Realville. You have to deal with what you have to deal with. It doesn’t do anybody any good to wish things were different. Unless you have an opportunity to make them different. And I don’t think that makes much sense right now, but we shall see.