RUSH: Right here we are behind the Golden EIB Microphone, Rush Limbaugh, the Excellence in Broadcasting Network. I’m gonna give this day a name other than it being Open Line Friday. We’re gonna call this Rally Day, folks.

JOHNNY DONOVAN: And now, from sunny South Florida, it’s Open Line Friday!

RUSH: Like I told you yesterday there are all kinds of new people tuning in. There are new people tuning in every 15 minutes. We have the survey documentation. We have the models. You know, we have our own models out there. Our models estimate the audience is now up to 40 million. Forty million based on our own modeling here at the EIB Network and climbing.

And for those of you new to the program, Open Line Friday means you can talk about whatever you want to talk about. It does not have to be what’s prominent in the news. If you’re upset that there are no sports going on, whatever it is, this is the day for you to call.

Normally, Monday through Thursday you have to talk about things I’m interested in because an engaged, interested host is required for the show to work. But on Friday we kind of broom that, and, even if you want to talk about things that bore me or that I don’t care about, I will fake it as a service to the audience, as a service to humanity, as a service to America. So the number is 800-282-2882. The email address, ElRushbo@eibnet.us.

I got home yesterday, and Kathryn, my wife, said, “What’s wrong with you?”

I said, “What’s wrong with me? Where do you want to start?”

She said, “No, seriously, what’s wrong with you? I can’t believe how mad you sound today.”

“Well, I am a little mad. I’ve been expecting a new Apple beta all week. I thought for sure there was gonna be one on Monday. When there wasn’t one on Monday, I thought there was gonna be one on Tuesday. When there wasn’t one on Tuesday it had to be Wednesday. Apple kept releasing stuff, but not for me. And now there’s never any betas released on Friday so, yeah, I’m ticked off.”

She said, “No, no, no, no. You’re not your usual self.”

So I had to stop and say, “You mean on the radio?”

She said, “Yeah. Anybody can do what you’re doing. Anybody can be mad. That’s not what you’re known for.”

So I stopped and I considered, and I was mad yesterday. I didn’t try to hide it. I’ve been mad at a lot of things. As you well know, I’ve been mad about the ruination to the economy. For example, look at this. Here’s a headline: “The Chairman of the Federal Reserve Says U.S. Economy Deteriorating ‘With Alarming Speed.'”

Really? The Federal Reserve chairman just figured this out. He’s in charge of it. It’s deteriorating with alarming speed? What do you think’s gonna happen when you shut it down? What do you think’s gonna happen when 16.6 million Americans are told not to go to work?

“Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday the U.S. economy’s in an emergency and is deteriorating with alarming speed.” As though it’s just happening out there and nobody knows why, and we better get a handle on it.

“His remarks came shortly after the central bank unveiled over $2 trillion in new loans to keep the economy afloat as much of the nation goes into a lockdown to fight the spread of the deadly coronavirus.”

So you see a headline like that, what’s the natural inclination? Come on. This is a guy that runs the show, this is a guy that runs the Federal Reserve and he says the economy’s deteriorating with alarming speed? Why is this news to him?

At any rate, so, yeah, you see a headline like that, yeah, naturally I get a little irritated. But I stopped ’cause of the way Kathryn said it. I did a reassessment. I went to the website, I looked at the transcripts of the program yesterday. It was damn good. I mean, I’m telling you, you know, I think I sound good to myself when I’m saying stuff. When I read when I’ve said, damn, is it good. And then to stop and think that it’s all ad-libbed, I mean, it’s better than some people who sweat and slave for hours writing their little 750 words. I mean, it is good.

But it did have a negative intonation to it. And so I decided there’s good news out there. There’s good news in everything. And, you know, I’m not an artificial optimist. I mean, I’m not somebody who constructs phony optimism or phony optimistic scenarios in an attempt to falsely motivate people. I’m a genuine optimist. I have the optimist gene. And what I haven’t said enough is that I think we are going to come out of this. I’m just eager to get started on it. Because there is a point beyond which it’s gonna be really, really trouble to come out of this, really, really challenging. But we will.

We’ll come out of this for the precise reasons that Trump says so. He knows the American people. He knows that there are people chomping at the bit. We had a roaring economy going for three years, and there are people who do want to return to it. We also know that the overall flavor of mainstream news every day is purposely negative. It is purposely dispiriting. And it is designed to make you think that there is no end in sight to this.

In fact, this may be the new norm just as the last three years of the Obama administration where a new norm of America in decline, a media happily agreeing with that and reporting it. They were telling us that America’s best days are behind us, but it isn’t true. The past three years have shown that America’s best days are not behind us. They are at the moment, but they can be ahead of us again.

And Donald Trump has not been fooled by anybody. Donald Trump is not sitting in the White House unaware of the forces arrayed against him. He’s very aware of it. And he’s not going to let those people triumph and win over him, and he’s not becoming a member of the deep state. He’s not being co-opted. I’ve had some people say that, “You know, Rush, I’m really worried about Trump in one regard. He wants to be loved by everybody, and what if Fauci and Birx every day are telling him how wonderful he is and what if they’re telling him how they admire the way he deals with the media. What if a they’re acting like Trojan horses?” I don’t know that that’s happening. It’s just what somebody suggested to me as a possibility.

I don’t think Trump is that foolish. Republicans and conservatives have a characteristic trait born of experience. Conservatives know that the people they elect eventually betray them. The campaign promising X, Y, and Z and they never do it once they get elected and so conservatives have been conditioned over many years, many elections, we’re talking 30 to 40 to eventually be betrayed by people they vote for or to have the people they vote for get fooled. One of the big examples would be George H. W. Bush getting elected on “Read my lips: No new taxes” and then finally to go along with the Democrats agreeing to a tax increase and doesn’t get reelected and you got Bill Clinton.

That’s not Donald Trump. Donald Trump is fully aware of what he faces, fully aware of who he faces, fully aware of what needs to happen. It is Trump who has been leading the call from these briefings to reopen the government, reopen the economy. It is Trump and Trump alone. He knows what has to be done. He knows what he wants done. He loves this country as much as ever, and he’s not satisfied with the status quo, and he will not be satisfied with the status quo.

So I don’t believe that Trump has been co-opted. There may be efforts to sabotage him, but I don’t think they’re working. I don’t think Trump would fall for any trick to get him to go along with the people who don’t really run the show and don’t really have the ultimate responsibility. He knows that the ultimate responsibility lies with him. He also knows that the potential for praise or derision is on his shoulders. He knows that. He knows this is on his shoulders. It’s not on Fauci’s shoulders.

The Drive-Bys are out there saying, “The weight of the world is on the shoulders of Anthony Fauci.” No way. Fauci doesn’t have any pressure. Fauci can’t be wrong. He’s a doomsayer. Birx can’t be wrong. She’s a doomsayer. The modelers can’t be wrong. They’re doomsayers. They don’t have any weight on their shoulders. Don’t doubt me on this, folks. They have no weight on their shoulders.

They’re never gonna be held ultimately responsible for whatever happens here. The only thing that’s gonna happen is the Drive-By Media, whatever happens, is gonna credit them — even though every model they’ve given us has been wrong. You know, one of the biggest tricks they’re using right now? They’re revising their model numbers down. We’re down to 60,000 deaths, and they’re saying that the big difference is social distancing.

That cannot be true. All of these models have factored social distancing into their projections! Not lately, but from the beginning. Social distancing cannot explain this. But that’s their story, and they’re sticking to it. So they originally predict 2.2 million, then they revise that down to between 100,000 to 240,000. Whatever the number ultimately comes in at, they win, because, “See? It was our policy that kept those numbers from becoming reality.

“It was our demand that you social distance. It was…” They can’t lose. It’s not just these people. No doomsayer can lose. It’s axiomatic. A doomsayer can’t lose. Somebody who predicts the worst cannot lose because no matter if he’s wrong. He can credit his prediction for scaring people into doing the right thing to make his prediction wrong. So when the prediction’s wrong it’s even good news. That’s what I mean by doomsayers can never lose.

But there’s one guy at those briefings singularly focused on getting the economy back together. I can tell you this: At the White House, there’s a whole lot of people singularly focused on that. Kudlow is focused on it. The new chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is focused on it. Just because reopening the economy has not yet obtained a permanent, prominent place in the daily briefing does not mean that it is not a focus.

It is a primary objective, a primary concern. President Trump also knows this: No matter when we open, no matter what circumstances exist at the time we reopen, people are gonna die. People die in America every day from one thing or another. People will continue to die from COVID-19 after we’ve reopened. President Trump knows that the first COVID-19 death after we’ve reopened is gonna be blamed on him.

He knows he’s gonna be taken to task for it. He knows that they’re gonna jump down his throat; they’re gonna claim he made a mistake. He’s prepared for this. Donald Trump is no neophyte, especially after three years/four years of efforts to get rid of him. He knows exactly what he’s dealing with. He’s dealing with it in his own way, in ways with which we can’t see. Can I tell you something else? The president calls me once a week just to see how I’m doing, not to talk policy.

(interruption) What? What are you saying? (interruption) It’s very… (interruption) We never… (interruption) He never has asked me about policy. He’s never asked me how I think he’s doing, and normally — before I announced that I had been diagnosed with lung cancer — whenever he called, “How you think I’m doing? What’s going on? How do you think I’m doing?” Whether he listened to my answers or not, he asked.

When he calls it’s just to see how I’m doing. He says, “How’s my Rush? How’s my Rush? You doing okay? I’m getting conflicting stories. How are you doing?” and I tell him how I’m doing. He says, “That’s great. You’re one tough hombre. That’s great.” Sometimes the calls are five minutes. Sometimes they’re 10. Sometimes Vice President Pence gets on the phone.

But it’s strictly about how I’m doing. It’s not about anything else. One time, he called me 10 minutes after a Rose Garden briefing. He walks into the Rose Garden after the briefing; I’m sitting in the library in my house. The phone goes nuts and it says, “White House” on it. “What!” (sputtering) I didn’t get it soon enough, didn’t answer. I was totally stunned. So I looked at it and true enough, it was.

So I called back. Got him on the phone. “How are you doing?” Ten minutes after a briefing! He is capable of juggling countless number of balls at the same time. And the one thing, folks, that you should never forget: In the last three years, he hasn’t lost yet. Every effort they have mounted to get rid of him — and this may be another one — he hasn’t lost yet.

He has beaten them back every time they’ve tried, and he’s driving them even more and more insane as he defeats every attempt they mount to drive him from office and to drive a wedge between you and him. I’ll guarantee you, there are a lot of people looking at this economic shutdown as an opportunity to distance you from Trump. They would love that.

They would love to be able to get Trump’s approval numbers below 40%. They haven’t been able to do that because of you who voted for him holding fast and maintaining your support. They’ve tried to drive that wedge. They are hoping that this government-mandated shutdown of the economy will anger you so much that you will blame Trump for it and abandon him.

That would be a dream to these people, and it would also punish you for voting for him in the first place. If they could destroy your economic future and life, they could ruin you, that would be just, in their minds — I’m talking about Democrats — as a punishment to you for voting for the guy. “But, Rush, but, Rush, aren’t they punishing themselves?”

Well, government employees are still being paid — and the people we’re talking about have a lot of money, folks. I mean, there’s pockets of people not being impacted by this as bad as other people are. That’s one of the reasons why the shutdown goes on. The people in charge of it are not really being hurt that bad. Sad to say. We have elites, and we have plebes — and we’re the plebes, and they’re the elites.

Trump is not an elite. He’s one of us. I think Trump and Pence have done their absolute best in an impossible situation — impossible health situation, impossible political situation. Americans have done their best to help in what they see as a crisis. You have done your best. You’re doing what you think best. But remember what Churchill said.

Churchill said, “Doing your best? That’s nothing. We gotta do what’s necessary. What’s necessary is the objective.” If you do your best, that’s a cop-out. “I tried. I did my best.” No. You do what’s necessary. Donald Trump and Pence are doing what’s necessary. Now, the scare tactics need to end in certain parts of the country. We have to reopen. Trump is the guy to shepherd that.

Trump is the guy to be in charge of the reopening and the people in his economic team. They’re working 24/7 days. I think they’ve pulled off amazing things in spite of this massive disaster. Companies are changing their entire operations. The supply chain is adapting and changing to whatever is necessary, ’cause, “We had a shortage of this? We don’t.”

We fix it. They do not even we didn’t have a system in place to immediately start building, we still found a way to retool, re-die, and get things up to speed. We will come back as we always have. It isn’t time to throw in the towel. And that’s just the start.