Sean Hannity Show - Remembering A Legend

Feb. 17, 2021 - Sean Hannity Show

01:35:16

Remembering A Legend

Sean dedicates today's show to the memory of Rush Limbaugh. A true legend; a gentle giant who revolutionized the Conservative movement and inspired a generation of Americans.The Sean Hannity Show is on weekdays from 3 pm to 6 pm ET on iHeartRadio and Hannity.com. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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	All right, thanks, Scott Shannon, and thanks to all of you.
	Thanks for being with us 800-941 Sean.
	If you want to be a part of this program, Scott Shannon sent me a couple of notes speaking of him, the great broadcasting genius that he is, talking about the saddest news of the day, the loss of our dear friend, you know, as our friend Jim Gray says, greatest of all time, Rush Limbaugh, losing his battle with cancer.
	And, you know, here's a guy, Scott Shannon, and he loves radio.
	He's such a good guy.
	He, to this day, just an amazing voice himself and creating morning zoo radio, taking things to another level.
	And he actually just said something so deep and so profound that it just struck me.
	Not only did he say it's a sad day for America, he says he changed everything in so many different ways.
	We have a lot to talk about as it relates to Rush.
	I have my own side of things.
	I've been close with his family.
	And let me start by saying I know that his wife, Catherine, was the love of his life.
	She gave an incredible tribute to him.
	And I'm going to play it at the start of Russia's show today.
	I know Russia's family.
	I haven't had a contract in radio and TV that wasn't done by a good friend of this program, David Limbaugh.
	I know how devastated his whole family is today and his beautiful wife, Lisa, and their wonderful kids.
	I know that Russia's team, James Golden, Bo Snerdley, as Rush called him.
	Kathleen Cookie, as Rush called him, Mike Maymone.
	It's just a loss.
	It's a very deep, profound, irreplaceable icon, broadcasting icon.
	He, you know, my friend Neil Bortz always said he was the babe Ruth of our industry.
	And he's right.
	But I add to it a little bit.
	Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrick, Hank Aaron, and Derek Jeter of our industry.
	And he had, he transformed radio.
	And I'll go through this story as the program goes through this afternoon.
	And he transformed, single-handedly saved AM radio single-handedly.
	Then he went on to save FM radio as broadcasting and podcasting and new media came on the scene.
	And no one else would have ever been capable of doing any of this.
	All of us that are broadcasters in talk radio, and I would even argue Rush Limbaugh paved the way for Fox News and even these liberal networks that give strong opinion.
	There's no talk radio as we know it, but for him single-handedly, paving the way, taking the slings and the arrows and every shot.
	And it made it easier for every single one of us that followed after him.
	And just nobody could match it.
	And we're all blessed because of it.
	It was very simple in some ways, deep and profound in so many others.
	The simple is God, faith, family, country.
	And for, what, almost 33 years now, since 1988, that has been Rush Limbaugh.
	We're going to play President Trump.
	He had comments on this earlier today.
	The great one, Mark Levin, also close friends with the family and with Rush.
	And I just want all of Rush's family to know his wife, Catherine.
	I want James Golden.
	I want Cookie Kathleen and her husband and all these wonderful Mike Mamon.
	I can't mention everybody.
	Dawn and the whole team over there.
	You know, that we love you all.
	You're all in our prayers today.
	We know you're all suffering.
	I'll say this before I play Catherine's statement.
	I've seen too much cancer in my life.
	Both my parents died from it.
	Well, my mom, not so much, but she had stage four breast cancer at one point in her life, double mastectomy, chemotherapy, lost her hair, you know, radiation.
	She survived that, but never really fully recovered enough and died pretty young.
	And my dad, too, pancreatic cancer.
	And I know many people, my family was in medicine, a lot of my family, my sisters, nurses, et cetera.
	So I knew more than I wanted to know.
	And they half kill you, although treatments are getting better.
	By the way, leukemia is now almost always curable.
	And Rush helped raise a ton of money for the Leukemia Society, millions and millions, and donated millions and millions himself.
	And the thing that I would want more, if you take only one thing away besides his love of God, family, and this country and his deep faith, and he had a deep faith.
	I know that for a fact.
	If you take one thing away is, okay, you're pretty much given about a year ago, you maybe have six months to live.
	We'll try and make it so you can live as long as possible.
	Okay, most of you, I'm sure, have seen the movie, The Bucket List, Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson.
	It's a great movie.
	I don't know how many people have a bucket list.
	I don't really have a bucket list.
	But Rush's bucket list, his choice was to get through this next treatment, hope for the best, but get back on the air because he wanted to be with all of us.
	He wanted to be with all of you and all of the people that listened to him.
	And that was his great passion.
	That was his great love.
	You were his great love.
	On top of his family and his wonderful wife and family, that was all of you.
	His wife Catherine, you know, when he gave the announcement saying that I want to play this part first, that he now understood how Lou Gehrig felt at one point.
	It's an amazing comment from somebody.
	You know, Lou Gehrig said in his speech, many tell me I got a tough break.
	No, I feel like the luckiest man in the world.
	That's what Rush said.
	The day that Lou Gehrig announced that he had his disease that was forcing him to retire from Major League Baseball, he said to the sold-out Yankee Stadium, today I feel like the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
	And I didn't understand that.
	I mean, here's a guy who had just been diagnosed with the most terminal of terminal diseases.
	And I said, this can't be real.
	You can't really think he's the luckiest guy in the world.
	This is just something that he's saying because it will play well.
	I don't mean to be insulting Lou Gehrig.
	Don't misunderstand.
	I'm just thinking that how in the world, if you're being honest, can you feel like you're the luckiest man on the face of the earth?
	Well, when I got my diagnosis and when I began to receive all of the outpouring of love and affection from everywhere in my life,
	from so many of you in so many ways, and from my family who, man, they have supported me my entire career, even during times it would have been understandable and easy for them to say, Rush, who?
	We don't know this guy.
	But that never happened.
	I mean, I've been totally supported by virtually everybody in my family.
	I've been propped up.
	I have been defended.
	I've been made to look better than I am.
	My lovely wife, Catherine, has done so much in that regard.
	She has done so much with rushlimbaugh.com and with the charitable efforts that we have engaged in.
	And all of it has been to my benefit.
	All of it has been for the and yours.
	It's the benefit of people who are the recipients of our efforts.
	So many people have put me first in all of this.
	And I understand now what Lou Gehrig meant because I certainly feel like that.
	I feel extremely fortunate and lucky.
	Rush wanted to be with all of you.
	Here's the love of his life, Catherine, making the announcement at the start of her show today.
	Hello, everyone.
	I know that I am most certainly not the limbaugh that you tuned in to listen to today.
	I, like you, very much wish Rush was behind this golden microphone right now, welcoming you to another exceptional three hours of broadcasting.
	For over 32 years, Rush has cherished you, his loyal audience, and always look forward to every single show.
	It is with profound sadness I must share with you directly that our beloved Rush, my wonderful husband, passed away this morning due to complications from lung cancer.
	As so many of you know, losing a loved one is terribly difficult, even more so when that loved one is larger than life.
	Rush will forever be the greatest of all time.
	Rush was an extraordinary man, a gentle giant, brilliant, quick-witted, genuinely kind, extremely generous, passionate, courageous, and the hardest working person I know.
	Despite being one of the most recognized, powerful people in the world, Rush never let the success change his core or beliefs.
	He was polite and respectful to everyone he met.
	Even most recently, when he was not feeling well in the hospital, he was so appreciative to every single doctor and nurse and custodian and first responder.
	He never wanted to put anyone out and always thanked them profusely for their help.
	From today on, there will be a tremendous void in our lives and of course on the radio.
	Rush loved our miraculous country beyond measure.
	An unwavering patriot.
	He loved our United States military, our flag, our Constitution, our founding fathers.
	He proudly fought and defended conservative values in a way that no one else can.
	Rush often stood up and took arrows on his own because he knew it was the right thing to do.
	Rush encouraged so many of us to think for ourselves, to learn, and to lead.
	He often said it did not matter where you started or what you look like.
	As Americans, we all have endless opportunities like nowhere else in the world.
	Rush gave us hope that through hard work and determination, we can overcome the obstacles in our lives and be our best.
	Many of you started small businesses or pursued personal dreams because Rush gave you the faith that you could.
	He made the most complex issues simple to understand while making that level of genius look easy.
	It most certainly was anything but easy.
	Irreplaceable, remarkable talent.
	On behalf of the Limbaugh family, I would personally like to thank each and every one of you who prayed for Rush and inspired him to keep going.
	You rallied around Rush and lifted him up when he needed you the most.
	I am certain, without a shadow of a doubt, if he could be here today, he would be.
	He loved you, and he loved this radio program with every part of his being.
	Instead, we know our Rush is in heaven, encouraging us in the same way he always did on earth.
	Russia's love for our country and belief that our best days are ahead live on eternally.
	In Russia's honor, may we all continue Russia's mission in our individual lives and communities.
	I know all of you listening are terribly sad.
	We all are.
	I'm terribly sorry to have to deliver this news to you.
	God bless you, Rush, and God bless our country.
	I know many of you have a lot to say.
	Well, we're going to definitely put some time away for a lot of your calls today in the sad, it's a tragedy, irreplaceable, the loss of Rush Limbaugh announced on his program earlier today.
	You know, how do you put into words one guy that literally there wasn't there would be no talk radio as we know it not if not for Rush.
	When he started his syndication, they said it couldn't be done in the daytime.
	There were less than 200 talk radio stations.
	Now there's thousands.
	He ended up literally saving AM radio and then later FM radio.
	He's also defined conservatism in a way that Kayleigh McInnady tweeted out, you know, I'm a Rush baby.
	She's younger.
	But listening to Rush had an impact that motivated her to get into the field of politics and fight for the beliefs we all have.
	We've got a lot to say on the other side.
	The president on Rush, Mark Levin on Rush all coming up.
	All right, 25 till the top of the hour.
	We'll get back to her.
	We're going to do the whole show.
	We have the president joining us on the issue.
	He'll be on TV tonight.
	Also, Mark Levin's going to join us.
	The passing of Rush Limbaugh today.
	And I want everybody to know one thing is that he would want us, and I can tell you this with a certainty, because he is irreplaceable.
	Catherine, his wonderful wife is right.
	He would want all of us, those of us that learned from him and went through all these different periods in this of history and him leading and defining conservatism on a mass scale and influencing generations of Americans,
	including myself, love this country, led this movement, and would want all of us to stay in this battle and in this fight.
	No, nobody will ever be able to replace him.
	But we can all do our part.
	It's important.
	I have a lot that I really want to say, and I don't want this to also be there was such a funny side of Rush and a humorous side to him.
	Mischievous side of him.
	And it was just hilarious to those of us that knew him when he was very tongue-in-cheek.
	And in the early years, you'd always say, broadcasting high atop the EIB building in Midtown Manhattan.
	And there'd be people visiting Manhattan and asking questions: well, where's the EIB building?
	Well, the secret was there wasn't really an EIB building except the one that he worked in, and it made it the EIB network.
	And all those stories are true.
	And Rush loved that part of it.
	It drove the left insane.
	Even a statement, when you really think about it, is extraordinarily humble with talent on loan from God.
	What is he saying?
	Yeah, any talent I have came from God.
	Actually, praising God in the talent, saying, I'm not responsible for the talent I have on the radio.
	It's God.
	And that would, you know, it's like Alka-Seltzer and water.
	The liberals would just melt.
	And that was part of him forging this path that every one of us in talk radio and me personally and even Fox News in so many ways is a result of this massive movement and growth of opinion that was shut down and shut out of all mainstream outlets.
	To take, you know, 200 news talk radio stations in the country at the time of his syndication in 1988.
	Now there's thousands of them.
	I think over 4,000 talk radio is the number one format in all of radio.
	Single-handedly, Rush Limbaugh saved the AM band.
	Because people, who's this guy?
	I remember where I first heard of Rush.
	I was in a radio studio at a college station.
	And some guys, you got to listen to this guy.
	He's irreverent.
	He's funny.
	He's smart.
	And he was all of that.
	And, you know, it was his passion.
	And to go back to in the midst of all of this treatment and all of this pain that is associated, we all know people that have had cancer.
	We all know people.
	They half-kill you to try and save you or to extend your life.
	And when he gave the announcement a little over a year ago that he had advanced stage four lung cancer, well, you know, I don't usually trust Dr. Google, but you don't have to read much to figure out where this is likely headed.
	And at that point, it was sad, but he wanted to be, and I want all of you to take this to heart, those that love Rush, as we do on this program.
	And I want you to just take it and understand he was, he didn't have the bucket list.
	He had the, I want to be with my listeners list, and I want to fight to the day I die for this country I love and keep this great movement that has impacted generations alive.
	And I know what he would want.
	He would want all of us to stay in his life's work.
	And we're all better because of him.
	We all know more because of him.
	Because you're certainly not getting it from any broadcast channels or the New York Times or Washington Post or these fake news channels.
	You're not getting it.
	And he was the leader of that movement.
	And he has personally impacted all of us that are broadcasters.
	I talk to many of my friends in broadcasting today.
	Every one of them is devastated.
	Mark and I have been on the phone all day.
	Mark will join us at the top of the next hour.
	That side of him that was humorous, mischievous, I mean, it just, it's amazing.
	You know, Mary Matlin said, I said this on Fox today when they called me and asked for my comments.
	Mary Matlin had said after the Clinton years, I don't know how he would have survived without Rush.
	But he was there for the rate at the end of the Reagan's term.
	He was there for Bush 41, there for the Clinton years, there for the Bush 43 years, there for the Obama years.
	He was there for the Trump years and fought like hell to get Donald Trump re-elected.
	It was his passion.
	And the audience, you were his passion.
	There is no talk radio as we know it, but for Rush Limbaugh.
	And I would argue there's probably not Fox News as we know it or any of a lot of programming.
	I want to play Rush reacting.
	And there's a little story behind this.
	And I know some people think that Matt Drudge has gone a little, changed his political views.
	Putting that aside, Matt loved Rush.
	Loved him.
	That's a fact.
	And when Rush announced that he had lung cancer, I got a call from Matt.
	And he brought up the idea of the Medal of Freedom.
	It was not my idea.
	And he had talked to other people at the White House about it.
	And I did talk to the president about it.
	It's obviously his decision.
	It's not mine.
	And the president immediately said yes.
	And I didn't know when it was going to happen.
	And I got a call earlier that day, and I was told it was happening at the State of the Union and that Melania was going to put it on him.
	I couldn't have been happier for this great American.
	Here's his reaction.
	Chris, how do you feel about getting the presidential medal?
	How's it a great feeling?
	Getting a medal with the presidential medal?
	Oh, I didn't know.
	You're TMZ.
	Yes.
	You're Harvey Levin.
	That's right.
	Oh, I see.
	How do I feel about getting the medal?
	Yes.
	I'm in a state of disbelief.
	I'm honored as I can be by it.
	Okay.
	Everybody loves to see us.
	You're doing well and everything like that, man.
	Well, thank you.
	Thank you.
	I am doing great.
	Who could not be doing great on a night like this?
	This is just everything you thought.
	Oh, I didn't think.
	That's the thing.
	I think this is still in a state of disbelief about it, man.
	But I'm accepting it.
	I'll take it.
	A lot of great people have received that honor, man.
	Thank you for everything you're doing.
	I appreciate it.
	Thank you very much.
	I appreciate it.
	And it was, I think it was probably the most special night in his life.
	And for all those that helped make that happen, I'm very appreciative.
	So I come to New York.
	Let me tell you a little bit of my story.
	And I got hired by Fox and went on the air when it debuted in 1996 in October.
	And I got a provision because I had been doing local radio in Atlanta at the time.
	And I got a provision that I could do radio as well as television.
	And that was part of my deal.
	And we started October 6th or 7th, I think, 1996 on Fox.
	I've been there the whole time, believe it or not.
	And anyway, so and then I started after TV every night.
	I go over to where the EIB building and I do the 11 to 2 shift talk radio.
	I love late night radio so much fun.
	It was different than than your daytime slot.
	And then eventually I got the afternoon slot.
	And then one day I got the call.
	Would you want to fill in for Rush?
	I'm like, OK, 21 million listeners, 600 plus stations, little nerve wracking.
	And Linda is making me play this.
	But there are some fun stories that I'm going to share here.
	And one of them is, so here I am in the middle, filling in for Rush for the first time, opening monologue of the show.
	And Rush's mic really is a golden EIB mic.
	And boom, fell down.
	Say that he lied is not going to happen.
	He's not going to concede that he lied to the grand jury because he did not.
	Is this more of the arrogance?
	Now, my face was on the desk as I'm now sweating profusely, having, you know, a near panic attack.
	Go ahead.
	I can see Linda laughing and smiling.
	But what made it funny is when Rush got back from his vacation or his day off, I don't remember how long he was out.
	He goes, and I used to try, I do my Markle event.
	Thank me.
	God bless us.
	I do.
	Sean Hannity dented the golden EIB microphone.
	I'm like, man, it was, you know, it was just Rush having fun.
	He had fun.
	But he also, and he had fun and he loved what he did.
	And he taught us all things.
	Made us all smarter, thinking better, learning more.
	When I did that late night show, one night, Rush's lines would ring all day long.
	In other words, people would be calling into his talk show.
	Well, his calls would show up on the same bank as the phone calls of the station I'm on.
	And one night I just, I just thought it'd be funny and then fun.
	And I started, like, I did a whole hour and saying, you know, I like that I was Rush.
	And then people would call in and I'd say, you're on the EIB network.
	Click, Rush, mega dittos.
	I thought it was funny.
	Kit Carson yelled at me at the end.
	He was a great friend.
	He wasn't really mad.
	And when I told Rush the story, he goes, oh, that's such, that's something I would so do.
	And he was happy that I got, he helped my career in ways I can't even measure.
	I'm extraordinarily grateful and humbled and appreciative of everybody in my life that has helped my career.
	I stay in touch with every boss I have, Bill Dunovant in Huntsville, Sluggo down in Atlanta, Eric Seidel, Phil Boyce.
	Haven't talked to him in a while.
	We need to talk soon.
	I want to play this little segment here of the president and rush where they mentioned me because the president never understood, well, you want to beat Rush, right?
	I'm like, nobody beats Rush.
	What are you talking about?
	He's done everything for all of us.
	And here's how that came up.
	You know, people don't realize what a great achievement 30 years is and that cutthroat business that you happen to be in.
	You know, you might not find that because you're so good at what you do, but it is a cutthroat business.
	And for you to do this for 30 years is truly an amazing accomplishment.
	And there's no voice like it.
	And even your friend Hannity agrees with that.
	He said, there's nobody like this man.
	So I said, oh, gee, I guess I thought you two would be competitive.
	He said, nope, he's the dean.
	No way.
	I told you the dean.
	No way.
	It was a guest host.
	He guest hosted for me when we first started.
	No, he's great.
	And he's a big, he's a tremendous fan of yours.
	They all are.
	Everybody is.
	So I just want to congratulate you.
	30 years of, and just do it for another 30 years after that.
	You can take it easy, okay?
	I will do that.
	Just stay around as long as you do.
	Okay, you have a deal.
	I'm very grateful to Rush for all he's done for this country, all he's done for all of us in broadcasting.
	All of us.
	And he's an icon of all icons here.
	And this is a better country because of his voice.
	And it'll be sorely missed.
	Now, my faith tells me God welcomes us.
	And there's a life beyond this life.
	I believe that with all of my heart.
	Our Creator welcomes us.
	And I know he was a believer.
	And Godspeed, Rush Limbaugh, and thank you for all you've done for this country, for this industry, for me personally.
	And you're missed and loved by millions.
	Remembering the great legacy of Rush Limbaugh, who passed away early this morning, Mark Levin will join us.
	We'll play the president's comments.
	Both will join us live on Hannity tonight at 9.
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	Remembering Rush, we'll have time for your calls today.
	We'll have the president speaking earlier.
	Mark Levin will join us next, the great one.
	And much, much more.
	Also, more of our tribute to Rush on this sad day.
	We lost an American icon.
	We'll continue.
	People don't realize what a great achievement 30 years is and that cutthroat business that you happen to be in.
	You know, you might not find that because you're so good at what you do, but it is a cutthroat business.
	And for you to do this for 30 years is truly an amazing accomplishment.
	And there's no voice like it.
	And even your friend Hannity agrees with that.
	He said there's nobody like this man.
	So I said, oh, gee, I guess I thought you two would be competitive.
	He said, nope, he's the dean.
	No way.
	I told you the dean.
	No way.
	It was a guest host.
	He guest hosted for me when we first started.
	No, he's great.
	And he's a big, he's a tremendous fan of yours.
	They all are.
	Everybody is.
	So I just want to congratulate you.
	30 years of, and just do it for another 30 years.
	After that, you can take it easy, okay?
	I will do that.
	Just stay around as long as you do.
	Okay, you have a deal.
	Hour two, Sean Hannity Show, 800-941, Sean.
	We will get to your calls, and we'll also be having our tribute to Rush, the president's comments from earlier.
	And the president, by the way, will be on Hannity tonight.
	Mark Levin will be on Hannity.
	And speaking of the great one, Mark Levin, he joins us now.
	I'm going to be joining him on his shows in the next days, too.
	Just, you know, Mark, we lost a defining voice for now over 30 years of the movement we love.
	You know, heart, mind, body, and soul.
	And we've had the honor, both of us, of benefiting from the path that he forged for all of us in broadcasting single-handedly and have been the beneficiaries of all the slings and arrows this guy has taken.
	And I know you had a very special relationship with him, and he, you know, early on was calling you F. Lee Levin, which used to crack us both up.
	And we both loved this man and appreciated him and understood him.
	And this is a loss.
	You can't replace Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, all in one.
	You know, it's really quite devastating, isn't it?
	I think back all the memories I had with this man over 25 years.
	A lot of personal and confidential things that I'm not going to discuss.
	Not that there's anything wrong with him, but it's personal.
	And having been to his house and how he treated us with such grace and how he was always, you know, Sean would ask me about my kids, and later he'd ask me about my grandkids.
	He was always curious, wasn't he?
	And he was a very humble man.
	He was nothing like the left tried to portray him.
	And from a more public or legacy perspective, I guess, you think of Reagan, you think of Buckley, you think of Milton Friedman.
	And Rush is in that genre.
	And he had an enormous capacity to communicate.
	And, you know, you substitute hosted for him.
	I substitute hosted for him really against my own will.
	He said, no, no, no, F. Lee, you can do this.
	And I don't know what I'm doing.
	No, no, don't worry about it.
	He threw you in the water.
	And you had to swim.
	By the way, there's a lot of stories about forcing Mark to do radio and TV, but we won't go there.
	But I remember I'm laughing because it was very funny, and that's exactly what he did.
	He threw you right in the water, and he did it for your own good.
	He gave me a lot of good advice.
	He gave us both a lot of good advice.
	I remember saying to him once, Sean, Rush, there's you, then there's Hannity.
	What am I going to say when you guys are done?
	And he said, I'll tell you what you're going to say.
	You're going to say what Mark thinks because nobody's heard what Mark has to say yet.
	I have never forgotten that.
	That's what he said.
	But all radio aside, it's just the humanity of the man, the compassion of the man.
	He so loved his audience.
	He so loved radio really incredibly.
	His beautiful, wonderful wife, we were both at his wedding.
	You know, that was only 10 and a half years ago.
	And his wonderful brother, David, and his family and so forth.
	This is a close family.
	It's a big family.
	And it's a family, a lot of them are lawyers, not all of them, and a lot of them are really outstanding lawyers.
	And, you know, early in his life, Rush would have told you he was fired from this job, that job, another job.
	Some people wondered if he ever accomplished anything.
	And then look what he accomplished.
	I don't think even the dire situation we're in today, I think we would have been here much faster without Rush.
	And we're going to have to fight on without Rush.
	And he's going to want us to fight on and fight on hard.
	But anybody listening should know how he adored them, how he adored his audience.
	And, you know, he used to always say, be respectful to your audience.
	Your audience is number one.
	When you're under attack, it's your audience who will defend you.
	It's your audience that will stand behind you.
	There's no more loyal audience than the audience Rush had and has.
	And it's very important that we carry on his battle for freedom and for the Constitution now more than ever.
	I know that's what he would want.
	But I also want everybody to know that the Rush you heard on the radio was a fantastic kind of Renaissance man.
	He was extremely well read.
	He had a huge library.
	He was reading all the time.
	I mean, heavy books, too.
	And Sean, I had a book come out called Rescuing Sprite.
	You remember that book?
	I remember it well.
	And that was my second book ever.
	And I wrote it, and I sent it to him.
	And he always wanted to see the books.
	And he said, F Lee, you come on the show.
	I want to talk to you about this for a full hour.
	You come down here to Florida.
	We'll do this in person.
	We'll have the ditto camp.
	I said, Rush, you want to talk about Rescuing Sprite?
	He said, yes.
	I want the American people to know who you are.
	What a human being you are.
	I want you to talk about your dogs on my show.
	That's the way he was.
	And I can tell a story behind the scenes.
	You might kill me, but I'll start it.
	If you want me to stop, I'll stop.
	Go ahead.
	In that book, because I know I read it and I remember crying reading it, you tell the story when you had a heart attack.
	Right.
	And, I mean, you get to hear it.
	I had a heart attack.
	Yeah.
	And you, also, my best friend, he, best friend, you were very upset.
	I remember you always checking up on me.
	Well, so did he.
	And then it got complicated.
	One of the grass failed, and I was still having chest pains.
	And so my doctors wanted me to go to the Cleveland Clinic, the best hard place.
	And back then, I just couldn't afford the flight and all the rest of it.
	And so I told him, I don't think I'm going to go.
	It's kind of expensive.
	F Lee.
	Yes, sir.
	You're going to go.
	And whatever it costs, I will cover it.
	Just go.
	You've got to survive.
	You've got to take care of yourself.
	Go.
	He got to do the nice things.
	I was the one telling you to stop eating, ordering McDonald's when you would pull up to the McDonald's.
	You know, it's funny he never told me to do that.
	But the story was a little more complicated than that.
	And I want people to understand the details of this.
	And when you pulled in, you drove yourself to the hospital and you knew you were in trouble.
	And you described the scene.
	I mean, you're literally, you feel like you have a Volkswagen on your chest.
	Some stranger sees what's going on, comes right over and says, let me park the car for you, runs inside, gets the hospital staff to run out to the parking lot to help you.
	And you had had a number of failed stents.
	I mean, things weren't working.
	And it was touch and go at that moment.
	And he stepped in and said, we're doing it my way now.
	And that's listening to your doctor's way.
	We're not going to let money get in the way.
	But it's not just your story.
	He did it for strangers.
	He did it for people all the time.
	I do want to say, I do want to add to this.
	Turns out that all but $1,500 have been paid by insurance and me and so forth.
	So I come home and we're all done.
	And he said, I don't think I've ever said, and he says, okay, what do I owe you?
	I said, you don't owe me anything.
	They pay everything but $1,500.
	I took care of that.
	F Lee!
	I should pay the $1,500.
	I said, no, it's not a big deal.
	That I can handle.
	And anyway, it's hard to know.
	You wake up in the morning and Rush Limbaugh is not there anymore.
	It's just very, very difficult.
	I could tell the last several weeks I would send him a short email and he wasn't able to answer, so I stopped.
	I could tell it was getting dire.
	I could tell from David, his brother was getting dire.
	David, his brother, he works with us, but he's like a brother to us, too.
	He couldn't be a better brother to Rush Limbaugh.
	Catherine couldn't be a better wife.
	And I just, I think the audience needs to know that Rush lived for his family, friends, and his audience.
	And even at the end, he struggled to get through these treatments because he wanted to go on the air.
	He wanted to go on the air.
	He wanted to talk to you.
	He fought for the country right to the bitter end, right to the bitter end.
	And he's a more loyal human being, you'll never find.
	And you said it, and I just want to reiterate it.
	All the attacks on Rush, just constant, unremitting, unrelenting attacks on Rush, utterly undeserved, because they tried to take him out and he was targeted.
	He was the big guy.
	You and I, even though we get attacked, nothing like that, because he took the attacks for us.
	I guess that'll change, but that's what happened.
	And he had very broad shoulders.
	Even when staff might screw up now and then, he took the responsibility for that.
	He was gregarious, but he was relatively quiet.
	He was very fun, you know, a bit of a trickster, and always very gracious to everybody.
	Always very, very gracious.
	He was a real Renaissance man.
	And history will remember him well, I hope.
	They remember anything about any of us.
	I think they'll remember him very, very well.
	Even his later books where he's trying to reach out to children, he and Catherine, trying to make sure they understand what a magnificent country this is.
	And Paul Revere and others, and the horse liberty, he was trying to figure out ways to save the republic.
	He understood it was a battle over the culture.
	And, you know, we've lost a leader.
	We've lost a leader.
	So, you know, it takes time to digest this, really, as a friend.
	It just takes a lot of time.
	Anyway, that's about it.
	You know, you said something that I said earlier in the program.
	And I think it needs to be restated.
	He was where he was.
	Unfortunately, my sisters all became nurses, and I knew more about medicine than you could ever imagine.
	And had too many friends that have had serious cancer scares.
	Some survived, some didn't.
	Both my parents had it.
	And, you know, you watch these treatments and they half kill you to try and save you or extend your life.
	And it seems like they did extended his life quite successfully.
	And he didn't have to expend the energy during this treatment time on the air.
	He could have just looked at his diagnosis, and it was dire from the beginning.
	We all knew that.
	And he made a decision to take the treatment and fight like hell because where he wanted to be with his audience every day.
	You get the final 30 seconds.
	Well, Rush Limbaugh will always be with us.
	The things that he did and said, he was a trailblazer.
	And I just want to tell, particularly the young people out there, you can follow his example.
	Love your country.
	Love your family.
	Love your faith.
	Be outspoken.
	Be supportive of those who are patriotic, our military, our police officers.
	And he would be thrilled if he knew there were a thousand or two thousand little Rush Limbaughs behind him, all wanting to do something spectacular for their country.
	This is a man, Rush Limbaugh, who I don't think ever imagined that he would become as big and popular as he did.
	But he wanted to make sure that the message got out to as many people as possible.
	He was a trailblazer in broadcasting.
	He was a trailblazer in thinking.
	He was a trailblazer in activism.
	And, you know, one of those come along once in a lifetime.
	But I'm just hoping young people will aspire to do the sorts of things that Rush Limbaugh did.
	And we're going to be defending him and all the great things he did, I'm sure, Sean, for the days and weeks ahead.
	And it's an honor to defend the honor and the grace and the graciousness of our dear friend.
	Mark, I couldn't say it any better.
	You'll join us more with more on this on TV tonight.
	We'll see you then.
	The president, also President Trump.
	All right.
	Glad you're with us.
	Sad day for all of us in broadcasting and all of us in talk radio and losing Rush Limbaugh.
	He lost his battle with lung cancer, as I know everybody knows now.
	You know, we live in this information age.
	I don't think I ever got information faster than I got today.
	And a lot of really, really kind notes from people knowing that how fond of Rush I was and my closeness to his family for over 30 years now.
	And actually, the president's going to be calling into Hannity tonight, 9 Eastern.
	We'll talk about this, and he'll join us.
	He called into Harris Faulkner, and Bill Hemmer was on the air with Harris earlier.
	It happened to be right after I was on.
	They had called me to comment about his passing.
	And I want to play the president's, I'm going to play him in full.
	I don't want to edit it.
	I want you to hear it.
	If you think back in Russia's life and career, I remember the media made such a big deal when he was in George Herbert Walker Bush's box at the Republican National Convention one night.
	But his impact, starting with his syndicated program with the presidency of Ronald Reagan, and then he was there through Bush 41 and all the Clinton years.
	As Mary Matlin said, how would we have survived them without Russia every day leading the way?
	But here's the president commenting earlier today, former President Trump, on Russia's passing.
	When we gave the Medal of Freedom, it was something special.
	It was an incredible night.
	We gave it during the State of the Union address, and it was especially half the room.
	Half the room went crazy, and the other half the room, they knew he should get it.
	But it was special, and he was special.
	Mr. President, you know what?
	Thank you for joining us.
	When was the last time you spoke with Rush Limbaugh?
	Three or four days ago, I'd call him just to find out.
	You know, his fight was very, very courageous, and he was very, very sick.
	And, you know, from diagnosis on, it was just something that was not going to be beaten, but you wouldn't know it.
	And he is married to an incredible woman, Catherine, who really, every time I spoke to him, he would tell me how great she was.
	She took such great care.
	He was very brave.
	I mean, he, in theory, could have been gone four months ago, really.
	He just was fighting till the very end.
	He was a fighter.
	He had a great general.
	While you were in the White House, how did you view how he either carried on your message or chose to agree or disagree with the policies you had as commander-in-chief?
	Well, first of all, you know, you just had Sean on, Sean Hannity.
	He was incredible.
	And Sean would say, there is nobody like Rush.
	Sean was the first to say that he, I used to say, well, what do you think someday?
	And he'd say, he's irreplaceable.
	Rush is irreplaceable, unique.
	He had an audience that was massive.
	And, you know, he could do something, Bill.
	And he would get up in the show and would just talk.
	He wouldn't take phone calls where, you know, people would call in every two minutes, and that's sort of easy to do.
	He would just talk for two hours and three hours, just talk.
	And that's not an easy thing to do.
	And I once asked him, I said, do you study for the show?
	And he said, actually, I studied very hard, which a little bit, Harris, that a little bit surprised me.
	But he was a fantastic man, a fantastic talent.
	And people, whether they loved him or not, they respected him.
	They really did.
	President Trump, I have always wondered, just seeing the look of surprise on Rush's face, what he knew about that moment and what you learned that he was going through in that moment after.
	He succumbed to tears.
	And I was curious, what did he know was coming?
	So I did tell him beforehand because we didn't have the really the power of not doing it.
	You know, Rush was very sick at the time.
	He was at a hospital in Boston.
	And I didn't want to do the surprise thing.
	I wish I could have done that, but we really didn't have that power of doing it because it was a very difficult thing for him to come into Washington from where he was, and he did it.
	And there were questions as to whether or not he was just a very brave guy.
	He's amazing.
	And he came in, and it was, as he told me, it was the greatest honor of his life.
	And everybody in the room, you know, you're talking about the Republicans and the Democrats.
	You had half of that room went crazy.
	You remember the evening well, I'm sure.
	It was a very unique moment in our country's history, in a sense, because of who Rush is.
	But half went just absolutely crazy.
	The other half sat totally dead silent.
	But 100% of that room respected Rush.
	It was a unique guy, and he was, he became a friend of mine.
	You know, I didn't know Rush at all.
	I had essentially never met Rush.
	And then when we came down the escalator, he liked my rather controversial speech.
	I made that speech that was a little bit on the controversial side, and he loved it.
	And he was, without ever having met him or talked to him or, you know, had lunch with him or asked him, he was with me right from the beginning.
	And he liked what I said, and he agreed with what I said.
	And he was just a great gentleman, great, great man.
	Mr. President.
	That is such fascinating detail that you're giving, Mr. President, about how you didn't really know him all that well, yet he became someone who carried your message.
	You know, I'm curious to know what you wanted him to know.
	And maybe you got to tell him in the last three or four days that you spoke about the difference that he made for you.
	Well, I think he did, and I've heard as many as 39 million people.
	You know, that's an audience that you don't hear about anymore.
	And I heard 39 million people.
	And I don't know if you remember, maybe three or four months ago, I did his show, and I heard they had a tremendous audience, and it lasted for like a long time.
	The interview was like an hour, and it just went right through.
	And it was, his questions were fascinating.
	I think the show was fascinating.
	He had a way of, he had an insight that few people have, just few people have, even really good ones, really pros in your business.
	And by the way, you two are some great combination.
	You and Bill together, Harris.
	That's a great combination that does incredibly well.
	We thank you for it.
	We really thank you both for it.
	But he was a very unique guy, and he had tremendous insight.
	He got it.
	He really got it.
	He was very street smart, in a sense.
	And a lot of people wouldn't know, but he was very, very street smart.
	He really got it.
	Mr. President, we probably have 100 questions for you, but so many of them are not appropriate for this venue.
	So we'll keep it on this topic for now.
	And we appreciate your time today.
	Perhaps that street smart came from growing up in the Midwest, Cape Girardeau in Missouri along the Mississippi River.
	Later, he went on to work for the Kansas City Royals and the Pittsburgh Pirates before he turned his attention full-time to radio in Sacramento, California.
	But you just said something a moment ago, and Harris picked up on it.
	Just tell us more about how you two got to know each other.
	I'm thinking of 2015, the summer, 17 candidates on a stage in Cleveland.
	At what point did he conceive that you were the guy, and how did that come about?
	Well, I got a call from a friend of mine who was a big Rush fan, and he said, Rush loves you.
	I said, I don't see that.
	You know, I hadn't heard.
	I'm not able to listen to the radio during the afternoon too much.
	You're on the trail and you're making speeches or doing whatever you're doing.
	I was actually making speeches and running a business.
	I was doing both of it simultaneously, right?
	And he just told me that, and then all of a sudden I started getting little transcript stuff.
	I would try to listen every once in a while.
	He was there right from the beginning, and it was incredible.
	And then I guess I called him just to thank him.
	And we developed just some very good friendship.
	We played golf together a little bit.
	He was a very strong guy, physically, very strong.
	Hit the ball a long way.
	He was.
	I guess the reason I asked that question, you think about five years ago, you don't strike me as his kind of guy back then.
	What changed?
	Well, I don't know.
	You know, you never know about people.
	I like some people that nobody would think I like, and I dislike some people that everybody would say, oh, that's a natural.
	We all know about that, right?
	I mean, you never know who you like and who you don't like or where it all ends up.
	But right from the beginning, he was so great.
	And, you know, and I have a very beautiful weakness.
	I always seem to like people that like me, okay?
	You know, it's much easier.
	When they don't like me, I tend to go for them so much.
	So call that a strength or call that a weakness, but that's the way it is.
	But Rush was so gracious and so great.
	So then over a period of time, I got to know him.
	And he loved this country.
	He loved the country.
	He loved his wife and his family.
	And he loved his fans, his audience, which was, I think, maybe the biggest ever.
	There's never been anything like it.
	You know, when Sean says irreplaceable, he really means it.
	So he's irreplaceable.
	You know, I'm curious, Mr. President, what did you talk about with Rush Limbaugh if you had the opportunity before he was too ill to do so about what might be next for you?
	He seemed, and I know because I've talked with him, he is a man of vision.
	But he also likes the art of what is coming next that you can't predict.
	True.
	But did you talk about that?
	Yeah, he was truly a man of the future.
	He loved this country so much.
	He loved the people of this country so much.
	He was so happy with what we did.
	We rebuilt the military.
	You know, all things that he liked.
	We cut taxes and we cut regulations, which maybe is even more important than the tax cuts, frankly.
	That's why we built that foundation that can propel us if it's not messed up.
	But Rush was just somebody that he loved talking about the country and the future.
	He was very much a future person, and he was very proud of the country.
	He was very disappointed by certain things that happened in the country and that, you know, just have been happening in the country.
	Very, very disappointed.
	But he thinks that it'll all work out.
	It'll all work out very well.
	He was just something special.
	And he would express it very well in the show.
	I mean, he was very open.
	I think that's why your show did so well.
	He was very open to his listeners, to his fans, of which there were record numbers.
	Did he say to you what role he would like to see you play next?
	Well, we didn't talk too much about that.
	I didn't want to talk about that too much either because I was disappointed by voter tabulation.
	I think it's disgraceful what happened.
	We were like a third world country on election night with the closing down of the centers and all of the things that happened late in the evening.
	And he was furious at it.
	And many people are furious.
	You don't know how angry this country is.
	And people were furious.
	But he was somebody at the same time.
	You know, he thinks about the past, but he projects out to the future.
	That was Rush.
	I mean, he wants to learn from the past and get things fixed.
	But he was somebody that really felt that was a very important victory for us.
	We should have had it, that we did have it.
	But he was somebody that felt that was a very important election, and I did too.
	I mean, I did too.
	You see what's happening now.
	And so, you know, but maybe more than anything else, we just became very friendly.
	And he could talk about any subject.
	I mean, whether it's politics or sports, as you know, you mentioned his sports career.
	I mean, he loved sports.
	He loved any sport.
	It didn't matter any sport.
	He could talk about any sport.
	He was a conversationalist.
	He was a brilliant guy.
	Didn't get enough credit for that.
	Totally brilliant.
	And he was a conversationalist, and he was unique.
	He was unique.
	He had a way.
	Maybe it was the voice.
	You know, you never know.
	Why does somebody have more viewers?
	Why do you have more viewers than other people that compete against you, too?
	You never know.
	You know, it's something.
	It's something.
	There's something in the air.
	There's the voice or the brain power, whatever it is.
	He had something very special.
	In a political sense, Mr. President, either during the primary fight of 2016 leading up to that election or the four years you were in the White House, did you feel a political need to go to Rush Limbaugh, knowing that he is, you know, he is a kingmaker in so many conservative circles?
	Did you ever get that sense that Limbaugh could help you on said issue?
	Well, because it happened so early, Bill, his support, it wasn't like, wow, let's now start to get people on board.
	Because, you know, when I ran, a lot of people didn't think I would win because I had never done it before.
	They said you needed experience and you needed all of those things.
	And I understand that.
	But Rush felt very early that, you know, we're going to win.
	He fell from the escalator right down.
	I mean, I think before the speech, if you want to know the truth.
	But, no, I never had to think about it because he was there so early.
	The only thing I did do is I got to know him.
	And I got to know him because he was so gracious.
	He was so good to me, so gracious.
	And he loved Catherine.
	He was telling me so many, I mean, story after story, how she put up.
	You know, it was a very tough period.
	This period was, he was going through hell, and he said that this was, he was married.
	He told me he was married to an angel.
	And the help and the devotion, and I could see it too.
	I could see it.
	You could see it when I gave him the award, how proud she was.
	He was just, you know, something incredible, but he really loved his family.
	He loved Catherine.
	He was a great man, and he deserves it.
	All right, that was the president commenting on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News earlier today.
	We'll get to your calls coming up in the next half hour.
	The president will also be on Hannity tonight, nine Eastern, the great one.
	Mark Levin will be there.
	And a tribute show to Rush.
	I mean, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mannell, Lou Gehrig.
	Just, as Jim Gray, my sports friend, says, just the GOAT, the greatest of all time in this industry.
	We all benefited from the path that he forged.
	All right, news roundup and information overload hour.
	Thank you, Scott Shannon.
	Scott Shannon writing me earlier today.
	You know, we had talked about Rush so many times, Scott and I. Scott is just, you know, he wrote me, it's just a sad day for America, he wrote me.
	He goes, he changed everything in so many different ways.
	And that's how we're going to spend this half hour in this special tribute that all my team has put together to Rush.
	In the final half hour, we'll get to your calls.
	We'll have a full show tonight.
	Rush will honor Rush.
	The president will be calling in, former President Trump, or President in Exile, Donald Trump, Mark Levin, and others.
	But here's our tribute to Rush.
	And with the charitable efforts that we have engaged in, and all of it has been to my benefit.
	All of it has been for the and yours.
	It's the benefit of people who are the recipients of our efforts.
	So many people have put me first in all of this.
	And I understand now what Lou Gehrig meant because I certainly feel like that.
	I feel extremely fortunate and lucky.
	They said, well, what are you best at?
	And I said, probably being on the radio.
	Well, there's your answer.
	Do what you're best at, and you'll at least be happy, regardless how well you do it.
	So I decided to give radio one more chance.
	I'm sure you've all felt like you weren't going to ever amount to anything, even though you knew you were capable of it.
	I felt that way.
	The only difference between you and me is that I'm up here and you're out there.
	And the only reason I'm up here is because you're out there.
	You have rejuvenated my life and you have made me something I never even thought I could be.
	And I have just one thing to say to you, a sincere and heartfelt thank you.
	What if Hillary had won in 2016?
	Stop and think of that.
	There wouldn't have been a roaring economy.
	There wouldn't have been any tax cuts.
	There wouldn't have been any rollback of regulations.
	There wouldn't have been any squaring of the deal with NATO.
	There wouldn't have been any redon trade deals.
	The Obama administration told American people, get used to it.
	There's a new American economy and it's flatline or in decline.
	America's past.
	We didn't really deserve that.
	America was founded by a white patriarchy, set itself up for itself.
	People discriminated against, but those days are over.
	So now the days behind us, we didn't deserve those anyway.
	We don't deserve to be a superpower.
	So we had a flatline economy.
	We were told, Obama's out there in Indiana telling these people their jobs are never coming back.
	And somebody in the audience, Mr. Trump says he can bring them.
	And Obama says, what's he going to do?
	Wave a magic wall.
	Look what happened.
	We got the jobs back.
	It can be done.
	They don't even want to make America great.
	They resent the whole idea of America becoming great.
	They resent the idea of America as a superpower running the world for good.
	We're the good guys.
	I don't think so.
	Rush, I just wanted to congratulate you on 30 years.
	This is your favorite president, and I think you are fantastic.
	And I heard about it, and today is the big day.
	30 years I wanted to call personally and congratulate you.
	I am floored.
	I thought there was nothing anybody could do to surprise me today.
	I've been preparing for anything.
	Mr. President.
	You're a very special man, Rush, and you have people that love you.
	I'm one of them.
	But you're a very, very special guy.
	What you do for this country, people have no idea how important your voice is.
	So I just wanted to personally make this one.
	And I said, I'll even dial the number myself if I have to.
	But I just want to congratulate you.
	30 years, and that tough business is incredible.
	And you're stronger now than ever before.
	Well, I thank you so much.
	It's such a thrill to hear from you.
	You know, people don't realize what a great achievement 30 years is and that cutthroat business that you happen to be in.
	You know, you might not find that because you're so good at what you do, but that is a cutthroat business.
	And for you to do this for 30 years is truly an amazing accomplishment.
	And there's no voice like it.
	And even your friend Hannity agrees with that.
	He said, there's nobody like this man.
	So I said, oh, gee, I guess I thought you two would be competitive.
	He said, nope, he's the dean.
	No way.
	I called you the dean.
	No way.
	It was a guest host.
	He guest hosted for me when we first started.
	No, he's great.
	And he's a big, he's a tremendous fan of yours.
	They all are.
	Everybody is.
	So I just want to congratulate you.
	30 years of, and just do it for another 30 years.
	After that, you can take it easy, okay?
	I will do that.
	Just stay around as long as you do.
	Okay, you have a deal.
	30 years ago today, Americans had few options for political commentary.
	The news of the day, journalism was decidedly one-sided.
	Network news, along with the print media, they were the kings of all information in America.
	That all changed 30 years ago, this day, 1988.
	It changed forever.
	A man from a small town called Cape Gerardo, Missouri, kicked off a brand new national radio program.
	It gave a voice to the millions of conservative in this country that have been ignored, impugned, their values diminished for so long.
	In doing so, he started what would now become a new media revolution in this country, one that radically would permanently alter the media landscape in America.
	And by the way, pave the way for people like me, the great one Mark Levin, Laura Ingram, and so many others.
	Well, tonight we're celebrating 30 years of the Rush Limbaugh Show, the pioneer of conservative talk radio.
	That's tonight's mini monologue.
	30 years ago today, August 1st, 1988, the Rush Limbaugh Show kicked off nationally on 56 radio stations around the country.
	The show was radically different from anything else on the airwaves at the time.
	Now, for decades, all Americans, look, we were force-fed.
	We got our information, commentary, news from the decidedly one-sided, left-wing-leaning, traditional mainstream media.
	But with a very clear, funny, fun, refreshing, informative, conservative perspective, while Rush filled what was a desperately needed void in the country, and he gave voice to millions of us.
	Now, Rush has syndicated nationally on more than 600 of America's best radio stations, heard by more than 27 million people every week.
	And as it turns out, well, time flies when you're kind of like spearheading an entire movement and an entire new genre of media.
	Take a look.
	They said, well, what are you best at?
	I said, probably being on the radio.
	Well, there's your answer.
	Do what you're best at, and you'll at least be happy, regardless how well you do it.
	So I decided to give radio one more chance.
	I'm sure you've all felt like you weren't going to ever amount to anything, even though you knew you were capable of it.
	I felt that way.
	The only difference between you and me is that I'm up here and you're out there.
	And the only reason I'm up here is because you're out there.
	You have rejuvenated my life and you have made me something I never even thought I could be.
	And I have just one thing to say to you: a sincere and heartfelt thank you.
	And media was forever changed.
	Now, here's the question I want to throw out tonight: What would America be like without Rush, without talk radio, but without Rush on the air for the last 30 years?
	Without a doubt, he has now had a massive impact, decade after decade, year in and year out.
	The Doctor of Democracy is the single most influential voice in the early 90s, holding the corrupt Clintons accountable, playing a vital role in the historic Republican midterm resurgence.
	Newt Gingrich coming to power in 1994.
	Now, he pushed for America's tough response after 3,000 of our fellow Americans were slaughtered on 9-11, 2001.
	He was a leading voice for the Tea Party movement in 2010.
	He was one of the only people that were warning against Obama's radical left-wing ideology and agenda, rightly predicting that those policies would fail.
	And recently, he has been a steadfast, powerful voice for what is the working Trump agenda, the conservative agenda.
	And you see the dividends every day.
	Take a look.
	Donald Trump is like anybody else would be.
	He won the presidency.
	He won the presidency against all odds.
	He resents deeply this idea that anybody helped him, particularly the Russians.
	You people in the media are nuts if you think Donald Trump is going to go along with this.
	That's not who he is.
	There are Republicans and Democrats, but it's basically people who are pro-government, pro-Washington, who think government Washington is the center of the world.
	They'll give occasional mentions of these things that you mentioned, these policies, to placate voters.
	But going back to an original question you had here, they don't want Trump to succeed.
	On today, the 30th anniversary of his syndication, well, he got a call from a pretty special surprise guest.
	Let's listen in.
	Rush, I just wanted to congratulate you on 30 years.
	This is your favorite president, and I think you are fantastic.
	And I heard about it, and today is the big day.
	30 years, I wanted to call personally and congratulate you.
	I am floored.
	I thought there was nothing anybody could do to surprise me today.
	I've been preparing for anything.
	Mr. President.
	You're a very special man, Rush, and you have people that love you.
	I'm one of them.
	But you're a very, very special guy.
	What you do for this country, people have no idea how important your voice is.
	So I just wanted to personally make this one.
	And I said, I'll even dial the number myself if I have to.
	But I just want to congratulate you.
	30 years in that tough business is incredible.
	And you're stronger now than ever before.
	Well, I thank you so much.
	It's such a thrill to hear from you.
	My friend Neil Bortz, also a talk show, has once referred to Rush as the babe Ruth of talk radio.
	He was right.
	And during his call with Rush today, the president also brought up how often I call him the dean of talk radio.
	Watch this.
	You know, people don't realize what a great achievement 30 years is and that cutthroat business that you happen to be in.
	You know, you might not find that because you're so good at what you do, but it is a cutthroat business.
	And for you to do this for 30 years is truly an amazing accomplishment.
	And there's no voice like it.
	And even your friend Hannity agrees with that.
	He said, there's nobody like this man.
	So I said, oh, gee, I guess I thought you two would be competitive.
	He said, nope, he's the dean.
	No way.
	I called you the dean.
	No way, it was a guest host.
	He guest hosted for me when we first started.
	No, he's great.
	And he's a big, he's a tremendous fan of yours.
	They all are.
	Everybody is.
	So I just want to congratulate you.
	30 years of and just do it for another 30 years.
	After that, you can take it easy, okay?
	I will do that.
	Just stay around as long as you do.
	Okay, you have a deal.
	That's a pretty good deal.
	But you know what?
	It is a competitive business, but people like myself, the great one, Mark Levin, Laura Ingram, and most people that work in talk radio, we all understand that he forged a path for all of us.
	Here's the big question, though.
	I personally, you think back of the last 30 years, think about America today without Russia's voice, that booming conservative voice for 30 years, his unwavering commitment to conservative ideology, philosophy, frankly, his wonderful, warm sense of humor, his outrageous humor, his steadfast love of country.
	He's literally given this country insightful commentary decade after decade, and it has changed the media landscape in this country forever.
	As he led the way, forging a path.
	Like earlier pioneers like Jerry Williams and Barry Farber, Bob Grant, all these guys, some outrageous, controversial, some not.
	We get to do what we do today because he single-handedly opened up a whole new marketplace.
	He had the courage of his convictions.
	He paved the way for a new media and a political revolution.
	And the fact, for example, you're watching me right now is in part because of these great pioneers courageously forging that path.
	He had the audacity to stand up versus the status quo.
	He took a lot of heat.
	He stood for honest, conservative, great American values.
	They have tried again and again to take him down.
	And they take it just like they try to take Mark, Laura, me down whenever they can.
	But here we are.
	We're blessed and we're better off as a country.
	The media has some diversity because of his life's work.
	So Rush, on behalf of me, Mark, Laura, conservatives, everywhere, millions of us, thank you.
	Hey, look, before we wrap up today, I have to take just a brief moment here to extend sincere thanks to Sean Hannity.
	I was told you're going to want to watch Sean's monologue tonight.
	I got a note from somebody working on his staff.
	You're going to want to watch this tonight.
	So I turned it and I was floored.
	I was, did you all see it last night?
	I honestly, it was so strange.
	I've never, I don't want to make too big of it, but I've never had any, well, I've never had all that stuff ever said about me or this program.
	And it just was over the top, exceptionally well done.
	I was dabbing at my eyes when this was going on because it was so heartfelt the way Sean spoke of this program and of me and our friendship.
	And I will always remember it.
	It was, I don't know how else to say it.
	It was unlike anything that has ever been said in ways of describing this program and me.
	And when you're not accustomed, I imagine that people on the left are accustomed to that kind of treatment all the time, and it becomes something that they expect and don't appreciate.
	But man, for me, people on our side are like, I'll never get anything like that.
	And I just have to.
	I sent Sean a note privately.
	Thank you, but I wanted to acknowledge it here on the program today, too, because it was just great and deeply meaningful.
	All right, we'll take a quick break.
	Final half hour, your calls.
	When did you first hear Rush?
	Your thoughts on his passing next.
	All right, 25 to the top of the hour, 800-941.
	Sean, if you want to be a part of the program, you know, I purposely have stayed off social media.
	I always do.
	I don't have email anymore.
	And I just asked my team, my staff here, let me guess the media is vicious as always.
	And the answer was yes.
	And this is just, this is who they are.
	At the end of the day, we know who Rush is.
	They don't define Rush Limbaugh's career.
	They never understood conservatism ever.
	They don't want to.
	All they know is smear, lies, slander, besmirchment, attack, attack, attack, attack, attack.
	And we know the real Rush Limbaugh, the patriot, a person that loved God, family, and country.
	Why did so many millions, tens of millions of Americans, if you add over the generations that grew up and then became prominent conservatives, in part, in large part, in many cases, because of Rush.
	So I'm ignoring that noise.
	I want to take a lot of your calls.
	I know how so many of you feel about today.
	And I just wanted to give you all a chance to talk about this incredible, most talented, greatest of all time broadcasting legend.
	We're going to start with our dear friend Don in Lake Ron Concama, who I know loved Rush all these years.
	And we've been friends for many years too.
	Very much so.
	I had been to a couple of his fundraisers in the city.
	And when I heard his wife, Catherine's voice come over the radio and announce his passing, I was numb.
	And I'm still numb, and I'm going to be numb for a little while.
	But I will miss his strength and his optimism, Sean.
	His drive to keep pushing forward.
	I remember on October 8th, 2001, he announced he was going deaf.
	Didn't stop him.
	He pushed forward.
	He had an addiction to painkillers.
	Didn't stop him.
	He beat it.
	He took time off the radio.
	He beat it and he pushed forward.
	You know, how many, the many times that the left tried to go after his advertisers having kicked off the radio.
	His whole career.
	Yep.
	They tried to do that his entire career.
	They've tried to silence him and they failed.
	Yep.
	And then you had to love Dan's Bake sale during the 90s.
	I remember that.
	That's a fun memory.
	That's incredible to see that thing grow and grow and grow.
	And then his charities.
	He was a biggest, staunch supporter of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.
	In fact, this morning I was moving shirts around in my closet.
	I found this Betsy Ross shirt that I had bought.
	Also, his Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, his Towers, Tunnels of Towers Foundation.
	All these things are just, say, Rush Limbaugh, you know?
	And I'm glad that I'm not sure.
	I know for a fact he's donated millions and millions of dollars.
	I know of individual cases of his incredible generosity.
	Yeah.
	I know the same guy you're describing, Don.
	And, you know, it's, You know, you just don't get the great talent that just comes along every day.
	Yeah, it was so heartfelt.
	It was so from the heart.
	He was just, you had to tune in to hear what Rush had to say.
	I was talking to Bo Snerdley today, and I said, I don't, when he went, when he lost his hearing, and we all have hearing loss on radio if you've been at it any length of time, but when he went completely deaf.
	Yeah.
	And how he was able, I could tell you right now, I would not be able to accomplish that.
	It is an oh, it is task impossible.
	Yeah.
	As a broadcaster, hearing is instrumental.
	And he did it.
	Yeah, I was in his presence when I was in his presence in New York when he demonstrated how that cochlear implant worked.
	It was just an amazing, amazing medical breakthrough for him and for us.
	Well, and it worked for him.
	And you know what?
	Like I've often said this, nobody gets through this life without facing challenges, difficulties, problems.
	You know, we're all going to get hit.
	Nothing's going to hit as hard as life itself, as Rocky says to his son, right?
	That's right.
	But it ain't a matter of how hard you can get that you get hit.
	It's a matter of how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward and keep moving forward.
	And we owe it to Rush.
	This was his life's work.
	We'll never match his talent.
	We'll never match his voice.
	It'll forever be sorely missed.
	But we'll do our best because that's what he'd want us to do.
	He didn't have to stay on the radio for the last year.
	That's where he wanted to be.
	He wanted to be with us.
	He wanted to be with his incredible audience.
	Many in this audience, the people that really make the country great.
	I guess he could have flown off to Europe, other countries, had a bucket list.
	No, his bucket list was what he did every day.
	And that's where he chose to be.
	And if he could have been there today, he would have been there.
	And he wanted to be there, I'm sure, in these final weeks as he was struggling.
	I was getting nervous because he had been off the air for a while.
	Don, thank you, my friend.
	Thanks for sharing all that.
	Appreciate it.
	MJ Florida, thank you for checking in.
	Hey, well, Semper 5, Sean.
	I thought of you immediately, you and Mark, the great one, immediately.
	And I happened to catch you earlier on the television.
	And it's the three of you, such great big men, but with such powerful, wonderful voices, but the softest and kindest hearts.
	And you say your staff noticed on media, social media, I don't have social media, but for the left to become unhinged and awful and terrible, it just shows what a great and wonderful person Rush was and what a huge difference he made because he was so funny and so humorous.
	It killed them.
	It killed them.
	And he will just always be remembered.
	And I have a stray cat outside and I didn't have a name for him.
	And I just named him LRL, Little Rush Limbaugh.
	And that's named my cat because I was such a big, tough man like Rush had such a heart for cats and his little pumpkin who passed away.
	And your other guest, Don, mentioned about the United States Marine Corps and law enforcement.
	You know, those are the two big things in my life, Marine Corps and law enforcement, and everything and just the giving that he did and the quiet giving.
	And most people aren't very quiet about giving, but such a quiet giver, but a loud force to be reckoned with.
	And he will just be so missed.
	And it was so wonderful hearing your voice and Mark Levin's voice and others today.
	And just, you know, just keep up the good fight.
	And you, you know what, Sean, you are such a bold and tough guy.
	You don't take any crap.
	But one thing is when you were, when you speak about Rush and even Mark, you're so humble.
	And people say, Sean Hannity, humble?
	When it comes to admiring greatness and knowing that where you got, you know, your start and how you just gave him compliments and stuff, that is so humble of you, Sean.
	And I just thank you and others for continuing on the fight.
	MJ, I am truly grateful.
	You know, that's how I feel.
	All of us in this industry owe him a debt of gratitude.
	All of us.
	Yes, sir.
	And, you know, I remember scared to death filling in for him.
	I was talking about it earlier the first time I filled in for him.
	And then the golden EIB microphone dropped.
	That was not the best moment of my life because it really is gold.
	Your Alec Baldwin moment.
	It was rough.
	Literally, the microphone fell off the stand.
	And I'm like, I have my head down on the desk trying to finish the opening monologue.
	I'm sweating profusely, about to have a full-on panic attack.
	And Rush, in just rush fashion, comes back from the day off or vacation.
	I don't remember exactly when, and goes, Sean Hannity dented the golden EIB mic.
	And I'm like, oh, I'm doomed.
	I am so doomed.
	He never let you forget it.
	No, you know, but it was just Rush.
	It was his humor, I mean, he had multiple layers of it.
	And it was so funny that, you know, people would come to New York.
	He would tell this story and they'd be, you know, looking for the EIB building in Midtown Manhattan.
	And, you know, MJ, there never was an EIB building in Midtown Manhattan.
	The building was whatever building he was broadcasting from, which I think at the time was Tupen Plaza, where I, where, where I had worked for many years myself.
	And I remember when I would fill in for MJ, and I just, and it was such an opportunity that he gave me, and he was generous about everything.
	And I loved all the people that would fill in for him.
	Walter Williams, Jim Kerr back in the early days, Tony Snow filled in for him.
	All the great, I don't want to miss some people's names here.
	I'll forget some, and there's so many good ones.
	Mark Belling recently and others.
	And I'm not purposely excluding anybody.
	But I always knew when there was a fill-in and I wanted to listen, I'd be like, oh, where's Rush?
	Why is he on vacation?
	And I knew when I would fill in that the audience was going, oh, where's Rush?
	I want to hear him.
	And so I always took it as a huge responsibility and just to just not to chase everybody away in the meantime.
	But, you know, God bless him.
	I mean, you know, I believe in an afterlife.
	I believe in a heavenly father.
	I believe in heaven.
	And I believe that's where Rush is.
	I know he was a strong Christian.
	And I know his faith got stronger later in his life.
	And he was even talking about it on the air.
	And, you know, none of us are going to live forever.
	And he lived his life to the fullest, and he lived it the way he wanted to live it.
	And when he got this diagnosis, he stayed where he wanted to be on the air with us.
	And we're blessed because of it.
	Absolutely.
	He got retired, but he stayed in there for us.
	Stayed in it.
	And let me tell you, those chemo treatments knock you on your ass and then some.
	They half kill you to try and save you.
	And they were able to keep him alive longer than the original diagnosis.
	That part he's already disclosed.
	That's all true.
	Thank you, MJ.
	Don in Iowa.
	Hey, Don, how are you?
	Hi, Sean.
	Thank you for taking my call.
	Thank you for calling.
	Now, it's kind of tough.
	I've been listening to you since you were a guest host on the Rush Limbaugh show.
	I've been listening to Rush since I don't know 8990 when I didn't even like him because he was boastful and braggedocious and loud and in your face.
	And it turned out that he was just always sure of what he was saying.
	And.
	You know, confidence is from the Latin.
	That's a good point, you know, with deity, but go ahead.
	No, when I heard his wife come on the radio, my eyes immediately welled up because, you know, it was just so tough.
	And simplify to MJ, yourself, and to Catherine and Rush because, you know, always faithful, and it's just so important.
	I started listening to Sean Hannity because of Rush, watching Hannity and Combs because of Rush.
	And I'll tell you, it's going to be tough without Rush.
	You're going to carry on and you're going to do a great job, but it's not going to be.
	You know what?
	Look, he's irreplaceable.
	Nobody can replace him.
	You can't replace Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Mickey Mantle and Derek Jeter.
	You just can't.
	But we'll all, you know, but I know this.
	I know he'd want us to fight for everything he fought for in his life.
	And that is this great country and the cause of liberty and the cause of freedom.
	It was his passion.
	This country was his passion.
	And he was always optimistic about our future.
	And we recently had some discussions about it.
	But Don in Iowa, God bless you, my friend.
	Thank you so much for listening to us and being with us every day.
	We all have a lot of work to do.
	All of us combined.
	We've got a big void here.
	800-941-Sean, our number.
	The president, Mark Levin, on Hannity tonight.
	And with the charitable efforts that we have engaged in, and all of it has been to my benefit.
	All of it has been for the and yours.
	It's the benefit of people who are the recipients of our efforts.
	So many people have put me first in all of this.
	And I understand now what Lou Gehrig meant because I certainly feel like that.
	I feel extremely fortunate and lucky.
	All right, that's going to wrap things up for today.
	I believe in our afterlife.
	I believe that we're created by one God, and one of his good and faithful servants has returned home.
	Rush, Godspeed.
	We'll miss you always.
	Never forget you.
	Appreciate all you've done for us.
	Former President Trump, Mark Levin, tonight at 9 Hannity Fox News Channel.
	And to all of his audience, our love, prayers are with you always as well.
	We'll see you tonight.
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