RUSH: There is a story at TheHill.com.  Lane Filler is the writer.  “Donald Trump Looks Different When You See Him.”  So we have a writer here for The Hill who went to a Trump rally who was expecting to see a bunch of people from Deliverance missing their two front teeth, drinking cans of three-3-year-old beer, unchilled, hunting caps on, pickup trucks in the parking lot, gun racks in the back window, people that say “git” and see a journalist and start shouting epithets. 

And it turned out that this reporter didn’t see anything that he expected to see.  “Donald Trump Looks Different When You See Him In Person.”  This guy’s a member of the Newsday editorial board.  I said The Hill.  It’s Newsday, the Long Island newspaper.  He’s a member of the Newsday editorial board. 

“Trump estimated the crowd at 7,000 — New Hampshire police said it was closer to 3,000 — and there wasn’t a whit of ‘deplorable’ behavior. No racism, no sexism, no xenophobia, not even any nasty T-shirts, at least by current standards. Nor was there a surly or aggrieved mood coursing through the pack. Folks were upbeat, there to have a good time. What inspired the 300-mile drive Friday night from Long Island toward a noon rally up north was the sense that after a week of ‘Access Hollywood’ tape replays and sexual assault allegations, Trump might finally be ready to completely blow his stack, start roaring and foaming and biting the heads off of members of the media.”

So I wanted to go up and see it. 

“What transpired was foundationally different: Most of Trump’s speech focused on specific problems facing the people of New Hampshire and the United States, and the steps a Trump administration would take to address them. The Republican presidential candidate spoke at length about the opiate addiction ravaging New Hampshire. He called for lifting the limit on prescriptions for medication-assisted treatment drugs doctors can write, an important, intricate fix. He also decried the way Chinese drug manufacturers are moving deadly fentanyl into and around the United States.

“But at the root of the rally was the kernel of an idea that made his campaign catch fire when few thought it would: It is not going well for you, in terms of jobs, addiction, security, family structure, retirement or your feelings about the future. It is not your fault. The people in power do not care, and, in fact, have benefitted from the situation. None of the ‘politics as usual’ people from either party, having caused the trouble or allowed it to happen, can be trusted to fix it, he said.”

He said that was the message at the Trump rally.  There weren’t any rabble-rousers, there weren’t any insulting shouts, there weren’t any bad behavior at all.  And this is your average Trump rally.  Oh!  The O’Keefe, James O’Keefe, the latest video, he claims to have proof that all of the unrest and protests and dangerous activity at Trump rallies has been committed by Democrats and Hillary supporters.  

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  This is Teresa in Vienna, Illinois.  I’m glad you called.  It’s great to have you on the program today.  Hi.

CALLER:  Well, hi, Rush.  Thank you very much for taking my call.  It’s a pleasure to be able to talk to you today.

RUSH:  Thank you.

CALLER:  With my position I get to travel extensively and I get to meet a plethora of people, whether it be people that have learned through the hard knocks of life or the very well educated that are the scientists.  And the one thing that I have noticed, and I’ve been on numerous universities and around 12 states this summer, there is not the Hillary-for-president rush like there was when Obama was running.  There is not this impetus.  And there are numerous people out there that refuse or are afraid to say that they support Trump because of how they would be perceived by other people, you know, being called racist, bigots, whatever, because of their lack of ingenuity or wanting to be able to say what they really want to say, I guess.

RUSH:  This has been one of the curious anomalies that I have been tracking and following throughout the duration of the campaign.  There is no energy for Hillary Clinton out there.  There is no organic excitement for Hillary Clinton.  There is for Donald Trump.  You know, these bumper stickers that we have at the EIB Store, the Never Hillary bumper stickers, I have sent supplies of these to friends I know all across the fruited plain.  Everybody wants one, but they are afraid to put it on their car, ’cause they are afraid of vandalism or somehow otherwise being pointed out or called out. 

The point is, there’s a lot of Trump support that doesn’t want to admit it, like she’s saying.  But again, this is all anecdotal.  The polling data doesn’t reflect any of this.  Folks, the polling data today, we’ve got three, Washington Post/ABC, Hillary up four.  Monmouth, Hillary up 11, and what is the other one that’s out today?  I forget.  There’s one that has her up 12.  So up 12, up 11, up four.  None of that is reflected in what we see.  Well, I take that back.  We see it in media coverage. 

If all we knew was what we see in the Drive-By Media, why, we would think Trump is about to be humiliated and embarrassed, maybe get 10% of the vote.  But in terms of watching the American people, there isn’t any excitement for Hillary.  There’s no demand from people to see her.  She’s now in the midst of five days or six days off supposedly studying for the debate. 

David Axelrod thinks that she should just broom it.  Don’t even do it.  There’s nothing to gain.  She’s got the election in the bag.  There’s no reason to do this debate.  She really ought to think about backing out.  But I’ve noticed what you’ve noticed.  She can’t draw flies to any of her rallies.  They look like nothing compared to a Trump rally.  This is one of the confusing things. 

It’s one thing you see all of these Trump rallies, and they’re overflowing, and they’re energetic, and the people have unquestionable enthusiasm.  And then you see a Hillary rally, you see 300 people, 500 people.  You don’t see any organic excitement, no thrills, nothing.  Then you see the polling data and you wonder how does this work, how does this explain it? 

And it’s not unique.  This kind of thing has happened before, the polls have been right.  You understand New York and California, for example, are gone.  They’re Democrat states.  Those electoral votes are gone.  Whoever runs that has a D next to their name is gonna win.  They don’t have to be stars.  They don’t have to be exciting.  They don’t have to be charismatic at all.  You just need the D by your name.  And that’s what she has going for her.  I understand it’s frustrating and it doesn’t seem to jibe with what you see, the polling data doesn’t. That’s why we don’t know until we’re gonna know.