RUSH: Rush Limbaugh here, behind the Golden EIB Microphone with broadcast excellence. I am America’s Real Anchorman. I tell you the news that’s going on everywhere, and I will tell you the right thing to think about it, but it’s not just one sided here. No, no. I probably do a better job of explaining liberalism than they could explaining themselves. You know why? ‘Cause I’m honest about who they are. They don’t have nearly the ability to be.
Here’s the phone number: 800-282-2882, and the email address, ElRushbo@eibnet.us.
I got an email during the break, and I want to deal with it. The email says, “Rush, I notice you’re taking fewer and fewer callers. Why?” That is not… If that’s true, I’m not aware of it. It’s not a conscious thing. It’s not a programming format change. But I thought about it. I thought, “Okay, we just had an hour go by, and I didn’t take a call.” We have a full board of people. The reason why this concerns me, is it’s people on hold here for a long time. I mean, we give the number out, the program starts, and they call, and Snerdley screens ’em.
It generally takes him the first half hour of the program to fill up the board and then, say, from 12:30 p.m. on, people are waiting, and many of these people will wait two hours, which I don’t like. I mean, it makes me feel bad. Sometimes we get their numbers and call ’em back if they can’t wait that long. But that’s risky ’cause they may not be there when we call ’em. So we really don’t encourage that, but it is an option that we provide as a top-flight program.
But, if that is the case, I’ll tell you what’s driving it. It’s real simple. It is the desire that when this program is over, after three hours of it every day, that nobody out there says, “But you didn’t talk about X. Why didn’t you bring that up?” Or, “You know, you need two more hours. Look at all the stuff you didn’t get to today!” I hate when people have that reaction, and so I feel compelled… I know that many of you watch cable news, you read on your own, and I really… I’m sitting here, and I do not like imagining you coming across something, say, at five or six in the afternoon after the program’s over or later tonight, and saying, “Rush didn’t mention this. Why not?”
I hate it. I just… I can’t deal with you having that reaction. Some of you think I might have missed something or didn’t get to it. So it is actually… If I’m taking fewer calls, it’s not on purpose. It’s the result of trying to make sure this is a one-stop shop for you, that you don’t need anything other than this, that whatever is actually important, we hit it here, ’cause I just could not… It’s not that I couldn’t deal with it; I just don’t want it to happen that every night, people are saying, “Well, I didn’t hear about it! Rush didn’t bring this up.”
So it’s not purposely trying to take fewer callers. If anything, it’s trying to leave as little as possible on the table. So what I… I just have to make a more concerted effort here to increase the number of callers. It’s an ebb-and-flow thing anyway. I’ll tell you, folks, we’ve also got another phenomena going on here. Ever since the campaign started a year and a half ago, there has not been a slow news day. I mean, we haven’t even approached a slow news day. In the old days, after the election until the inauguration (chuckles), every day was a slow news day.
So when you have a slow news day, ah, it’s maybe when you spend more time taking calls, finding out what’s on people’s minds, but when this… I mean, I’m overflowing. The Stacks every day of things that I don’t get to, you don’t know because I don’t tell you. But I assume you know because I assume you are profoundly, massively informed and know it if I don’t get something. I’m trying to avoid as little of that as possible. So after the monologue segment here we’ll come back and we’ll start on the phones.
Plus, I’ve got all these sound bites I have to get to. People are working their tails off producing these sound bites for me every day, and if time doesn’t permit me to get to them, I don’t want staff saying, “You know what? You’re not using any of my work? Screw you!” You know, and they move down the hall, try to find some other show. That wouldn’t happen. There is no other show. But, I mean, all these people are spending a lot of time — you on hold, other people preparing the sound bites — and not to use any of it is…
Well, it would be thoughtful to use some of it just to acknowledge the time and work people are spending trying to put things together, and they’re good every day. It’s just the inability to get to everything and the attempt to try is really what explains it.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Dennis in Dublin, Georgia, great to have you, sir. I’m glad you waited. Welcome to the program.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. It’s an honor to speak with you.
RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much.
CALLER: The point I’d like to make is that by the logic we use to try to force Trump to sell his businesses, if Bill Gates’ father had tried to run for president in 1988, Bill would have had to sell Microsoft.
RUSH: Uhhhhhhh… (sigh) Yeah.
CALLER: Basically because Trump is putting his sons in charge of the business, so he’s divesting himself of the running of the business, it would be the same if Bill Gates’ father had tried to run.
RUSH: Yeah, but Gates has effectively done that anyway. He’s retired. He’s pulled out of Microsoft. Still has some stock but now he’s investing in mosquito nets and stuff.
CALLER: Right. I was talking about 1988.
RUSH: Right, but what is your point?
CALLER: The point would be that comparing Trump now, what they would have done if Bill Gates’ father had run in 1988.
RUSH: Yeah, but Bill Gates didn’t, and he never would.
CALLER: No, he didn’t, but if Bill Gates’ father had, Bill Gates would have been running a big company like Trump’s sons are gonna be doing because Trump is president.
RUSH: Wait a minute. Are you saying Trump should not have to divest because they might not have made Gates divest in 1988? What are you saying?
CALLER: I’m saying that Trump is handing over the running of his businesses to his sons, and he’s not gonna be in charge of business, his sons are. It’d be like if Bill Gates’ father had run in ’88. Bill Gates’ father wouldn’t be in charge of the business, but Bill would have.
RUSH: You’re saying that if that had happened with Gates, the left wouldn’t have cared; they would have applauded it? But with Trump doing it and his sons doing it, they’re not accepting it?
CALLER: I’m not sure wouldn’t have cared, but that’s entirely possible.
RUSH: Well… I… I’m… I’m sorry to be rude, but I don’t get the point. Bill Gates didn’t run.
CALLER: No.
RUSH: We can play the what-if game on anything here. I don’t… Are you suggesting that Trump should not have to divest? Are you suggesting that, uh…?
CALLER: I’m suggesting that the handing over his running of the company to his sons should be sufficient.
RUSH: Should or should not be?
CALLER: Should be.
RUSH: Should be. Oh. Well, where is it not sufficient? Who’s saying it isn’t?
CALLER: (silence)
RUSH: Well, screw them! The Drive-Bys say it’s not sufficient? Look, I’m aware of some of these malcontents out there saying that Trump’s gonna know. He’s divested to his two sons but he’s gonna know what they’re doing and, therefore, he’s gonna still have control and therefore this is not good enough and therefore this… Trump’s lawyer went up and explained. Let ’em challenge it in court if they’re not happy with it. Screw it! Why should everything have to be done to please the media?
“Well, the media doesn’t like what you’ve done here, Mr. Trump. The left doesn’t like what you’ve done, Mr. Trump. They don’t think that having your sons in charge is enough distance.”
“All right. Well, I’ll put Marla Maples in charge.”
“Well, I don’t think that would be enough distance, either. They want you to make yourself a pauper! They want you to sell everything you own, Mr. Trump.”
“Oh, you mean like the Kennedys did?”
Except the Kennedys didn’t. Look, this, to me, is just more of people unhappy Trump won trying to take their shots. Trump said at his press conference yesterday that all of the profits from his international hotels are going to be turned over to the United States Treasury, and I saw some people even have a problem with that. They think he’s playing a game with that because it’s only international properties that the profits from which he’s giving to the government. “What about his domestic hotels?” So, okay. (chuckles) You know, I look at…
I finally get the caller’s point here. We don’t need to make up something about Bill Gates. We can use Harry Reid. You know, Harry Reid comes to Washington from Nevada with a couple of pennies in his pocket, and now he owns half of Nevada, half of California. I’m exaggerating. The guy’s a real estate baron. The guy was able to afford to live in a penthouse suite at a Ritz Carlton or some other type hotel in Washington, on Capitol Hill. He can’t do all this on his congressional Senate salary. Can’t do it.
Where do these guys get their money? And nobody says thing about it. And then they leave public office and head over to some corporation or some lobbying firm, which has been greasing the skids for ’em all along anyway. I know what you’re saying: “Well, that doesn’t make it right just because Harry Reid did it. Doesn’t make it right.” I’m just saying nobody ever had a problem with Harry Reid. Nobody ever has a problem with the Democrats doing this stuff. Look at Robert Byrd, for crying out loud!
Look at the wealth these people show up and earn after being in Washington for few years earning $150,000 a year. It doesn’t add up. Trump’s wealth happened before he got there. “He might leverage it through…” What they’re trying to get people to believe is that Trump only wants to be president to leverage the insider knowledge and power and status he will have to further enrich his holdings. And, you know, I… (sigh) I guess I understand people that have these concerns. But to me, they’re way down the list of things that are important, in terms of the country, what’s wrong with it, and how to fix it.
Anyway, I have to take a break. I appreciate the call, Dennis.