RUSH: The president took to the microphones in the Diplomatic Reception Room, it looked to me like that’s what that was, at the White House. The Diplomatic Reception Room is exactly what it is. Yep. That’s it. That’s the entrance of the White House that you see — not the front door. Sometimes they use the front door, but this is the diplomatic reception area where visiting dignitaries arrive.

And this is where the president, Mike Pompeo, Mike Pence announced the permanent ceasefire in Syria with Turkey. No one hurt. The lives of the precious Kurds have been saved. War has been avoided. It’s a permanent ceasefire. But the point is Trump gave his speech here. His remarks feature many of the reasons he was elected president.

He gave a mini-barn-burner here. He ripped into Obama. He ripped into previous presidents for a bunch of basic dishonesty in committing American troops around the world. He pointed out that the Middle East has become more unstable as more troops have been deployed. The wars have never ended.

And he made a great point, that as we have continued to send troops to these areas of the Middle East and as the chaos in these areas has ratcheted up, guess what else has happened at the same time? We have opened our borders to more refugees and more immigrants. And Trump says these days are over. We’re not gonna go sponsor chaos and then say out of compassion, “Well, come here,” and open our borders. We’re not falling for this anymore.

This is exactly why Trump got elected. He made it very clear what the game has been. The State Department, the permanent Washington establishment commits American troops to little skirmishes here and skirmishes there, and nobody ever wins because they never end. We recycle troops. We sell more ammunition and more weapons. The areas become war-torn and unlivable and the people that live there flee, and they go to Europe and some want to come here.

At the same time, we open our borders, we open our borders to more illegal immigrants, and we open our borders to more refugees, and he said these days are over, this is not gonna happen any longer in announcing this permanent ceasefire. And he ripped in, in these remarks, as you will hear as we get them prepared. Won’t be long. He ripped into not just Obama, but previous administrations and previous thinking that did not have American vital national interests as the priority. Other things were the priority and he said those days are over.

He made a big deal of the rebuilding of the military that has taken place during his administration for the express purpose of not having to use it. In other words, it being a gigantic deterrent force. It was hot, folks. And you can tell when Trump is pointed and very insistent that the people he’s talking to hear what he’s saying. This is not toying with the media like he does. This was a broadside, if you will, toward the Washington establishment.

So we’ve got a permanent ceasefire. He praised president Erdogan as a guy who loves his country. Has gotten to know him pretty well. He says if something happens, though, if they break the ceasefire, if something happens that wasn’t agreed to, we are prepared to go in there and make them pay the price for it. But these days of routinely sending interminable numbers of troops to these ongoing sectarian battles and wars that have been going on for hundreds of years, no end ever happens.

Oh, he ripped into Obama on his imaginary red line. He kept asking people, remember that red line? As I was watching this, the media had to be seething. The media watching this, the Democrat Party had to be seething, and they were. So as we get the audio sound bites of this, I will happily share them with you so that you can get an idea of that which I am talking about.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: About 45 minutes ago President Trump strode to the Diplomatic Reception Room, it looked like to me, in the White House to announce a permanent solution to the ongoing military strife in Syria.

THE PRESIDENT: Over the last five days you have seen that a ceasefire that we established along Syria’s border has held, and it’s held very well, beyond most expectations. Early this morning the government of Turkey informed my administration that they would be stopping combat and their offensive in Syria and making the ceasefire permanent, and it will indeed be permanent. I’ve therefore instructed the secretary of the Treasury to lift all sanctions imposed on October 14 in response to Turkey’s original offensive moves against the Kurds.

RUSH: Sanctions actually really work, and they work fast. Turkey is a NATO ally. It’s a really serious thing to go sanctioning them, and it worked, it worked rapidly. The president next said that the United States has done what it started 10 years ago and is now letting somebody else fight over what he called the bloodstained sands of this area.

THE PRESIDENT: This was an outcome created by us, the United States, and nobody else. No other nation. Very simple. Turkey, Syria, and all forms of the Kurds have been fighting for centuries. We have done them a great service, and we’ve done a great job for all of them. And now we’re getting out. We were supposed to be there for 30 days. That was almost ten years ago. Let someone else fight over this long, bloodstained sand.

RUSH: Major campaign issue there. The president during his 2016 campaign talked often about these endless military involvements that we find ourselves in, pointing out that every time we end up going someplace we’re told it’s temporary, it’s like a police action, gonna make sure we’re gonna ensure the peace, we’re gonna get out, just a temporary deployment. And of course we never get out. We stay there. And the chaos continues. It never ends. There is no end. And there’s no national interest, vital national interest ever expressed.

Remember, when all these happen, we always ask, “Well, what’s the exit strategy?” Meaning, how are we gonna define victory and get out of there? Well, you can’t do that in advance, we’re told, because even the best plans crumble the first minute they’re implemented. “You have to be able to adapt, Mr. Limbaugh. You can’t give a permanent definition of victory in something like this.”

Of course, they never want to pull out, never want to get out, need to keep the endless supply of ammo and arms flowing. Trump continued to point out during the campaign and today, this is not how we’re gonna do it as long as he’s president. If we’re gonna someplace for 30 days, it’s gonna be 30 days and we’re gonna get out of there. We’re gonna have a mission. If it says 30 days in duration, that’s what it’s gonna be. We’re gonna get out as quickly as we can, and that’s what he’s doing.

He’s making a point here. Ten years ago we were told that these 50 troops would be there for 30 days, and we’re still there. And you know what is amazing is that you have the American left, which ostensibly opposes all use of the military. They actually don’t. Democrat leaders don’t. They’re in on this game like everybody else. Just like they are the original segregationists but have gotten away with not being seen that way. They are huge warmongers.

They profit incredibly from it. Their public position is anti-war. Their public position is anti-military. But look at all the political donations they get from — they supposedly hate Wall Street. They supposedly hate the big banks because the big banks screw the average little guy, American consumer. Yet look where all their donations come from. The big banks, Wall Street, military industrial contractors and so forth. A gigantic scam.

So, anyway, they publicly adopt the position that this is an improper use. Look what they try to do to get us out of Iraq. See, that had a political component. They had to get Bush out. They had to make sure Republicans weren’t gonna win in 2012 after two terms of George W. Bush.

So we have these deployments. We’re told that they’re not permanent, they’re temporary. Trump made a big deal in the campaign of doing exactly what he did today. Then, in the next sound bite, here he goes with blasting Washington establishment pundits and this is just another in a long list of reasons why they hate him.

THE PRESIDENT: There were some political pundits who responded to Turkey’s offensive in Syria by calling for yet another American military intervention. They are the ones that got us into the Middle East mess but never had the vision or courage to get us out. They just talk. How many Americans must die in the Middle East in the midst of these ancient sectarian and tribal conflicts?

After all of the precious blood and treasure America has poured into the deserts of the Middle East, I am committed to pursuing a different course. The same people pushing for these wars are often the ones demanding America open its doors to unlimited migration from war-torn regions, importing the terrorism and the threat of terrorism right to our own shores. But not anymore.

RUSH: That, to me, was the big point of the entire speech. This is it. That encapsulates why he was elected, why he ran. The same people pushing for these wars, that create all of this chaos, that uproot so many people in their home countries, the same people making these things happen, the same people pushing for this are the same people demanding that America open its doors and borders to unlimited migration from these very war-torn regions, importing the terrorism and the threat of terrorism right to our own shores.

Folks, that hits the nail on the head so strongly, I need to repeat it 10 or 12 times. That is so right on the money. That is exactly what’s been going on. And for the longest time, whenever somebody would suggest this is what’s going on, reasonable people would reject it on the basis, “Rush, that’s stupid. We don’t have stupid people. Why would they do this? Why would they purposely want to expose America to potential terrorists and anybody else coming in to the country illegally?” Of course, this would be refugees, this would be legally, in a sense. Why would they want to do this? And that’s where the answer gets really hard.

Because the true answer is something people don’t want to contemplate. Well, these are a bunch of people that have globalist visions and don’t view the United States as anything particularly special in the world other than its economy which they just assume is gonna keep trucking. I mean, the answer to the question is there are a lot of people in the Washington government who don’t have any reverence for or respect for the founding of this country. That’s so long ago, so different times, such different times. Not even relevant to today. The world’s a different place. This is so antiquated.

Just like the same people that say you can’t research the original intent of the Constitution because it doesn’t apply to today. These are people that basically do not want to have to hold any reverence for the founding. They don’t want to have to have any respect for it. They want to adapt to it. And that’s why Trump won. Trump is such a stark contrast to that.

Trump says Make America Great Again, and these people flinch. Trump says Make America Great Again, Keep America Great Again, these people get ready for war, they get ready for battle, against Trump. “So outmoded; so nationalistic; so jingoistic; so narcissistic. Make America Great Again? What’s so special about America?”

Even though America is what has made them, America is what has guaranteed them their fortunes, their lives, the future for their kids, their positions in government. But there’s no particular reverence for a distinct American culture. Look, a distinct American culture is destroying the planet. The distinct American culture is polluting the world. The distinct American culture is responsible for racism, bigotry, homophobia, now anti-transgenderism, all of this stuff. This is the way these people think, and that’s what we’ve always been up against.

And I don’t know what’s so hard about defending America from this ongoing assault. And it’s been an invisible assault. Nobody’s wanted to believe that — Betsy McCaughey. Betsy McCaughey has a piece in the New York Post today pointing out the State Department has been opposed to traditional American values long before Trump came along, long before.

And it’s absolutely true. The State Department is its own little fiefdom of people, and it’s not primarily made up of people who have a great reverence for and respect for the founding of the country. Let me grab the final bite. We’ll do this, take a break, and come back, get started on the phones. I want to get to a guy in Minneapolis who thinks I’m not taking impeachment seriously enough. That’s gonna be a good call. In the meantime, the final bite, this is Trump ridiculing Obama and the famous red line.

THE PRESIDENT: We have avoided another costly military intervention that could have led to disastrous, far-reaching consequences, many thousands of people could have been killed. The last administration said Assad must go. They could have easily produced that outcome, but they didn’t. In fact, they drew a very powerful red line in the sand. You all remember, the red line in the sand, when children were gassed and killed but then did not honor their commitment as other children died in the same horrible manner. But I did honor my commitments with 58 Tomahawks. Eight long years after President Obama’s ill-fated push at regime change, U.S. troops are still on the ground in Syria.

RUSH: Bingo. See? Only gonna be there 30 days. Red line in the sand, only gonna be there 30 days. You can keep your health care plan if you like it, too, by the way, and you can keep your doctor if you like your doctor, and guess what? Your premiums are gonna come down about $3,000 a year. And that just begins the endless stretch of lies the American people were told by the previous administration.