RUSH: We have with us Mr. Trump.  Mr. Trump’s on the phone from… Where are you, sir?  Where are you calling from right now?

TRUMP:  Well, I’m right now in Miami, Rush, and I just visited two voting areas, and they are packed.  They’re two-blocks long with people voting.

RUSH:  And obviously… They’re obviously out voting for you?

TRUMP:  Well, it looks like it.  They have a lot of hats on, red hats, and they have a lot of buttons on ’em saying “Trump.”  So hopefully they’re voting for me, I think. (chuckles) But there are a lot of people. They said they’ve never seen lines like this, Rush.

RUSH:  Mr. Trump, I want to make an observation and get your reaction to it.  We have some, I think, devastating news for the American people today, and that’s what’s happening with health care premiums.   

TRUMP: Absolutely.

RUSH:  This 25% increase is just an average. It’s much higher that than that.  Mr. Trump, the people who have destroyed the health care system are also in line to destroy other aspects of our economy —

TRUMP: Right.

RUSH: — the job market, immigration and amnesty —

TRUMP:  Right.

RUSH:  — and they’re out there claiming… Their fingerprints are all over this.  Yours are not. Mr. Trump, you don’t have one thing to do with anything that’s gone right or wrong with in this country. They do.

TRUMP:  Right.

RUSH:  They’re throwing out everything they can to destroy you and to prevent you from winning, and you keep hanging in there.  What is your plan these next two weeks to take this to the finish line?

TRUMP:  Well, one thing we’re going to do is talk just about that: Obamacare, jobs. Our jobs are being taken away from us, Rush. Companies, as we speak, are signing documents with Mexico and other places to move. Our jobs be being… Look at Ford two weeks ago. Ford Motor. They’re gonna make all of their smaller cars in Mexico. They’re gonna move everything outta here.  And so many… I mean, Carrier air-conditioners. I talk about all these companies. There are hundreds of companies. They’re moving out to Mexico and other countries.  Obamacare is a disaster.  And you remember, I called that from before it was approved. I said, “This can’t work, because it’s just… The plan is no good. The concept is no good,” and it turned out to be much worse.

RUSH:  Well, the problem is, it is working. It is working, by design.  The whole point of this was to have it fail like this so that they can then have people panic and ask the government to fix it, and the government will fix it by going single payer with the government totally running the health care system, which gives them so much power over people and their behavior and the way they live their lives, you don’t even want to think about it.

TRUMP: Well, if they do that, Rush, they’ll have an even worse situation than they have now.  You know, if you look at even Canada, the people come down. When they want an operation, they come to the United States to get the operation.  You look at what’s going on.  It is a disaster in terms of cost, of course… And, you know, the 25%, Rush, is less than half of what the real number is.  The real number in some of these places is 80% to 90% increases.  It’s catastrophic, actually.

RUSH:  It is.

TRUMP:  They put out the phony number of 25% because 25% sounds better than 60 or 70%.

RUSH:  Well, you know, the former head of the Democrat National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, is out there saying, “Oh, no. It’s been much worse.  Bush was destroying the health care system.  Obamacare, all it’s like doing is keeping prices from going up more rapidly.” I mean, it’s frustrating, Mr. Trump, because their fingerprints, as I say, are all over this. If anybody, in my estimation, is disqualified from having anything further to do with this nation’s economy or health care or immigration, it’s the Democrat Party.  And you have absolutely… There’s not one thing going wrong in this country they can blame you for, and yet they’re trying to tell everybody that you’re the one not qualified, that you’re the one not fit.  What has this been like for you personally? I mean, you’re a winner.

TRUMP:  Right.

RUSH:  You’re somebody that’s won everything that you’ve done.  What are these assaults…? I don’t think people understand the impact on a family or even an individual, when the kitchen sink is thrown at them as has been thrown at you.

TRUMP:  Well, they’ve been vicious.  The New York Times, they lie. They lie like I’ve never seen anything.  They know they’re lying.  One of these guys wrote a story — Rutenberg, Jim Rutenberg, a story. Literally they’ll do whatever they have to do. He practically they insinuated… they’ll lie and tell whatever they have to say.  These are vicious people.  These are lying people, and, you know, fortunately I can defend myself.  I have… What do people do that can’t defend themselves?  But I’ll tell you the good news.

People know it, people see it, and they say it’s the greatest pile-on in the history of politics and probably long beyond politics, and here’s the bottom line.  I think we’re doing really well.  You know, they even put phony polls out there, Rush.  You take a look at some of these polls; they’re totally phony.  Now, the poll that called it correct for the last three presidential elections has us up by 2%. 

And you take a look at the lines in Florida, they’re unbelievable what’s going on, and early polling at different places has us leading in a lot of different places that nobody was even thinking about. So we’ll see what happens, but these are bad people, Rush, and… I mean, you’ve dealt with them for a long time, but they’re bad. They’re bad and very evil people.

RUSH:  You have an interesting philosophy in the way of dealing with this, and people in public life have evolved different theories and ways.

TRUMP: Well —

RUSH:  You are accused of whatever it is with whatever subject. You choose to defend yourself right on the spot.

TRUMP:  Hello?

RUSH:  You choose to go after — people say, “No, no, Mr. Trump, stick to the issues.  Don’t let them sidetrack you that way.” 

TRUMP:  Hello?

RUSH: What is your thinking on —

TRUMP:  Well, I think we got cut off.

RUSH:  Go ahead.  Oh, he thinks we lost him. The cell phone connection must have dumped.  Well, maybe he will call back.  He had a window until about 2:15 or 2:17. I guess he’s in Miami, is gonna be flying somewhere.  I heard him say earlier today that they have to win — (interruption)  We got him back.  Mr. Trump, we lost the connection, but here you are back with us.  There we go.  They tell me you’re back, Mr. Trump.

TRUMP:  We got cut off somehow, Rush.  They are evil people, the press, the media, they are bad people, and nobody, nobody lies like they do.

RUSH:  Well, and what I was saying before we got cut off is that a lot of public figures have different ways of dealing with it.  Some ignore it hoping not to amplify it.  You obviously, in your life when somebody’s come after you, wounded you, you go right back at them, and then people say, “Mr. Trump, stick to the issues, don’t be distracted like this.”

TRUMP:  Right.

RUSH:  What is your thinking in dealing with —

TRUMP:  Well, I never like it when they tell me that, and I’m sure they’re right, but when people say things that are fabrication — you know, there were fabricated stories made up, these were fabrications.  You know what I’m talking about.  Out of nowhere.  And this was just like, if you remember, where they said, you know, with the rallies where they hired thugs to go into my rallies, well, I think they hired other people to do other things. 

I would rather, Rush, fight it, even though most people say you shouldn’t do that.  But if you fight it, at least you’re telling the truth.  At least the word is out that, you know, you’re innocent of these charges or stating you’re innocent.  But other people say stay on jobs, stay on Obamacare and repealing and replacing it, et cetera.  So I guess it’s two theories.  I would rather fight it, but everyone says you shouldn’t do that, just go along.

RUSH:  Well, you have to be who you are, and I think one of the things that has so many people so excited for you is that you do fight, is that you do fight back.

TRUMP:  Well, I’d like to at least, you know, make a statement about the truth.  And even if that delays it a day or two, in other words, then they have to print the statement and they don’t talk about jobs and Obamacare, right. You know, but honestly, I mean, people have to know your view. They have to know that this stuff never took place, it was total fabrication. So I would rather do it that way, but a lot of people disagree with me, Rush.  You may be one of the few that don’t.

RUSH:  Well, I believe in people being who they are, and you are obviously who you are, and I think people should stay who they are.  You’re not a phony in any way, shape, manner or form.  You’ve got, Mr. Trump, so many people —

TRUMP: Hello?

RUSH:  Your support, I mean, you see it at all of your rallies.

TRUMP:  Steve!

RUSH:  It’s voluminous and it’s deep. 

TRUMP: The phone is dead.

RUSH:  I don’t know if you have an idea how many people love you and are depending on you and hoping you win here. 

TRUMP: Steve, get me a phone, quick!

RUSH:  He’s got a phone.  I guess we’re dropping out.  We can hear him, but he can’t hear us. (interruption) Oh, is that what he said, get me a phone quick?  Well, let’s see if we can reestablish connections here.  I’m a highly trained broadcast specialist and can vamp here while we wait for the connection to be reestablished or is it too late now because he has to leave?  Oh, you’re hearing them, they just can’t hear us?  Well, it’s probably our phone system’s fault.  We got the worst phone system in all of radio here.  I’m just kidding about that, but I do hope that we’re able to get him back before he has to depart.

He’s breathing rarefied air.  I look at this campaign of Mr. Trump’s in different ways than a lot of people do.  It’s politics of course and you look at it, political theory, strategy, but there’s so many different levels to the Donald Trump campaign.  I think this event, this thing he’s tapped into is bigger than he is, and it’s got millions of Americans and we’re going to find out how many there really are. They’re totally invested in his candidacy, they’re totally invested in him. Mr. Trump, I’m told you that we are once again reconnected.  Are you there, sir?

TRUMP:  Yes, and I’m not sure whose fault, but I’ll tell you what, I changed phones anyway just to make sure, okay?

RUSH:  Well, no, no fault.  I know you’ve got to split soon and leave for — where are you going next from Miami?

TRUMP:  We’re going to different places all throughout Florida.  Our next stop is Sanford, Florida. We have a tremendous crowd.  Last night we had 25,000 people in Tampa.  I don’t know if you saw last night, Rush, it was unbelievable.

RUSH:  I did.  Tim Kaine had 30 people in West Palm Beach. 

TRUMP:  I know.  We had 25,000 people last night, we set the record for the arena, and it was beautiful, and the level of excitement was even more beautiful and —

RUSH:  What do you say to people that say that doesn’t matter, that doesn’t tell us how people are gonna vote.

TRUMP:  I don’t believe it.  They said Romney had crowds, but the truth is he had one crowd, one big crowd the last day.  We’ve had crowds for five months.  I mean, from the beginning.  And now they’re bigger than ever before.  No, I think it makes a big difference.  I’ve heard that theory, and you know what?  Maybe it’s right.  I don’t know.  I’ll let you know around the 9th.  I’ll let you know right after the election.  But nobody’s ever had crowds like we’re having.  It’s a movement.  It’s a movement for common sense —

RUSH:  It is.

TRUMP:  — and, you know, other things.

RUSH:  It really is.  I was gonna tell you before we got disconnected the last time, you see your crowds, you know how many people are showing up, I think there are millions more people than you even know behind you, praying for you, urging you on, hoping and praying you win.  It’s phenomenal the kind of support you have behind you, despite the best efforts to suppress it, and those efforts are being made, I think it’s profound, the number of people.

TRUMP:  Well, they’re doing a tremendous suppression effort, but so far I will tell you, when you look at where the voting booths are, you know, the voters, we pass, I told you before, we passed three of them.  They’re two and three blocks long of people standing there waiting to vote, and four years ago they’d have two people in the room and everybody’s falling asleep.  The voting — the lines are unbelievable getting into the polling places and the voting booths.  So, you know, hopefully that’s a great sign, and these I think are real Trump people.  These are people that want to see America be great again.  That’s what it’s all about.

RUSH:  You called here about health care and this disastrous premium increase.  As far as you’ve thought about it, what needs to change?  When you say you’re gonna repeal and replace it, what are you gonna do instead of Obamacare?  How are you gonna get prices down? That’s what matters. How are you gonna bring prices down?

TRUMP:  It’s such a great question and there are frankly so many answers.  You know, you look at the savings health insurance, there’s so many great ways you can do that.  You’ll get great plans at much less money, at much less money.  I mean, these people are being just killed.  And you know the 25% was put out by Washington ’cause the real number could be three times that amount.  I mean, it’s catastrophic what’s going on. 

I left small businesses a little while ago and they were all complaining that Obamacare is putting them out of business.  Not only the regulations, which are a disaster and the taxes, but Obamacare is  putting them out of business.  So you have that concept, the savings accounts, health care.  What you really have are ways of getting people energized by take — you have to take down the lines between the state, Rush, so you have competition.  Right now there’s no competition —

RUSH:  None.

TRUMP:  — and the insurance companies love that because they’d rather have one state than have to compete in 50 states.  But you have to break down the barriers, break down the lines so there’s competition.  And once that happens, they will see their costs drop, and they will see plans that nobody’s even thought of before, it’ll be so beautiful.

RUSH:  Yeah, because right now the insurance companies are forbidden by law in competing state to state.  They have to stay within state —

TRUMP:  Right.

RUSH:  — so people in certain states are subject to very little competition, which means they have no hope of having —

TRUMP:  The concept, Rush, of health care savings accounts and, you know, other concepts off of that, but, you know, I’m totally serious.  You will have plans that nobody’s even talking about now because it’ll get more and more competitive, more and more ideas will come out, and the costs will drop so incredibly, it will be an incredible thing to watch.  We are absolutely being choked.  Businesses are closing.  I think Obamacare has now taken over almost from regulation, which is ridiculous what’s happening with overregulation, as the biggest single problem for opening and keeping businesses going.

RUSH:  It’s destroying lives.  It’s taking people’s disposable income away.  It’s a disaster what is happening under the whole concept of government knows best here, which clearly is not being demonstrated here.  Before you go, I have to say, ask you something.  I think I heard you say today earlier that you are of the opinion you have to win Florida if you’re gonna win the whole thing.  Did I hear you right earlier?

TRUMP:  Well, I think so, and again I’m going by people that I watch and that I listen to and that I read.  They’re saying that and I think so far we’re doing very well.  The latest poll came out even, but at the voting booth we’re killing it.  You know, I think — look, I think there are a lot of people out there that aren’t being polled.  That’s what we’re seeing in a number of states, including North Carolina, including different places. 

You know in Iowa we’re doing fantastically well.  But we’re saying that there are a lot of people that haven’t been polled in Florida, and the lines are incredible.  They never expected anything like this.  They’re getting more people to work inside because they didn’t expect anything like this.  Now, we’ll speak later on in two weeks and we’ll say, well, we were right or we were wrong, but I think there’s a tremendous energy out there, Rush, and despite the horrendous, really lying press, I mean, the media’s so bad, I’m gonna hit ’em as hard as I can ’cause people have to understand, but despite this —

RUSH:  Oh, they do!  Mr. Trump, they do!  They understand exactly what the media is doing to you.  Your fan base, your support base is loyal beyond I think —

TRUMP:  Amazing.  I love ’em.  I love ’em.

RUSH:  Well, thanks for your time today.  I appreciate it, and good luck the rest of the way, sir.

TRUMP:  Well, thank you.  We’re gonna be working very hard, and we’ll speak to you on the 9th.  Hopefully we’ve have a happy conversation.

RUSH:  Oh, I look forward to it — look forward to it.

TRUMP:  Thank you, Rush.  I appreciate it.

RUSH:  Thank you, sir.  Donald Trump on the phone with us from Florida.