RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, in addition — and, by the way, I just found the story. It’s a Breitbart story. “George Will Hints at Going Third Party if it’s Trump Versus Hillary,” and predictably one of the comparatives he makes is, of course, Trump equals Goldwater. Conservative nominee equals landslide defeat. Now, wait. Trump and conservatism? This is where everybody’s going wrong. That’s the tease. Trying to figure out Trump and why conservatives like Trump, and why they’re abandoning other conservatives like Cruz, who is the Trump coalition… That’s really the key to understanding this.

But all that aside, the Republican establishment, when they think of conservatism and particularly in the form of a presidential nominee, does think it means it’s gonna be a Goldwater landslide defeat. They never… I don’t know why… Well, I do. They never think of a conservative nominee as equaling Ronaldus Magnus and winning two landslides. Nope! For some reason, no matter who it is, if the nominee is coming from the conservative wing of the party, then the establishment Republicans fear a Goldwater-style landslide defeat.

Goldwater was never gonna win that election. LBJ had that election if he didn’t even campaign, coming on the heels of the assassination of JFK.

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RUSH: Now, as it relates to Trump — I think that, you know, there is a visceral reaction to Trump. If you look at George Will, he’s written pieces on Trump that are just as angry as he was that one night he was on with O’Reilly about O’Reilly’s book on killing Reagan. If you remember that. But it’s not just George Will. I mean, every week somebody in the Republican establishment — this week it’s Michael Gerson. It was a speechwriter for Bush. And this is not his first. Gerson’s out there writing yesterday that if Trump or Cruz wins, it’s the end of the Republican Party, that’s it, we don’t know it anymore, it’s gone, the Republican Party will be gone.

And what is noteworthy about this is, the people in the establishment of the Republican Party who are writing this stuff and speaking this stuff haven’t made one serious effort to understand why so many in their own party want to abandon them. They’re just chalking it up to the fact that they’re conservative, and that means they’re kooks or they’re lame or they’re single issue or what have you. And they are totally misunderstanding the people who have supported them, who have sent them money, who have voted for them. There’s a total disconnect.

There’s an anger over being rejected, and the anger I think really is the fact that — here’s what it boils down to, folks. This is what angers the so-called — when I say “conservative movement,” by the way, see that has to be defined, too. Snerdley, I want to test you. Be honest. Now, there’s no right or wrong here. When you hear the term “conservative movement,” what or who do you think of? What is it? And don’t suck up and say it is me and whatever I’m doing. What is the conservative movement? Is it the blogs? Is it conservative media? Is it think tanks? Who?

Okay, conservative media and grassroots groups are the conservative movement. Okay. People assume that because there’s a conservative movement, therefore it is conservatism, the principles, the beliefs, the intellectually tested, tried and true philosophies that unify everybody into this movement. And it turns out with Trump attracting so many conservatives, it obviously isn’t that that unites the conservative movement. It isn’t conservatism. It isn’t the understanding and belief in Edmund Burke and Buckley, take your pick of any of the intellectual conservative founders, if you will. It’s not an understanding, respect for — (interruption) Hayek. Hayek smayek; who’s that? People wouldn’t know. Not gonna run across these names in everyday, ordinary, even education.

So I think the reason that Gerson writes what he writes and the reason any of them are just rendered — what’s the word? Not incoherent. But man, they become unhinged may be the best way to describe it. They become unhinged at the very arrival of Trump. They’re unhinged that Trump hasn’t blown up. They’re unhinged that people have not abandoned Trump. They’re unhinged that Trump goes out and says all of these what they think are just classically offensive, politically incorrect, crude things, like what he said about Megyn Kelly and blood, how in the world can somebody still support Trump, my God! They become unhinged not understanding this. Am I right?

And yet Trump hasn’t lost anybody and still may be gaining people. What in the world, it doesn’t compute, it doesn’t makes sense. Everything that we have counseled people not to do, he’s doing. Everything we told people not to do if they want to win, everything we’ve told people the way they have to behave, things they have to talk about, he’s doing the exact opposite and skunking us. So I think they say — this is what they think. The jury’s still out with me, but I do find it all fascinating. I think they think they are worried, they’re scared that Trump’s success and his broad-based coalition, which consists of a lot of conservative Republicans, I think they are worried that this all illustrates how unimportant they might really be in the grand scheme.

Trump’s methods, his speeches, I mean, his approach, his appeal is an affront to them, their institutions, the things that they believe. In other words, here’s a guy, Trump, who’s not conservative in these people’s minds. You go to the Gersons, take your pick, any of them, inside-the-Beltway media types, Trump’s not conservative, you idiots, don’t you understand, Trump’s destroying the conservative movement. That’s what they’re afraid of, Trump’s not conservative. You people are being fooled. How can you people not see it? You people are being fooled by a liar, a cheater, a Barnum & Bailey circus act. My God, don’t you understand?

They’re worried that what you’re gonna end up realizing is that the Republican Party doesn’t need all of these brilliant think tanks and all this policy expertise because what’s it gotten anybody? You got a bunch of people out there calling themselves Libertarians and conservatives, and yet to the people who are conservative inside the Beltway, they’re not conservatives, they’re bitter clingers or what have you.

But they are worried that you are gonna figure out that all their brilliance, all their columns, all of their position papers, seminars, all of that stuff hasn’t gotten you anything, that you’re realizing that hasn’t gotten you anything. The things you believe in they still don’t support, they still don’t try to implement. And ultimately you’re gonna figure that out. I think this is what worries ’em. Wild guess on my part. Could be wrong.

But if you thought that you held the keys to the kingdom, and if you thought the serfs in the kingdom looked at you with wild-eyed admiration and respect for brilliance and culture, levels of success that you could never dream of obtaining yourself, if you have that attitude, and all of a sudden you realize the serfs don’t see you that way and maybe even begin to think, my God, why do we need these people anyway? I don’t need to send ’em any more money, they feel abandoned. They feel like you are not believing them. They feel like you are spoiled children, you are not appreciative of the genius in your midst. And so if hell descends upon you, you deserve it.

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RUSH: Bob in San Diego. Great to have you, sir. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Oh, thank you. Isn’t it ironic that the fear of the GOP establishment two months ago was Trump losing and then running as a third-party candidate, and now, lo and behold, the GOP establishment — which to me is becoming desperate, irrelevant, and a very entitled minority — are now threatening to do the exact same thing to Trump?

RUSH: Well, George Will is. He’s speculating about the possibility. It was in an interview. I don’t yet think we’re ready to say that the entire Republican establishment ready to go third-party, unless you want to try to make us believe that George Will is speaking for the establishment and not just himself.

CALLER: Well, I think Trump can at least ask. I think it’s legitimate for him to ask the other candidates to do the pledge that he was forced to do.

RUSH: Now, that… They did make a big deal about that. It was the first question they were all asked at first Fox debate, and Trump said, “No, I won’t sign the pledge,” and of course all hell erupted. But, naw, you’re right. I mean, Trump was forced to make the pledge, and here for these other guys now that looks like Trump might win? Well, they’re gonna take their toys and go home. It won’t matter. That’s the thing. I guess another way of trying to make my point is that it won’t matter. If the conservative movement, fully previously defined not to include you or me…

I’m talking about the specific East Coast corridor, Washington establishment. Look, folks, where those people live, everything’s fine. They have the lowest unemployment rate in the country, practically full employment. The per capita income is sky-high in Washington and surrounding counties. Everything’s cool there. There nothing happening there that is at all similar to, say, what’s happening Flint, Michigan, or Detroit or any number of other places out there. But I think what they’re all… Look, I’m skating so some thin ice here in a sense, ’cause I don’t have any animus toward these people or anybody.

But I think they could all cry third party — they could all claim it — and it wouldn’t matter. It’s not gonna make people get scared and abandon Trump. That’s, I think, what this is demonstrating to them is that they’re not the oracles that they thought they were. I could be wrong about it. I think it’s still up for grabs as to what really explains all this, but I don’t think some things are disputable now. And I think from this day going forward, I think it’s forever changing. The definition of what and who is a conservative and what and who is the right is now much more broad-based than it has ever been thought to be, and therefore it’s gonna be eye opening to a lot of people who thought they understood it.

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RUSH: Scott, Oklahoma City. Great to have you with us, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Thanks for taking my call today, Rush. I do appreciate it. It’s great to speak to a personal hero of mine. What I want to say is if the Republican Party really wanted to kill the Trump campaign, or the establishment, anyway, they would jump on board for him. I mean, look what they’ve done to, say, Bush’s campaign. He came out flat on his face. They jump over to Rubio. Rubio drops in the polls. I think it’s the people’s anger at the establishment that they’re almost drawn into defend Trump against the attacks of him.

RUSH: Hmm. This is an interesting theory that you have here.

CALLER: I appreciate that.

RUSH: So you think that the fastest way to kill Trump would be for the establishment to join him, sing his praises, promote him, say, “This is the guy we’ve been waiting for, we want Trump, Trump’s our guy,” and that would force people to abandon Trump? You know, it’s a great idea. But, believe me, the donor class couldn’t do it with any credibility. They wouldn’t be able to sustain this.

They might be, for a day, go out and be believable, but they wouldn’t be able to keep this up. And other Republicans. Everybody and Jeb’s team, would have to abandon Jeb, go over to Trump. Trump wouldn’t believe it, number one. Then the other people, they’d have to go out and try to convince everybody they’re serious about it. And Trump might play along and believe ’em and hail them as the greatest people in the world. Then when they abandon him again, ’cause they would have to, they couldn’t stick with it. But I like the theory. It’s the old reverse psychology theory.