RUSH: Look, folks, every year at this time I make a point about something about the Christmas season, the holiday season that I am overwhelmed with my attitude of gratitude, my feeling of thanks and appreciation for everything and everybody.
My attitude at Thanksgiving is one of for the nation, the historical connections Thanksgiving as it was proclaimed by George Washington, as a day of giving thanks to God for the nation. But every year, we’re wrapping up our… is it the 28th year we’ve just started or our 29th? Or we’ve wrapped up our 29th and we’ve started our 30th, whatever, it’s a long time.
And I want to say one thing. All during this campaign, from the day Donald Trump came down the escalator, which was June the 16th, from that day forward, I’ve always had it in my mind that he could win. And, as the ensuing days shortly thereafter continued and Trump — everybody thought that the media was right, that nobody could support Trump with the things that he was saying about McCain and Mexicans and so forth. They started speculating that he didn’t really want to win, he’s doing this to hype up his Apprentice TV show and so forth.
That didn’t happen and with every succeeding week Trump’s support grew. And I recognized it. Not that first day. I was part of the crowd the first day that was laughing myself silly, this is great. It wasn’t long after that I began to recognize some things. I’ve seen this before, I said to myself. I’ve seen every bit of this before. And I have, with you.
I was able to confidently think — and I mentioned this at least three times, that I thought Trump could win. And one time that I mentioned this it was back in March of this year, I actually predicted that — I didn’t predict, I said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins in a landslide,” and the reason for this is because of my experience with you.
I had seen it all before. I had seen the kind of connection that Trump’s supporters have with him because you have it with me and I have it with you. I mean, 29 years and the audience of this program has never, never gotten smaller. For a couple of years it remained constant. We approached record highs again in this year. There have been people listening to this program since 1988 when it started.
Some people didn’t get it ’til 1992, but, regardless, the degree of loyalty and support for the program that you all have shown is just — it helped me immensely understand why Trump was succeeding. And I was extremely confident, I knew — I knew — people were not gonna abandon him. As I say, I’ve experienced it and I had seen it. And the gratitude that I feel for all of you, you can’t begin to understand it.
I mean, I start in 1988 and I throw myself out there, and I say, “Here’s who I am, and this is what I think, and this is what I believe, and this is how I am going to explain it and share it and transmit it.” And it has been accepted and supported beyond my wildest dreams. You have demonstrably shown your appreciation and your loyalty to the program.
The degree of sophistication you have in terms of knowing what it takes for this program to succeed, such as your eagerness to patronize our sponsors. I mean, you have been the sole reason why I’ve been able to overcome some of the mistakes that I’ve made and some of the many attempts that have been made to destroy this program, even though they were fallacious. But you’ve hung in there through all of it, and it’s you who have actually made this program live the life that it’s had for the length of time that it has. I just cannot thank you enough.
My degree of appreciation for your being there and your willing to admit that you’re there and to show evidence of it each and every day is an acceptance that many people will never know. And it’s a risk throwing yourself out there every day. You never know, people could reject you and tell you to go pound sand, but you all don’t. You’re there each and every day and come back for more.
It’s the most enjoyable aspect of my life, and it has been for I don’t know how long. And I have never had any desire to stop doing it. Because I know how much you have trusted it, and I know what your expectations are every day, and meeting them and making the time you spend here worth it to you is my fundamental purpose and everything it entails making that happen.
Again, this time of year I get all mushy and I wish I knew how to thank you more than I do. People tell me how much this program’s meant to ’em but, man, it pales in comparison to how much you have meant and do mean to me and all of us here, the overrated staff and my family. So thank you again. You get older, one aspect is people get sick and they start passing away. And at Christmastime you have great nostalgic memories of things. I hope yours are great. I hope it’s a wonderful weekend for you. I’ll see you back next year. Thank you again.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Thank you again, folks. Thank you ever, ever so much, from the bottom of my heart. And I look forward, I really do, to being back here very soon.
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