RUSH: Man, oh, man. Rex Tillerson arrives today in Russia on a tiny jet. I couldn’t believe this when I saw it. He shows up in a Boeing 737. Now, I realize he didn’t fly all the way from Washington. There was a G20 meeting somewhere. So it was a short hop to Moscow. But I can’t believe it, a U.S. secretary of state shows up in a puddle jumper jet. Probably to avoid the appearances of grandiosity. There’s nothing wrong with the Boeing 737, but they normally use Boeing 757 or 767s for cabinet officials and the veep.
Anyway, he’s over there in Russia and he says, Russia, you’re either with us or you’re with Syria, one of the two — and, if you’re with Syria, you’re in trouble. The Kremlin has just said Putin will not sit down for a meeting with Tillerson. Maybe he’ll stand ’cause he’s a short guy, probably no taller than Tillerson when Tillerson’s sitting. Don’t be fooled by those pictures of Putin wearing no shirt sitting atop the camel or the horse or whatever it is. Anyway, it’s tightening up. There’s news. There’s conflicting news about whether the Russians knew of the Syrian chemical attack before it happened.
The reason for this is that there was a drone flying around the hospital where the victims of the attack were taken for treatment, and the drone was supposedly a Russian drone being operated by Russian drone operators. That hospital was bombed. The hospital where victims of Assad’s chemical weapons attack were was bombed. The reason it was bombed was to get rid of the victims and any evidence that gas — sarin and so forth — has been used. Now, Pentagon people say, “Russia didn’t know. They didn’t.”
It’s a really big conflict here. We’re still not sure. The AP’s claiming that we did know that the … We think that the Russians did know before the attack and therefore didn’t do anything to stop it. And others say, “No, no, no, no. We didn’t know.” So we have to sift through that. I’ve had three people today — three people — one of whom was the Official Program Observer, the other two via text message. One of them said, “I hope Trump counts to a thousand before he launches on North Korea.”
Another text message says, “Oh, my God, Rush, could this really happen? Could they really…? Could we really be preparing to launch on North Korea?” And Mr. Snerdley came and said, “I’m really worried about this North Korea thing.” And I look at him and I said, “What’s everybody so concerned about here? This Little Kim guy had been launching his putrid little missiles trying to hit us for how many years now, and then his father prior to that. And they keep plunking in the Pacific Ocean someplace. Look, keep aiming, Little Kim.
I think our message is, “Keep aiming, Little Kim — and if you get close to us, they’re gonna pay the price for it.” The North Koreans should have been taken out years ago. Clinton should have taken them out. You remember Madeleine Albright and some of the ridiculous things she said about the North Koreans, and it then it continued with the Bush administration really just huffed and puffed. I think what Trump is employing — and you leftists ought to love this. I think Trump is employing the madman strategy. I think he’s trying…
These are genuine madmen in North Korea. These people are literally off-the-charts insane, and it might be something as simple as inbreeding. Who the hell knows. These people are odd. You have to admit it, folks. So Trump may be thinking, “You know what? I’m gonna make them think I’m unpredictable. I’m gonna make them think that I am a madman. I’m gonna reverse the table on ’em, and I’m gonna make them think I’m the one that’s unpredictable.” Because they have been able to launch their putrid little missiles here for decades with the knowledge that nobody’s gonna do anything about it.”
Folks, I’m not worried a bit about it. I don’t worry much anyway, but I’m not worried about this. I find that most people who are worried are worried because of what they think the ChiComs will do if we do strike the Norks. And there is a story out there today that the ChiComs have moved 150,000 troops into position that is said to be battle ready in the event we do hit the North Koreans. But here yet again the Pentagon is denying this. There is so much BS in the news. Apparently, our government — the Trump administration — is saying that there are not 150,000 Chinese troops anywhere, that you can’t secretly do that.
If you start moving everything necessary to support… You don’t just move 150,000 bodies. You have to move all kinds of support facilities. You gotta have hospital, you gotta medics, you have to have food, you have to have whatever. You can’t do clandestinely, and it hasn’t been spotted. But there are sources saying that it has happened. And, by the way, folks, what has happened to the story that Trump colluded with the Russians to screw Hillary — figuratively, not literally — out of the election? Have you seen anything on that in two days?
Did you hear anything about that on Sunday? It may be three days now. Not a whisper. Not a whiff. There’s not even any bzz bzz bzz bzz, not any buzz about this. This is one of the most recent classic definitions of Drive-By Media. If you’ve wondered what that means, we’re looking at it. How many months…? Certainly prior to the election in November, but most definitely since then we have had — you can’t count ’em — so many stories every day about Trump colluding with the Russians and the Russians colluding with Trump to sabotage the American election.
There’s no other explanation for why Hillary lost. It has to be that Trump colluded with the Russians. The Russians somehow… We’ve had these deep state leaks from these intelligence sources saying this and that and all that. But every story has to make the point deep, way down in the story: There’s no evidence yet. The investigation’s continuing. The Democrats say, “Precisely because there’s no evidence, we need to keep investigating.” Three days, we haven’t heard diddly-squat. What happened to it? Well, yeah, Trump hit Syria; Syria is a Russian client state.
And that goes a long way to disproving the idea that Trump and Putin are buddies and colluding for Putin’s benefit, because that’s what they say the collusion is all about. Trump’s a rank amateur and a rookie and Putin’s this Machiavellian-type leader that has Trump twisted around his little finger. And yet here’s Tillerson telling these guys: One way or the other — if you don’t get out of Syria, if you don’t stop this — we’re gonna hold you responsible, too. So the story’s gone. We haven’t seen Pencil Neck on TV in three days.
Adam Schiff, House Democrat, ranking member of the intelligence committee, is a perfect definition of Drive-By Media. They show up, they get everybody all worked up, they intensely focus on one thing and don’t stop pounding it — and then one day, they stop and they move on to something else. What have they moved on to? What they’ve moved on to is Trump and Syria and Trump and North Korea and, “Oh, no, Trump’s gonna destroy the world! Oh, my God! Oh, my!”