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Oct. 15, 2015 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:40
October 15, 2015, Thursday, Hour #1
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Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
Donald Trump is surging.
The American economy continues to tank.
Donald Trump's surge is reshaping social media with a more conservative dominance and flavor.
The American economy is tanking.
Joy Behar said that she was really aroused watching Bernie Sanders, the Democrat debate, I know.
That's what she said.
And in the midst of all of this, we have learned that climate change is about to destroy Afghanistan because President Obama has said we're now going to have to stay there.
Greetings, my friends, and welcome.
Rush Limbaugh, great to have you here.
Telephone numbers 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program.
And the email address, El Rushbo at EIBNet.com.
Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals with a comeback win again last night in game five.
So they open tomorrow night in Kansas City for two games on Friday and Saturday.
Head to Toronto to play the Blue Jays for the next three.
Meanwhile, tonight, the Mets and the Dodgers in their game five to determine who's going to oppose the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series.
And how long has it been since I talked about any of this in baseball?
Has to be years.
Just goes to show you the cultural shifts taking place out there because this program on the cutting edge of societal evolution.
So Trump surging Trump back to normal on the campaign trail being heckled.
The American economy tanking, all that coming up.
I want to start with Obama and Afghanistan.
Remember, the Democrats told us at their debate Friday night, and Obama has pounded this home every chance he gets, that the number one threat facing the world is climate change.
Now, all of a sudden, the president has decided that we're not going to get out of Afghanistan.
After announcing that Bush's war in Afghanistan is over, now Obama has decided to keep people there.
And my friends, I am wondering what is really going on here.
There's something that we're not being told.
There's either some internal polling data the Democrats have that is very devastating on foreign policy, foreign affairs, or this situation in Syria with Putin is so bad that Obama all of a sudden has awakened and realized what's going on, and we can't get out of Afghanistan, despite all the promises the Democrats made at their debate.
We're going to get out of the world.
And they do this.
Every time there is a Democrat primary debate, it's always a contest over which candidates are going to get us out of the world the fastest.
And it happened again earlier this week, as they told us that there weren't going to be any more wars and we weren't going to be involved in them.
And we shouldn't have won an Iraq in the first place.
You would have thought the Iraq war was still going on, that it was only yesterday we discovered no weapons of mass destruction.
And all of this.
And here comes President Obama sandbagging these Democrats seeking the party nomination by saying, you know what, it isn't over in Afghanistan, and we've got to stay there.
But he's contradicting himself.
And I'm really curious.
I'm really curious to know what is driving this.
Because there's one thing that we know without question and without doubt.
And that is the first consideration this administration makes is what does it mean for Obama?
What is the impact in Obama?
Will it hurt Obama?
Will it help Obama?
As opposed to, are we close to losing Afghanistan?
We need to stay in there and hold on to it.
That's not a primary concern.
Primary concern is, is what's happening in Syria exposing Obama, making him look weak.
We need to stay in Afghanistan to look tough and strong.
That's the kind of calculation they make.
And as such, they're probably driven by polling data in some such fashion, maybe focus group data.
I don't know.
But I'm really curious to know why we are staying in Afghanistan.
After all of these announcements, he's made speech after speech, even up at West Point.
We're getting out of there.
It's done.
We took care of it.
Bush screwed it up, but I went in there.
Obama said, no, I fixed it.
Now it's time to leave.
We're going to bring our troops home.
Hallelujah.
We already brought them home from Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Middle East is in a shambles.
It's on fire.
Benjamin Netanyahu is about to speak on the recent spate of terrorism uptake in or uptick in Israel proper.
You know, in many ways, it's almost like we're reliving the 1980s.
Putin's got eyes on Afghanistan again, trying to rebuild the Soviet Union, reconstitute it.
Let's go to the audio soundbites.
This is May 25th, Memorial Day this year.
Mere months ago.
Barack Hussein Obama again at Arlington National Cemetery.
For many of us, this Memorial Day is especially meaningful.
It is the first since our war in Afghanistan came to an end.
Today is the first Memorial Day in 14 years that the United States is not engaged in a major ground war.
Well, that, of course, I mean, depending on how you define these things, I mean, that's total BS too, but it doesn't matter.
What they say is what gets reported, is what is perceived as reality.
But we're still at war in many places in the Middle East, and not because of anything we're doing.
We're under assault.
Our allies are under assault constantly.
It's Obama and the Democrats who want to try to pretend they're a bunch of pacifists and that they're ending wars and so forth, but reality intrudes.
And they can't get away.
Look at the situation in Syria.
Iranian soldiers, Cuban soldiers, Russian jets are pounding our allies on the ground in Syria.
How the hell did Obama ever let things come to this?
Seriously, folks, how many red lines did he draw in the sand for Bashur Assad?
And every time he drew a red line, somebody crossed it with impunity.
And so there was no incentive for them to not cross, not continue their aggression.
Thanks to Obama, the Taliban now controls more of Afghanistan than they did in 2001.
Then Obama said, yeah, well, Bush screwed it up in there, screwed up the Afghan war, but I've got it.
I've fixed it.
And then last May, you just heard him.
It's a victory.
Bringing the troops home.
We're out of there.
Such a mess.
But then, after he announced that he ended Bush's war in Afghanistan back in May, this morning at the White House.
Last December, more than 13 years after our nation was attacked by Al-Qaeda on 9-11, America's combat mission in Afghanistan came to a responsible end.
Okay, so last May, the war in Afghanistan was over.
This morning, the war in Afghanistan, the combat mission in Afghanistan came to a responsible end.
And once again, the use of rhetoric here to confuse everyone.
A responsible end?
What's a responsible end?
We're left to fill in the blanks ourselves.
Responsible end means what?
We got out with honor, even though we got our butts kicked.
We won, but we didn't kill anybody.
We won, but no civilians were hurt.
What is a responsible end?
Well, there isn't even an end because also this morning at the White House, President Barack Hussein Obama speaking about his plans to delay troop withdrawals in Afghanistan.
You've just heard two soundbites where it's over.
We won, came to a responsible end for more than 13 years.
Led by an irresponsible cowboy, George W. Bush, combat mission in Afghanistan came to an end.
And then there was this.
Pressure from Pakistan has resulted in more al-Qaeda coming into Afghanistan.
And we've seen the emergence of an ISIL presence.
I'm therefore announcing the following steps, which I am convinced offer the best possibility for lasting progress in Afghanistan.
First, I've decided to maintain our current posture of 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through most of next year, 2016.
Their mission will not change.
Our troops will continue to pursue those two narrow tasks that I outlined earlier: training Afghan forces and going after Al-Qaeda.
What does that mean, going after Al-Qaeda?
He's trying to tell you that we don't have any real boots on the ground.
Yeah, we have 9,800 people there, but we're just training the Afghans.
But we're not firing shots.
We're not engaged in a war because the combat portion of the war ended.
And he announced that back in May.
And he reannounced it this morning.
America's combat mission came to an end, but now all of a sudden ISIL, ISIS is in Afghanistan, in addition to being in Syria, in addition to being in Iraq, and he's laying that off on Pakistan.
Pressure from Pakistan has resulted in more al-Qaeda coming into Afghanistan, and we've seen the emergence of ISIS.
So, I'm going to maintain our current position.
I'm going to maintain our current presence.
What's that?
Combat mission's over.
Bringing the troops home.
No, 9,800 are staying.
They're going to train the Afghans.
We're going to go after Al-Qaeda.
Meanwhile, loyal Democrat, loony-tuned voters are beside themselves with confusion because they believe President Obama, when he says he's going to end wars and focus on climate change.
And they believe they're Democrat presidential candidates when in debates, they say, we're going to get out of Afghanistan.
We should have never been in the first place.
We're going to get out of Iraq.
We've never been in the first place.
We're going to stop all these wars.
We're the reason for the wars.
Bush and the Republicans are the reason for the wars.
And we're just going to stop it.
There ain't going to be any more war, and there are not going to be any more banks.
And there aren't going to be any more births.
And there aren't going to be any more corporations.
And there aren't going to be any more political donors.
There ain't going to be anything but welfare as far as the eye can see.
Except we are staying in Afghanistan.
What is a loony-tuned Democrat voter to do?
Take the social media and put his or her insanity on display in the form of utter frustration?
But let no one be confused.
Ladies and gentlemen, our objective in Afghanistan is not victory.
No, no, no, no.
Victory politically incorrect.
You know why?
Because that would mean somebody loses.
And we will not be responsible for anybody losing.
We're going to keep 9,800 troops there, but victory, nope, nope, nope.
Don't even think that.
That's not what we're about.
That's not what America's about.
That's never been what America's about.
Victory over people.
Yeah.
Victory over the Indians, how to network after the Indian.
Victory over the Mexicans.
We're not going to be that kind of America anymore.
Here, listen for yourself.
Afghanistan will not be a perfect place.
It's a poor country that will have to work hard on its development.
There will continue to be contested areas.
But Afghans like these are standing up for their country.
If they were to fail, they would endanger the security of us all.
And we've made an enormous investment in a stable Afghanistan.
Afghans are making difficult but genuine progress.
This modest but meaningful extension of our presence, while sticking to our current narrow missions, can make a real difference.
You heard it.
You heard it right there.
Modest but meaningful extension of our presence.
Nothing about victory, nothing about vanquishing anybody.
So what the hell are we doing here?
Afghanistan will not be a perfect place.
What is?
What is perfect?
See, they think they can perfect everything.
They can perfect people.
They can perfect the United States.
They can correct all the flaws that were there from the beginning founding days.
Now I admit that Afghanistan will not be a perfect place.
It's a poor country that'll have to work hard on its development.
Well, what?
Have you been ignoring what's been going on in Afghanistan for the last thousand years for crying out loud?
This is one of the craziest excuses for staying there I have ever heard.
There will continue to be contested.
Really?
You mean the warlords just aren't bowing down and giving up?
Afghans, like those who are standing up for their country.
If they were to fail, it would endanger the security of us all.
We've made enormous investment to stable Afghanistan.
Has it worked out?
We're still there.
So on the surface, we have incompetence on the parade on parade here, but there's something that we don't know that is dictating this.
And as I say, it could well be that they have just had a consensus of scientists tell them that global warming is worse in Afghanistan than anywhere else in the world, and that's why we have to stay.
Because if it's not that, somebody needs to tell me what it is.
By the way, in the Trump news, which is coming up shortly, where it is shown to be surging now in early primary states, there is some polling data that has shocked the drive-bys.
And it has shocked the Republican establishment.
In fact, it's shocked the Republican establishment even more than it shocked the drive-bys.
In fact, the Republican establishment is about to have gone insane.
Trump was supposed to have been gone or on the way out now.
He was supposed to have been exposed as a phony, as a pretender, as somebody unserious.
And Jeb and the establishment candidates were now supposedly, by this time, supposed to have been showing increases in the polling data, growing, massing support, isn't happening.
And in this latest polling data, ladies and gentlemen, Donald Trump is doing even better with respondents in the polls on the economy than he is on immigration.
And I'll have the numbers for you in due course.
But what it really means is that the people in the polls are suggesting that Trump is far better than anybody on the Republican side to deal with the economy.
And it's not even close.
And the numbers that Trump scores on best suited to deal with the economy dwarf his numbers unbest suited to deal with immigration.
And so a lot of drive-bys and a lot of Republican established people really scratching their heads today.
They're depressed.
They're getting angry.
Their frustration is mounting because none of this computes.
None of this makes it in the first place.
Remember what I told you yesterday?
All kinds of establishment people, Republicans inside Washington's Beltway and including in our media, really, really do believe that it is a negative to fight back, to oppose Obama, to even criticize Obama,
to try to stand in the way of Obama legislative successes and initiatives because they believe to stand in opposition or to criticize will anger the independents and forever ruin presidential prospects in 2016.
I'm beyond my ability to express my incredulity over this, but they really, really, really still believe this.
So over here is Trump who does what?
He does nothing but criticize them.
And he does it in politically incorrect ways.
And he is soaring.
And still the establishment does not learn.
Now the subject matter, the economy and immigration, illegal immigration, the two issues, I would like to assist those in the Republican establishment who are confused and trying to understand something that makes no sense to them.
The two issues are inexorably linked.
It must be really hard.
And I mean this, and I'm not trying to be flippant or cynical, funny.
It must be really hard for people who live and work in Washington and have for a while to put themselves in the shoes of people in this country, in flyover country or wherever.
I don't think they still have a grasp of the fear of the future people have.
Even people who are employed fear losing their jobs.
People who have money fear losing it.
There is fear.
There is unsettledness.
And it's all because of what's happening in Washington.
And the economy and immigration are linked in the minds of people.
That's why Trump is scoring so high on both of them.
But the lack of ability inside the beltway to understand this is really shocking to me.
It's America's real anchor man and truth detector and doctor of democracy, servant of humanity, Rush Limboy here behind the Golden EIB microphone.
Great to have you here.
Already Thursday, fastest week in media.
The Trump polling data is from CNN.
Just so you know.
You remember, ladies and gentlemen, last week, the week before, me telling you how the drive-bys, Politico, ABC News had all reported that Trump was peaking, that Trump had peaked.
And they had talked with Republican establishment types, and they agreed that Trump had peaked.
He had leveled off.
He wasn't gaining any ground.
This is when Ben Carson and Fiorina were edging closer to Trump.
Trump wasn't losing any ground, but he had stopped gaining ground, and they were all applauding: It's over, it's over, Trump has peaked, and that's it.
There's nowhere else for Trump to go.
They thought their original theory on Trump was that his name recognition is already 100%.
So everybody that knows anything about Trump already has an opinion on him.
And if they hate him, they hate him.
It can't change that.
If they love him, they love him, and that isn't going to change.
The theory was the other candidates who don't have anywhere near 100% name recognition have only one way to go, and that's growth, and that's up.
And this is what they told themselves when seeking to make themselves believe that Trump was finished or soon would be.
And no matter what they tell themselves, no matter what theory they evolve or devise, they're wrong.
They continue to be wrong.
In the latest CNN poll, Trump leads by 16 points in Nevada, by 18 points in South Carolina.
Trump is at 38% in Nevada.
Ben Carson second, but 22%.
In South Carolina, Trump doubles the support Ben Carson has, 36% to 18%.
No other candidate comes close to those top two in either state, Nevada or South Carolina.
The third-place candidate in each case has less than 10%.
And his approval and does best on or is best to handle numbers on the economy are through the roof.
They're even higher than the numbers he has on illegal immigration.
And illegal immigration is the reason that he's at the top.
Illegal immigration is the issue that dominates all others, and it is linked to the economy in the minds of the American people.
Now, I want to, before giving you down in dirty crosstab details here, this poll, because they're fascinating, I want to try to explain this again because I still remain totally incredulous at the stubbornness,
and if it isn't stubbornness, it's blindness that the Republican establishment has about Trump, but about the people in this country.
How can you not know if you are in politics and your business is getting elected, and to get elected, you must appeal to people.
People are who vote for you.
I know, I know that the Republicans and the Democrats do.
They're totally loyal to the donors.
I get that.
But the donors don't vote.
You still have to appeal to people.
You have to at least be able to make the case that you understand them.
You have to be able to go out and campaign on a basis that you get it, that you understand.
But they don't understand the public attitude on immigration.
They denigrate the public attitude.
They don't understand the public attitude on the economy.
They don't think it's particularly bad.
I mean, it's bad, but it's not all that bad in their view.
And look where they live, where they live.
The economy is just humming along.
The unemployment rate's at 3%.
Everybody's doing wonderfully well.
And this is what puzzles me: this inability to understand what's going on all over the country outside of the place that you live.
The thing that, and I think this is true not just of Republicans, I think it's true of everybody in the Beltway.
And I'm including in this the media and many of the think tanks and everybody that's just been absorbed in that culture.
They think, for example, on illegal immigration, what's driving it is hatred and racism and bigotry and anger.
And they haven't the slightest idea that what's driving it's fear.
People are scared.
People are worried about the future of this country because they know things are not right.
People who are working and are doing okay worry they're going to get fired.
They see layoffs happening all over the country.
They see companies downsizing to part-time and removing health care benefits.
They see all this.
People see this.
They worry about it happening to them if it hasn't happened all yet already.
Then they turn on TV and all they hear is politicians talking about more giveaways to the illegals and more giveaways to people not working.
People who have savings worry that it's going to vanish or it's going to be made worthless.
There is a genuine fear out there, and it's a legitimate fear because things are not right in this country.
Barack Obama is not a president who believes in this country, does not speak positively about it, does not talk about growth and expansion, does not talk the exact opposite.
In fact, we're told that, well, those good times in the past, we really didn't deserve those.
We were living on borrowed time and unborrowed credit cards, and it's not pay the bill now.
We've got to manage the decline.
People don't want us, the United States of America.
We don't manage the decline.
We stop the decline and we start growing.
You plug Trump into all this, and Trump makes perfect sense.
Or Trump's success makes perfect sense when you plug him into these circumstances that people inside the beltway don't see.
The Republican establishment is still at a loss.
They are still obsessed with, oh my God, we can't get blamed for government shutdown.
Oh, geez, no.
So we can't criticize Obama.
No, no, we can't do the nuclear options.
No, no, we can't do budget reconciliation.
No, no, we can't.
No, we can't stop the Iran deal.
No, no, we can't, because the independents and the moderates, no, we'll lose them.
That's really the political thought that's governing them.
To criticize Obama, the Democrats, to stop Obama, to oppose Obama is to engender and risk the Republicans winning the presidency in 2016.
Do not doubt me.
This is what's driving them.
And so they think, they look at Trump and they think Trump is guaranteeing a Democrat victory because Trump's doing everything they think shouldn't be done.
Trump's out criticizing Democrats.
He's speaking positively about America.
He is opposing everything that's happening right now, wants to fix it overnight, be done with it, and move on and make America great again.
And inside the beltway, they're scared to death over that kind of talk.
Imagine that.
How disconnected must you be to think that that kind of talk is going to lose you an election?
The thinking that the Republican establishment is engaging in now: we can't criticize Obama, we can't oppose Obama, we can't come up with legislation that he won't sign.
We can't do any of that because we'll lose the White House in 2016.
Well, okay, let's say you win the White House in 2016.
Does that also mean you can't advance your own agenda after you win because that's going to anger the independents?
Even after you've won, are you going to be defensive about who you are and what you believe in so as not to tick people off?
This is incomprehensible to me.
Meanwhile, out in the rest of the country, where people know things are not right, it just doesn't make sense that an organization like Planned Parenthood can chop up fetuses and sell the body parts and nobody does a thing to stop it.
It's not right.
It just isn't right.
That 340 cities are sanctuary cities and illegal aliens can come here from anywhere in the world and have safe haven and be exempt from American law.
That's not right.
That should not be happening.
There's no way that should happen.
That the Democrat Party and the Republican establishment together are expanding welfare and food snap benefits for illegal aliens and not closing the border and welcoming even more doesn't make sense.
It doesn't compute.
It's not right.
And so people, even if they're not able to explain it in an ABCD way, they get it.
They understand this isn't right.
Something's out of kilter.
And all these institutions, traditions, all of these things that used to be reliable as backstops, reliable, as uncorrupted, they all seem to be falling one after another.
This creates a fear and a worry over a lack of confidence about the future of this country.
And there's no confidence in current leadership.
We have a president who will not even properly identify terrorists as who they are and what they're doing and doesn't seem to be interested in stopping them.
The same president seems totally focused on taking guns away from the law-abiding in this country.
The same president and his party seems to believe that the problems in the world are caused by people he calls bitter clingers.
In this kind of climate, people are terrified in some sectors, scared in others, worried in others.
So you throw Donald Trump into all this, and it makes perfect sense that he would be scoring as well as he is and doing as well as he is.
And it's not just because he's an outsider.
All of this is rooted in substance.
It's all rooted in substance, and this is another thing that they don't get inside the beltway.
The elites, the ruling class, the establishment, whatever you wish to call them.
They're chalking this stuff up to showbiz, entertainment, reality TV, what have you.
They are in utter denial about what's happening and why it's happening.
In Nevada, in this CNN poll, illegal immigration ranks third in this poll behind the economy and terrorism and voters' concerns.
In South Carolina, both of these states are important early states, by the way.
You're in Nevada, South Carolina, they're big in the early on process.
In South Carolina, immigration is in fifth place in terms of voter concerns behind the economy, foreign policy, terrorism, healthcare, then immigration.
But you see, I believe that all of these things are inexorably linked.
Whether immigration's one, three, or five, still in the top five, it's all part of the mix of things that just aren't right.
It just doesn't make sense the way things are happening and the way people are doing things in this country right now.
And that explains why people like Trump and Carson are circling the top of the tier.
I must take a break here because I'm a little long.
And we'll be back and continue after this.
Sit tight, folks.
Well, yeah, here's the number.
Overall, 67% think Trump is best able to handle the economy.
Closest is Carly Fee Arena at 7%.
I'm not kidding you.
67%, this is the CNN poll, October 3rd through the 10th.
67% think Trump best suited to deal with the economy.
Next Fee Arena, 7%.
And it goes down from there.
Bush, 6, Carson, 6, Rubio 4, Cruz, 2, Paul, 3.
In South Carolina, 59% think Trump best suited to deal with the economy.
Closest to him, Jeb at 7%.
And as I mentioned, in Nevada, when Republicans are asked what matters most of them, number one, the economy, 39.
Terrorism, number two, at 22%.
Illegal immigration, third, 14%.
But look at all these are linked.
Illegal immigration is a huge factor on the economy, and terrorism is part of illegal immigration in terms of people's fears.
These things are, in my mind, they're really difficult to separate.
South Carolina, as I mentioned, the economy, most important to 41%.
Foreign policy, next, 16%.
Terrorism, 16%.
Healthcare, 9%.
Illegal immigration, 8%.
South Carolina.
So the establishment, they're doing their heads are spinning.
The economy?
You're telling us that Trump is kicking everybody's rear end on the economy, too?
Oh, my, this is the last thing that they thought would be the case.
They grab a phone call.
Always try to grab a phone call in the first hour of our busy broadcast.
And Alex in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Glad you called, sir.
Welcome to the program.
How you doing, Mr. Lumba?
How you doing?
Very well, thank you.
Good.
Hey, so just calling about the Obama speech here that we're going to be keeping only 9,000 troops in Afghanistan.
First off, I'll let you know I was in Afghanistan.
I helped train some of those troops.
And to say that they're an elite fighting force would be an understatement or an overstatement by an extreme.
But nobody's saying, wait a minute.
Nobody's saying that, are they?
Right.
No, no, no, no.
But he kind of is when he said that, you know, Afghanistan is not a perfect country.
It's very poor.
But then he went on to say that it's up to this third world country to fight the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and Al-Qaeda.
No, no, no, no, wait, wait.
Now, I hate to keep it, but he's not the Taliban.
He left the Taliban out of this on purpose.
He's negotiating with the Taliban.
He wants the Taliban to become part of the Afghanistan government, which is another thing that ought to be a big question mark to everybody.
Sure.
But still, we have Al-Qaeda and Al-ISIS in there, and that it's up to this third world country to win this battle against these two groups.
And the safety and security of all of us depend upon it.
See, Alex, you're making the mistake of falling for Obama's rhetoric.
And I'm not being critical.
I'm not being critical.
You're not falling for it.
I should be more accurate.
You're expressing incredulity over what he's saying is not possible.
And you're right.
It isn't possible.
We're not going to train.
How many?
We've been at 14 years.
We're not going to train.
I have been there, folks.
We're not going to train.
It's arguable that we even have half the country on our side for crying out loud.
But even if we do, we're not going to train the Afghan army with 9,800 troops while at the same time go after Al-Qaeda or whatever he said.
But he knows that too.
Alex, this is just so the media will spread his words and so that loyal Democrat voters, low-information people, we're going to think Obama's on the case now.
Oh, we're going to train the Afghans and take over.
We're going to get out?
Cool.
Right on, man.
And they forget that Obama promised we'd be out of there five years ago and that we're still there.
He's just mouthing the words so they'd be reported as though it's actual news when it's nothing but hocus pocus.
Just scratch the surface.
We have just scratched the surface.
We have two big, exciting broadcast hours remaining.
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