RUSH: I got an email here. “Dear Mr. Limbaugh: I need to trade off your political experience and your brilliance. Isn’t it true that in the old days, the party not having the convention used to just go quiet? They just got out of there. Wasn’t it considered good manners? Wasn’t it considered mutual respect that when one party was having its convention, the other party basically shut down for the week?

“And then when that party that had shut down for the week had its convention, the other party then shut down for the week and literally did nothing to interrupt or tread on or…? Is this not true? Is my memory on this correct?” Yes, it is. That is exactly what used to happen. Used to happen. That stuff is so out the window now. Trump is doing a four-state swing today, through swing states.

He’s going to four states on the first day of the Democrat convention. He’s gonna have nightly opposition. Whatever this Democrat convention is, Trump is gonna have a nightly wrap-up of it, with his take on what it was. Democrats are gonna be fuming. They’re gonna be fuming — and the Democrats, don’t forget, don’t have a Trump. They’ve got Our Lady of Impeccable Hysteria. They’ve got Nancy Pelosi and Chuck You Schumer, but that’s about it.

Who do they have that could do a recap of a Trump convention that would make you want to watch it? It’d be nothing but sourpuss, sour grapes anger? Who do they have that could make you laugh? Adam Schiff? Eric Swalwell? Who they gonna put out there, Mr. Snerdley? Who would the Democrats put out there? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Who are they gonna put out there if they want to do a recap — and you know they’ll try.

They’ll try the same thing Trump is doing. They’ll do a recap of the Republican convention, and they’ll lie about it. But who do they have that people are gonna want to watch? (interruption) The Squad? So it’ll be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who they’re only gonna give 60 seconds? They’re gonna give this…? No way. The woman that gets only 60 seconds to speak and they’re gonna turn over the recap? No way.

And then Rashida Tlaib and what’s-her-face? Uh… (interruption) Oh, yeah, Ilhan Omar from that movie, the Somali movie Tom Hanks was in. He played the boat captain. Well, anyway… The Squad? The Squad is their biggest draw? The Squad is…? You’re proving my point. You are making my point.

All right. Did you see the first episode of Hard Knocks, training camp with the Los Angeles Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams? Did you watch it, Brian? (interruption) You didn’t? (interruption) You Watched Hard Knocks? (interruption) Wait a minute. Why did you watch…? (interruption) I’m talking to Dawn, our official program transcriber. Why did you watch it?

(interruption) You watch Hard Knocks better than…? Hard Knocks runs five weeks. Better than watching…? (interruption) Well, anyway, the ratings were bad. The ratings were 273,000 viewers. There was no contact. There was no spitting. There was no crotch grabbing. None of the usual stuff. There was no tackling, no huddling. There’s nothing. They can’t even throw the ball to each other ’cause the ball might have the virus on it.

Can’t do it. But you think that’s why the ratings were…? I mean, 270,000? The opening episode for last season’s premier issue was 705,000. So this is basically a little bit less than half. Now, a lot of people are thinking that the ratings crash is just a carryover from the kneeling and the Kaepernick controversy and so forth.

I don’t know. It may be partly that. I think they should be worried about something else. I think they ought to be worried about the fact that people just don’t care in general. This was two teams instead of the usual one. There was a new stadium involved, although they really didn’t spend much time at the new stadium.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Grab audio sound bite number 22. Trump is hopscotching four states this week, four battleground states during the week of the Democrat convention. This used to never happen before. Never. The party that was not doing its convention hibernated, just went away for a week out of consideration, good manners, all that stuff. So Trump this afternoon on the tarmac at the airport in Minneapolis.

THE PRESIDENT: Lives were destroyed. While the leadership of the Democrat Party cheered their dreams burned to the ground. This is the difference between us and Joe Biden, Mayor Jacob Frey, (boos) and Governor Tim Walz. (boos) My message to Minnesota is clear. I’m here to help you. We will bring back law and order to your community.

RUSH: This is really a good point, folks. Trump is saying here that the leadership of the Democrat Party in Minneapolis — this is after the George Floyd — they stood down. They stood aside while the city was torched, while the city featured looting and riots, businesses and homes were burned to the ground, and Democrat leaders cheered. Democrat leaders cheered the dreams of their own voters being destroyed, being burned to the ground.

And they did. They aligned themselves with the criminal element, not the innocent. And then they started defunding police talks. And so Trump is saying, if that’s what you want, go ahead and vote for it, but I’m here to help you. And we are not gonna ever applaud your life being destroyed. We’re gonna deal with the people who are trying to destroy your lives.

Here’s Marilyn in Totowa, New Jersey. Welcome. Great to have you here with us. Hello.

CALLER: Rush, it’s wonderful. Let me just say for all of us out here that we’re praying for you and that when you sound so powerful and strong it gives us all hope. I needed to say that. Okay?

RUSH: Thank you. Thank you very much.

CALLER: All right. But I’m calling because Michelle Obama is gonna get on whatever stage she’s gonna get on tonight and talk about the racial divide in this country. And she’s gonna blame President Trump. And let me tell you, I know exactly when the racial divide and the anti-police movement began. It was July 2009. Obama was president only six months. And he said, commenting on the Henry Louis Gates arrest in Cambridge, he said, quote, “I don’t know all the facts, but the Cambridge police acted stupidly.”

RUSH: Oh, yeah.

CALLER: I’m a retired prosecutor. And I have to tell you, my heart sank, and I thought, “This man is black and white. He had the chance to bring us together.”

RUSH: Oh, that was never the case. That’s exactly right. That was never the purpose. It was never gonna happen. There was too much bitterness. That’s right. Skip Gates, some cop arrested him and Obama called the cop stupid even after admitting he didn’t have all the facts, and that led to the beer summit — you remember that? — in the White House where Skip Gates came in and had a beer with the cop and everything supposedly was okay. That’s a great, great recall.