RUSH: Oh, you talk about blowing the conventional wisdom to smithereens, holy smokes. Have you seen this? With Jeb Bush out, remember what everybody said. You had Trump over here at his 30, 35%, whatever, and you had everybody else over here. And all of that equaled anti-Trump. So you had these people out there saying, “Yeah, so if Kasich gets out or Carson gets out, then those votes are gonna go to Rubio or Cruz and they’re gonna get closer. And then if Cruz or Rubio get out then it’s gonna solidify and eventually we’re gonna beat Trump.”

All that just got blown to smithereens, folks, because “one-time front-runner Jeb –” when was Jeb the front-runner? Greetings, and welcome back, by the way, Rush Limbaugh — (interruption) It had to be, yeah, that’s right, it had to be before he declared. Yeah, back in December 2014 when Jeb was saying he’s gonna win the general by losing the primary. And, as I said yesterday, the first stage of that he’s done. So, according to the Bush team, they are primed now to win the general election because they’ve lost the primary. That must have been when he was the highest rated back in late 2014 and the first half of maybe 2015 before he announced, before Trump got in.

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One time front-runner Jeb Bush’s exit from the 2016 GOP presidential race has helped Donald Trump expand his lead.” Oh, no. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Bush’s votes, as relatively few they are, not supposed to go to Trump. No, no, no. Of all the candidates, Bush voters would never go to Trump. Maybe Carson’s. Maybe some of Rubio’s if he got out, maybe some of Cruz’s, but it wouldn’t happen, not a single Jeb voter would migrate to Trump.

Rasmussen Reports said today that Trump has expanded his lead by 15 points. This is a Rasmussen national survey, 36%. Rubio’s at 21. Cruz is at 17. Rasmussen found that Trump expanded his lead by five points, timed to when Jeb got out. So all of this conventional wisdom that every candidate would support other than Trump, Trump’s not gonna get any of it, I’ve been warning people that that’s not the case anyway. And now we have our first bit of — this gonna shock ’em. This is gonna blow ’em wide open. They’re not gonna know what hit ’em.

And the second polling story today is that in Ohio Trump beat Kasich by six points. And that’s the only reason Kasich is hanging on, is to have a good showing in Ohio. Kasich wants to be kingmaker. Kasich knows he not gonna be the nominee. Kasich wants to be the kingmaker, maybe even be the veep. And yesterday Larry Sabato and somebody else on television suggested that the fastest, best way to head Trump off at the pass is for Rubio to go out there and ask Kasich to be his VP and for Kasich to accept it. So eventually Kasich’s vote could all go to Rubio, particularly when they get into Ohio, and then have the ticket Kasich-Rubio, Florida-Ohio, and skunk Trump, and that’s the only way they can do it.

If they don’t do it and do it fast, according to Sabato and some of the others, there’s no stopping Trump. Kevin McCarthy: better than 50% chance Trump’s the nominee. Others are saying that time is dwindling away. But this Ohio poll showing Trump ahead of Kasich, I don’t know what people were expecting, but apparently they were expecting Kasich to win that because he’s the governor there and is a relatively popular figure there. But it’s amazing, the evidence is right in front of everybody and they continue, many of them, to remain in various states of denial.

Can I give you two contrasting stories here today? Lead story all morning at Drudge: Trump says that if he’s elected president he will prosecute Hillary. Do you know what a big deal that is to people? I think this is another one of these classics. I believe that people see that and don’t believe Trump means it, he’s just mouthing off, that he would never, ever do it, and big whoop. Why is Drudge making that the lead story? The truth of the matter is, there are people out there who have wanted Hillary Clinton prosecuted since the nineties. There are people out there who have wanted Bill and Hillary Clinton seriously intersecting with the law since the 1990s.

There are a lot of people who — this will surprise you. And it’s anecdotal. I’ve had about five e-mail notes today from people, “That’s it. I’m going Trump. If he really does that, that’s it.” The hatred or the opposition or the disgust with the Clintons is so deep and profound that even something as innocuous as something people think Trump will flip-flop on has energized some people. And I mentioned it ’cause I still think that there’s a lot of people, even with the evidence right in front of them, still do not realize what’s going on.

So on one hand here we have Trump promising, claiming that he will try, he will prosecute Hillary. On the other hand, this is — I don’t know, I’ll just read it to you. Real Clear Politics, Marco Rubio lays out his policies. He was on with O’Reilly last night. By the way, Dr. Krauthammer got annoyed with O’Reilly last night. I happened to accidentally have the TV on. Yeah, I was watching some stuff on Apple TV and hit the wrong button and it switched over to DirecTV and Fox News was on from the weekend, so I watched it a little bit, and O’Reilly did his usual thing of giving his analysis and then asking Krauthammer, “Okay, where am I right or where am I wrong.”

And Krauthammer’s not there to tell everybody whether O’Reilly’s right or wrong. He’s there to tell everybody what he thinks, and he answered it, and there was kind of a lot of friction there. But, anyway, O’Reilly last night grilled Marco Rubio what his policy will be on illegal immigration and immigration in general. And Rubio said, “If we prove illegal immigration is finally under control, Americans will respond in a responsible way.” Now, my guess is that this is exactly why the conservative or the Republican base does not want to hear from Marco Rubio right now.

I don’t know, folks. Because, look, if this is side-by-side, A-B comparison, here’s Trump still assuring everybody he’s gonna build a wall, still assuring everybody they’re gonna go. The people here illegally are gonna go. Trump… No matter what happens, what Trump is saying is that’s what he’s gonna do. He’s not wavered. And over here, Rubio is essentially saying, “Hey, look, once we secure the border, I’m sure the American people will respond in a responsible way.” The translation for that is: “We’re not gonna send ’em home.

“We’re gonna find a way to keep them here. It may not equal amnesty. It may not equal whatever.” But I’m just telling you that this is not what people that Rubio needs to vote for him need to hear. Then you have Cruz comes out today or last night, I guess, whatever it was, and doubled down. He made it no bones about it: He’s gonna deport. He supports it. People said, “We’re not quite sure what you’re gonna do here, Senator. You’re talking tough on amnesty and so forth, but what happens? You’re elected president, and what happens?”

“They’ve gotta follow the law. We’re gonna get rid of them. We’re gonna send ’em back. We’re gonna make ’em get back in the country legally. We’ll deport all of them.” So Trump and Cruz are saying that. Rubio over here is saying, “Well, if we prove that illegal immigration’s finally under control,” meaning if we prove we secure the border, “I’m sure the American people will understand.” He said, “As far the 12 million that are here? Look, I don’t believe the American people support some sort of militaristic roundup of individuals.

“And I don’t think you can carry it out. The sort of tactics it would require would offend the American people.” Maybe. I’m not so sure it would offend. I mean, it would offend some, sure. But, I mean, the people that we’re talking about here voting in Republican primaries? I’m not so sure.