Trump Was Supposed to Be Gone by Now
Rush Limbaugh says:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/07/22/trump_was_supposed_to_be_gone_by_now
RUSH: You know, I often joke around, calling myself America's Real Anchorman. You know, I really am. I really, really am, particularly on this whole Trump story, folks, as I made clear toward the end of the program yesterday. That's why the Drive-Bys misunderstand what I'm doing. They don't understand objectivity. They don't understand reporting on something without an opinion attached to it. They really don't.
That's why they think I'm supporting Trump because I'm not denouncing him. If I'm not denouncing Trump, I'm supporting him, and it's not at all what I've said or done. They understand the nuance. They finally figured out I'm very nuanced. I'm not this simpleton. Well, today they think that. I'll be back to being a simpleton next week sometime. Anyway it's a fascinating case study.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here's Kevin in St. Louis. Kevin, I'm glad you called. It's great to have you with us. Hi.
CALLER: Thank you for taking my call. Don't you think that Donald Trump knows exactly what he's doing and knows that there's a majority out there that support him? Kind of like what you did when you first started. You know, you knew that you were gonna be attacked and whatnot, but you just kept pressing on and knew that you were right in what direction you were going in.
RUSH: That's an interesting question about Trump and what he's doing and why and what he knows. Now, if you take him at his word, if you take Donald Trump at his word, here's what's going on. He's fed up with both parties and the almost formulaic way they talk and act and get nothing done or make things worse. I think there's also something that's happened that we don't know, maybe a series of things, and the latest one was maybe the straw that broke the camel's back that finally, he ran.
Because Trump's been toying with this for how many election cycles? Even this one, as recently as first week of June, I had people asking me about, "Do you think Trump's gonna pull the trigger this time?" and I said, "Nah, I doubt it. I think he's just setting up a big audience and renegotiation for The Apprentice." But then he did it. He actually pulled the trigger. And then when he started losing support of Macy's and NBC, he stuck with it. So something's changed with Trump, and he's attempting to accomplish something.
But the big thing that I think sets all this apart for everybody else among everything else that's happening, is Trump is literally having the time of his life. He is thoroughly enjoying this. Every bit of it. He's enjoying the big crowds. He's enjoying the way he is in everybody's face. Somebody comes along and insults him, and he's right back at them, and he views every one of those confrontations as he is winning. He's just having fun. He's literally enjoying immensely all of this, and I don't doubt that he's like all of you in one regard.
I think he really does care about the country, and I think like a lot of people, he is really, really worried about what's happening to it. What I hope is that if Trump is serious about this, look at what he was able to do with the immigration issue. When that whole thing started, he was the issue. What he was saying about Mexicans -- and what he was saying about the type of people immigrating, what he was saying about our government permitting all that to happen -- he was the issue. Everybody was talking about a reprobate he was.
Everybody was talking about how impolitic he was, how crude, how extremist. And then Kate Steinle was murdered in a sanctuary city, San Francisco, and all of a sudden the issue became the issue. Well, what if Trump decided to pick up this Planned Parenthood thing? And then what if Trump decided to pick up economics and then pick up Obamacare? What if Trump started doing on all these other issues, what he has done on immigration? So far the value of Trump... If Trump were not in this race, I guarantee you...
Well, I can't guarantee, but if none of what Trump... Well, if none of this had happened, I dare say immigration still would not be on the table. Immigration would still be an issue where the focal point of it was, "Republicans better get on board and support this! Republicans better get on board and support amnesty! The Republicans better do it!" If everything that has happened except Trump being in, that's what we would be looking at: A traditional Republican campaign with all these different guys getting in and all vying for the same votes, voters, and so forth.
The universe is being expanded here.
Trump is not running as a Democrat. He's attracting Democrats. He's attracting people from all over the place. So he has the ability to illuminate all of these issues that I know all of you are frustrated by because the Republicans don't seem to oppose the Democrats on them, and Trump is the one guy who does. Trump's the one guy who's going against conventions on everything. I think that's part of the reason that he's popular at this stage. Now, as to your question about he knows the opposition is small, I don't know how he looks at that.
I think that Trump thinks that he's immensely popular before he even does this. His TV show's popular. His books sell. When he goes out and does a lecture, the crowds are big. So I think he already thinks he's popular. I don't think that any of this is about testing that, finding out what his reach is. Here's a story, by the way, from TheHill.com: "Trump's Success Annoys GOP -- Republican insiders are reconciling themselves to the idea that Donald Trump won't be exiting the stage anytime soon -- and their main concern now is limiting his damage to their party."
Uh! Uh! Uh Wait, wait, wait just a second! Just a second. Trump's comments about McCain were supposed to be the end. The Wizards of Smart in both parties told us that Trump could not survive that. The Wizards of Smart in the both parties said, "This is it! This is the moment we've all been waiting for. This is what we knew was gonna happen. We knew this charlatan was gonna come along, and if we just put a pile of excrement in front of him, he would step in it. Well, here it is!"
That was just over the weekend, Sunday and Monday.
This is only Wednesday. Trump was supposed to be history by now. And it was your host, El Rushbo, who said, "Whoa. Put the brakes on it, here. Wait just a second. We don't know this yet, 'cause Trump's not playing by the rules." If Trump were your average, ordinary, cuckolded Republican, he would have apologized by now, and he would have begged for forgiveness, and he would have gone away. And the establishment would have claimed another scalp, claiming that they had protected the sanctity of campaigns.
But Trump's not playing by those rules. He's doubling down. Now he's giving out Lindsey Graham's telephone number and talking about how much fun it is!
He said, "Why should I care about Lindsey Graham? Have you seen what he is in the polls? It's zero, folks! Why should I defer to somebody that's got zero?" The American people have not seen this in a while. They haven't seen this kind of braggadocio that's done in a way that's fun. Trump's braggadocio is not off-putting except to its victims.