RUSH: Another story, and it’s just off the proverbial wire. And this is from Paula Bolyard, and I’ve not heard of her before. That doesn’t mean anything. I just haven’t. She’s writing at PJ Media, which is, ah, conservative blog for most purposes. And the headline is: “Get Ready for the Biggest Media Assault You’ve Ever Seen — Aimed Squarely at Trump.” Pull quote. This Trump tsunami is going to come crashing down between now and the convention in Cleveland in July. It may not play out exactly as I’ve described above, but there will undoubtedly be some version of this.

“The left (and their partners in crime in the media) are going to destroy [Trump]. They are not going to stand by and take a chance that Hillary Clinton will not become president. They may not like Hillary, but they know she’ll reliably protect their dual sacraments — abortion on demand and LGBT rights.” Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender. Those two things are paramount interest to the media — and, by extension, Democrats — and that is abortion and gay rights.

“They have no idea what Trump will do,” they can’t take the chance, “but they won’t risk losing the ground they’ve gained with Obama (especially on the courts) to a giant, unstable question mark” like Donald Trump. “The knives are being sharpened as we speak.” Now, this is kind of counter to a theory that I articulated earlier in the program. I can see the following happening. I’m not predicting it. Maybe some of you think I predicted it, and I might predict it at some point, which is itself a good point.

We need to give ourselves a day, two days a week, maybe 10 days to go by and revisit all this stuff. We can’t avoid doing that anyway. And we’ll just see how many people who are saying things right now in the heat of the moment have changes of heart one way or the other, ’cause that undoubtedly will happen. But here’s what I can see happening. All through this campaign, the media was expected to turn on Trump at some point. There was maybe a hope that that would happen. There was also a great expectation that Trump would implode on his own.

Many people thought that. After his first his announcement speech, many people were laughing. “This guy, he’s not even serious.” I had somebody send me a note… Get this. (snorts) I got a note last night (chuckles), “Rush, did you see Trump’s hair at his speech tonight? He’s not purposefully trying to win this. Nobody shows up with hair that color serious about winning!” I just had to laugh. The things people see and they react to.

“How could you walk out of your home with your hair that color, said the note. How can you do it? How can you go on TV with your hair orange? He’s purposely… Rush, he doesn’t want to win this. He can’t be serious, not showing up with hair like that.” I got that note last night. Here’s what I can see happening, because it already is. The media’s in love with the guy. They may hate him, but they can’t stop covering the guy. And it might meant… Did you see, folks…? Did you see the story…? I was gonna talk about this yesterday and, of course, I had to broom it out for other things.

Did you see the story that CNN has overtaken Fox ratings-wise in prime time in the demo, what, 25-45? (interruption) Did you see that? (interruption) You didn’t see that? (interruption) Well, it’s been reported that that’s the case. I mean, Fox is still overall number one, you know, midnight to midnight Monday through Sunday, 12-plus. But when you get into the demo in prime time, what has CNN done differently than what they’re used to doing? Why are people tuning in. Obviously if these numbers are right, they are. Why are they tuning in to CNN? (interruption) Well, Snerdley says ’cause they’re not…? (interruption)

Did you say, “They’re not watching Megyn?” Here we go. Now I’m gonna get all this anecdotal evidence. Okay, so you’re trying to tell me that Fox is losing audience out there because of things Fox is doing, right? That’s your that’s you’re…? (interruption) All right. Okay. That’s what you’re telling me, fine. Maybe, but I’m telling you CNN has made some fundamental content changes. (interruption) You haven’t noticed all the conservative commentators they’ve hired? (interruption) Not just Jeff. They have hired a bunch of them, and they’re on all the time.

And they are not laughed at, made fun of, and hooted and hollered off the set. They are treated as coequals. It’s never been done on CNN. Now, is that a factor in their ratings and audience gain? I mean, I get emails, too, about Fox — anecdotal stories about people upset with Fox — for the same reason. Too many liberals on Fox now, too many commentators and strategists and analysts and so forth. And then others who think that Fox is not the conservative thing it used to. Whatever, I… It’s all anecdotal, so you can’t factor anything specific about it.

You can choose to believe what you want, but with CNN you can look, and there are substantive content changes they’ve made. Now, have conservatives discovered it or is the programing just more interesting than it usually is on CNN? I know something has to explain it. And the CNN people, they think they know what they’re doing that’s changed people’s minds about it, about them. The point here… Look, I’ve gotta take a break. I’m sorry to interrupt myself. You think you’re frustrated? (chuckles) You don’t know the half of it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay. The theory, very quickly, is that the media’s in love with Trump because the programming that Trump provides is something they can’t provide on their own. No network can. There isn’t a cable network out there that has a personality that can draw a crowd like Trump for the reasons Trump does. There may be a couple, but certainly not enough to generate audience tune-in factors that increase the audience throughout the busy broadcast day or night. And with Trump doing that, there is more attention than ever being paid to the places these people work.

All of these places, audience ratings are higher than ever — and, as such, they’re getting more comment from the public. Take your pick of any host on any network you want, and more people than ever are telling them, “Yeah, man, I watch! I watch!” They’re hearing this, and Trump is drama. Trump’s the unknown every day. Trump is the unexpected. You never know what’s gonna happen. He has meant the revival of some cable networks. It’s meant a lot, and my point is… Even though they hate it. They don’t like having to turn the network over to Trump, but they can’t not do it. And they’ve gotten comfortable with him.

And it could be something that’s momentous about Trump; I don’t know. But what if the media did decide that they would rather have Trump in the White House than Hillary simply ’cause he’d be more fun, be more exciting — and who knows? They think they might be able to bend and shape Trump to what they want done, but it might mean bigger audience. Hillary, there’s nothing exciting about Hillary. But Hillary is as ideologically pure and would give them total confidence that their liberalism is gonna be advanced — and that’s a big deal, don’t misunderstand.

It would be… Really, my theory is out there. It’s not yet a prediction. It’s my possibility. It’s way out there, that the media could actually want Trump to be in the White House because they love what Trump has meant to them during this campaign, and why should it stop? ‘Cause it’s not gonna be exciting covering Hillary. She’s gonna do what Obama does and build a wall to try to keep ’em out only when she wants ’em in there, and yet demand fealty from them.

So I’m not yet prepared to predict it, but I’m not also prepared to predict that the media is preparing a seek-and-destroy mission on Trump. I mean, the common-sense reaction is, “Yeah, they’ll do that, ’cause when push comes to shove, they’re gonna make sure their Democrat buddies stay in the White House.” And that’s a common sense belief to have. But I tell you, the experiences that many of these media people are having with Trump as the focal point, has changed their lives and careers for the better, in their minds.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay, back to the phones, John in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Great to have you on the program. Hello.

CALLER: Thanks, Rush. God bless you. I consistently pray that you stay interested and for your good health. I wanted to say, the wounds, you know, they haven’t healed from last night. And everyone, you know, they want us conservatives to get over it and jump on board the Trump bandwagon. You know, we’re asked to bend and break our values to have “unity” and to get along. And it sounds, you know, familiar with everything that happens. Even though we know Trump would have gone third party had he lost. And trust me, I am in the ABH, the Anybody But Hillary camp. But it’s time for Trump to sell me and conservatives on how he’s gonna get my vote.

RUSH: Well, it will be interesting to see if he does that. I think you’re right. I said earlier that, sadly it’s the responsibility of losers to get with the program. But at the same time, Trump could be… It would be a very magnanimous gesture — and he’s gonna need it, by the way. He’s going to need as many anti-Hillary votes as he can get. And a conservative is a guaranteed anti-Hillary vote. But he’s gotta go out and get ’em, ’cause right now some of them are very, very angry at him and don’t trust him and don’t think that he is one of them. There are things he could do to allay some of those fears. But I think you’re right; he’s gonna have to. I’ll talk to him about it. Anything else?

CALLER: Hello?

RUSH: John, are you there?

CALLER: Yes, I am.

RUSH: Okay, I just… Is there anything else you wanted to add?

CALLER: Well, I mean, I question if the Trumpsters have the fortitude to withstand the press as they turn on him. I mean, I think it’s gonna come, and basically they… You know, it’s happening and —

RUSH: What do you mean, “if the Trumpists withstand…”? Who do you mean?

CALLER: Well, the folks that are all for Trump, they’ve been for Trump all along, and now the press is gonna turn on ’em. Are they going to be able to have, you know, the guts to stick up for him?

RUSH: I wouldn’t want to be the media if they turn on Trump. These Trumpsters… Are you kidding me? Unless you’re thinking a different thing than I am, I wouldn’t want to be the media turning on Trump. Look, this… What I’m gonna say next might offend some of you. I’m not trying to, but some of these Trump supporters are sophisticated people. They’re very… I know you think a lot of them are just brain-dead and a lot of them are just reactionary, single-issue types. And that may well be. But they are devoted to the guy.

Remember, I’ve talked ad nauseam about the connection. Sadly, folks… Look, I… This job is really tough. I gotta say things about people that don’t sound complimentary, but I have to say ’em. I can’t skirt around it. Trump has a connection with his voters. There’s a bond there. You can almost see the connection. Unfortunately, Cruz was not able to establish that beyond his core group of supporters. It’s a tough thing to do. (sigh) Some people have the talent naturally. It’s charisma, the “it” factor.

But people that don’t have the charisma or the “it” factor, some of them are still able to make a connection with people in politics, in entertainment, or what have you. And it’s becoming a necessity. Obama has the connection with the portion of his supporters. Reagan did. But Romney didn’t, for example. McCain didn’t, for example. Most don’t. But when it exists, it’s really, really hard to break it. Because that bond makes, in this case the Trump supporters, highly defensive and protective. And anybody that turns on their guy is gonna hear about it. They’re not gonna panic and abandon Trump because “the media” turns against them.

I’d be surprised if that happened.