RUSH: This is Kelly in Columbus, Ohio. Great to have you. Hi.

CALLER: Hey, Rush. How you doing?

RUSH: I’m good.

CALLER: Hey, I just want to tell Mr. Snerdley, I appreciate him putting me through. I told him I was a progressive that really enjoys your show and he honored your wishes in putting liberals up front. I just want to tell him I appreciate him following your rules. I get a kick out of your show, Rush, I really do.

RUSH: You get a kick out of it. You’re a progressive and you get a kick out of it. Now, that’s kind of unusual. Most progressives would say that they are rendered angry or something like that listening to me.

CALLER: That’s their problem. That’s not mine. God bless you. I’m actually a charter member of your newsletter. I still have it.

RUSH: No kidding.

CALLER: Yeah. Before you dump my call, I want to say hi to a friend of mine at work. He’s a true Dittohead. His name is Dave. Hey, Dave. Okay, that’s enough of that.

RUSH: Wait a minute, now, if you know enough to know that we put people like you to the front of the line, you should also know that we don’t dump calls here. I pride myself, we never hang up on anybody here.

CALLER: I appreciate that.

RUSH: Well, if you’re progressive, why or what is it about this program you like?

CALLER: It’s just pure entertainment. It just shows the separation of this country and really what we need to get back to. People on the left are just as bad. Don’t get me started on Obama and Hillary. I mean, I have as much disdain for those guys as I do for Trump. I mean, (unintelligible) we’re gonna end up being just — America wants us, you know? And I really think we’re on the right side of history now. I think Crazy Bernie, I’d like to have Crazy Bernie. I’d gladly vote for him, but he’s not my choice right now.

RUSH: Well, who is? You got these 20 people running, which of them appeals to you the most?

CALLER: There’s some comedy out there too. Tulsi Gabbard. We need her bad.

RUSH: Well, you know who loves Tulsi Gabbard?

CALLER: Who?

RUSH: Pat Buchanan. Pat Buchanan wrote a column yesterday extolling her value. He thinks that Trump ought to get rid of John Bolton and hire Tulsi Gabbard.

CALLER: Well, I agree completely.

RUSH: Okay. Well, why do you agree with that? What is it about Tulsi that you dig?

CALLER: She gives the idea that these regime exchange wars — exchanging wars are just — it’s over. We have to stop doing all this. We have to — don’t get me wrong. She’s for America for all, good jobs, good pay, she’s for everything, but she’s a progressive as well. But her main focus is to get out of these silly wars. And Trump even called them stupid wars. And that’s why when he beat Hillary, I didn’t like —

RUSH: Well, that’s exactly why Buchanan loves her. Buchanan doesn’t want any part of these wars. He thought Trump was gonna get us out of these wars and when Trump hired Bolton, you know, Buchanan had to go grab the rosary beads. It was so unlike what he thought Trump was gonna do. Then we had the debate the other night and Tulsi Gabbard really laid into somebody else on that — who was it that she laid into?

CALLER: I can’t remember who it was. I think it was the guy from Ohio. He tried to make it sound like the Taliban. He just showed his ignorance.

RUSH: Oh, it was Tim Ryan. Tim Ryan. He got it confused. He thought the Taliban had conducted the 9/11 attacks.

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: And he said we gotta keep troops there, we gotta keep troops there, its’ a dangerous place. She said, no, we don’t, we’ve been there forever, nothing changes, we need to get out, and she was speaking as an Afghanistan vet.

CALLER: Oh, she’s a vet, she’s on the foreign affairs, she’s been in the military for 16 years. She’s served in Iraq. I mean, she’s really cool, Rush. She’s been a congresswoman for six years in Hawaii. I mean, she’s the real deal.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: I think America would do well if we would get Tulsi in there.

RUSH: And she wants to serve, you know, she wants to serve people.

CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: Kelly, she makes it clear that she is about service.

CALLER: I know, I heard when you were talking about how many times she said “serve.” But, you know, I think that’s her point is politicians are supposed to serve us. I think that’s why it sticks with her so much and why she says it so much is because look at what we do. I mean, really, we take care of —

RUSH: Okay, wait. This is interesting. Let me ask you, if you will permit me, what do you mean specifically when you say that politicians are supposed to serve us? What does that mean to you?

CALLER: That means that they are supposed to represent us, we, the people. They are supposed to be there taking care and making sure that we, the people, the people that make this country tick do the right thing. Don’t get in our way. We make this country work. We make, we ship, we drive, we deliver, and more importantly, we buy what makes this country tick. And for us to wait for stuff to trickle down is just not good, is just not right —

RUSH: Now, now, now, now, everything trickles down. That’s how you’re able to buy it ’cause it trickles down.

CALLER: No, no, no, no, no.

RUSH: Tell me what doesn’t trickle down.

CALLER: What trickles down is like you would imagine —

RUSH: No. What doesn’t trickle down?

CALLER: What doesn’t trickle down? Fair wage, fair pay, health care. All that. We have plenty of money. We’re the richest country in the world, and the number one reason for bankruptcy in the United States is medical bills. Come on.

RUSH: Okay. Well, so how would trickle-down on health care bills work?

CALLER: It won’t. Trickle-up is the important part. We are the ones, like, say you. You make north of $50 million a year. I’m thinking you could probably get by without a tax cut. We have three people in the country, the top three wealthiest people in this country have a combined wealth of more than half of this country. They can get by without a tax cut. The top 1% make more than 90% of the country. They can get by without a tax cut. We need major tax cuts. I appreciate what I got from Trump. They can do a lot better than that.

RUSH: I’m out of time here, I want it noted that we didn’t hang up on you or bump you off as you said, but I’m really having a tough time why you think you are progressive. You got some things wrong, but for the most part you’re not really a progressive.