RUSH: At the Value Voters Summit over the weekend, Steve Bannon on Saturday made a speech, an address, and he basically said that this is a season of war against the GOP establishment — and, believe me, it was heard. The Wall Street Journal has an editorial, “The Antidote to Steve Bannon,” and this is gonna be one of those rare times where if you read this you will agree with the Wall Street Journal. Lindsey Grahamnesty, by the way, appears to be coming around. Something has happened.
Lindsey Grahamnesty went out and played golf with Trump, and he was stunned at how well Trump plays. He made a joke about, “Well, the president always wins,” but I have played golf with Trump, and he is very good, and there are a lot of rumors out about how he cheats like Bill Clinton cheats. I haven’t ever seen it. But who can say? I’m just telling you: Whether he cheats or not, the guy hits the ball a mile and is good. He can putt. He hits the ball where he’s aimed. If you can do that playing golf, you’ll be the envy of everybody playing.
He hits it far, and he hits it where he’s aimed — and he’ll shoot 70, 75, 76, which, for any amateur, is good. He’s 70, 71 years old. Anyway, Lindsey Grahamnesty saw this and was blown away by it. He took Rand Paul out, played golf over the weekend. Rand Paul was blown away by it. Not that it had any matter to policy or anything. It’s just that everybody had heard these rumors, “Yeah, well, you know, Trump cheats like Bill Clinton cheats.” Here’s how Clinton cheats. I mean, there’s such a thing as “a Bill Clinton par.”
You hit your tee shot out of bounds. So you drop and hit another one. You don’t count the first one. Whatever you get on your second tee shot, you count. You just ignore the bad shot — and whenever this happens any time during the round, miss a putt, do it again. Whenever you’re playing with Clinton, you don’t call him on it. He’s former president of the United States. The Bill Clinton par is evidence of how he cheats. They say Trump does the same thing. Let’s listen to a little bit of Bannon and then get some of the reaction. Here he is Saturday at the Value Voters Summit in Washington…
BANNON: This is not my war. This is our war —
CROWD: (applause)
BANNON: — and you all didn’t start it. The establishment started it. But I will tell you one thing: You all are gonna finish it.
CROWD: (cheers and applause)
BANNON: There’s a time and season for everything, and right now it’s a season of war against a GOP Establishment.
RUSH: Calls them out by name as he continues.
BANNON: All you folks that are so concerned that you’re gonna get primary’d and defeated, there’s time for mea culpa. You can come to a stick and condemn Senator Corker, and you can come to a stick — a microphone — and you can say, “I am not gonna vote for Mitch McConnell for majority leader.”
CROWD: (applause)
BANNON: Now, Senator Barrasso and Senator Fischer and Senator Heller, other folks — Senator Hatch — if you do that, these are good folks. They may reconsider. But until that time, they’re comin’ for you.
RUSH: Now, this has the entire Washington establishment in a tizzy. In the first place, since Bannon was chosen by Trump to run his campaign and then to become chief strategist, the Drive-Bys and the Washington establishment have been insane. Because Bannon, to them (snorts), is the epitome of what ought not be anywhere near any levers of power. So the other day Bannon was out making a speech, making comments about this kind of thing, and I analyzed it on this program.
What I said was that it looks to me like Bannon is stepping in and assuming the role the Republican Party used to have, that being opposition to the Democrats. It doesn’t seem complicated to me. Bannon’s out there working to recruit Republican candidates who, if they win, are actually gonna help a Republican president advance his agenda. I said, “Isn’t that what the Republican Party is always thought to be, Republicans and partisan for their own team, instead of working with Democrats on amnesty, trade deals, or what have you?”
So I said, “Bannon’s out there, and he’s simply fulfilling the role the Republican Party used to have.” That comment was played for two days straight all over the Drive-By Media! Dana Bash at CNN: “This is a very important point, what Limbaugh is saying here.” Now, when I saw that, I said, “Well, this tells me why they’re scared.” See, they have succeeded in neutering the Republicans in Washington. But Bannon hasn’t been neutered.
And Bannon’s out trying to recruit other Republicans that actually want to win and defeat Democrats, and the media finds this very troubling. The Washington establishment says it’s very, very concerning, and therefore pointing out was a very, very important point. I mean, it’s one thing if you’re the media and the Democrats to think that you have “deballed” all the Republicans, and then to find out that it may not work? It’s got to be a come-to-Jesus moment.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Donald Trump convened a cabinet meeting today at the White House, and he let the Drive-Bys in and their cameras for a while and had a couple of interesting things to say. One of the questions he got (impression), “Mr. President! Mr. President! Do you approve of Steve Bannon’s war on Mitch McConnell? Do you approve what Steve Bannon said over the weekend? Do you approve of Bannon declaring war on the Republican Party and the Republican establishment? Do you? Do you?”
THE PRESIDENT: Steve is very committed. He’s a friend of mine and he’s very committed to getting things passed. I mean, look, I — I have… You know, despite what the press writes I have great relationships with actually many senators, but in particular with most Republican senators. But we’re not getting the job done — and I’m not gonna blame myself. I’ll be honest: They are not getting the job done. We’ve had health care approved and then you had a surprise vote by John McCain. We’ve had other things happen and they’re not getting the job done, and I can understand where Steve Bannon’s coming from, and I can understand, to be honest with you. I can understand where a lot of people are coming from ’cause I’m not happy about it, and a lot of people aren’t happy about it.
RUSH: No, of course he’s not happy with it. I mean, he’s being sabotaged, if you will, by members of his own party. Whether it’s from gutlessness or whether it’s an actual attempt to sabotage Trump and his agenda. It may be a combination of the two. Of course he understands how Bannon feels. Everybody understands how Bannon feels that is dealing with this. I understand what Bannon feels! We’ve been saying the same stuff essentially here for prior to even Trump getting in the race.