RUSH: Hey, before we get going on all the usual rigmarole going on here today, can you believe this? So, Trump says that what he’s facing is a modern-day lynching. It’s what Clarence Thomas said. All of Washington’s now going batty. Just as predictable as everything else in this phony, totally scandalous attempt to say that Donald Trump is unfit for the office of the presidency.

I just saw some babe on Fox — you know, they got Bret Baier, it’s the Outnumbered show, Bret Baier’s on there talking about his book — we had him on here yesterday — and they’re talking about this lynching business, “My God, Trump is comparing himself to African-Americans.” No, he’s not. If you look at the definition of lynching it doesn’t have anything to do with African-Americans, which I resent that I even have to go to the dictionary during this program.

And then some left-wing babe on the show, “Well, you know, Trump’s right. There aren’t a whole lot of Republicans defending him ’cause it’s really hard, it’s really hard to defend the president, you know.” It is not hard! This is the point. It is not hard to defend the president. Do you know why it’s not hard to defend him? Because of who is after him.

Every Republican in that town ought to be in unison defending Donald Trump, and, if they can’t do that, could they at least attack the Democrats? Because it’s one and the same thing. Donald Trump has four Republicans, maybe five, if you count all of those in the House and Senate who routinely stand up for him. The rest of them cower in fear, send out tweets, show up on Fox News, wring their hands, worry about this and that, not realizing the genuine existential battle that we are all in.

The Democrats are coming for every Republican in that town just as they are coming for Donald Trump, and somehow the Republicans in that town still don’t see it, still think they can escape the line of fire. And all they have to do is stay silent on Donald Trump and all of these meanies trying to destroy Trump will magically leave them alone.

It’s not hard to defend Donald Trump. You don’t even have to defend Donald Trump. But you do have to get on board and understand what we are in. We are in a war. There aren’t any bullets flying, but there is a war. The war is over what kind of country this is gonna be for your kids and grandkids and my nieces and nephews. That’s what this is about. You can smile all you want, but that’s exactly what this is about.

And the fact that so many Republicans don’t want to choose sides or have failed to grasp that that’s what this is about is frustrating beyond my ability to express it. And they’ve got this convenient excuse, “I can’t defend what the president says. I can’t defend the constant use of the word witch hunt.” You can’t defend the president’s use of words? Stop and think of how insignificant that is compared to what is at stake. “I can’t defend the president’s words. I really can’t defend the president’s mannerisms here.” What?

You can’t even muster yourself to criticize this total sham that Adam Schiff is running? Adam Schiff is now not even letting Republicans read the transcripts of his sham hearings that he’s conducting in private, in the basement. Adam Schiff is the biggest scam artist to come down the pike in this Congress. This guy is making up what witnesses say. If they don’t say what he wants, he leaks sentences of theirs out of context, the media runs with it gladly, and an entirely different picture than what is really happening in these little hearings or interviews is being portrayed to the American people through the media.

And every Republican in the House of Representatives knows this. They all know what Schiff is doing and five or six of them have, I don’t know what, the courage or guts to show up and try to explain what Schiff is doing. “It’s just so hard to defend Donald Trump.” Yeah, and it was really hard to defend George W. Bush. Yeah, and it was really hard to defend Ronald Reagan. Yeah, and it’s really hard to defend me. It’s really hard to defend Republican under attack, it seems. Why?

Why is it so damn hard? Why are there always fewer than 10 people willing to defend any high profile Republican or conservative attempting to make real change by opposing this socialism from the left, why is that so hard? “Well, because, Mr. Limbaugh, the comments are so off the wall and uncoordinated and insignificant.” It’s chump change compared to what’s going on!

What we really face here when you get right down to it is Donald Trump versus the United States government, that is, if you want the parameters, if you want the boundaries, the definitions of what this is. We call it the deep state, we call it the administrative state, we call it the ruling class, the Washington elites, whatever, it’s the United States government and everybody in that town.

And they have created one of the grandest illusions that many of us are just now beginning to figure out. And the grand illusion is that they are competent. The grand illusion is that they know what they’re doing. The grand illusion is that they’re obeying the Constitution. The grand illusion is that they’re doing everything they’re doing for the American people. The grand illusion is that only people like them are qualified and capable of running this government.

If you’re not troubled by the fact that what really is happening here is that the entirety of the United States government is attempting to outdo, overturn and reverse the election results of 2016 — and what does that mean? Your vote doesn’t count! And they’re not stopping until they pull this off.

And there’s one man trying to stop them from doing this, the guy that happened to win the election. Somehow he’s the problem. I’m not talking about with you, of course. I’m talking about with Republicans who just can’t seem to find a way to defend the president. It’s so hard.

A lot of people raised a good point, where’s Lindsey Grahamnesty? Where is he? He’s got a Senate committee that he runs, Judiciary Committee. He could be subpoenaing people, he could be demanding to see — he could be doing in the Senate what they’re doing in the House except he could be doing it to the people that ran this phony investigation into Trump. He could be tracking them all up there. And people ask, “Why isn’t he doing anything?”

And you know what the popular theory is? The popular theory is that he’s got cold feet about doing this because it would implicate Senator McCain, one of his great friends. And it may be true. John McCain was at the epicenter of the Steele dossier’s dissemination. John McCain was one of the leaders in the effort to get Trump and his election reversed and thrown out of town using the Steele dossier and any investigation of this is going to demonstrate this. And many are theorizing that Lindsey Graham just doesn’t want to see Senator McCain’s name dragged through this kind of mud, so there’s no investigation.

Then Senator Grassley tweeted out something. Senator Grassley tweeted out he’s worried about this Horowitz guy, the inspector general. We’re supposed to get the IG report in May, if anybody remembers. And then we were told, “Well, it can’t come out in May because Barr started his investigation and the IG can’t come out before Barr finishes.”

So, okay, then so then we were gonna get it before the end of August. And then we were gonna get it at the beginning of September. Then we were gonna get it last Friday. Then we were gonna get it this Friday. And Grassley’s saying, we may never get it! Horowitz may be his own deep state guy. The idea that this inspector general somehow is gonna turn on the Washington establishment? Grassley is saying this. Senator Charles Grassley’s throwing dirt now on the IG. I’m not sure we’re gonna get anything from this guy, and he may be right. Why the delay? Obviously because of who it would implicate and what he’s found.

The deep state’s not gonna turn itself in, and the deep state’s not gonna expose itself, and the deep state is not going to indict itself. The deep state’s not gonna put itself on trial, and it sure as hell isn’t gonna convict itself and put itself in jail. And Grassley says that I think this guy Horowitz, the inspector general, he’s a deep stater. My term, but Grassley means ruling class deep stater guy.

I don’t know, folks. This is not hard to me. Defending Donald Trump is defending the American people that voted for him. Defending Donald Trump is defending America. Defending Donald Trump is not defending whatever personality quirks and characteristics you don’t like about Donald Trump. That’s just a convenient excuse not to defend him. That’s a convenient excuse not to defend the people that voted for him.

It’s a convenient excuse, a cowardly excuse not to defend this country against this undeniable onslaught by a radical socialist left that is attempting to erase the founding of this country as it reconstitutes or transforms America. How the hell can you not defend against that?

But, see, it’s not just Trump. They didn’t want to defend George W. Bush. Hasn’t this been a constant refrain that we always ask, “Where are the Republicans?” Every day there’s an onslaught from the Drive-By Media and the Democrats coordinated against whatever Republican happens to be really effective at that moment. And there isn’t any — hell, unified. There isn’t even any significant defense.

I’ve asked this question in ways for many years here. Sometimes I’ve even asked it personally. Sometimes I ask, why am I the only guy defending — fill in the blank. And not just me. There are conservative media people that do that as well. Don’t misunderstand. Why are we it? And now it’s become a vicious cycle because now that we have begun to fulfill that role, they have basically passed it off to us.

And we are in the media oftentimes doing what elected Republicans ought to be doing but now think they don’t have to since we do. What if we stopped? What if I said to hell with it like all the Republicans apparently are saying to hell with it? Mitt Romney, Pierre Delecto. Here’s a guy that had 600 followers. In the Twitter world, that’s zero! Do you know Trump endorsed Romney in 2012? Remember that? Where’s the gratitude?