RUSH: Now, yesterday on this program — actually, two days ago on to this program — I happened to mention something that I’ve mentioned numerous times, and that is that there are a lot of Republicans all over the country — national Republicans, state, local, whatever — who have said they’ll never vote for Trump, whatever. They’ll vote for Hillary instead. Well, yesterday on the Fox News Channel Martha MacCallum and Bill Hemmer… In their morning news block from 9 to 11, MacCallum played the bite and brought Rich Lowry in and a former Joe Biden speechwriter to come in and discuss what I had said.
Which, I’m just repeating what I heard. I’m not making anything up. I have heard all of these different Republicans who say that they would never vote for Trump, some of them never vote for Cruz; they’re gonna vote for Hillary instead. And I endeavored to explain why. I said, “It’s all about the establishment trying to hold on to their fiefdoms. It’s all about the establishment club and network and basically destroy people’s positions in it, and they would much rather hold onto that club than win the White House with somebody that might harm the club.
Meaning, self-preservation is their first objective. Well, I said yesterday, I thought it was kind of cool for MacCallum to do it because mostly in sound bites like that when TV news networks air them, they usually air those things to take a shot at me. “Oh, what’s the latest wacko thing Limbaugh is onto now?” But she played it and she backed it up and she thought that it was relevant and made sense and asked people questions about it. Well, it has continued. It has survived. Last night, Fox Business Network, After the Bell.
David Asman is talking to Daniel Henninger, columnist for the Wall Street Journal (he’s the editorial page deputy editor) about my comments that establishment Republicans would rather vote for Hillary than for Donald Trump or Cruz. Asman said, “You know, that’s quite a charge that Limbaugh’s making here, that Republicans will vote for Hillary.” It’s not a “charge.” It’s not even an allegation! I’m simple citing what I’ve heard them say.
Am I the only one who’s heard this? Let me do a quick little survey. Mr. Snerdley, when you heard me mention this Monday, did you do a double-take and say, “What? What? What’s he talking about?” (interruption) Of course not, because you’ve heard it, too. I’m not making it up, and we’ve got evidence to back it up here in just a second. Anyway, Asman says, “That’s quite a charge that Republicans will vote for Hillary. We’ve had some Republicans say that right here, in fact, Mr. Henninger. What do you make of that?”
HENNINGER: Things are getting pretty hot under the collar out there, at least Rush Limbaugh’s collar. I have not heard too many people say they would rather vote for Hillary Clinton than vote for Donald Trump or Ted Cruz. I mean, generally what I —
ASMAN: I just heard it Pataki say it right here — essentially say it — a couple hours ago with Neil Cavuto.
HENNINGER: (shocked) That he would vote for Hillary Clinton!
ASMAN: Neil put it to him several times, and he tried to squirm out of it, but essentially that’s what he said.
HENNINGER: Well, the conversation I have with such people, generally — after they go through all the angst and torture of talking about Trump versus Cruz and all the rest of it — say, “But the important thing is defeating Hillary Clinton.”
ASMAN: Right.
Up next, Neil Cavuto talking to Pataki yesterday afternoon the Fox Business Network.
CAVUTO: What would you do if it is Trump? Would George Pataki —
PATAKI: It would be a hard decision.
CAVUTO: So you couldn’t make up your mind and say unequivocally —
PATAKI: I do not think Hillary Clinton should be president of the United States. Period.
CAVUTO: All right, so you’ll vote for Trump?
PATAKI: We’ll see.
RUSH: Yeah, “We’ll see.” That’s the tail end of it. He had said that he would vote for Hillary. He doesn’t think she should be president but he can’t see himself voting for Trump. I’m not making this stuff up. Christie Todd Whitman on Bloomberg TV February 29, 2016.
WHITMAN: I probably will vote for her. I won’t want to.
RUSH: “I probably will vote for her. I won’t want to.” That’s all the back in February. There are other examples. A GOP delegate from the District of Columbia. Rina Bharara said she will vote for Hillary rather than Trump. An anti-Trump RNC delegate saying that she will vote for Hillary over Trump. We got the YouTube video link. Back in March:
“Republican Congressman Carlos Curbelo (FL) said … he won’t ever support Donald Trump for president,” even if it meant crossing party lines. “Asked point blank if that means he’d vote for Clinton over Trump if it came down to it… ‘Not necessarily,’ he said.” But they’re out there saying these things. Peter King, congressman, New York, has refused to say that he would vote for Trump over Hillary. He has said he would take cyanide if it’s Ted Cruz. Oh, yeah. Peter King, congressman from New York, said he would take cyanide if it was Ted Cruz, and he has not said that he will vote for Trump under any circumstances.
Fortune magazine. Eliot Cohen, influential neocon who held multiple positions in the George W. Bush administration; Carlos Curbelo; and Kevin Madden, communication strategist for three Republican presidential campaigns. Mel Martinez… He’s said that he would vote. No, he worked for Mel Martinez. Scott Rigell is representative for Virginia’s second congressional district. Ben Sasse. You know, these are people who have intimated they’d never vote for Trump no matter what. My point is, we’re not making it up, and then you hit this established editorial page editor, Daniel Henninger.
It’s the primary reason there’s such angst. The Democrat Party specifically, Barack Obama and policies. There aren’t any Republican fingerprints on much of this. There aren’t any Republican fingerprints on Obamacare. The Republicans probably do want their fingerprints on amnesty and illegal immigration, but so far there aren’t any. The only thing the Republicans are guilty of yet is not stopping any of this stuff and not making any serious effort to stop any of it. And I’ll tell you what else is frustrating for me, folks.
We have shown that in the midterms, we can skunk these people and big time. In 2010, 2014, the Democrats lost over a thousand combined seats in the House, in the Senate, in statehouses, governorships down to town council, you name it. It’s significant. A thousand offices they lost that are now held by Republicans — many of them governorships — in 2010 and 2014. Now, what happens? Why can’t that same phenomenon happen in a presidential year?
And there are many different theories. Well, when a party chooses the nominee that kind of kills the enthusiasm. So don’t tell me it can’t be done. The Democrats can be beaten. “Yeah, Rush, but midterms, it turns out, you know, the Democrats don’t show.” Yeah, but it matters why they don’t show up. They’re not enthused, and they’re not enthused now. I don’t care what people want to talk about in the Democrat primary. There still isn’t any enthusiasm on that side of the aisle.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: And here’s just one more example, and this one I remember like it was yesterday because it almost is. TheHill.com, March 24th: “Vocal Trump Critics in GOP Open to Supporting Hillary.” The real question is, why am I the only one that noticed this? This stuff’s been all over the place out there. So I happen to talk about it. That shows up all over cable news, and they bring in Republican establishment types to talk about it. “I don’t know what Limbaugh’s hot under the collar about! I haven’t heard anybody say this.”
Remember when I told you this? The Hill: “Members of the GOP foreign policy establishment are open to supporting Ted Cruz or even Hillary Clinton for president if that’s what it takes to prevent Donald Trump from becoming commander in chief. In interviews with The Hill, prominent Republicans who signed a scathing open letter denouncing Trump said they aren’t wavering from their opposition to him.” Now, admittedly, these are not elected officials. But these are foreign policy experts who have worked in prior Republican regimes, prior Republican administrations.
They are major establishment figures.
They wear the wingtips, the striped pants. They got the uniform down pat at the State Department or Pentagon, depending on where they are. So, 120 of them wrote a letter denouncing Trump. TheHill.com contacted 13 of them, and The Hill says that most if not all of them, intimated they would back Hillary over Trump. A couple of them I just mentioned (like Eliot Cohen) were listed in the Fortune piece cited above which listed nine top Republicans who won’t back Trump, they say, under any circumstances. So, once again, it’s out there for anybody who wants to see it. I happened to see it because I, folks…
Frankly, the reason it resonates with me is ’cause I know — without knowing who, I know — that there are lots of these establishment types of this opinion. I’ve been explaining it left and right, that they’re more concerned with holding onto what they’ve got — personally, professionally, career, career path, connections, whatever it is — and that the fear is that the election of Trump will blow it up. I don’t know how much Trump can blow up K Street if he gets elected president. I don’t know how much Trump could blow up these connections. But they fear it, which is the point. Why do these other people out there refuse to notice this? Or maybe they do, and just don’t want to attach any substance to it
But that would be a grave, grave error.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: There’s another one. John McCain says he’s gonna skip the GOP convention to stay home in Arizona, probably at Sedona, and campaign for reelection — at the family mountain home, no doubt. Right. Right, right, right, right.
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