RUSH: Well, now, looky here. There’s a story — actually it’s a chart. We’ve had to convert it to text so we can do an Axios poll, an Axios story. “GOP Voters Choose Trump — Again.” According to Axios/Ipsos, a majority of Republicans still think Trump was right to challenge his election loss. They still support him. They don’t blame him for the Capitol mob. And they want him to be the nominee in 2024. This is major media Democrat failure. Trump cannot be separated from his policies and successes. That’s why he can’t be separated from his supporters. I will ‘splain when we get back.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Axios is a Millennial left-wing media publication, which means they’re a bunch of Democrats, just a bunch of young ones. They’ve got what they think is a unique format, you know, have a paragraph and then say, “Why it matters,” and then after that “Why it matters” paragraph, “What you should know in addition,” and then the next paragraph will say, “What happens if you don’t absorb this?” And then all the rest of it goes on.

It’s just different formatics, but it’s basically the same Democratic Party narrative that everybody else in the Drive-By Media is engaged in. So what they did, they went out there and they teamed up with a polling unit called Ipsos. They used to be with AP, I don’t know what happened. And they did a poll asking Republican voters their opinions of Trump.

Now, the article is mostly a chart. And, of course, a chart is worthless on a radio show. Even if I wanted to put it on the Dittocam and show you, it’s still worthless. So because of my commitment to excellence, because of my commitment to professionalism, I’ve judged this story to be too important to just ignore because it’s a chart. So, I wrote it myself. We basically converted an Axios chart to text. Because that’s what I do. I explain things with words. Other people use pictures. I use words.

Now, according to this Axios/Ipsos poll, quote, “A majority of Republicans still think Trump was right to challenge his election loss, support him, don’t blame him for the Capitol mob and want him to be the Republican nominee in 2024.”

And then Axios explains why it matters to them. They say, “Why it matters? The survey shows why Trump could run again in 2024 (and possibly win) if he isn’t convicted — or banned from holding federal office — by the Senate.”

There we have the purpose of the Axios chart and their story. They’re saying, “My God. This guy Trump has survived everything we’ve thrown at him. And these idiot Republican voters would elect him again. Oh, my God. We gotta convict this guy so he can’t run again.” But they’re not gonna have time to do it, according to Professor Dershowitz.

Now, the Axios poll divides the GOP into Trump supporters and traditional Republicans. Thirty-six percent in this story identified as Trump Republicans, 56% as traditional Republicans. What is a traditional Republican? A Romney? McCain? That’s what they want us to believe? The poll claims that 62% of Republicans overall think Trump was right to contest the election results and an even higher 69% don’t blame him for the violence at the Capitol. The poll found very little appetite for removing Trump. And among Trump supporters, only 1% favor removing him.

Now, this is a poll of Republicans. But what this tells me is that Trump is not in any danger whatsoever of being cut loose or abandoned by his supporters. In fact, it may just be the opposite. It may be that the ties that bind Trump supporters to Trump are stronger than they’ve ever been. I would not be surprised if that’s the case.

Look at this. Ninety-two percent of Trump supporters want to see him run again in 2024. Only 41% of traditional Republicans — i.e., the Romneys — want him to run. That’s still a pretty big number. So Republican voters would choose Trump again. They think Trump was right to challenge his election loss.

Now, what does all of this mean as we analyze it further? Well, that’s why I’m here. And I will tell you. It’s very simple. And while it’s simple, it’s powerful. Donald Trump cannot be separated from his policies and successes. This is among his supporters. And even among his detractors. They’re trying. They’re trying to separate Trump from his supporters. They can’t. And that’s why he can’t be separated from his supporters because he can’t be separated from his policies and, more importantly, his successes.

Calling Trump a traitor and accusing him of inciting an insurrection flies in the face of who and what Trump is. It flies in the face of what Trump supporters believe him to be. You see, folks, Donald Trump’s supporters have no doubt Donald Trump is a patriot. He is, in fact, if there is such a thing, a super patriot. There’s nobody in elected politics who is seen his loving his country any more than Donald Trump does. And I might add that there are quite a few people in elected politics who are not seen as patriotic at all, who are not seen as people who love their country.

There are more and more people in elective politics, particularly on the Democrat Party side, who think America is the problem in the world. Donald Trump supporters know, I mean it is a powerful thing to consider him a patriot, a patriot above all else. He rebuilt the military. He rebuilt the borders. He rebuilt the economy. He rebuilt trust in law enforcement. His actions — not his words, but they’re powerful too — his actions define him, just like social media is defined by grotesque attacks on speech, Trump’s actions define him. Trump’s achievements define him. Trump’s accomplishments, his efforts define him.

Washington Republicans — think Romney, McCain, et al — they can’t convince Trump supporters to abandon Trump. Why? Because Trump’s policies are part of the bond. And I’ve been talking about this bond that Trump has with his supporters since 2016. I am certain I was the first to see it. I think I saw it before Trump and his people did.

Trump is the only person who can break the bond. Nobody else created it. The media didn’t create the bond. Trump did. Only Trump can ruin himself. And he hasn’t. He hasn’t even come close, folks. Donald Trump is as conservative as his supporters. Washington Republicans do not share the policy preferences of the vast majority of Republican voters. And that’s just the way it is.

Trump delivered on his promises. Washington Republicans run from theirs. Oh, yeah, they make ’em. They are making promises during campaigns left and right. They get elected, they run away from the promises. They surrender to media pressure at the drop of a hat. Donald Trump surrenders to nobody in media and calls them fake news and challenges them each and every day.

In truth, folks, Washingtonians, the Washington political establishment, they don’t just have a Trump problem. They have people problems. They have policy problems. They don’t connect with people. They’re not even trying to. The Democrats sure as hell don’t. The Democrats have no interest in connecting with people. The Democrats want to dominate people. Democrats want to control people. Democrats want to rule. There’s no desire, they have no desire for a bond between their voters and themselves.

So they don’t connect with the people who make the country work. Not personally, not on policy. Donald Trump does. And you’re seeing the evidence. They can’t break him. They can’t break this bond. They have tried now for four years and counting. And they are unable to persuade you to abandon Donald Trump. Trump fights policy battles for the people of this country. And the results speak for themselves. And he’s loved and appreciated for it. It’s all it takes.

Now, Republicans at the national level are gonna be lost in the political woods until they accept the fact that they offer nothing to Republican and independent voters beyond the R next to their name. And I’m sorry, but the R next to the name is not enough to defeat the guy with the D next to his name. You can say it’s marketing, you can say it’s branding; you can say whatever; but the guy with the R next to his name is not gonna automatically beat the guy with the default D next to his name.

The default Democrat’s gonna win every time if he’s up against a standard, ordinary, everyday Washington Republican. Make America Great Again, MAGA, not going anywhere. You know why? ‘Cause it’s the right thing to do. Make America Great Again. Among Trump supporters, it isn’t controversial. They’re not even fighting words. But to the American left, “Make America Great Again” is reason enough to destroy the guy attempting to make it happen. That’s why Trump can’t be separated from his voters because he cannot be separated from his policies and his successes.

Now, before we go to the break, I got a couple sound bites here. And I’m a little late to this, but I still want to get to it. I want make sure that it happens on this program. You heard the name John Sullivan? Gateway Pundit’s website, they posted video of an Antifa activist named John Sullivan. This was yesterday. This was recorded after the attack on the Capitol, this guy talking about how he tries to blend into the crowd. This is a guy who was arrested, a Black Lives Matter, Antifa operative arrested for the Capitol riot, caught on tape admitting that he posed as a fake Trump supporter and a fake reporter.

CNN even interviewed this guy as a witness on the night of the riot, and he’s a phony. He’s a fake. He’s Antifa, Black Lives Matter made to look like a Trump supporter. So yesterday on the Gateway Pundit website they posted video of this guy. John Sullivan recorded after the attack on the Capitol, this guy Sullivan talking about how he tries to blend into the crowd, the portion of the video here coming up.

SULLIVAN: It’s all fake. I learned that (bleep) already. I’m gonna wear a Trump hat. I’m gonna wear a Trump hat. I bought one today. I was wearing a Trump hat at the (bleep) — at the Trump rally during the daytime ’cause. Oh, my God. (Bleep) ain’t hopping, bro. Oh, yeah, I was just a journalist. I use that all the time. “Yeah, I’m just a journalist. I’m here recording. I got my camera on my shoulder. ” Literally have my big ass camera on my shoulder right here.

RUSH: I got my camera, yeah, I got my camera on my shoulder right here. I can easily fake ’em out. I can make myself look like a journalist, make myself look a Trump supporter. So here we have this clown admitting what we all knew. Antifa, Black Lives Matter, set this up using themselves as fake Trump supporters and fake journalists. Then, over on CNN, on the night of January 6, Anderson Cooper interviewed this guy as if he was a reporter who witnessed Trump supporters rioting. Here’s Anderson Cooper.

COOPER: John, you filmed this moment on your phone. Just — can you describe what happened?

SULLIVAN: Yeah. So basically all the — the protesters kind of stormed to get into the chamber. We tried to get into, like, the main entrance right when you walk down the hallway.

RUSH: So he’s acting like a Trump supporter in this interview with Anderson Cooper, who is a journalist extraordinaire, right? I mean, this guy values his journalist credentials as much as any of them do. And he’s interviewing a fake who’s making CNN look like a bunch of idiots. This guy John Sullivan is pretending to be in this interview as if he’s a reporter, slash, Trump supporter who merely witnessed Trump supporters rioting. And they still want to maintain this fraud that Trump caused all of this? There’s too much evidence now to indicate that that didn’t happen.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I just got an email from a very, very, very good friend who said, “Rush, as usual you make a brilliant point. Political suicide comes from betraying your base, not from even overzealous efforts on behalf of the base.” I feel like I need to explain that just a little bit. “Political suicide comes from betraying your base, not from … overzealous efforts on behalf of the base,” meaning, you can go overboard.

But as long as you’re supporting the base, they’re never gonna abandon you. They’re never going to leave you stranded., “Even in a worst-case scenario, if Trump was naive in thinking some of his supporters would not get carried away, he was still working for his base.” The guy here is talking about the speech. “Even in the worst-case scenario, if Trump was naive in thinking some of his supporters wouldn’t get carried away…”

In other words, he’s making this speech. He’s encouraging people to go to the rally. If he’s naive and thinking some of them aren’t gonna go crazy down there, he’s still working for the base. He’s not abandoning them. He never abandons his base. Donald Trump never has done that. But the Republicans impeaching Trump in the House are betraying those who elected them. They’ve not yet articulated a new agenda, and they can’t.

We are to understand only that they support the Trump agenda without Trump. That’s what they want you to believe. The Romney… Well, I don’t… Ah, I don’t know if I’d throw Romney in that group. But there are some Washington Republicans who are attempting to convince you that they love the Trump agenda, they just don’t want Trump being anywhere part. Don’t fall for that, by the way. They wouldn’t know what to do with the Trump agenda.

They don’t believe it.

They don’t believe in it.

They’re trying to give Trump credit, but they could never implement the Trump agenda. They don’t believe in it. They don’t believe in the tax cut agenda. They really… They say they do. They try to make it look like they are captive to that identity. But they’re not. (sigh) So it’s an important point: “Political suicide comes from betraying your base, not from … overzealous efforts on their behalf.”

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

Rush: This is Brit Hume Wednesday night on Tucker Carlson. And Tucker’s question to Brit Hume: “Fox News is reporting that Mitch McConnell thinks impeachment will help the Republican Party get rid of Donald Trump and the stain he has left on the party. There’s got to be a reason. It doesn’t make obvious sense. And it’s not orderly and peaceful. Why are they doing it?” And here’s Brit Hume’s response.

HUME: The Republican Party, they’re saying what we don’t want is this guy hanging around in two years during the congressional elections and worst of all running for president again after that. Because, you know, he’ll pull off a segment of the Republican vote, make it unavailable to ordinary Republicans, regular Republicans, and be a curse on them. The other thing is they’re furious with him.

CARLSON: Right.

HUME: They believe in their bones that he cost them the two special elections in the state of Georgia which they manifestly should not have lost. A lot of Republicans stayed home, offended by Trump. That’s the reason the Republicans are turning away from him. They think he’s bad news politically.

RUSH: So establishment Republicans think Trump is a curse on their party. And that’s what I wanted you to hear. Brit Hume who knows establishment Republicans when he sees ’em, that’s what they’re thinking. Trump is to blame for all of this. Trump is to blame for 75 million people voting for a Republican for president. Trump is to blame for one of the greatest economies ever in this country, economic rebounds. Trump is to blame for all of these new trade deals that finally put the U.S. on the side of advantage.

Trump is responsible for all of these things. And by God they’re gonna fix it. They’re gonna get rid of Trump. They hate him. They hate Trump’s supporters, bottom line.