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Feb. 23, 2017 - Rush Limbaugh Program
37:27
February 23, 2017, Thursday, Hour #2
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Okay, either I'm missing something or they expect fisticuffs to break out at this thing.
What is the big deal?
Well, no, it's CPAC.
A conservative political action committee conference, whatever.
They got their their annual three-day convention going here.
And the media is breathless.
They can barely contain themselves because Rince Prebus, I'm sorry, Ryan's Pribus and Steve Bannon are going to appear on a panel together.
It was supposed to start five minutes ago.
But as these things always happen, everybody's running a little bit late.
And it's it's it's like I I don't know if they've been promoting this like something is bound to happen here that makes this so newsworthy that we can't afford not to be there.
Now what precedes this is report after report after report that Bannon and Prebus hate each other, and that Bannon is trying to muscle Prebus out of there.
Bannon is the chief strategist.
And the news, the media is is filled with narratives that Bannon's a bad guy, he's a horrible guy, he's a scheming guy, he's a conniving guy, and he's trying to get rid of Prebus, he's trying to get rid of Conway, he's trying to get rid of Tillerson, he's trying to get rid of everybody so that it's just him and Trump.
So with that, with that narrative, now comes CPAC, they got these guys to show up, and they're gonna be on a panel together today.
And the media what are they what are they expecting to happen?
Are they expecting Bannon to stand up there and punch Prebis out on camera and make this official?
And are then expecting Bannon to take over the whole hall and hijack everybody and not let them out until they swear allegiance to Trump?
What are they expecting to happen?
You know, this is I watch this in amazement.
I really do.
And it's it's all of them, including Fox.
It's every network, and all of this is the result of previously written media narratives.
Um they expect some kind of news to be.
These guys have been working with Trump in the White House since Trump was inaugurated and even before he was elected.
And for some reason, I don't know what they expect to happen here.
Now there may be some lingering aspects of uh, well, you know, we're in a conservative union, and Trump's really not one of us, and maybe these guys are gonna come up here and try to tell us why we should accept Trump.
But I don't think that's what it is.
I I think they've got themselves believing that Bannon is trying to get rid of everybody.
Kellyanne Conway, they're gonna get rid of Spicer, try to get rid of Prebis.
Just basically try to shut down the West Wing so that the only person it is him and uh and Trump and the over.
And they're supposed to see evidence of this today.
What is Bannon gonna show up and be aloof and disrespectful and is gonna start insulting Priebus?
A lot of stuff amazes me.
It's I guarantee you what whatever happens, the media is going to report that they were stunned and that they were shocked, and that they were surprised by it.
As I say, there are a lot of, you know, I the audiences at CPAC, excuse me, folks, I have a the a building little froggy thing in my throat here, and I hope it doesn't mean that I'm in the early stages of a cold or anything.
But if I if I clear my throat a little bit more than usual, I beg your forgiveness in advance.
But the the idea that Trump isn't conservative, and this is this is conservative central here, the American conservat uh well, American Conservative Union sponsors CPAC.
And the conservative movements fill with never Trumpers.
But the audience at CPAC is made up of j you'd be surprised at the number of young people who show up at this thing every year.
Uh I I made my first national address, my first televised address ever was a CPAC speech.
And that was back in 2009.
That was Obama's first year.
That was That's eight years ago.
Is that right?
Eight years ago I did that speech?
Son of a gun.
And it was overwhelmingly well received and accepted.
And I, you know, as I point, Trump's cabinet rated by this bunch as 30 points more conservative than even Reagan's.
And it does make me wonder where to never trust.
You know, I read a whole bunch of never Trumpers still every day.
And they're still ticked.
They're still livid.
They're still mad.
And it's all about Trump's behavior.
It's it's that they don't, they don't they think Trump makes things up and lies.
They think he's off his rocker.
They think he's going to end up embarrassing everybody, including them and getting them in trouble, and that you can't trust Trump, and he doesn't know anything, and he doesn't read anything, and he's just a flat out embarrassment.
And yet, I can't recall a Republican president since Reagan who's gotten anywhere near this much done, or at least made the effort and to do so fearlessly.
I know it's still early, but it's it has to be substantively much different than what the Never Trumpers, because the Never Trumpers believed that he wasn't conservative in the first place and at all, and was essentially fooling everybody, and that we were all being fooled and stupid, and those of us that didn't see it, we were going to be profoundly embarrassed and discredited inside two months of Trump being inaugurated or some such thing.
And I think uh many of them are still waiting for it to happen.
Now back to the CEO meeting that Trump had today.
This it seems like this is what's reported after every meeting that Trump has with business people.
Today it was CEOs.
CEO statements after this meeting with Trump, the stock market's up 39 points and climbing.
It's a 2,020,815 right now.
It's continuing to balloon up.
And I think the CEO statements after coming out of the meeting with Trump were one of the reasons, the CEO of All Tech said that it was the best and the most uplifting meeting he had ever been in.
Now, I must be honest, folks.
We always try to keep things in perspective here.
You know, Obama had these kind of things early on.
And I remember getting mad when people would come out conservative, people you think are conservative, or at least uh small government-oriented business that's to come out, start singing the praises.
And I had to stop myself and say, look, they can't do anything else.
They've got to come out and praise the guy if they know what's good for him.
They have to, whether they mean it or not.
Well, is some of that true here?
Do some of these CEOs have to come out and praise Trump or else?
Not because he's telling them they'd better or else.
Is it just what they calculate they have to do?
So I'm asking how much of it's real and how much of it is for show.
But when the all tech guy says it was the best and most uplifting meeting he had ever been in, you don't have to say that.
You can come out and say it was a very productive meeting, very much enjoyed getting it knows the president, he and I on the same page on many, many, but this was over the top.
And then the the CEO of Dow Chemical, they're in 160 countries, Andrew Laveris.
He says that Trump is very forward-looking, has the ability to forget who was with him and against him and just move everybody forward.
He said in this meeting, Trump didn't have any animus for anybody.
It didn't matter whether anybody in the room was for him or against him.
It was all eyes forward.
He called it very constructive.
He said the whole thing was very engaging.
He said Trump was very engaged in the meeting and very open to new ideas and very involved, very hands-on.
And I'm going to tell you, repeat what I said in the first hour.
I think we're back to a normalcy in this country.
For the last eight years, there was no relationship to the state of the economy and presidential approval ratings.
And I remember being so frustrated by that, because the economy's tanking and we're losing jobs left and right, and Obamacare comes along, and people can't afford it.
Obama's approval numbers stay in the high 50s.
Mid-50s, high 50s, the economy's plummeting.
There aren't any jobs.
Jobs are being converted full-time to part-time.
And they had to stop and remember why.
You know, you the the racial component just I think it it made many results of polls artificial.
So I think we're back to a state of normalcy where the American economy is going to have a lot to do with the way people think the president's doing.
I think economic circumstances are going to be a major factor in the president's approval ratings.
And by that, if the economy is good, if jobs are being created, if the economy is growing, uh then I think the president's approval numbers are going to show that.
Conversely, if the economy doesn't take off, if it remains focused on Wall Street, but doesn't now bleed over to Main Street, and if these jobs that are being promised here by all these CEOs, if they don't materialize, if the economy doesn't grow, Trump's numbers are going to suffer accordingly, whereas Obama's never did.
But I think we're back to that state of uh of normalcy now.
But the the Dow Chemical CEO came out and saying we clearly have the opportunity to have our GDP grow at greater than 2%.
Obama never even got there.
I think maybe a couple of quarters we had 2% economic growth.
One thing I know, Obama, in the last eight years, our economy never grew at a 3% rate.
And the average was just over 1%.
And the Dow Chemical CEO came out and said we have the opportunity to have it grow more than 2% now.
And I think it was perfectly realistic.
We should have economic growth at 4%.
We should unleash enough things that this economy becomes unstoppable.
It's been the our our economy has been artificial.
Well, heaven it has been suppressed the last eight years.
Our economy has suffered like much of the rest of America has, along with Obamaism.
Obama attempting to transform America and identifying the things wrong with it, which in his view were many, and our country was in a state of turmoil and unrest, and you can't have the Obama economic policies combined with tax policies, combined with Obamacare and a growing economy.
You can't have the government come in and just take over one-sixth of the economy.
Governments don't grow anything.
Governments don't create wealth.
They just take it.
And when they take one-sixth of the U.S. economy and appropriate it for their own use, as they did with health care, economic growth becomes problematic.
I think we've got pent up growth waiting to explode in this country.
And if it does, the Democrats can raise hell about all they want, and it isn't going to matter.
Because the one thing that everybody's after eight years of Obama, people are going to figure out the Democrats don't know how to make the economy grow, or either don't want to.
Because this is going to be one stark comparison if Trump is able to unleash this economy.
How do you do that, by the way?
You turn loose the American people.
People are the U.S. economy.
Enterprise is the U.S. economy.
Ambition, desire, objectives, pursuit of excellence.
That's the U.S. economy.
Commerce.
You turn people loose, pursuing their own self-interest, and you take some of the protections away from them.
Take some of the regulations away.
And you light a fire underneath them and held bells.
This nation is just waiting to explode with economic growth.
And if it does, a side by side comparison of that with the eight years of Obama.
It's going to be crystal clear once again that you don't get economic growth and rising wages and increased economic opportunity and economic freedom.
You don't get any of that when Democrats are running Washington.
You didn't you literally you don't get very much.
Certain people do.
The donors to the Democrats make out okay.
The vast majority of the country doesn't.
So there are many upsides here, folks.
Brief time out.
We'll come back and get started with you on the phones after this.
Okay, here we go to the phones.
We're starting in Los Angeles.
Hi, Scott.
Great to have you with us on the EIB network.
Hello.
Thanks, Rush.
You know, I'm a hardcore conservative.
I listen to you every day.
I watch the news.
I I'm on the internet, so I'm a fairly informed individual.
And I was watching Minuchin today, and I thought my head was going to explode.
August.
August.
President Trump a few weeks ago said, in a few weeks, I'm going to roll out my tax plan.
Now, Rush, we've got a very small window here to show this country that conservatism works and that conservatism is the only way to go.
Okay?
And and and to me, there is one man.
And by the way, knock out these liberals forever.
And to me, there's one man that's stopping all of this.
And that man is Paul Ryan.
I think Paul Ryan doesn't like Trump.
I think Paul Ryan is hamstringing Trump.
And because there were six bills that were sent to Obama to repeal Obamacare.
Where are those bills today?
They're nowhere.
So for me, Paul Ryan, because Trump Trump is a guy that gets it done.
Paul Ryan, I don't think wants to work.
I think Paul Ryan wants the status quo, and I think Paul Ryan is a never Trumper.
I'd like your thoughts.
Well, all right.
Let me just for the sake of responding to you.
You stipulate all that.
Just for the hell of it.
Yep.
Then what's the solution?
Trump's got to get up there and fight him.
I I I I mentioned this yesterday.
Trump could because somebody I had a frustrated somebody like you write me, isn't Trump gonna get are they gonna give Trump anything?
And I said they're gonna give him Jack.
He's gonna have to go up and defeat, he's gonna have to win it.
He's gonna defeat them, he's gonna have to fight them for it, including the Republicans.
Right.
Trump is gonna Trump has to do what Reagan did.
Trump's got to go on the air and tell us what his tax plan is and put it in there, put it in our faces and put them on the spot.
That's what I think you should do.
Well, uh what's what what what would be the downside of that?
Uh well, let me think.
The the downside, it's not it wouldn't be a downside.
Well, now wait a minute.
If if if it's Trump versus Ryan, if that's what it looks like on TV.
If Trump goes on TV and starts attacking around, then that's a man, that's that's red meat for the media, they can turn it into whatever.
Trump's busy, though.
I mean, Trump's got an agenda.
We can see it.
He's meeting with these people, he's doing what he said he was gonna do in immigration.
I love the immigration thing.
I do, but to me, to me, the economy is everything.
If he doesn't get this economy going, because like you said earlier, uh uh the summer breaks are gonna come around, these guys look for every excuse to get out of town, and then 2018 and the midterm elections come up, and then nothing happens.
No, I'm gonna he's gotta strike now.
I agree with you.
I uh for the purpose of stipulating your premise here.
I have made it clear, didn't state it as directly as you have by personalizing it, but there's no doubt.
The Republicans who are funded by their donors and they care about that more than voters, uh don't want the Trump immigration agenda, for example.
They probably don't care one way or the other about the Trump transgender reversal.
Uh they they want comprehensive immigration reform and they want amnesty, and that makes them an enemy of Trump.
But don't they want power, Rush?
Well, naturally.
Well, then Rush gave them uh Trump gave them power by winning.
And by and by implementing his agenda, or you think they should be grateful.
Absolutely.
And they'll they'll win more.
This is Washington, D.C. I know.
Sorry.
Sorry.
I'm in Hollywood, so it's the same thing.
Sorry about that.
Um you're in Hollywood.
Yeah.
Okay, let me see the Scots that I know in Hollywood.
This is on top of my head.
Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott.
No, I don't I don't know you.
I know people you know.
I know, but I'm trying to think of names.
I'll give you my last name if you want.
Do.
Bayo.
You are Scott Bayo.
I am.
Well, it's an honor to meet you.
I'm happy that you're in the audience.
It's great that you can't.
I'm in the audience every day.
I'm a huge fan, and I'm dying to play golf with you, Rush.
Well, what where do you play out there?
Uh I have a local course out here where I play.
I could play wherever.
All right.
Well, I'll tell you.
I'm in the West Valley in the San Fernando Valley.
San Fernando.
Okay, look, when we finish here, if you'll stay online, if you're going to give an email address to Mr. Snerdley, the next time I'm out there we'll play.
Absolutely, I'd absolutely love that.
Now look, your your premise is is right on the money.
But see, identifying Ryan, I know a lot of people think this.
I think it's bigger than that, though.
I think it's the entire establishment, not just Ryan.
He probably personifies it because he's speaker, but I think it's the entire Washington establishment that is against Trump.
There's no excuse for this.
We won everything.
We the Democrats can't stop us.
If they were really desirous of implementing tax cuts, they could be working on it right now.
But which what frustrates me, and they pardon the expression, but power, I think, trumps everything for those people.
So if they want the power, what people voted for was his agenda.
And and I, you know, you can have your own personal feelings about somebody's agenda, but at a certain point I want to keep my power.
So that's the point.
They don't think Trump had anything to do with them winning.
They think their donors made that pause.
Hang on, Scott, let me wrap this up with you when we get back from the break.
Right.
Oh, welcome back.
I'll rush bow half my brain tied behind my back just to make it fair.
Welcome back, Scott Bayo from Hollywood.
You know, uh one thing that you're right about, and I want to we we glossed over this, but this is a really crucial point that you made, and that is that the House passed six Obamacare repeals when Obama was president.
They knew that he would veto them, so there was no pain, there was no hassle, it was easy to do, they were throwing bones to conservative and Republican voters.
But now the moment Trump became president, the repeals and the votes on the repeals have come to a screeching halt.
Why?
Because they think Trump might sign it.
Right.
Which leads you to believe what?
That their heart really isn't in it.
Right.
And then we got Boehner, who is uh last week, today rather, in Florida making a speech predicting that it'll never be repealed and replaced, that they just tinker with it at the edges.
And that's all that's gonna happen.
Let's go back to the campaign, Scott set the table here because I think this helps explain everything.
Even at nine o'clock on election night, everybody still thought Hillary was going to win the election.
Right.
The Republicans had built their plans based on losing.
They had gotten together, I'm sure, and based their political futures, how they were going to uh behave in Washington, what their agenda, if any was going to be based on losing.
Then everything happened and everything ends up upside down.
Trump wins, they win.
Uh Ryan is is is is speaker.
That was probably gonna be the case, but they they hold the Senate.
Now they've got all three branches.
Now they've got no excuses.
This is not what they planned for.
You know it as well as I do.
They didn't plan for this.
I know they didn't plan for it, but Rush they had three months to to get their act together, come up with a plan, and implement it.
Because I'll tell you what, uh if I were Paul Ryan and he doesn't get this done, I'd be afraid to go home.
Uh I'd I'd be afraid for his next election.
Because somebody's gonna come up on his right and take him out.
That's what and all these guys.
That's what I believe.
So for me, just an average American.
I I play a lot of golf, I li I hang out with my friends, I smoke cigars.
You know, all the guys that I know are starting to get upset about this and they're getting upset, and they and they all feel it's him.
Well, it is, but it's more than that.
I know.
It's the whole look.
You you go back to the campaign again.
We know, we know that the never Trumper contingency was huge and consisted of most of the Republican Party.
During the campaign, during the primaries, they were all expecting him to implode.
Um the early money course was on Jeb Bush.
I'm just saying their their world this is not an excuse.
Their world's been turned upside down.
They clearly uh Trump is not establishment.
That is such a big deal.
He's outsider, they're insider, their establishment.
What uh the question I wanted to ask you is, what do you think?
You know, they did they didn't tr they didn't make plans.
They might after Trump won, they were running around talking about how great Trump is, how excited they are that what they themselves are saying no excuses, they were making it look like they owed Trump everything, ready to go, but they haven't done anything.
Because I uh the I think the answer is they assumed that Trump was all talk and no action, like everything they've dealt with for their entire lives.
So here comes a guy that says what he means and means what he says, and they didn't get it.
So now they're they're panicking because they don't know what to do.
So how do you deal with a guy like that?
They don't know.
But do you think they still oppose him?
Uh I think they do to a certain extent.
I absolutely do.
I think Paul Ryan does not want to repeal Obamacare.
Uh I don't think they want to cut I don't think they want to they don't I don't I know they they I don't I know they want some form of amnesty.
They don't want immigration.
Why don't they want tax cuts?
But I'm sorry?
Why do they not want to cut taxes?
Why don't they want to cut taxes?
I think because it's work for them.
And I think because they're gonna be they're gonna be uh uh uh called out as being uh racist and insensitive to the middle class and to the poor.
You only you you you're cutting taxes for the rich.
That's that's what they're used to.
Rush, you say it every day.
They're playing on a playbook from thirty, forty.
Yeah, I know, but they won.
It's about time to stop being afraid and go on offense for crying out loud.
What do you mean they didn't?
I but they they don't know how to if you don't know how to play offense, how do you play offense?
If you don't know how to throw the ball, how do you th how do you throw it?
They don't know how to do it.
Well, I guess they should call Andy Reid.
He doesn't call Tom Brady to throw the damn football.
Better idea.
I was being facetious, you're not sure.
But anyway, that that's so this is the frustration, and again, I'm I'm in show business rush, but uh but I like to think of myself as a regular guy.
I mean I do I I'm I'm I'm I've been working my whole life, but I see things, and I know that people starting to get frustrated.
And I and I and I hope that the Republican Party starts getting around.
Okay, but now let's let me go back tax cuts one thing.
It was Minuchin, and that's Trump.
That's Trump's Treasury Secretary who said they're gonna have a tax cut plan in August.
Reagan's tax cuts were signed into law in August.
So Minuchin is Trump.
Minuchin's the Treasury Secretary.
What do you think Trump ought to do, knowing and let's just stipulate that you're right that he's got some opposition among Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Here's Trump meeting every day with his CEOs of this and that, he's dealing with immigration, he's reversing some Obama stuff.
Uh how should Trump go about this?
Well, I uh Trump can't throw Minuchin under the bus.
He can't do that.
The guy just came on board.
Uh I I'm just going by what the president said.
A few weeks ago he said in a few weeks we're gonna have a plan.
Now maybe Minuchin misspoke.
I don't know.
I don't know what Minuchin, you know, I don't think Minuche is a is a is a is a television savvy guy.
So I don't know what his intention was.
He might be trying to backpedal that a little bit, because to wait for August is crazy.
So I honestly d uh j what I said earlier, Rush, was Trump should come out and say what his tax plan might look like.
Right.
That to me is everything.
Let me ask your opinion on this.
They're not in a vacuum up there at the White House.
Trump, Prebus, Bannon, whoever.
If there is an active Republican resistance, they have to know it.
They're not blind and they're not naive.
So if there is an active Republican resistance, which you seem to think there is, then the Trump people have to know this.
And it's obvious, you know, you could prebus as the chief of staff and previous but clearly advised you do not want to go to war with your own party.
Certainly not the first month in.
Uh but that seems like what it's going to take, doesn't it?
Well, I I think Trump should do what Trump does best.
Call people out.
The reason he's here is he could he took everybody out on that stage in those debates.
Everybody.
However he did it, he did it.
He called him out.
You're right.
He called him out.
He took out Hillary Clinton, and that was not easy, Rush, as you know.
That was a hell of a machine that they had.
And he took her out in a big way, big league.
He took her out.
So for me, who he is, you call those guys out and you call them and you say they're the problem.
They're the problem, this isn't getting done.
They're the reason why.
How much time or how much patience are you going to give Trump before he uh before you start questioning things?
I mean, he could do that today, he could do it tomorrow.
He could do it in his CPAC speech tomorrow if he really wanted to.
He could do it any time.
And I think when you said what you said, I think a lot of people in the audience were probably standing up and cheering in agree in agreement with you.
So but if he doesn't do it next week, next month, I mean, how how long does Trump have to do this before you start losing support for Trump.
I I have this theory about Trump.
I um I will give him eight years if he does nothing.
Because I don't want the other side doing anything.
I don't want liberals getting any more of their agenda through because I think they're killing the country.
Amen.
Right on.
So if he does eight years of absolutely nothing, I'm okay.
So you're never you are not going to abandon Trump no matter.
I will not abandon Trump.
Absolutely not.
I believe in him.
I believe in him a hundred percent.
And I think his supporters are the same.
Yeah, I I do too.
But I want I want the other people that are hurting that still voted for Hillary to see what conservative ideas do and how they help and how they and how they make the country strong and safe.
Amen.
But you understand that the actual number of conservatives in the Republican caucus in the House is not the whole caucus.
Right.
There's a lot of moderates, quasi rhinos and so forth.
But no, you're you're absolutely right.
I think already the left is being flushed out in this regard.
I think they're being forced to demonstrate who they really are.
I agree with you.
It's it's frustrating.
I'm I'm trying to quell the frustration verbally as much as I can in lieu of patience.
Because I think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Absolutely.
And we can't squander this.
We just can't squander it.
And if that's my point with the tax cuts, it's just he's got to get it done.
Must get that done.
And then nothing else falls into place.
True, not just that, but what you just said demonstrating to the people of this country that what we just went through for the past eight years, never again, and that the opposite conservatism is the best for everybody.
Absolutely.
So well, I'm glad you called.
It's been a thrill.
And I I uh I will make sure that I let you know the next time I'm gonna be out in Los Angeles, so we'll go play.
That'd be cool.
I would like that very much.
Smoke cigars, absolutely.
Scott Bayo from LA will be back and continue after this.
Don't go away.
How are you meeting and suppressing all audience expectations every day?
We've got some clarification from Manuchin.
Yes, it was quick.
Manuchin says that he hopes to have the tax plan passed by August.
Not formulated.
What do you mean?
Are you being sarcastic in there?
All right.
It's it'll okay.
Well, that's when Reagan got his sign, was in August.
That's a big difference than having the plan ready to go by August and having it signed into law by August.
Those are m those are very different things.
So that's that's good.
Um Scott Bale, if you're still out there, I have an idea that something's up.
You know, Trump's addressing a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
It is the quasi State of the Union show, even though Trump, you know, the first term State of the Union.
It's that time slot, it is that scheduled speech.
Trump's addressing next Tuesday a joint session.
And I wouldn't be surprised if that is where Trump, when addressing the nation, starts telling Congress what he wants and what he's expecting.
And therefore what the American people voted for.
Whether Trump calls out people by name in that circumstance, don't know.
But I doubt that uh uh Trump will let that opportunity go by without using it to light a fire under those on Capitol Hill.
Because as we just pointed out, they're not naive and blind up there.
If they sense that there is an active effort or agenda to stop the Trump agenda from being implemented.
They know it.
In the White House, they would have full knowledge of this.
They would know more about it than we do.
They would know where it comes from, they would know what's behind it, they would know why, for example, you know, for example, are they up against donors to these members of Congress?
Is it ideological or what have you?
One thing that stands in the way of tax cuts.
Now, folks, you may laugh about this.
I'm not, I'm not trying to be funny.
But you take a look at this nation's budgets, the last eight years, and they grew and they grew and they grew, and the sad fact is the Republican Party gave Obama what he wanted.
And in some instances, in some years, the Republicans gave Obama more than he asked for in the budget.
People that live and work in Washington love government, and they love government spending because that's power.
That's purchasing things like votes and loyalties and what have you.
They love it.
In fact, many who are elected will tell you that their job, first jobs get re-elected, the next jobs is spend money.
A senator, I had a senator tell me, you know what the great thrill of this job is, Rush?
I have one one hundredth of a share of the federal budget to play with.
That's how he looked at it.
So these guys love spending.
The Republican side too.
We haven't seen any budget restraint from the Republicans.
Frustratingly so, isn't that true?
So you start talking tax cuts.
Well, what does Washington think?
Well, if if you're going to cut taxes, you've got to have some spending cuts.
You can't.
And this is where we differ.
They have this notion that Washington budget budgetary operations are a zero-sum game.
That if you cut taxes by a dollar, that you somehow have to reduce spending by a dollar.
And if you increase spending by a dollar, you've got to raise taxes by a dollar.
They look at this as a zero-sum game, and it's a crock.
Everybody knows that targeted tax cuts are going to expand revenue coming into Washington by creating more taxpayers, by creating more jobs, and by creating more government growth.
And it's been proven countless times.
And our tax rates have crept back up to where there's room to have marginal rate cuts.
We're back up to 39% on the top end.
Now, I've talked to the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and Kevin Brady, and he's got a plan, and his plan calls for top marginal rate of 33%.
And that probably is pretty much the Republican plan, 33% marginal, three rates.
Well, now that I say that, I don't want to attach that totally to Kevin Brady.
But I have talked with him about it, and I know that there's room to cut taxes that will cause economic growth.
And at some point, you get tax rates down to 20% and you cut them further, you can't automatically conclude it's going to create growth.
Could, but but you reach a point of equilibrium.
But we've, after the Reagan tax cuts, which took the top marginal rate 28% in 1986, we've crept back up to 39%, but the deductions have not been re-implemented.
So there's plenty of room for rate cuts, marginal rate cuts.
The idea that the government can't do with less.
We're thinking we've elected people who don't think that.
We've elected Republicans.
We've elected conservatives.
They realize government's too big.
They want to join us in reducing the size of government for all kinds of reasons.
But that apparently isn't the case.
Trump knows this.
Look, Trump knows he's going to have to make the trains run on time.
Trump knows he's going to have to implement his agenda.
And going on this is going to be rough at first.
But if he succeeds, and his Agenda ends up impacting the nation overwhelmingly positively.
Then converts will come along because everybody's going to want to be in the glow of success.
But he's got to get past and this illustration of Obamacare repeal laws, six of them that were actually sent up to Obama with full knowledge that he would veto them.
And there haven't been any sent up to Trump yet.
Brief timeout, much more straight ahead here on the EIB network after this.
Drive by Media has to be distraught.
Right's Prebus, Steve Bannon are on the stage together at CPAC, and they're getting along.
That was not supposed to be the case.
Bannon was supposed to shoot Prebis today in a duel.
And get well, I know it's not yet.
It's not over yet.
Bannon can still bring out the fisticuffs.
Anyway, they're both singing the praises of Trump, and Prebus just mentioned that Trump spoke at CPAC four or five years ago, and he'd go back and look at it, and he spelled out his agenda.
Trump's real.
He's who he is, and he doesn't stop until he's accomplished what he wants to accomplish.
And folks, if I must, that is what is making me not worry about what's going on in Congress right now.
Because we do have Trump, and he does succeed at what he wants.
And when he gets around to it, he's going to get around to it.
And they're having they haven't been able to stop him yet.
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