RUSH: I know, I know. You think they can’t go any lower, and they do. You think they can’t get any sicker than they already are, and they do. And they take us down to new depths that we didn’t think were possible to be plundered. This idea that Trump has called fallen soldiers losers and a waste of his time is just absolutely beyond the pale. And, of course, he’s out there actively denying this. So we’ve got an October Surprise in September. And it just doesn’t make any sense. Just remember all of Trump’s efforts on behalf of the VA, all of his efforts on behalf of the wounded, the wounded warriors and to make sure that they are cared for properly. If he thought these people were losers, he wouldn’t have cared one whit about what the VA was doing or how they were doing it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPTRUSH: But this story in The Atlantic, I got up today, I read this thing, and it just took the wind out of my — oh, and you want to hear something? Sorry to interrupt myself here, but this is a breaking story with all kinds of new things happening. Over on MSNBC today there was an ad. It was an ad called Vote Vets. And the ad featured parents of fallen servicemen saying, “My son was not a loser.”

Now, come on, folks. Are you trying to tell me that this is not coordinated? This news breaks last night in The Atlantic on their website, and already there is an ad made that’s running on PMSNBC featuring parents of fallen servicemen saying, “My son was not a loser”? How quickly they were able to produce a commercial corresponding with an article that just came out late last night? Either this is a record-setting, stunning turnaround for a genuine ad and a resulting genuine ad buy, or a media group is blatantly collaborating with a political campaign operation. And I have no doubts that it is the latter.

And it’s, once again, it is further evidence that the Democrats in the media are convinced Biden cannot win. Now, why would they think they could sell this? Go back to 2016 where Trump had some comments about McCain. “I don’t respect heroes that get captured. I don’t think you’re a hero if you get captured.” He never called McCain a loser or any of the other terms. And now there’s a story — since Trump is denying this, the rest of the Drive-By Media is demanding that the anonymous sources for the story in The Atlantic now come forward and identify themselves.

And you know who they think the sources include? John Kelly and John Bolton. Maggie Haberman, others in the New York Times, are demanding these anonymous sources now identify themselves, since Trump is so vociferously denying this. It is a horrible story, folks. And I don’t believe any of it for a minute. But there are the very famous comments that he made about McCain, which, for a lot of people, was the glue that made them support Trump.

You know, McCain was not the universally popular Republican that the Washington inside-the-Beltway types thought that he was. And when Trump came out and said, look, I don’t have this kind of respect for people that get captured. Those are not my kind of heroes, that was thought to be one of the most insulting things you could say, particularly because it was about McCain.

But here’s the thing about Trump. Make sure everybody remembers this. Donald Trump may be the most anti-war president alive, the most anti-war president we’ve had in our lifetimes. Now, he’s not an anti-war left-wing protester. What he hates is the needless loss of life by sending the U.S. military all over the world in operations that have nothing to do with American national security, American national interests, or American strategic interests. He’s not a believer in sending soldiers all over the world just to make sure people make money in the process.

He is the only person in Washington who looks at war as a losing proposition for America. Unless we’re threatened, unless we are directly threatened, unless our national interests are at stake, he doesn’t believe in using the American military as a nationwide, worldwide police force. And he is in the process of trying to bring soldiers home from as many places around the world as he can. Not because he thinks there’s losers. Not because he thinks they’re incompetent. Not because he thinks they’re stupid and dumb to get killed in battle.

He’s like every other president. The worst aspect of the job is having to call the parents and family members of service members who have fallen in battle. He is a commander-in-chief who shows his support of the military by not sending them around the world into quagmires to unwinnable wars. He does not favor keeping American troops in dangerous places simply so the American military-industrial complex can have a source of income that never ends. (interruption) What do you mean, what does war require? Requires arms. Requires uniforms. The more you have the military deployed, the more money it takes to deploy them. And the more conflicts you put the United States military in, the more ammunition, the more weapons and all that that you need.

Now, Trump has rebuilt the military in hope of never having to use it so that it’s a gigantic deterrent. But the letting of military contracts, for crying out loud. That’s one of the greatest sources of wealth and income in this country. It’s what Eisenhower meant when he warned of the military-industrial complex. The industries that make the agents of war, the weapons, the ammunition, everything that’s needed, the vehicles. They, of course, love new contracts. They love an expanding military. They love a military that’s constantly deployed because they need equipment and weapons and ammunition. And, in many cases, we deploy troops around the world simply to keep that supply line going for people.

Trump is dead set against it. Trump has fought like crazy to get money necessary to build up all aspects of the military while not losing a step in the world. But, remember, the Washington establishment, the deep state, it is full of people who want to go back to the way things were. They want to go back to where the military-industrial complex was something that was constant. The military was always in the process of being deployed and then replenished. The U.S. military was everywhere in the world, whether we needed to be anywhere or not. That’s what the swamp wants to go to back to.

Something else. The Pelosi hair salon story was getting legs. The Pelosi hair salon story was doing damage. They had to shift focus, and Plugs was not helping himself out there. Plugs is wandering aimlessly in vain search of a thought the more he goes out and speaks. They had to do something to change the subject. The Republican convention was awesome. Everything. Trump’s rally last night was one for the ages. So they push the story out that Trump hates the military now, despite the fact he’s the only member of the administration that’s done what he’s done for veterans via the VA. He has. And he’s made a big deal about it.

I know that this was a gut punch for Trump because the U.S. military features people he loves the most, features people he respects the most. And now to have to hear that he thinks they’re a bunch of — that people who have died, who have given their lives, the ultimate sacrifice, to have to get up and read that people are saying you think they’re losers and not worthy of any respect. You know, this is can make you sad for the country. This is just the death knell for journalism. This whole thing is made up. Nobody can find any facts to back this up. The sources are all anonymous. And this is not the last such effort that will be mounted to get rid of Trump.

This is the kind of thing that’s gonna continue. There’s gonna be more and more of this as it appears that Plugs just isn’t capable of pulling this off.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: If Trump had actually called a bunch of American heroes buried in foreign cemeteries a bunch of losers and other insults, it wouldn’t have taken this long for that news to hit. They wouldn’t have waited. They would not have been able to wait. They wouldn’t have been able to contain themselves. If Trump had said, “No, I’m not gonna go to that cemetery.

“A bunch of losers in there.” What do you think? And all these people are around him? “No, I’m not getting on that helicopter. Hell, no. There just a bunch of losers in that cemetery.” That story would not have kept. Whoever had heard that would not have been able to wait, no matter how much discipline they had. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was there.

The Atlantic story on @realDonaldTrump is total BS. I was actually there and one of the people part of the discussion – this never happened. I have sat in the room when our President called family members after their sons were killed in action and it was heart-wrenching…

— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) September 4, 2020

She was present during this time frame where Trump supposedly insulted dead American troops, and this what she tweeted: “The Atlantic story on @realDonaldTrump is total BS. I was actually there and one of the people part of the discussion – this never happened. I have sat in the room when our President called family members after their sons were killed in action and it was heart-wrenching.

“These were some of the moments I witnessed the President show his heart and demonstrate how much he respects the selfless and courageous men and women of our military. I am disgusted by this false attack.” Don’t forget, this is the guy who doesn’t want to send them around the world to die needlessly. When I say he may be the most active anti-war president we’ve had, I’m not exaggerating.

He’s not anti-war in the sense the left is. The left is anti-war, anti-war. Trump is anti-needless, anti-waste of time, anti-waste of treasure/waste-of-resources war. So Trump has been accused of treason! He’s been accused of demanding illegal quid pro quos with a foreign country. He’s been accused of killing 180,000 Americans who died with a virus.

Now he’s accused of insulting dead American war heroes. None of these other charges have been true. None of these other allegations from meddling in the election in 2016 with the Russians to trying to arrange some sort of quid pro quo with the new president of Ukraine to not caring how many Americans died because of the virus.

It’s all been lies. Every allegation against Donald Trump has been lies from Democrats, from deep state Democrats, from fake news media Democrats, from elected hypocrite Democrats, and even some Republicans thrown in. I hope the American people are on to this pattern of deceit.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: It’s Open Line Friday, Rush Limbaugh, executing assigned host duties flawlessly, zero mistakes. There never are. Here is Samuel in Minneapolis. Great to have you, sir. I’m glad you waited.

CALLER: (stereotypical Russian accent) “Mr. Big!” Longtime listener. Great to speak with you.

RUSH: Thank you, sir. That’s exactly right. (impression) “Mr. Big of the vast right-wing conspiracy.”

CALLER: And you are correct again by the people in The Atlantic using those words that the president would never use. But that’s what they do think, and they do use.

RUSH: You know, that is the key. That is exactly how they think of the military! In fact, John Kerry… You remember John Kerry was speaking to some military? He was at Pasadena City College. This is during the George Bush presidency, during the second term, and Kerry’s out there talking to a bunch of students at Pasadena City College.

He said (summarized), “You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” That’s John Kerry, who believed that American soldiers were terrorists. John Kerry and John Murtha…

The late John Murtha, Democrat, Pennsylvania, running around accusing Marines in Iraq of terrorizing Iraqi women and children, agreeing with the premise that American Marines in Haditha were terrorists, all to criticize the American military. Samuel here is exactly right. This is what they think. I’ll tell you something else, folks.

If the president had said these things at a military cemetery, there would have been numerous senior military officers around him, and he knows that there’s a lot of people in the military that don’t like him. Many of those senior officers do not like him. They are not fans. If he would have said what he’s alleged to have said — that these buried heroes are nothing but losers and suckers — those words would have been splashed all over the front pages from those military officers in less than 24 hours.

They wouldn’t have waited two years. This did not happen. This is what the left thinks of the military. Make no mistake about it. And they always have. Here is the president. Grab sound bite number 24. He hates to bring up the John Bolton book. This is in the Oval Office moments ago…

THE PRESIDENT: I hate to bring up this book, but John Bolton — no friend of mine — he wrote a book, and he talks about this incident, and he doesn’t mention it. And, frankly, a lot of reporters — even some pretty bad ones — they read that and that was the end of the story. No, there’s nobody that considers the military — and especially people that have given their lives in the military. To me they’re heroes. To me they’re heroes. It’s even hard to believe how they could do it. And I say that. The level of bravery. And to me they are absolute heroes.

RUSH: Mr. President, just remind ’em of everything you’ve done for the VA. I mean, there isn’t anybody… He single-handedly has revived the VA for the benefit of wounded warriors — and now, you know, there are people in the Drive-By Media who want this to be true so bad. But Trump is so vociferously denying this that you’ve got New York Times reporters and CNN reporters begging…

There are four anonymous sources, and they are begging these four people to come forward. They are begging them to come forward and identify themselves. They so want this to be true! Even Little Brian Stelter at CNN (paraphrased): “It’s time for you sources to put up or shut up!” With Trump denying it so strongly, they need the proof, and there isn’t any yet.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic says that the anonymous sources are afraid that if they come forward, they would get “angry tweets.” They don’t want to come forward ’cause they get angry tweets. So John Kelly and Mad Dog Mattis afraid of tweets?

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Jeffrey Goldberg is the editor at The Atlantic, the editor-in-chief. This is the publication that ran the story last night that Trump has called fallen soldiers dead and buried in military cemeteries around the world losers and suckers. So now the Drive-By Media, since Trump is denying this so forcefully, the Drive-By Media’s demanding — there’s four anonymous sources. Four. And I’m sure that that number is what they are relying on to give the story credibility, as opposed to one or two. “Yeah, man, we’ve got four.”

Well, the Drive-Bys desperately want this to be true. But they’re not confident for some reason. Normally a story like this would hit, and the New York Times and the Washington Post would pick it up and run with it even allowing that they haven’t confirmed it themselves but still run it. They would play their part in the smear. They would eagerly want to play a role in the smear. They’re not. They are desperately asking for these anonymous sources to come forward and identify themselves.

It is believed the Drive-By Media knows who they are. They think that two of the anonymous sources are Mad Dog Mattis, former chairman of joint cheaps, and John Kelly, the former chief of staff. Kelly a former Marine. Mad Dog Mattis a former military guy. Trump is quoting John Bolton and his book, said Bolton didn’t even talk about this in his book. And Bolton would have known. And believe me, if Bolton would have heard this or heard about it, it would have been in his book because his book would have been the first to make mention of this.

So, anyway, the Drive-Bys are now urging these anonymous sources to come forward. There is a growing call for the anonymous sources who were cited to come forward and defend their claims against President Trump. Secretary of state Mike Pompeo is demanding that they come forward. However, despite other media outlets confirming the reporting of editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, a story this explosive and so close to the 2020 election’s getting intense scrutiny from members of the Drive-By Media.

Max Boot, a Never Trumper, columnist, Washington Post, said: “Since Trump is now denying what Goldberg has reported, his sources have a duty to go on the record and tell the voters firsthand what they saw and heard.”

CBS News reporter Kathryn Watson said: “The sources in the Atlantic story should go on the record, if they want people to believe them over Trump. Otherwise, the president’s supporters will largely disbelieve this story. We have an important election coming up. People should have all possible information plainly before voting for their commander-in-chief.”

Maggie Haberman, New York Times, “If only John Kelly could say on the record what happened. John Kelly should confirm the reporting.” So they clearly think Kelly is among those four anonymous source. So here’s Jeffrey Goldberg, he’s editor-in-chief, and he’s the author of the story. He was on CNN’s New Day today. And here, listen to this.

GOLDBERG: They don’t want to be inundated with angry tweets and — and — and all the rest. And we push hard. And, uh, that’s why you have to sort of do this reporting with even, uh, more belt-and-suspenders approach.

RUSH: What?

GOLDBERG: Dotted I’s and crossed T’s and find multiple sources for it. But —

RUSH: Oh.

GOLDBERG: — ultimately — and, you know, each time this is a judgment call, right?

RUSH: Right. Right.

GOLDBERG: Does the public interest in needing this information outweigh the ambiguities or the difficulties of anonymous sourcing. And in this case I decided that I felt I knew this information well enough from high enough sources and multiple sources that I thought we should put it out.

RUSH: They’re afraid of tweets, folks. John Kelly, Mad Dog Mattis afraid of angry tweets and all the rest. That’s what the author of the story is saying. They don’t want to be inundated with angry tweets and all — come on. They don’t have to read them. They don’t have to even see them. They don’t have to ever go to Twitter. They don’t have to open any source that’s gonna reprint what Twitter said.

Are you kidding me that military heroes from the United States are afraid of being inundated with angry tweets? You know, folks, there’s a part of me that does believe this because so many of these inside-the-Beltway denizens believe that Twitter is America? But even with that, this is just beyond comprehension.

They’re afraid of tweets. They’re afraid of being inundated with negative tweets. “And so we have to just rely on the fact that we have our anonymous sources, and I decided that I felt I knew this information well enough from high enough sources and multiple sources.” We haven’t been told the truth from these people for four years, folks. And there’s no reason to think that we’re now getting it.

We haven’t been told the truth about the Trump-Russia meddling scandal. We weren’t told the truth about the whistleblower in the Ukraine story, we haven’t been told the truth about anything. We have been lied to so often by so many about so much that it would be senseless to start believing stuff now, we get something like this so close to the election?

He said the anonymous sources were ambiguous. So he, the writer, had to put it together. Now, how could you be ambiguous about what they’re claiming? Either Trump said that fallen soldiers buried in military cemeteries are losers and suckers or he didn’t. There isn’t anything ambiguous about this. But this clown, Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic writes the story, says, “Well, the anonymous sources were a little ambiguous. I had to connect some dots here. I had to put it together.” How can there be any ambiguity about this?

Grab sound bite number 8. Here is President Trump. This is last night after getting back from the rally at Latrobe.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

Oh, by the way, John Bolton has now said, “Trump never said it. He never said that buried soldiers in cemeteries are losers and suckers.” Bolton said, “If he’d a said it, it would have been in my book.” (chuckling)

Okay, folks, we’re out of time and I have just enough time to remind you, treatment week is next week. And if it goes the way we have it planned, I’ll be back here on Thursday. It’s always the objective. It’s always the objective. And we’re gonna try to make it the objective next week well. Labor Day’s a holiday anyway. Tuesday and Wednesday are the actual days off. Mark Steyn will be here. Thank you so much. Come back and wrap it up right after this. Don’t go away yet.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I think the Democrats are much, much less confident of their so-called victory than they are leading us to believe, and I think all of this panic… All these things they’re doing equals panic, and that’s what it means.