RUSH: Hey, folks, and welcome to your oasis of sanity. Welcome to your oasis of normalcy. It is the EIB Network and the Rush Limbaugh program, and off we are — off and running, yet another excursion into broadcast excellence. For the next three hours, a respite from the sheer insanity that seems to be taking over and has taken over the Drive-By Media and the entirety of the Democrat Party. The telephone number, if you want to be on the program, is 800-282-2882. And the email address, ElRushbo@eibnet.us.
There is a newspaper column today by Michael Goodwin in the New York Post, and he makes a very interesting and telling point. It starts with the supposition that the Democrats are serious about their complaints and, of course, illustrates that they’re not. That’s what I’m gonna try to do. The Democrats are making noise about guns and rhetoric and all kinds of things that need to change here to stop these deadly shootings. They can’t get past this. Look, there’s two things going on.
The Democrats are who they are. Elected Democrats are who they are and they believe what they believe. But then they’ve got their deranged base, and I’m telling you, the deranged base is a huge factor in everyday Democrat rhetoric. They have got to please that base. They cannot get on the wrong side of the base. The evidence is the New York Times. They run a perfectly (for them) normal, factual headline, and the entirety of the Democrat Party base descended on them, threatening to cancel subscriptions.
So the New York Times had to redo the headline to please these lunatics. Elected Democrats are in the same circumstance. You remember not long after the election, Chuck Schumer — who has benefited from Donald Trump political contributions over the years. Chuck Schumer said, “Hey, you know what? I’m not so upset about that. I think we can work with my buddy Donald.” That night, there were protests — there were people with pitchforks and torches outside Schumer’s apartment in Brooklyn, and they were threatening violence.
Ever since that night, Chuck Schumer has been part of the crowd with this vicious, mean-spirited, insane-in-itself rhetoric at Trump. So it’s the Democrat Party base, and it’s largely… It’s Twitter. It’s the internet. It’s these nameless, faceless people who go bonkers, and they are exacting a heavy toll or influence on elected Democrats. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying the elected Democrats are a bunch of mainstream people here that are not this ratcheted up. They are in their own way. But they are egged on even further.
Now, this cannot possibly be helping the Democrat Party nationwide. The Democrat base is not the United States of America. It’s not the majority of the United States of America. We’re nowhere near that yet. But again, you wouldn’t know this, or you might doubt that, if you are a steady consumer of mainstream media news. A friend of mine sent me a note today, just to add to this recipe here. “Mr. Limbaugh, I was just asked a question by a friend of mine who is very involved politically in our state.
“His question to me was, ‘Okay. What’s your assessment of all of this craziness out there? Do you agree with Rush…?'” That would be me. “‘Do you agree with Rush that it just exposes the craziness of the left, or do you agree with others who think that Republican voters who are just turned off to everything, who want no part of any of this anymore, may not even show up to vote because they’re so fed up?'” It’s an interesting question, because one of the objectives is to depress people and to dispirit them and to make them despondent.
Make them think there’s nothing they can do to change any of this, that there’s nothing they can do to win. One of the many objectives the left is deploying here is an attempt to make all Republican voters think that it’s hopeless, that even if you win, you lose, because the left is never gonna go away. “They’re not gonna stop harassing anybody, and so what’s the point?” Then there are those in what is called The Rush Camp, and if you’re in my camp, the prevailing opinion is that there really aren’t any…
Well, it’s not entirely true, but I’ll try to make the point. There aren’t any, per se, Republican voters right now. There are Trump voters. There are Trump supporters and everybody else. Most of them are Republican, and Trump’s approval rating within the Republican Party still stands at 90 to 92%, and it may be even higher now. Those people are totally behind Trump. They are fully, quietly supportive of Trump and his agenda. They grow stronger and more quiet by the day, and that’s the great dichotomy. They are growing stronger, but they are shutting up.
They don’t want to make themselves targets. But they are seething out there. This is what I think the breakdown is. I think there are more and more Trump voters. Trump’s approval rating is at 49%. You go to state by state, and some states show him the losing there, but this is 16 months before the election. So there’s way too much time for any polling data here to be accurate. It’s nothing more than an interesting point of conversation at this point. But I really think that tends to describe the political lay of the land.
And the one thing that I think that is happening (just to reinforce this) that nobody is reporting on at all — not even what you would consider friendly outlets like Fox — is I think that the base support for Trump is solidifying and I think it is growing because I think those people are seething. They are the ones being called white supremacists. They are the ones being called white nationalists. They are the ones being blamed for all this, and they know they are not responsible for it, and they know that Donald Trump isn’t responsible for it.
They know that most of the rhetoric in this country that is inciting extremism emanates from the left. Most of the activity that incites extremism and violence emanates from the left. Do I need to give you the organizations? Antifa. Black Lives Matter. I could go down the list. Planned Parenthood. These are people who do this as a way of life. The basic Trump supporter (you), you’re just out there. Some of you are probably not totally invisible, but the grand majority of Trump supporters is just out there seething.
Look, I think I’m a typical Trump supporter, as far as you can define “typical.” And I am. I’m seething over this stuff. Each and every day, I’m seething over it. Now, don’t misunderstand. This doesn’t mean I’m depressed. This stuff literally ticks me off! Every time I hear these clowns throw out the term “white supremacist,” “white supremacy,” it ticks me off, and it makes me want to defeat them even more. It makes me want them to go down in flames even more — and in this, I believe I am typical.
I don’t believe that this behavior and language by the Democrat Party is inspiring ambivalence. I don’t think it’s inspiring people to sit out there and not care about it. You can’t help but be affected by it, and you can’t help but be arranged and irritated by it, because it… Look, War on Women, Trump traitor, Trump collusion, now white supremacy. The Democrats always have something going on that represents a targeting of us. People are fed up with it and, I believe, have been for the longest time!
Now, let’s go back to Michael Goodwin’s piece. Goodwin’s basic premise here is telling Democrats (paraphrased), “Look, these are serious things happening here, these mass shootings, and the president is showing a willingness to work with ’em.” He has signaled that he will work with them on red flag laws. He has toned down his rhetoric in the tweets. He has shown that he’s open to conversations about background checks and this kind of thing. Goodwin says the Democrats ought to be making tracks to the White House right now if they really care about these issues.
But you see, my friends, there’s the rub. The Democrats don’t really care about this, and I mean that with every fiber. Because it is clear if they did, they would welcome this opportunity the president presents them to go in and do something about guns. This is their number one reason to exist other than proving Russia collusion! They hate guns! They want your guns! They want everybody’s guns taken away from them! The Republicans, the president are signaling a willingness to talk to them about it! We have an election coming up.
It’s a golden opportunity for the Democrats to make some hay, and what are they doing? They don’t want any part of it. They don’t want any part of a solution to any of these problems. They’re afraid Trump will get credit, number one, even though they would be driving this. They’re the ones demanding all of this. They’re the ones demanding red flag laws, and the president says, “Okay. I’ll talk to you about it.” They’re the ones demanding to close the gun show loophole and all this other rhetoric about guns.
The president’s saying, “Okay. I’ll talk to you about it,” and he’s doing this with full knowledge that they’re not gonna take him up on it because he knows they’re not serious about it. Now, this is something, for those of you who may be on the fence out there, to wake up and realize: They are not serious about this! They love these circumstances! They love this! The media loves this! They love the opportunity to continue to make the case against Republicans because all this is about is getting rid of Trump.
All of this is about nothing more than winning the next election, not solving any of these problems. These mass shootings are not new. Democrats don’t have any ideas to stop them. All they have is blame, and they relish it and they love it. But the idea is that Trump is signaling a willingness here to moderate on gun laws and the Democrats are nowhere to be found. I know what some of you are saying. “Come on, Rush. They know that Trump’s probably tricking them! They know…”
No, no! Folks, we take them seriously, right? These are the people that care. These are the people with compassion. These are the people that really want to stop this; right? What have they always said the problem is? The Republicans! “The Republicans are not willing to cooperate. The Republicans don’t want to participate in bashing the NRA. The Republicans don’t…” Well, Trump has signaled a willingness to sit down and talk to them about it. They’re not interested. I’m just telling you, if you’re on the fence watching this, do not fall for the trick that the Democrats, media, whoever on the left sincerely cares about all this.
They don’t. Not to the extent they want you to believe. I’ll never forget Wayne LaPierre of the NRA was on This Week with David Brinkley back in the nineties. Bill Clinton was president, and I was shocked to hear LaPierre say this. But the situation was the same. Democrats were riled up about some incident involving a gun, demanding that something be done, the NRA be disbanded, defunded, what have you. Clinton wouldn’t take ’em up on it. Nobody would cooperate. The Democrats just wanted to jawbone about it.
Wayne LaPierre said that he thinks, back in 1992, that President Clinton was comfortable with a certain level of violence because it allowed the promotion of the Democrat talking points and issue. We’re seeing much the same thing play out here. Now, they demand that Trump be president of all the people. What’s Trump doing? He’s going to Dayton today. He’s in Dayton. He’s going to El Paso. What are they saying? “Stay away! We don’t want you. You’re not welcome. You’re the cause. You’re the reason,” even though the Dayton shooter is right out of the Bernie Sanders-Elizabeth Warren campaign handbook.
So we are again in the midst of a purely, 100% Democrat-media complex political operation that is disguised as sincere, compassionate concern for minorities, people of color, and the country at large.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: All right. Now, here we go to the phones, Diane in Newcastle, Pennsylvania. Great to have you with us, Diane. Welcome.
CALLER: Rush, thank you. Your opening monologue just touched a nerve. I listen to you every day, and on the breaks, ABC News comes on, so I purposely turn off the radio. I don’t want to listen to them anymore.
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. Diane, hang on. If you could review, because we’re about an hour and 15 minutes away from that monologue. For people that didn’t hear it, what was it that touched a nerve?
CALLER: When you were talking about the people that are listening to all this crap after El Paso and Dayton, and they’re calling Trump supporters white supremacists and racist and everything else. I am totally, totally sick of it. I can’t take it anymore. I have an almost a 98-year-old mother who tells me, “Oh, don’t… don’t…” I’ll come to her house with a T-shirt on that will say “Trump,” and she’ll almost be in tears. “Don’t wear that anywhere! Don’t go anywhere with that. You’re not wearing that!”
When you started about that, I didn’t turn the radio off on a break, and ABC News is on, and I’m in the Youngstown affiliate, and they were talking maybe about that jerk Tim Ryan. I don’t know. But they said something about Trump supporters being white nationalists and racists, and I just screamed out and said, “That is so unfair and untrue, and I’m sick of it!” And I’m not… I’m sorry to yell, Rush, but I can’t take it anymore, and the thing is, I’ve been to three rallies. The people there? They smile, they’re happy, they’re loving, they’re inclusive
RUSH: The point is, none of this is driving you away from Trump.
CALLER: Absolutely not!
RUSH: It’s driving you more firmly toward him. They don’t know the damage to themselves they’re doing here. They’re just enraging a bunch of people who are quiet about it! Like you’ve just pointed out, they’re quiet about it. They’re trying to shut down these Trump rallies, by the way. Cory Booker made the proposal yesterday that these things need to be shut down because they’re nothing more than white supremacist, white nationalist rallies where violence is encouraged.
CALLER: He’s never been to one! I dare any of these people to go to one. That is so untrue and so unfair, and I’m not being quiet anymore. We’re gonna be in three states in the next couple days. I’m wearing my hat and my T-shirt, and nobody better come up to me, ’cause I’ve had it.
RUSH: Well, I totally understand it. This was the point that I was making in the monologue, that this stuff is not happening in a vacuum. One of the objectives that the left has had from the get-go has been to drive Trump’s audience away from him, to create and drive a wedge between Trump and his audience, or his base. They’re doing just the exact opposite. You know, they throw around this business of “white supremacy” as though it’s as common as the air that you breathe — and in its vast commonality, it’s horrible and rotten.
So what they’re doing is creating this picture of the United States of America as some horrible, rotten place. (impression) “We are worse than the days of our founding. We have gone backwards. We are worse than the days of slavery!” What they’re essentially saying is that these white supremacists and white nationalists are fed up with the end of slavery and want to go back to those day. It is really hideous, and I’m telling you why, folks. There are multiple reasons why the Democrats are doing this. One of the reasons is that that’s who they are.
The second reason is a combination of things. They’re out of issues! They’re out of reasons to vote for them! This is crucial to understand. Donald Trump has taken every issue away from them. They spent eight years with Obama conditioning people to think America’s best days are behind us! In less than three years, Donald Trump has totally blown up the agenda of the Democrat Party to create a bigger government based on more dependence, based on more people incapable of and incompetent at taking care of themselves. Trump has blown it up.
A lot of Democrats believed Obama. A lot of them believed that the best days are behind us. Now Trump’s come along, and they’re feeling left out. They’ve been lied to, they’re disjointed, they’re angry. Elected Democrats know that there’s nothing they can say about “elect me ’cause I can do even better.” Which is the standard way you get elected to office! If you want to go to Trump’s campaign… You know, take away all of the personality aspects of Trump. If you boil the Trump campaign down to one or two things, what was it?
“I can do better than what we’ve had, and I can make America rebound again.” That’s what it was. That’s all it was. For all of the nuance and for all of the bombast and the braggadocio, that’s Trump’s agenda: Make America Great Again. We don’t have to settle for being mediocre like the eight years of Obama tried to condition us all. That’s all it was! That’s what Jack Kennedy did in 1960 running in the postwar fifties boom. You know, Eisenhower had spent his eight years. Nixon was the opponent. Kennedy said, “I can do better.”
He said, “We’re younger. Pass the torch to a new generation. We can do better.” It was upbeat; it was positive. The Democrats don’t have anybody that can say they can do it better, because the Democrats don’t believe that what’s happening now is possible. They don’t believe what’s happening now with the economy, for example, unemployment? They don’t think that’s real! To them, life is miserable. It’s dystopian. Most people are miserably unhappy.
The Democrats are there to help them manage the misery, to help them manage their depression and their unhappiness.