RUSH: All right. Last night I was watching Tucker Carlson, who is apparently the Republican nominee for 2024. (interruption) What are you laughing at? I’m telling you I read that. It was a Politico story. Are you doubting Politico? (interruption) Politico is talking about how the GOP is all excited. (interruption) No. The theme of the story was the Republicans can only nominate media people now. There was Trump, The Apprentice, reality TV, and then now Tucker Carlson and so forth. (interruption) Is what, that what it’s come to? (interruption) Well, no, I’m telling you somebody had to leak it.

You know, Chatsworth is killing it ratings-wise. And I’m telling you that somebody in the Republican Party is looking at it. “It might be just what we need.” And so they leak it, a trial balloon, you know how this stuff works. I mean, it may be you. You might actually have your name floated before 2024, it would be a trial balloon if it happens. And know who would do it? Nick Searcy. Nick Searcy would find a way to float your name as a potential 2024 nominee, as a trial balloon, just to see what would happen. It’s the way this stuff works.

Anyway, I was watching Tucker last night. He had Jason Whitlock on. Whitlock has been at the Kansas City Star. He’s been at ESPN. He’s now at a website called outkick.com. And I know Jason a little bit. You remember back in the days where I was a minority interest in an ownership group attempting to buy the St. Louis Rams? Well, at the time the Kansas City Star was employing Jason, and they assigned him the story of exploring my interest in this.

And I’ll never forget, he called me, we talked on the — no, we were emailing because I can’t use the phone easily. And he said, “I don’t believe you really want to buy that team. I think it’s a publicity stunt.”

I said, “You think I’m going through all of this for a publicity stunt?” I mean, Bryan Burwell, the late, may God bless his soul and… were writing that I was longing for the return of slavery. I mean, these guys were making up quotes I had never said about slavery and about race and so forth. And I said, “You really think that I am enduring all of this character assassination on the basis that I need a publicity stunt?”

He said, “I do. I do. I don’t think you’re serious about this ownership group.” Well, the story never happened because after he said that I said, “Well, this premise is wrong.” It wasn’t a publicity stunt it all. At any rate, Whitlock has become renowned for his willingness to attack and properly, accurately analyze these race-based militant protest groups. He doesn’t pull any punches. He’s fearless about it, and he is one of few in the entire African-American population you can go to for the truth to be heard.

And last night he was magnificent on Tucker Carlson in a very short appearance at the end of the program. He was asked to address the idea here that the NFL has actually announced that they’re gonna play two national anthems before games in week 1, that they’re gonna play the black national anthem, and then after that, they’re gonna play the Star-Spangled Banner where everybody is gonna kneel. And he says, who in the world is this stupid? His point was, the NFL has just told us that they are not who we always thought they were. There is no leadership. There’s just a bunch of cowardice.

He said, I’m not just talking about Goodell. I’m talking about the owners. This is incredible. And he made the point that I just made to you, Black Lives Matter is not a racial group. It’s not a racial justice or injustice group. They are a Marxist political movement. And it doesn’t take any effort to learn this. Every NFL owner and Roger Goodell could simply go to Google, search Black Lives Matter, and find out that they have gone into business with a rabidly, pro-communist, Marxist political group.

And whether they know that or not, they instead choose to treat this bunch as a justified and legitimate civil rights organization, which they are not. So here are the two sound bites. First question from Tucker. “The NFL said it’s gonna play Lift Every Voice and Sing, the so-called black national anthem before all week 1 games. What do you think this is about, Jason? Is it a good idea, do you think?”

WHITLOCK: If the NFL starts out its season with everyone standing for Lift Every Voice and Sing, the black national anthem and then virtually everyone on the field take a knee when the Star-Spangled Banner plays, the NFL will run off a nice, fat chunk of its audience and will never be seen the same again because of the failure of leadership throughout the NFL.

There’s no way you can do any homework on Black Lives Matter and not see that it’s a Marxist political organization. This is a historic failure of men and leadership. This is cowardice at its highest level. This is the NFL jumping the shark and saying, “We’ve quit being who we said we are. We’re now something else because our money’s on the line.”

RUSH: Yeah. And money and fear. And I’ll tell you something. Let me expand on this a little bit. What is it to say the NFL is now jumping the shark and saying we’ve quit being who we are? You know, the NFL for the longest time was seen as a place where racial harmony existed and people watching the NFL could see this.

Teams are made up of white players and African-American players, a majority of them African-American. You had some other races thrown in, and teams, for all outward appearances appear to get along. We didn’t see what went on the locker room, but on the field they united in the quest for victory.

And it was a respite. You could go watch the NFL like you would any sport for a break from the humdrum of life or whatever, escape all of the rotgut. And the NFL was able to position itself as standing above whatever discord there was throughout society. The NFL almost was presenting itself as, see what’s possible? We have people and players of all races, and they get along, and they unite toward a single objective, and they appear to be supportive of each other.

And now the NFL has thrown that away. And they are going the exact opposite direction. And they are now taking sides with a pro-Marxist political group. And Whitlock went on to say that it’s mystifying to him because it’s just inexplicable. It’s stupid. It doesn’t make any business sense whatsoever because if what is thought to happen does happen, if they play the black national anthem, whatever it is, and follow it up with Star-Spangled Banner and the coaches and the players then take a knee, you can wave good-bye to whatever audience the NFL had.

And it isn’t gonna be replaced, even with people starved for sports because of COVID-19. Even if the NFL managed to pull this off and actually has a week 1 and they do this, they’re kissing their audience, they’re kissing their customers, they’re kissing the people that have supported ’em good-bye, on purpose, choosing sides and trying to make everybody think they’re doing so on the basis of racial justice and harmony, when they’re not. So the next bite, Tucker Carlson said to Whitlock, “Okay. The commissioner, they got a commissioner in the NFL. Where is he?”

WHITLOCK: Probably hiding under his desk. These guys don’t know what to do. I don’t want to just blame Roger Goodell and Troy Vincent. This is NFL ownership, all of them, cowards, not standing up for what they believe in. America has made them filthy rich and some of the most powerful people on the planet, and they’re unwilling to defend the values they built their business on and the country that has enriched them incredibly. Politically in the sports world, I’m looking at the men fall out of cowardice. It’s pervasive throughout this country.

RUSH: And again it’s noteworthy that Jason Whitlock is African-American and willing to say what he’s saying about Black Lives Matter. You don’t do that. I mean, you kowtow. Whatever Black Lives Matter wants to be, that’s what you say they are. And he’s making it plain as day that it doesn’t take any research at all to find out who this group is, that they’re not about social justice, they’re a Marxist-communist organization that is attempting to take over and ruin this country as founded.

And now they’re being aided and abetted by the NFL and the ownership group, which refuses to use the same values they built their businesses with in running the National Football League, all because Nike, a big sponsor and other sponsors are upset, threatening to pull money away. So no guardrails, nobody standing up, no morality, no virtue. It’s absent. And the NFL doesn’t know what’s headed its way if the Whitlock scenario actually happens here. ‘Cause everybody’s making a big mistake.

You know what the big mistake is? America is not Twitter. This country is not Twitter. But don’t tell the NFL that, because the NFL and practically everybody else believes that whatever the hell insanity is on Twitter is this country. And it isn’t.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We go back to the phones and the EIB Network on Long Island. Joe, great to have you, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Great to speak to you, too, Rush. Big fan. I have a quick comment on the NFL, and then I have a thought for Trump. On the NFL. I used to be a big fan. I am not any longer. Do not care for it. Won’t watch a game. And I have —

RUSH: Wait, whoa, whoa. Let me interview. They’ve lost you already, and they haven’t even started this season, so how did they lose you?

CALLER: Because of what they’re leaning towards doing.

RUSH: Ah.

CALLER: I just had enough. Not gonna mention any past names that they supported or didn’t support. They just lost me.

RUSH: All right.

CALLER: I’ve been watching for 50 years, and I’m done. Now, I have a way for Trump to help the youth of this country. He should reinstate the draft.

RUSH: Send everybody off to the military as a youth?

CALLER: Well, it would help. I think it would help. It would teach them a little respect for the country as opposed to what they’re learning in college.

RUSH: Well, it would toughen ’em up. We can’t have that.

CALLER: (laughing) Well, they want this to be a communist country. That’s what the communists do. They send the youth to the service.

RUSH: You know, that’s actually a good point. Let’s play here. If we reinstitute the draft, take your average 18-year-old wuss from high school, send ’em off to Fort Bragg for basic training and after two days of it they’re gonna be crying and whining and moaning and demanding. They’re gonna be accusing the drill sergeant of racism and using the N-word and all this kind of stuff, it would be the biggest shock to their system.

CALLER: They’re doing the same thing after four years of college. They’re whining about everything anyway.

RUSH: Well, true. But, I mean, I’m wondering if we did this, you know, would the military cave to these allegations. “He used the N-word. He called me the N-word.” ‘Cause you know this is what would happen. But the thing these kids don’t understand is if the communists, the Marxists, the day they actually take this country over, that’s gonna be their life, is living that kind of servitude to the state.

CALLER: You’re absolutely correct and that’s why I think he should do it, to teach them a little bit of what’s gonna happen if they continue down the road they’re on.

RUSH: Well, it’s a generational thing that people think the military or military schools can actually provide direction in life for the aimless, purpose in life for the lazy and vacant and toughen them up discipline-wise and physically, so forth. A lot of people believe that. Mandatory draft, I don’t know. It’s a fascinating idea.

The NFL, the thing I look at here is trying to understand the fear and the cowardice. Black Lives Matter, as Whitlock said, is easily discoverable. Google ’em. You find their mission statement. They are proud to tell you who they are. They do not hide that they are a Marxist, communist political organization. They masquerade as a social justice group. They run around and they get support from outfits like Nike and others that sponsor the NFL.

And then those outfits tell the NFL, you better do X or we’re pulling our money away. And so the NFL essentially allows itself to be — what’s the word? Blackmailed? I don’t know what the word would be. Extorted, intimidated, what have you. And I guarantee you that the NFL is on the way to losing their audience if they haven’t already, like our last caller just pointed out.

At any rate, it’s stunning, stunning to watch this. But the NFL, these people have to know that they are getting in business with a Marxist political organization, a Marxist political party. If they don’t know that I would be stunned. Yeah, the NFL does focus groups, but I don’t know that they’re doing them now. I don’t know that they want to hear the results. And there may be some in the NFL — let’s acknowledge something. There may be a lot of people in the NFL who know that there isn’t gonna be a season no matter what PR is out there.

How do you maintain social distancing in a huddle? How do you maintain social distancing in a tackle? It’s a game of contact. It’s a game of spitting, blood, guts, and all that. How in the world do you exercise all of the mechanisms to avoid being infected playing football? It could well be that there are enough people in the league who know there’s no chance they’re gonna play, so use the opportunity here to get on the right side of this social justice movement and be done with it and then when the pandemic passes then maybe next season they play, they’ve been there, done that, I don’t know. Could be one of the theories being bandied about.