RUSH: Wherever I went Friday, Saturday, wherever I went you know the number one thing people asked me about? Bloomberg. Look, I understand it. The guy is rich beyond rich, and that’s the attraction. It never ceases to amaze me how rich people are just giant magnets. Now, they never have been for me, so again, I find myself in the unique position of not being dazzled and impressed and blown away, but I couldn’t escape it. Wherever I went: “Rush, what do you think of Bloomberg getting in?”

I said, “What is it about Bloomberg that you like? Why is it such a big deal to you?”

“Because of the money he’s got, Rush, he could go out there and buy it.” Have you seen a picture of the guy? He’s five feet tall. There’s no way he’s gonna get elected. Have you not listened to anything the man has said? This is the guy that wanted to limit the size of your freaking soft drink as mayor of New York. This is the guy who said that the ChiCom dictator is not a dictator, that he has to please his constituents if he’s gonna survive.

But you know what happens in our society? Rich people are automatically assumed to be brilliant because they’re rich. Everybody assumes you gotta be super smart, uniquely smart, rarely intelligent in order to get rich. And, folks, I’m telling you, I have met a lot of empty-headed rich people. It is not a truism.

Now, many of them are, do not misunderstand, but it’s not an automatic. And then we have to redefine smart, by the way, because that’s a word the definition to which has been expanded to include any number of things that literally do not denote intelligence. Which, to me, is really nothing more than common sense.

I mean, some of the most highly and formally educated people I’ve run into in my life have been vacant in the head except about the area of their expertise. But this Bloomberg fascination, look, I don’t want to diminish it because it has major ramifications for the Democrats. And it could blow up the Democrats’ move to the left if he is serious about seeking the nomination and tries to and would happen to get it.

Anyway, more on Bloomberg as the program unfolds. He’s not even formally running yet and people are still curious and going bonkers. (interruption) No, it’s not so much that people thought that Bloomberg’s a threat to Trump. No, no, no, no. It’s not that. It’s just the overall fascination, “Ooh, Bloomberg, what do you think of Bloomberg?” Nothing. I don’t think anything of it. I don’t think a damn thing about Bloomberg getting in. It doesn’t scare me, it doesn’t do anything other than provide me show prep fodder. But, no, it doesn’t scare me.

“It doesn’t scare you?”

“No, it doesn’t scare me. Why does it scare you?”

“Look at the money he’s got.” There we go again. So, anyway, it’s purely anecdotal, I understand. But you look at the Drive-By Media, they’re overwhelmed with Bloomberg stories. But the reason they are is because the way they look at Bloomberg is somebody upsetting the applecart. The Democrat Party wants to go full on, bat excrement communist this election, and Bloomberg is not that. And he would run as a Democrat.

But, folks, there’s one thing that remains a truism today, and it has not changed, I don’t care what polls you’re looking at, the frontrunner for the Democrat nomination remains Plugs. Elizabeth Warren is not the frontrunner. She may have had a couple of polls where she shines and does well, but overall Plugs is it right now.

You can also gauge some of the reaction of Bloomberg if you look at the Bernie supporters and the Elizabeth Warren supporters. They’re not happy at all. They’ve got their dreams, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the rest of that crowd, have their dreams of going full-on communist in their nominee and winning the election in 2020. And whatever Bloomberg is, he’s not that.

See, I’m too literal. I literally am too literal for this game. To me, Bloomberg has disqualified himself by simply sitting there and telling people in New York what they can and can’t eat, how big their soft drinks can and can’t be. That to me is an automatic disqualification. We don’t want somebody in a position of power who looks at us as though we’re a bunch of children and can’t live our lives making up our own minds because we’re not smart enough to.

So we have to put limits on the size of your soft drink? The guy should have been laughed out of New York City, if you ask me. This is where the frustration sets in. I think that’s the common sense reaction. In a country known for its devotion to freedom for the individual, to have that not be a gigantic red flag. I guess some people don’t take it seriously, “Ah, Rush, that’s just New York mayor stuff. He’s not really serious. He’d never do that as president.”

Oh, he wouldn’t? Why? Something that’s happened once can happen again much easier than something that’s never happened can happen. The guy’s got a track record.

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RUSH: One other thing about Michael Bloomberg, he’s as big a gun grabber at Beto O’Rourke. The guy is right side-by-side with Beto in wanting to take guns away. By the way, we have a funny statement from Biden on guns proving he doesn’t even know what he’s talking about.

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RUSH: Now we gotta get to Bloomberg. I mentioned at the top of the program, wherever I went this weekend, the first thing people asked me about, “What do you think of Bloomberg?” And it was all guys, it was on the golf course over a couple days, dinner another day. “What do you think of Bloomberg, what do you think of Bloomberg, what do you think of Bloomberg?”

I don’t care. It doesn’t matter.

“You don’t care about politics?”

Okay, it’s not that I don’t care. It’s that I’m not dazzled, I’m not wowed. Why are you? Well, what it boiled down to was the guy’s rich, and that seems to be a magnet for people. That’s another thing I’ve not done. I know it is a magnet for a lot of people. A lot of people think that rich people are, by definition, very, very smart. How else would they become rich? Trust me, folks. There are a lot of rich people that are glittering jewels of total ignorance when it comes to common sense.

Their area of expertise, yeah, they have unrivaled achievement and accomplishment. When it comes to — some of these clowns — I don’t want to identify any I’m talking about so I’ll stop there. Just to say, I’m not dazzled by Bloomberg. And I will play for you one reason why. Do you remember on CNN — I guess it was years ago now because Obama was still president. Obama had gone to Cuba, and he had normalized relations in Cuba.

And there was video on CNN, the reporterettes went down there, and they shot B-roll. And of course if you shoot video in Cuba you’re gonna see destitution, poverty, 1955-year-old cars. You’re gonna see buildings falling apart, painted pastel orange and pink. A lot of people find it enduring and romantic, but the fact is that country stopped growing the minute the communists took over.

The minute Castro and his revolutionaries took over, that country stopped. And it’s been in the twilight zone, it’s been in a time warp ever since. The only thing that’s happened is political prisoners increased in number. The poverty of the population increased. And then stupid liberals, really smart people start telling us that Cuba has the best healthcare in the world. Thank you, Michael Moore. That kind of stupidity is what I’m talking about. Otherwise people think they’re smart.

I’ll never forget one day we learned that the Cuban government was giving every adult a rice cooker. And I remember the media going nuts in praise of Castro, how thoughtful it was. Didn’t tell everybody that the number of beans and packets of rice were being — what’s the word? Having mental block on the word. They were limited. People were starving in Cuba, giving ’em rice cookers. Not every adult. They didn’t give that many away. It was the greatest thing.

So, anyway, CNN is showing video of dilapidated Havana, and Fredo Cuomo, after seeing the video, says (paraphrasing),
“When are these communists gonna learn? Communism is about upward mobility and equality and prosperity for erybody.” And I watched that, and my mouth just hit the floor. This guy’s got a primetime 9 p.m. show on a national cable news network and he thinks that communism is about raising standards of living and prosperity for everybody equally.

When are these communists gonna learn? I’m sorry, there’s only one word for that, and it’s not ignorance. It’s just plain stupidity. But then again, what has Fredo been taught about communism? He’s probably been taught that that’s what it is. But he’s the son of Mario “The Pious.” I’ll guarantee you Mario “The Pious” did not have a misunderstanding of communism.

So in that context, let’s go back. September 27th of this year, PBS’ Firing Line, the host is Margaret Hoover, and she’s interviewing former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is as big a gun grabber as Beto O’Rourke is. (unintelligible) Do you know that he wants to take your gun away? “Ah, he’s just saying that, Rush.” No, he’s not just saying it. “Do you live in New York?” Well, I used to. Well, this is the guy that told people that live there they can’t buy a bigger soft drink than 12 ounces or it’s a violation of the law. “Well, that’s just minor stuff.” No, it’s not. It’s the guy that eliminated certain kinds of cooking oils from restaurants. Why does this guy intrigue you?

“Money, Rush, he could buy the nomination. He could probably buy the presidency, what kind of president do you think he’d be?” I don’t have to think about it. I already know. So let’s go to the audiotape. Margaret Hoover says to Mayor Bloomberg here on Firing Line on September 27th – oh, and he’s a huge climate change advocate. He’s got airplanes, he’s got homes all over the world. I think his net worth is $52 billion.

In other words, his carbon footprint is larger than all of ours combined. And yet he’s a big climate change advocate. So she says even if we get to net zero carbon emissions and we’re doing our part, how do you get China and India and other countries to also be our good partners? Because if they don’t, then none of this is gonna matter.

BLOOMBERG: China is doing a lot. Yes, they’re still building a lot of coal-fired power plants.

HOOVER: And they’re still burning coal?

BLOOMBERG: Yes, they are. But they are now moving plants away from the cities. The Communist Party wants to stay in power in China and they listen to the public. When the public says, “I can’t breathe the air,” Xi Jinping is not a dictator. He has to satisfy his constituents or he’s not going to survive.

HOOVER: He’s not a dictator?

BLOOMBERG: No, he has to, he has a constituency to answer to. No government survives without the will of the majority of its people.

RUSH: Honestly, folks, I do not know how to react to this. This is so stupid. There’s no other word for this. (interruption) What was that? Well, she’s Herbert Hoover’s granddaughter or something. She’s a Republican by virtue of heritage. I don’t know if she is, but, yeah, she was a little incredulous. “He’s not a dictator?”

“No. He has a constituency to answer to. No government survives without the will of the majority of its people.” It’s not just Fredo Cuomo that doesn’t understand communists. This qualifies as one of the most disqualifying statements any presidential candidate could make. To have such a gross misunderstanding of Chinese communism.

And then her next question, “The idea that the Chinese government is responsive, I’m looking at the people in Hong Kong protesting.”

Yeah, they’re protesting, they don’t want any of the things that the ChiCom government’s demanding of them. Under his theory, Xi Jinping would be listening to Hong Kong and implementing what they want, otherwise he wouldn’t survive. If anybody isn’t gonna survive, it’s the people in Hong Kong and life as they’ve known it. Here’s his answer to that.

BLOOMBERG: That’s ridiculous. They are very responsive to it. The trouble is, you can’t overnight move cement plants and power plants just outside the city that are polluting the air and you have to have their product.

RUSH: Stop the tape. He doesn’t know what she’s asking about. He thinks that she’s still talking about climate change. He must think the people of Hong Kong are protesting the air. “I’m looking at the people in Hong Kong protesting.” They’re protesting communism. They’re waving the American flag.

They do not want ChiCom government enforced upon them, mainland governor government enforced on them. He thinks she’s asking about Hong Kong protesting the lack of cleanup of the air. Here’s the whole answer again. Stay from the top where he starts out, “that’s ridiculous.”

BLOOMBERG: That’s ridiculous. They are very responsive to it. The trouble is, you can’t overnight move cement plants and power plants just outside the city that are polluting the air and you have to have their product. So some of it takes time. And there’s always in government, even governments that aren’t what we would call a democracy there’s lots of stake holders who have vested interests.

RUSH: Yeah, like Jack Ma, Alibaba. I get that, but, yes. The Communist Party wants to stay in power in China. They listen to the public. When the public says I can’t breathe the air, Xi Jinping is not a dictator. He has to satisfy his constituents or he’s not gonna survive.

Now, I could be very charitable answering or analyzing this, but the idea that communists are not dictators and that they listen to their constituents or they don’t survive. It’s the constituents that don’t survive if they don’t shape up.

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RUSH: Okay. Here, folks, we’ve got the sound bite from Fredo. This was March 21st, 2016, CNN’s New Day. See, this is about the time that Obama normalized relations with Cuba. This is on CNN’s New Day. This is their morning show. Alisyn Camerota — Fredo is the cohost. He’s not doing the prime time show at this point. He got promoted! He got promoted after this! So Alisyn Camerota says, “Fredo, we can’t help but notice your culturally appropriate garb that you’re wearing.” He was wearing a Cuban shirt that day in honor of Obama’s deal. “Tell us the history of your shirt, will you, so that we can all share and benefit from knowing.”

CUOMO: My guayabera? This shirt belonged to my father. It was given to him by Fidel Castro. It marked conversations going on decades ago that were the same as those today. The concern was the freedom of the people. What is the point of this communist regime if it is not to truly make everyone equal, not at the lowest level, not by demoralizing everyone, but lifting everyone up. My father, generations of politicians have been fighting this. So I wear this shirt as a reminder of that.

RUSH: What in the name of Sam Hill do you do with this? “What is the point of this communist regime if it’s not to truly make everybody equal? Not at the lowest level, not by demoralizing everybody, but by lifting everyone up.” Can somebody please show me a communist regime that has ever done this? You cannot. Communism, by definition, does not lift anybody up. Communism enforces poverty and misery spread equally. And that’s the only way that equality exists in communism is that misery and poverty are spread equally.

And communism doesn’t lift anybody up. Other than the leaders of the country or the movement, who are lifted up by pilfering from the entire country and everybody who lives in it. People who live under communist regimes are slaves to one extent or another. They don’t have any individuality. They have very little freedom. All they have is hope.

He says here at the end, “My father, generations of politicians have been fighting this.” Fighting what? Communism? You’ve aligned with it. Your dad aligned with it, when you align with liberalism, you align with communism. Liberalism is not the enemy of communism. I think what he means is that people like his dad were trying to get Castro to do communism right.

I swear, we have a generation or more who do not know what communism is. And it’s evidenced by the polling data we have on Millennials. Thirty percent of them say they love socialism. Seventy percent is a they are intrigued by communism ’cause they don’t know what it is. They’ve been lied to about it for their entire lives.