RUSH: You know, folks, Trump is in Doral right now, his properties, golf properties, resort, and he’s engaging in Latinos for Trump roundtable. Now, granted, it is a campaign event. It’s an outreach for Hispanic votes. Later today the president has a meeting in Atlanta, Black Economic Empowerment, the Platinum Plan. And then he’s got a rally tonight, Make America Great Again rally in Newport News, Virginia. And I know these are campaign events, but still the thing is he’s out there. He is out there. He is asking for every vote. He’s making the case for himself.

And it just strikes me, all of this talk about divisiveness and the lack of unity. It’s not because of him. I’ll tell you, he is out trying to unify the country the best he knows how. Personally, he’s out literally talking to these people. And if any of these events — I just have to tell you — if any of these events were covered properly that Trump does, Trump is out literally attempting to make everything better for everybody. That is the objective. That’s what Make America Great Again means to him.

And, if this were even remotely covered fairly, the country would be so much better off. The national mood would be so much better. The national attitude would be so much better. And the country would be much more unified. But the Drive-By Media, the Democrats, no way — and I understand it — no way is that gonna happen. That kind of coverage, Trump’s just not going to get it. But I bring it up only to say that with just a few minor shifts in news coverage, we could be a totally different country, with a much more positive outlook on the future.

But since that’s not a concern to people on the left. You know, there’s something else. I don’t know how effective it is. I’m really spending a lot of time on what is effective and what isn’t effective. For example, I hear people say — and this isn’t a criticism, ’cause you’ll probably have names come to mind when I say this. But when I hear people say that the Democrats’ motivation is simply ’cause of power, all they want is power, I wonder how effective that is? ‘Cause isn’t that the objectively of everybody in politics, is power?

And in some ways power isn’t a bad thing. I mean, I don’t mind Trump having power. And I didn’t mind George W. Bush Having power. I didn’t mind Ronald Reagan having power. I do mind a bunch of communist socialists having power. But to just chalk up the motivation for the Democrats to do what they’re doing is ’cause they just want power — it’s worse than that. It’s more than that. And it’s not true in the way we mean it about Trump. He really wants to be inclusive, and let me play a little sound bite of Trump at this thing in Doral just to show you how engaging and how humorous the guy is and how likable he is.

This is a Latinos for Trump roundtable. I’m not under any illusion. It’s a campaign event. But still it is the president reaching out to a group of people who the media want you to believe hate him or that he hates or that he doesn’t respect because of racism. Here’s a little bit of what he had to say.

THE PRESIDENT: The opposition has not been good to Hispanics at all. He’s been very bad to Hispanics. But I’m very happy to be back at Doral, it’s great. It’s a good, good location, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yes sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Good location.

CROWD: (Laughter)

THE PRESIDENT: And at least I see my properties, even if just for a short period of time. But I really appreciate you’re all being here and you’re all champions. You’re all champions, Jorge. It’s a great group.

CROWD: (Cheering and applause)

THE PRESIDENT: I’m thrilled to be back at Doral with so many patriotic Americans who are part of our extraordinary national movement, and that’s Latinos for Trump.

CROWD: (Cheering and applause).

RUSH: Right on. Right on. Right on. I just wanted you to hear a little bit of that.

I’ve also had somebody say to me, “Rush, I think you’re missing this business about Biden hiding. I think you’re totally missing it.”

I said, “What do you mean?”

“You think Biden’s hiding ’cause he’s scared. You think Biden’s hiding ’cause he’s tired. You think Biden’s hiding ’cause of dementia. You think Biden’s hiding ’cause he’s doing debate prep. You think Biden’s hiding because he can’t last more than 20 minutes in public. I don’t think that’s why Biden’s hiding.”

“Okay. Why do you think Biden’s hiding?”

“I think Biden is hiding because I’m convinced that Biden’s handlers believe the polling and believe the media and that he and Kamala Harris are gonna win in this big landslide and they don’t have to campaign and they don’t have to run the risk of screwing up, you know, having things happen that would impact negatively on them. They don’t have to campaign, Rush, ’cause they’re so far ahead. That’s why.

“I think you’re missing it all. I think you’re whistling Dixie, Rush. I think you’re trying to make yourself feel better about the situation. But I don’t think it has anything to do with Biden’s mental this or that. I just think they really think they’re gonna win. I think they think they’re gonna win in a landslide. And the only thing they can do by showing up anywhere is cause trouble. They can give themselves trouble. They can make a gaffe. They could get something terribly wrong. The safest play for them is to not say anything, not to go anywhere because they don’t want to make a mistake.”

And this guy said something else. He said, “Rush, if you’re an average, ordinary American, you don’t know that Biden’s hiding anyway because Biden’s running so many ads that it looks like he’s everywhere. It looks like he’s in Wisconsin, looks like he’s in Michigan, looks like he’s in Ohio, looks like he’s in — take your pick of whatever state. They’re running ads. It looks like he’s there.”

I said, “You really think that the American people think because the ads that Biden is actively out campaigning?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“But there aren’t any events.”

“Doesn’t matter, Rush. They see the ads.”

So what do you think of that theory? They believe it. Just like Hillary did. What this guy is telling me is that it’s a replay of 2016. Hillary didn’t go anywhere. She didn’t go to Wisconsin. She didn’t go to any of these battleground states. They all believed the polling. They all believed she was cruising for a landslide win, and it is stunning the way that history may be repeating itself with the Biden campaign.

(interruption) Yeah, yeah, I’m gonna get to the Steele dossier stuff in just a second.

Grab audio sound bite number 1. This morning on CBS, Gayle King talking to the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. She said to Pelosi, “You had earlier suggested that you didn’t think Biden should debate. Do you still feel that way?”

PELOSI: I feel — not that I don’t think he’ll be excellent. I just think that the president has no fidelity to fact or truth and actually in his comments the last few days, no fidelity to the Constitution of the United States. He and his henchmen are a danger with their comments, are a danger to our democracy. So I don’t want to give him — you know, why bother?

RUSH: What is this “Trump and his henchmen”? Who are Trump’s henchmen? Would I be one of ’em? Would I be one of Trump’s henchmen? (interruption) All right. So Pelosi is sending a message. She’s telling Plugs don’t do it. Why? The debate is scheduled for Tuesday. Why on the Friday before the debate would a Speaker of the House go out there and once again suggest to Biden that he not do it?

Particularly on the basis that Trump is a liar, that Trump doesn’t have any fidelity with the truth, that Trump doesn’t have any fidelity to the Constitution, that Trump and his henchmen are out there saying things. “They are a danger with their comments.” Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous? “Trump and his henchmen are a danger this country,” so that’s why you shouldn’t go debate?

Now, I’m just gonna tell you: I still don’t think this debate’s gonna happen, and I’ll go back to my friend who thinks that we’re all missing it, who thinks that that Biden is holed up and putting a lid on his campaign because they think they’ve got it won. They got it in the bag. They’re gonna win in a landslide. They believe the polling data. No reason under the sun to go out and campaign.

If that’s true, then there sure as hell isn’t any reason to go debate. If they think they’ve got this wrapped up — if they believe their polling data and that they are cruising to a landslide victory — then why debate? And if that’s why they’re not making any campaign appearances — not because Plugs can’t do it, it’s because why introduce potential negatives — well, you can’t introduce a bigger potential negative than an hour-and-a-half debate.

So Pelosi is out there again suggesting that he not do it. Now, note her reasoning does not include anything preventative like a health problem or somebody in his near orbit coming down with COVID-19, necessitating a quarantine by Plugs. It could be any number of ways. But I still believe that they’re going to do try to renege on the debate, especially if my buddy here is right that they think they got it in the bag.

“It’s in the bag. That’s right. It’s gonna be a landslide! The only thing that can happen by going out and doing appearances is bad stuff.” Well, the debate would be that in spades.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Bruce in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Thank you for calling, sir. Great to have you here with us.

CALLER: Hey, Rush, how you doing today?

RUSH: I’m fine, sir, thank you.

CALLER: Hey, I just want to know, Biden has to debate Trump. If he doesn’t debate Trump on the issues, he’s gonna lose. And when he goes out on the stage on Tuesday, within 15 minutes it’s gonna be done. He has 47 years of failures. Trump can sit there all day, talk about Biden’s past, his, you know, domestic policy, foreign policy failures. He’s been a failure his whole career.

RUSH: He’s been a failure his whole career and Trump’s gonna be able to expose that rather handily, you think?

CALLER: Yeah, I could expose it.

RUSH: You could?

CALLER: Yes, easily. You want to talk about —

RUSH: I don’t mean to be putting you on the spot here. Would you like to give it a shot? I’d like to hear how you would do it. Just a couple seconds, couple minutes, couple of points. How would you do it?

CALLER: We’ll start with the ’94 crime bill where he basically put minorities, at a greater number, in prison than had ever been done before, and Trump has actually just fixed it now.

RUSH: Well, but that was actually the Clinton administration crime bill. What was Biden’s role in it?

CALLER: He was U.S. Senator, was he not?

RUSH: So he voted for it, he was in favor of it?

CALLER: There you go.

RUSH: There you go.

CALLER: Yes, he was. Okay.

RUSH: And would you bring up the fact that he was a good friend of all those segregationist southern senators that he’s praised to the hilt?

CALLER: Thanks for the leading question. Of course. You could make a commercial of everything he said from the seventies up to the first debate, all the racial things that he said to —

RUSH: Do you think that it’s possible that Trump could go into one of these debates overconfident, think it’s gonna be simple to knock Plugs and his demented state out of the ballpark, maybe not as easy as you think it could be?

CALLER: No, no. Trump is not a politician. Trump is smarter than that. Trump will be prepared.

RUSH: All right.

CALLER: That’s why he won in 2016.

RUSH: So you think Biden has to debate, there is no excuse. There’s nothing that could happen that would allow him to escape the debate and still maintain his polling lead?

CALLER: What polling lead? I don’t understand — don’t get into the polls because I don’t believe the polls.

RUSH: I’m just telling you what the polls say. I mean, the polls say he is way up everywhere.

CALLER: Like in Florida?

RUSH: Like in the battleground states. He’s up in Wisconsin. He’s up in Michigan. He’s up in Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania. He’s up everywhere.

CALLER: Well, I think they’re wrong. Just to let you know. I know they’re wrong.

RUSH: All right. Okay. (crosstalk) I’m sorry. What was that?

CALLER: If he does not show up at the debate — for three debates, he will lose ’cause America —

RUSH: Oh, I guarantee you, there are not gonna be three. Ha. There aren’t gonna be three of these things. There’s no — (interruption) What’s that? (interruption) I know. Well, I’m out on a limb saying there isn’t gonna be one. (interruption) I still maintain, like this guy’s calling here from Harrisburg, “You’re wrong, Rush. He’s gotta debate. He’s gotta debate. If he doesn’t go out and debate, he’s finished. He’s gotta debate.”

I know that’s the conventional wisdom. We’ll just have to see. What do you think Pelosi’s talking about today on CBS? Pelosi’s out there, “I don’t think he should debate.”

“Why not, Madam Speaker?”

(imitating Pelosi) “Because Trump doesn’t tell the truth. ‘Cause Trump doesn’t have a relationship with the truth. When it comes to the truth, Trump is really, really mean. Trump has no fidelity with the truth. Trump has affairs with people other than the truth. You can’t debate somebody that lies all the time.”

Oh, you can’t? Why would she say this? Why would Pelosi be out there four days before the debate urging Plugs not to do it? Particularly on the basis that he’s entirely capable, it’s that Trump is impossible to defeat because Trump is a lying skunk orange man.

Okay, folks, look. I don’t mind — see, here’s the thing. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. It doesn’t happen much. So it doesn’t cause me to lose any self-esteem when it happens. In fact, there’s a part of me that thinks it’s good for me psychologically to be wrong now and then so that I don’t think of myself as invincible. And if I’m wrong about this, then I’ll be wrong about it.

But I will double down on it. I will tell you I don’t think — and I’m not even gonna issue any caveats. I don’t think — I could say I don’t think there’s gonna be a debate Tuesday. I can say I don’t think there’s gonna be a debate Tuesday night. I don’t think there’s going to be a debate, period, between Trump and Biden.

Let me ask you this. Suppose something happens and Biden just can’t do it, oh, but wants to be there so bad and they offer Kamala Harris as a substitute. And thereby put it on Trump to say “yes” or “no.” Why are you shaking your head “no” to that? You don’t think these people are capable of this? You know, it’s no wonder, despite 30 years of telling people who the left in this country is, who the Democrats are, my own staff still doesn’t understand who they are and what they’re capable of. Man, it’s frustrating sometimes.