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Aug. 6, 2015 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:41
August 6, 2015, Thursday, Hour #1
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Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
And here we are, ladies and gentlemen, revved and ready to go.
The Rush Limbaugh program and the EIB network.
Here at the widely known, respected and admired Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
Here's the phone number if you want to be on the program.
It's 800-282-2882.
And the email address, L. Rushbo at EIBNet.com.
Okay, so we have a big debate tonight.
Excuse me, folks.
We have a big debate tonight, 9 o'clock, with the pregame meal starting at 5.
That's the pre-debate.
So you've got seven guys in that debate, seven people in that debate, and you've got the big mama debate at 9 o'clock.
And I'm curious to how many people are going to watch this thing.
Now, let's look at all the variables here.
A, it's August.
B, I mean, let's be honest here.
It's the Republican Party.
I mean, not exactly the most popular bunch of people right now.
C, aside from Trump, does anybody know anybody else's name?
Megan Kelly, big tune-in factor there.
Trump, big tune-in factor there.
But on the other side of it, this country's sick.
America is sick.
And people know it.
And the Republican Party, in many people's view, is the only, maybe the last best hope to reverse this illness that this country is suffering and maybe save it from being terminal.
And because of that and because of the curiosity factor, I think the tune in could be huge.
Now, Fox has a big enough base audience that the ratings tonight ought to be good anyway.
But some people think could be a record setter.
I mean, it could be big for a lot of the obvious reasons.
They were even talking about it today on what is this live with Kelly Rippa and Michael Strahan.
I mean, the pop culture's even talking about it.
Here, listen.
And look, folks, just setting this up.
Remember now, we can't do everything in the opening monologue.
We can't do, it takes three hours for the whole show.
I know.
I'm wondering if Jeb Bush is going to apologize to Trump.
I'm wondering if we're going to see this.
We've also, somebody, the Clinton camp leaked, that they called Trump, that Bill Clinton called Trump and urged him to do this after Trump said back on June 28th that he'd not talk to the Clintons.
The Clintons have leaked, that Bill called Trump.
But do we also think that Bill might have called Jeb?
I mean, Bill's close to the bushes.
Bill could be calling all these people and telling them to go for it, to urge them.
Who knows?
This is politics.
People play tricks.
There's gamesmanship all over the place going on.
Try this headline.
Big donors warn candidates take Trump out.
The big money people have told Rubio and Jeb and some of the others that you've got to get rid of Trump tonight.
We're tired of this.
We're getting worried.
This is a big distraction.
We pulling your strings and you take Trump out tonight.
That's the headline.
It's in the D.C. Whispers webpage.
Though the Fox News promos state that it's a debate of Republican candidates, most of the network's on-air personalities have admitted publicly it's turned into the Donald Trump show.
And that reality is not sitting well with the power brokers in the back rooms of the GOP.
And those power brokers are the money people.
They are the donors and they are the bundlers.
They are the fundraisers.
And they are the people that tell the party when to jump, when to sit, when to talk, when to stand mute, and so forth.
And they are getting worried that Trump is co-opting their grand scheme to get control of the United States Treasury, which is what I think the purpose of elections has become these days.
I mean, just to speak to you in shorthand, and I mean both parties.
I think it's, I think, it's a desire to be in charge of the money.
And that's the, it's clearly the purpose of the donors.
I mean, the donors donate because they want favorable policy for their businesses, their bottom lines, or what have you.
This cronyism is something that, well, it didn't start with Obama, but I mean, it's really now dug its tentacles deeply into our government with Obama.
And it is seen as something that a lot of people would like to deepen and enrich.
And so the money people call the shots, apparently, in the Republican Party.
And the word's gone out.
They've made it clear to these campaign consultants and the political operatives that Trump cannot be allowed to win the debate tonight.
Trump cannot be seen as winning the debate tonight.
In fact, according to the D.C. Whispers, some of these people are said to have taken an even more aggressive stance by indicating Trump's Republican rivals are to take him out tonight.
And by take him out, you know what it means, it means humiliate him, embarrass him, dwarf him, whatever, make it impossible for Trump to continue beyond tonight.
Now, if I'm one of these Republicans and I got these big money donors calling me up and commanding me and ordering me to take him, it's, well, you're going to tell me how to do this?
What do you think we've been trying to do here for the past three or four weeks or two months?
You want to tell me how to do this?
I always love it.
The people behind the scenes never go on stage, never really get in the arena, telling everybody in it what to do and how to do it.
You take Trump out.
You make sure.
The point is, they want Trump's credibility, his personality, whatever it is that's attracting people.
They want it damaged tonight.
Because that indicates it's proof positive that Trump is not part of the cabal that is running the Republican Party.
On the Jeb Bush apology, I mean, it's right here to political magazine.
Glenn Thrush has a piece, how Jeb and the GOP got trumped.
But that headline doesn't tell you at all what's in this story.
Second page, paragraph, Jeb Bush talking to some operatives.
Seriously, what's this guy's problem?
He's talking about Trump.
What's this guy's problem?
He asked one party donor he ran into recently, according to accounts provided by several sources close to Bush.
And he went on to describe the publicity scene.
That's right.
Those three insults are quoted, attributed to Jeb Bush talking to a donor about Trump.
Yes, it's the first time I've ever said the word.
You think we should beep it?
You did beep it.
Okay.
Okay, well, here's the, they beeped me what I said.
folks.
In other words, they deleted what I said.
They used the delay.
But I didn't say anything.
I was simply quoting Jeb.
So I'll go through it again.
It's just three words.
Jeb Bush talking to a donor.
What's with this guy?
What's his problem?
Talking about Bush.
He went on to describe Trump as a buffoon, as a clown, and a butthole.
Only he didn't say but.
Now, what about civility, folks?
We keep hearing that the Republican Party must be civil, that we can't get into the gutter like this.
Yet we can't start talking this way.
This is not, the moderates don't like hearing stuff.
When the moderates here talk like that and the independents, they hear talk like that, they just run right back to the Democrat Party, right?
I mean, we will not talk that way about Obama.
We don't have a Republican calling him a buffoon.
And we don't have, I've not heard of Republicans calling him a clown.
And certainly I haven't heard any Republican calling him a butthole.
But Jeb Bush, it's quoted in the politico as talking about and describing Trump that way.
Now, I must tell you, folks, we here on talk radio are lectured to practically every day for causing incendiary rhetoric to be introduced into the public political dialogue.
And we are tut-tutted, and we are warned, and we are cautioned, and we are criticized for being so base.
And I'm talking about the genre talk, Ritten, not me specifically, but it has happened.
We are warned that this is harmful.
And we are told that this hurts the image and damages the brand.
And this kind of talk is not.
Meanwhile, McCain can run around and talk about people that support Trump and Arizona, call them crazies.
And that's okay.
And now we've got Jeb in the politico characterizing Trump this way.
And I was just wondering, what about the civility?
That's not civil.
That's not polite.
That's not compromised.
That's not showing we can govern.
That's not reaching across the aisle.
That's certainly not bipartisan.
We don't deal with our political opponents that way.
We don't have political enemies.
We have opponents.
We don't deal with them that way.
That's coarse.
It's uncivil.
It's beneath us.
And yet.
So I wonder if some of the moralists in our media will suggest that Jeb should apologize.
Because this is simply, this is not what conservatism is, and this is not who conservatives are and so forth.
Yes, I'm ladling it on here a little thick, folks, but I'm doing so on purpose.
Sometimes you have to to make a point.
So big donors telling GOP frontrunners, get rid of Trump, take Trump out tonight, the big money getting nervous.
Jeb, the political story is about how the GOP got Trumped.
I mean, that's their politico headline, and they detail Jeb's theories and philosophies when Trump came up on the scene and popped up and started to run, began to run.
Just shut up.
Don't say a word.
Don't react to it.
That was the advice he got.
And that was what his instincts were.
Just don't react to it.
It's going to be short-lived.
Trump's going to step in it.
He's going to say something embarrassing.
None of that's happened.
All that's happened is that Trump's popularity continues to grow.
And by the way, something else these people are noticing.
In the last week, all of a sudden, Trump is being described in ways that were not used.
Terms not used to describe him over a week ago, such as presidential, substantive.
Trump hadn't insulted anybody in a week.
He hadn't called anybody a loser.
He hasn't talked about Mexican rapists.
None of that stuff in a full week.
He has advanced, he's put out, it's in his book, but he has released his flat tax plan.
And it's serious.
He released a flat tax plan.
And that's another thing.
Punditry and some media people are now beginning to describe Trump as serious.
Meaning, you can't, I've read so far five Maya Culpa pieces, different drive-bys, apologizing.
The most recent was Chris DeLizza, the Washington Post.
You know, I didn't think Trump was going to go anywhere.
I knew Trump was going to bomb out.
I thought Trump wasn't even serious.
I've got to take it all back.
I apologize.
I was wrong.
Five of these in the past few days.
Media people who predicted Trump was a flash in the pan, wasn't going to last, was going to embarrass himself, wasn't even serious about it, now beginning to ask, can this guy win?
Nervously, beginning to ask.
Can this guy, Jeff Greenfield is among them too.
And they've all noticed that in the past week, Trump hasn't been the Trump that he was prior.
And now it's Jeb Bush throwing insults around, according to the politico, again.
Very uncivil, don't you know?
And of course, the debate tonight.
Here's a story.
Washington Post, the Ivory Tower, weighing in.
How in the world do you debate Donald Trump?
Here's what the experts prescribe.
And the experts are David Birdsell of Baruch College, David Kimmel, Yale Debate Society, Angela Minor, Attorney, Washington Howard University Law Professor, Ben Voth, the Director of Forensics, Professor Communication, SMU Dallas.
And these are the experts that are writing here, being interviewed about how you would debate Trump.
Now, we know some things are going to happen here tonight, folks, just because of the law of averages.
We know that there will be at least one candidate who says something that destroys them.
There's going to be somebody that steps in it.
It always happens.
You've got 10 people on a stage and you've got seven people prior to them in the pregame meals, you get 17 people here.
But let's just, let's address the 9 o'clock debate, the primetime debate.
You know, somebody is going to say something that's going to doom them.
Just happens.
Somebody is going to end up with the soundbite of the night.
Somebody is going to get the biggest applause, even after the moderators have admonished the audience not to applause.
Somebody's going to get big laughs.
Somebody is going to really deliver a knockout blow to another candidate.
There's all kinds of things like these that we know are going to happen.
And they're all exciting.
Say what you will, but people love seeing people self-destruct in public.
The gaffe that ends a career.
People will tune in just to see that.
Who is it going to be and what is it going to be?
Others will tune in to see who ends up winning, who the media says wins, who comes up with the best, most pithy soundbite, and who, after the first round, can officially be said is finished.
There's all kinds of things, and these are all going to happen to one degree or another tonight.
I have to take a break here.
And it's also going to be parts of it are going to be boring.
It can't help but be.
Moderators are going to at first try to maintain strict control.
They won't succeed for very long.
It's going to become freewheeling.
I don't care what these people say right now.
And the focus is going to be on Trump and how he deals with all this.
He set himself up, low expectations.
I know the clock.
I know.
I know.
Okay.
Of the candidates, ladies and gentlemen, who are said to have been given the biggest anti-Trump marching orders is Marco Rubio.
Apparently, big donors have gone to Rubio with the greatest sense of urgency and have told Rubio.
It's not just Rubio, by the way, that the big donors have approached.
But this particular story says that of the candidates who are said to have been given their anti-Trump marching orders last night, one was apparently told with the greatest sense of urgency was Senator Marco Rubio.
Okay, so we got Jeb here and these personal insults of Trump in this wanton incivility.
It's just so unlike the GOP base, GOP establishment.
Could it be, ladies and gentlemen, I may knew this piece was come out today.
I mean, everybody in the political piece knew it was going to air on the day of the debate.
Could it be that this is the first of what will be many attempts to get Trump to blow his top tonight?
Because one thing that's known about Trump, he occasionally will go on offense and start attacking somebody, but it's guaranteed he will do it if you insult him.
If you take a shot at Trump, you are guaranteed to get return fire.
Well, what if this is a strategically placed insult even before the debate begins, designed to get Trump ticked off even before it starts?
And if the big money people behind the Republican Party are scared and they want Trump taken out, they may figure that the best way to do it is to have him blow his stack and demonstrate whatever they think that would demonstrate, the lack of presidential temperament or take your pick.
Anyway, just guessing.
Trying to put these pieces all together for you.
Okay.
Okay, there's no question now that there's a psychological operation underway aimed at the Donald.
I have just uncovered it, ladies and gentlemen.
It's for anybody to see, but it takes me to put the pieces together, to read between the lines, and to read the stitches on the fastball.
The Mediaite website.
Fox debate hosts already have a secret plan to deal with Donald Trump.
However, MediaIte is linking to a politico story.
The second politico story of note of the day.
The first political story, actually, from the political magazine, this is where Jeb Bush is quoted as insulting Trump as a clown, a buffoon, and a butthole.
And now Politico has a story claiming that the Fox debate hosts, which is Megan Kelly, it is Brett Baer and Britt Hume, have a secret plan to deal with Donald Trump.
How secret can it be?
I always love this.
It's a secret plan that we all know about.
And it's like I've always said, if you have a great plan, secret, otherwise, marketing, you don't divulge it.
You execute it.
You don't give people a chance to defend against it.
Anyway, it does seem like a psychops operation, and it's from the Politico.
Let me read to you a couple things from the article.
In an interview with Politico, Fox News hosts Brett Baer, Megan Kelly, and Chris Wallace, I'm sorry, not Britt Hume, Chris Wallace revealed they already have a plan if Donald Trump refuses to obey the rules of Thursday night's Republican presidential debate.
If Trump refuses to obey the rules, well, only Trump runs the risk or poses the risk of not obeying the rules.
And I would like to remind you on Monday that I made predictions and comments about this very thing.
You know, Trump came out and said, you know, I don't know about debates.
He was setting expectations low.
I don't know about debates.
I don't debate.
I'm a doer.
I'm a man of action.
I tell other people what to do, and if they don't do it, then they're fired.
I tell them what to do.
I don't sit around and debate people.
That's all these guys do.
They just sit around and debate all day.
They sit around and talk all day.
I don't do that.
So I don't know how I'm going to do it.
And given Trump's behavior so far, it wasn't difficult to predict that it wouldn't be long in the debate before Trump began to criticize the whole setup as, look, we've been losing, right?
We've been losing presidential elections.
We've been losing.
This is not a winning formula.
These debates like this, we're not learning anything here.
We're not teaching anybody.
I can see him blowing it up in a number of ways and in the sense of attacking the quote-unquote system, which is what he's doing with his campaign anyway.
And Trump said it.
That's not me.
I'm not going to be lobbying any grenades.
I'm not going to be throwing any bombs.
Thereby setting up the possibility that he would.
That means that everybody's on the lookout now for Trump not to play by the rules.
And you know what the rules are?
The time limits include 30 seconds to reply, one minute to make a statement.
There are going to be candidates on this stage tonight in a two-hour debate or hour and a half, I'm not sure how long it is, that you're not going to see more than three minutes of.
It's for people to be seen and heard in this debate, they're going to have to break the rules.
They're going to have to go outside the guidelines, if you will.
And that's when the moderators are going to move in there and do everything they can to maintain control.
Because to the moderators, what we have tonight's a TV show.
To the candidates, what they have is a rare opportunity to address the nation on equal footing with everybody else.
And if they're serious about winning, they're not going to voluntarily be shut up.
Somebody, this is why I say somebody's going to bust the rules.
Somebody's going to do something memorable, good, memorable, bad.
But there will be some conflicts because the moderators trying to put on a good television show are going to enforce the rules because the rules and the format are godlike.
Don't doubt me.
I am a highly trained broadcast specialist.
And these anchors are going to have people shouting at them in their ears about enforcing time limits, about making sure that somebody gets equal time that hadn't been seen for a while.
You'll never hear any of this.
But the IFB chatter is going to be furious.
The hosts, the call them the anchors, the moderators are going to be under a lot of pressure to maintain order.
The candidates are going to be equally desirous of busting out.
And nobody wins points for following the rules.
And I mean, tomorrow, the review of this debate is not going to be, and the winner of last night's debate was Senator Marco Rubio because he never once violated a single rule set forth by the moderators.
Does anybody ever remember a post-debate review of somebody winning it or getting even a lot of credit because they were nice and obeyed the rules and were fair and were tolerant and did not try to dominate it?
No.
So, Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, Chris Wallace revealed they already have...
I'm not criticizing them, don't I?
I don't want anybody to misunderstand here.
Just telling you, they already have a secret plan if Donald Trump refuses to obey the rules.
What if somebody else refuses to debate her?
Do they have a secret plan to deal with that?
Is the secret plan to deal with anybody breaks the rules?
Are they just going to be focused on Trump breaking the rules?
Is Trump going to be the only one that they use force to keep him in line?
We just have to see.
Brett Baer is quoted in the political piece: listen, he's going to be treated like everybody else.
We're going to treat every candidate the same.
Are we thinking about different scenarios?
Sure.
Our job's to make sure everybody plays by the rules.
See, it's a TV show, folks.
And these people are rooted in format, formula, rules, time limits, time checks, hitting the mark.
That's why they are seasoned professionals.
That's one of the many talents that broadcasters have to be able to master.
And if they're having trouble, the people and behind the scenes, the producers and directors are going to be all over them in the IFB, their earpieces, urging them to go here, go there, shut up, make sure Trump doesn't, whatever they're going to say.
We'll never hear it.
Megan Kelly said that they had a plan if Trump refused to stop talking.
We have a plan.
We're not going to share it with you, she said.
But if Trump doesn't stop talking, we have a plan.
What if Jeb doesn't stop talking?
What can they do if Trump doesn't shut up?
Well, they could shut up his mic, but that won't work because there are going to be so many other microphones up there that he'll still be heard that have shut off everybody's mic.
No, I don't think that's what the plan is, to shut off his mic.
I think it's just to keep shouting at him and if they have talk over him, Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you have exceed Mr. Trump.
Just, I don't know, but they've got a plan.
Maybe, I don't know.
We're doing commercials in this debate.
No, maybe they go to a commercial break when there isn't one scheduled.
I mean, it could be something drastic.
They could say, Mr. Trump is refusing to play by the rules, and as such, this entire debate format has been placed at risk.
We are going to take a brief break while we attempt to restore order.
And then they go to O'Reilly doing a commentary on ISIS or something, and then they come back after they've restored order, and Trump has been admonished, and he's been spanked, and he's promised to be a good boy, and they continue.
Who knows what the plan is?
This is why I'm telling you that he's going to, if they shut his microphone off, you know what he'll say?
I paid for this microphone.
I'm rich.
I'm really rich.
And I'm making this microphone possible.
He just does it out of habit.
Another, just a brief observation in the form of a question.
I don't know.
I can't remember the last presidential primary debate where there were 10 people on stage.
Now, it might have happened in 2012.
I'm not sure.
I know there were a lot.
But one thing I know, you look at this political piece.
These two political pieces.
The first one, Jeb, with his insults of Trump.
And then this second one where the GOP, well, that's another point.
Where the Fox News moderators make it clear they have a secret plan to deal with Trump.
Not a secret plan to deal with anybody else.
My question is, you remember, can you ever remember where one person candidate owned the pre-publicity on an event like this?
Where every story, pre-debate is about one candidate.
What that candidate's going to do.
What will that candidate not do?
How are we going to control that candidate if candidate does X?
Do we have a plan for dealing with it if candidate?
It's all Trump all the time.
Now, this is going to put some performance pressure on him from the standpoint of the audience.
He's got a lot of supporters that are going to be tuning in tonight, and they're going to want to be validated.
They're going to want to hear Trump.
They're going to want to see Trump beat Trump.
So he's got some performance pressure here.
I don't mean to imply otherwise.
I don't think that's a problem.
He can handle it.
I'm just telling you, as the singular focus of this, and he's fully aware that he is, it's got to irritate everybody else.
I mean, you might think that if you're one of these other candidates and all these stories about secret plans to deal with Trump, but I'm telling you, if you're Rand Paul, if you're Ruby or a Cruz, you're saying, well, what do you mean?
Why are you worried about Trump?
Why are you worried about what I might do?
Where's a secret plan to deal with me?
Believe me, all this attention on Trump is going to make every one of these other people try to wrest the spotlight away.
This could be fireworks tonight.
Also, it could end up, because of all these expectations, it could end up being, by comparison, pretty dull, depending on how everybody tries to play this tonight.
Anyway, let me grab a phone call here quickly.
Oh, one other thing.
Not a big deal.
As you know, we have a pretty established conservative media out there now.
I mean, we've got, let's look at them.
We've got Red State.
We've got Powerline.
We've got Hot Air.
We have Ace of Spades.
I mean, look, I don't want to leave any of them out.
It's a risk I run.
I can't mention them all.
They're all over the place.
You've got National Review, National Review Online.
And who does the GOP go to?
Who does the GOP grant access to?
Politico.
Now, there's got to be a reason for that.
What do you think it is?
Why is Jeb telling all this super secret stuff about what he thinks of Trump to the Politico?
The Politico magazine.
I can answer it.
I mean, I have my own theories as an answer.
I'm just bringing it up here as a talking point.
I mean, why didn't Jeb tell this to a National Review Online reporter?
I mean, National Review Online is pretty tight with the Republican establishment.
I mean, they're not thought of in the same vein by the establishment as talk radio is.
They're considered button down, coat and tie, loyal.
Why not go to them?
Or take your pick.
I mean, there's any number of other credible news and commentary, websites, magazines, organizations.
But the GOP always goes to Politico.
They leak everything to Politico or they grant access, non-leak access to Politico.
And I think it says a lot.
I think it says that the GOP still considers its own supportive media to be fringe and Politico and all the others as the genuine mainstream.
But worse than that, I think it says that the GOP, the establishment types, really think that they're not going to win or get their message out unless they do it in the mainstream media.
And who knows?
They may be right.
But clearly, I think they think this.
Oh, yeah, Giuliani.
Giuliani's looking at Trump.
We may have a little Reagan here.
Do you realize now that's going to tick some people off?
Giuliani today says, yeah, yeah, we may have a little Reagan here.
Not tiny Trump, meaning Trump may have some Reaganism in him.
Oh.
For all the Republican talk about the era of Reagan being over, don't believe it.
Every one of these people would love to be anointed as the next Reagan.
Anyway, Walter, Walter, in Garner Valley, California, I'm glad you called your up first today, sir.
Great to have you with us.
Yes, sir.
I love Trump because he's got bucks.
When I saw him in that jet, which said Trump behind, I thought it was so cool.
He's got guts.
And I was just going to say, Donald Trump is the new Ronald Reagan.
I think he can help our country.
I think he can save us.
We need somebody that's got some guts, not these regular Republicans.
They just drive me nuts.
But that's all I wanted to say.
And I love your show, Rush.
Thank you very much.
Now, wait a minute.
There are no other Republicans that you can name that you think have guts?
Well, I think Trump's the best, but Cruz, he's right there, too.
Okay.
You know, but Trump, the man is a self-made man.
I mean, I love it when he stands up for his rights.
And I don't care what he does tonight.
Even if they drag him off in handcuffs, I'm still going to vote for him.
And I tell you, Rush, I'm just a regular guy, and I talk to a lot of people, and everybody likes Trump.
I know.
That is why these secret plans have better be careful.
If they drag him out of there, if they grab the hook, if they get handcuffs, like you say, it's only going to make Trump even more popular.
Yes, sir.
And I think he'll save our country.
And thank you for letting me on your show, sir.
You bet.
That's Walter in Garner Valley, California.
So, and by the way, that's another thing, too.
You know, I said earlier that Trump has some performance pressure, meaning his own supporters have expectations.
They want to see Trump be Trump.
They want Trump to do the hammering that he's been hammering.
They want to see it.
But here's the thing: they'll not abandon him if he doesn't.
Just like old Walter said, Trump, that's why a secret plan to take Trump out, I don't know what they're thinking.
How are you going to take Trump out?
Taking Trump out means that you've got to somehow convince people like Walt here to abandon him.
Somebody tell me what that is.
Fastest three hours in media.
Already, one of them is in the can and on the way over for a lifetime exhibit at the Limbaugh Broadcast Museum, the virtual museum, at rushlimbaugh.com.
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