RUSH: Joanna, Phoenix, Arizona, I’m glad you waited. You’re up next. It’s great to have you here. Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thank you for taking my call, and thank you very much for still being on the air. I know this can’t be easy for you, but we definitely need you right now ’cause you’re one of the few people that have the courage to speak honestly about what’s going on here.

RUSH: Thank you very much. I sincerely appreciate that.

CALLER: No problem. Well, the reason for my call is to give what I feel is a little-talked-about issue from the medical field, to give a little perspective on that. I’m a physician assistant and I was recently laid off. I was an independent contractor, and I was working in a kidney transplant department, and my contract was terminated due to the COVID-19. And the reason was that they’re not doing nearly as many kidney transplants as they used to be, and for that reason, you know, they’re laying off a lot contract employees as well as permanent employees —

RUSH: Well, it’s not just that. It’s they’re not doing a bunch of surgeries.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: They’ve shut a lot of that down, and that was because of the anticipation of so many COVID-19 patients?

CALLER: Yes. And so if we are to believe the media, we would be under the distinct impression that hospitals are being overrun by COVID-19 patients and that it’s all hands on deck. But the truth is that the sense is at most hospitals it’s far lower than it has been in recent memory because hospitals aren’t doing any of these elective procedures and they’re canceling routine appointments and as a result their revenue is way down —

RUSH: I have heard this. I’ve heard this from people all over the country, that hospitals are suffering a loss of income because of a loss of elective surgeries and other hospitalizations. Believe it or not, Joanna, and I’m sure you will, some are saying, “This is great news. This is illustrating that there’s a lot of people seeking medical attention that don’t need it in the first place” and so forth. That’s not the answer to this, by the way.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Grab audio sound bite number 12. This is President Trump on Saturday night. He was on Justice with Judge Jeanine, and she said to President Trump, “What is it that you look for when you dig deep to come up with a decision about reopening the country?”

THE PRESIDENT: It’s going to be the toughest decision that I’ve ever made — hopefully that I ever will have to make. But it’s certainly the toughest decision that I’ve ever made, and I hope that I’ll be making the right decision. I’ll be basing it on a lot of very smart people — a lot of professionals — doctors and business leaders.

There are a lot of things that go into a decision like that, and it’s gonna be based a lot of facts and a lot of instinct also. Whether we like it or not, there is a certain instinct to it, but we have to get our country back. People want to get back. They want to get back to work. We have to bring our country back, and so I’ll be making a decision reasonably soon.

RUSH: Okay. He’s announced the members of the reopen the country task force. His daughter Ivanka is on it, Mnuchin is on it, Jared Kushner is on it, and then I saw… That’s all I saw ’cause the picture went away. Now, there’s an interesting thing that’s developed. The governors are out there saying, “Hey, this is our decision when to reopen,” and Trump’s out there saying, “The hell it is. It’s mine.”

Trump tweeted this last night. “Governors, get your states testing programs & apparatus perfected. Be ready, big things are happening. No excuses! The Federal Government is there to help. We are testing more than any country in the World. Also, gear up with Face Masks!” And then the tweet:

“For the first time in history there is a fully signed Presidential Disaster Declaration for all 50 States.” Then this morning at 10:53, “For the purpose of creating conflict and confusion, some in the Fake News Media are saying that it is the Governors decision to open up the states, not that of the President of the United States & the Federal Government.

“Let it be fully understood that this is incorrect.” Reopening the United States economy “is the decision of the President, and for many good reasons.” So he’s telling these governors… Folks, if we leave it, some of these Democrat governors are just creating horror shows. The power is going to their heads.

One-way sidewalks in Lynn, Massachusetts? One-way…? Somebody said, “Rush look at this. Look at this. They’ve established a curfew in places in Massachusetts!” We’ve had a curfew, we’ve been living under a curfew in Palm Beach for I don’t know how long, 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Of course, it doesn’t affect me. I mastered social distancing and I got a PhD in staying home years ago. But to a lot of people, you know, a curfew bugs ’em, bugs the hell out of ’em. It does me, too, even though. I think it’s completely unnecessary. But this is… The president’s making it very clear that the governors are not the ones that are gonna decide on reopening.

Now, this latest model from Chris Murray: “Top coronavirus forecaster” who has yet to be right “warns of ‘rebound’ if country reopens May 1.” They’re trying to use it this tell Trump to scuttle any plans of reopening on May 1. (impression) “Don’t do it, Mr. President! Don’t do it! Don’t even think about it.”

Do you realize…? Do you know what the basis for this is? No vaccine. Do you realize there are people, if they could get away with it, who would close this country down for 18 months? They are Democrats. They are people in the media. They are people who want to inflict a deathblow on capitalism — and I’m telling you, if they could do it, they would, and they’re trying.

This latest projection, this latest memo from this guy, they’re using this to try to convince Trump not to reopen the economy ’cause there’s gonna be a rebound of the disease. Okay. Robert Lighthizer, Wilbur Ross, Larry Kudlow, and Mark Meadows are the people on the Reopen America Task Force along with Ivanka, Jared Kushner, and Mnuchen.

Wiiiiiilbur Ross. Lighthizer is great. He’s been our trade representative. He’s been doing the negotiations with ChiComs. Lighthizer is great. It’s great to have him on this task force. He gets it. Anyway, Trump’s tweet: “With that being said, the Administration and I are working closely with the Governors, and this will continue. A decision by me, in conjunction with the Governors and input from others, will be made shortly!”

Here’s Calvin in Northport, Michigan. Glad you called, Calvin. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Oh, my goodness. What an honor, sir. Thank you for taking my call. Mega prayers. Mega dittos.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: You know, I’m 33 years old; I build houses for a living. I’m (garbled cell), and I’ve been deemed nonessential. This weekend, Governor Whitmer issued a no-boats —

RUSH: Wait a second. You have been deemed nonessential in the construction business in Michigan? Oh, Michigan, ’cause the governor’s I forgot control there.

CALLER: Right. (chuckling) So our governor’s out of control. So we were told that we’re allowed to finish and all this stuff. If I can’t work and I can’t… We’re not allowed to be on a motorized boat right now. We can go out in a canoe, we can go sail-boating, but we are not allowed to be in a motorized vessel to fish.

RUSH: Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You can’t be in a motorized boat, but you can go sailing?

CALLER: Yeah. I don’t understand the reasoning behind it, either, but I just want (garbled cell)

RUSH: Now, what could that possibly be? What? That has to be fossil fuels, climate change.

CALLER: (laughing) It’s greenhouse gases, I have no idea.

RUSH: This is what I mean about these people doubling down and incorporating their political agenda into this.

CALLER: (laughing) Right. I would like to say a big thank-you to our state senator in the 35th district Curt VanderWall. He’s been communicating with me and he’s actually doing a lot pushing back. So do appreciate that.

RUSH: Well, I’m glad you called, Calvin. I appreciate it. I’ll tell you, where we are, construction is considered essential. They’re doing road repairs, take advantage of the fact that there are very few vehicles out there — and of course, the under-construction homes of millionaires and billionaires is proceeding.

I mean, they’re bringing in the giant palm trees to plant in the yard. They’re bringing in gigantic cranes and stuff on flatbed trucks and shutting down traffic to get ’em to the construction zone. (interruption) You’re look at me like this is not happening where you live. (interruption) Yeah, I was gonna say, construction projects are happening all over the place here.

But it still is a ghost town when you go out there, drive in. (interruption) What is going to the store? (interruption) What is going to the store? What does that mean? (interruption) Oh. Go to supermarket. (interruption) Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! I got what you mean. (chuckling) I’m just kidding, folks.

No. But, you know, I would like to because they just instituted Apple Pay, which means paying for it’s simple. You just (snap!) put your phone or your watch up there at the contact point and get out of there. You never sign anything, no cash. But I… (sigh) I’m too famous. I can’t do that. (interruption) Yeah, I understand that. But I don’t understand toilet paper shortages in this.

That’s the one thing I don’t get. What are you talking about? (interruption) Well, you… (interruption) Anything with alcohol? You mean isopropyl alcohol or bleach and that kind of stuff? (interruption) Shortage of eggs, butter, fat, this type of thing? (interruption) I’ve read that. I’ve read that the meat producers, the farmers…

I know the food supply chain is under a lot of pressure.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here’s Neal in Alliance, Nebraska. Great to have you. Hello.

CALLER: Thanks for taking my call. I just want to get straight to the point. You sort of segued into it about culture. You know, we as a society, most people can’t live — most people in society, our society in particular, live paycheck to paycheck, so we have to work. So that means people come in to work sick or injured to get a paycheck, otherwise they’re getting penalized for not working. But it’s the same for students at school when the parents sent their students at school. So my point is a lot of this is individual responsibility to keep the spread down, but do we even pay attention to that as much as we should?

RUSH: So what is your point? Are you saying we shouldn’t reopen because people are gonna go to work sick?

CALLER: No, absolutely not. But my point is our way of doing things is we go to work whether we’re sick or injured in order to make a paycheck, in order for us to sustain our way of life, but when we go sick, we’re not only jeopardizing those around us at work, you know, we send, as parents, our kids to school that are sick, we’re jeopardizing those that are around us. It’s sort of a catch-22.

RUSH: Right. So what would be your solution to it in the context of reopening the economy?

CALLER: You know, if you’re sick, stay at home. If you have family members are sick, stay at home. But now you’re gonna suffer because you just can’t bring in the money in order to help pay bills. But — I don’t know. Get yourself fiscally responsible and be responsible for yourself when you’re sick and those around you because some people don’t —

RUSH: Well, it’s a good framework. If you’re sick, stay home. If you’re vulnerable, stay home. If you’re not, get out and go to work. Look, I’m all for the task force, but I have a bugaboo about bureaucracies. And reopening the United States economy in a general sense should not be hard. But we’re gonna make it complicated, we’re gonna make it complex because we’re gonna plug so many different variables into it. And maybe some of them are justified. Should we reopen in these areas first with this age-group first, with these industries first? I can understand that.

I wish that we could just say this is over and everybody back to work tomorrow. Manage as best you can. That’s my dream. That’s gonna require a vaccine. We don’t have a vaccine. We may never have a vaccine. The next thing is herd immunity. But there are so many people opposed to herd immunity that even if we achieve it they may deny that we have achieved it. But herd immunity I believe is what explains the relatively few numbers in California compared to say New York or other places.

But it’s time to get going on this, regardless how it’s done. There need to be some ideas put forth that people can support or not. But the effort needs to get serious. It needs to move beyond the talk phase now. There needs to be some action here, because the longer this goes without action, the longer we’re gonna be shut down.