RUSH: Right at this very moment Donald Trump has touched down at Joint Base Andrews, the old Andrews Air Force Base. You know why they call it Joint Base Andrews now, don’t you? ‘Cause it’s more than just the Air Force there. They’re economizing, efficiencizing, so it’s more than just the Air Force there. So Joint Base Andrews. Anyway, they picked him up in an Air Force jet at LaGuardia in New York and they flew him to Joint Base Andrews. He just touched down, almost exactly 24 hours before he will be inaugurated the president of the United States.

Okay. We all know that the Democrat Party is unhinged and their values are not ours anymore. They are a different breed now, and the same thing for the United States media. An act of utter irresponsibility occurred on CNN last night on Wolf Blitzer’s show — an act of total derangement, irresponsibility, and danger. To me, what CNN did last night disqualifies them from discussions of journalism, from giving them serious consideration and credibility. They did a report that… Well, let me let you hear it. Brian Todd reporting on Wolf Blitzer’s show, The Situation Room, last night on CNN…

TODD: A cabinet secretary called “the designated presidential successor” will not attend the inauguration, ready to step in if something happens. But it won’t be a Trump cabinet secretary since none of them have been confirmed yet. It will be an Obama appointee. By noon Friday, all of Obama’s cabinet secretaries are expected to resign. John Kerry, the current secretary of state, will be the first cabinet secretary in the line of succession, but he’s out of office by noon. Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, may not be confirmed for another week or two. So who would be secretary of state on Friday afternoon? According to State Department sources, the job would fall to the highest-ranking nonpolitical official in the department: The undersecretary for political affairs, Tom Shannon.

RUSH: What this report is about, is CNN explaining to their audience what would happen — who would become president — if somebody assassinated Donald Trump before the inauguration ceremony tomorrow. We prepare for what Reagan called “a miracle.” The peaceful transition of power that occurs in the United States every four or eight years (depending) is, in the real world, a miracle. That it happens peacefully, that it happens at all. It’s not normal that people with power willingly give it up. It is one of the many miracles of this country.

The Democrat Party cannot, has not, and will not come to grips with what has happened. They cannot accept, they haven’t been able to accept, and they don’t want to accept what happened last November. I think of all of the stories in the past where there have been shootings, say, on school campuses, school grounds or in movie theaters. Each and every time without exception CNN, ABC, the Drive-By Media did everything they could to make viewers believe that the shooting, the mass murder, was a result of conservative media, primarily talk radio, primarily me, and then Fox News.

In one instance in Colorado, after a movie theater shooting in Colorado, Brian Ross of ABC News had the name of the shooter. The first thing Brian Ross did was get hold of a roster of members of the Tea Party to see if he could find the name. And, lo and behold, he found somebody on the membership rolls of the Tea Party in Colorado with the same name as the shooter! And really, before knowing anything, went on the air, on ABC — it might have been Good Morning America, I forget what particular show — and actually said, “While we haven’t been able to confirm it, it is possible that the shooter is a member of the Tea Party!”

It was their instinct, knee-jerk reaction. They believe any violence that happens in this country is caused by conservatism — caused by people who love and believe in the Second Amendment — and have done everything they can to impugn, besmirch, discredit, and destroy anybody who has leanings toward conservatism and the Second Amendment, gun rights, and so forth and so on. And yet here now is CNN with a story last night. You know how many deranged people are out there?

The U.K. Daily Mail has a story today about a family friend of the Clintons from down here in south Florida who has been arrested for claiming he was going to assassinate Trump. He’s 51 years old. He looks like a standard, ordinary, normal person. He doesn’t look like some deranged lunatic, but obviously is. He’s a close family friend of the Clintons arrested for claiming that he was going to assassinate Trump. We have heard stories. The media is eagerly and with great support telling us of all the protests that are going to occur tomorrow.

We are being led to believe that they are massive, that there are many more protesters that are gonna show up than there will be people supporting Trump’s inauguration. We are told that the Democrats, now up to number 66 of them in the House, are not going to attend in a form of protest. What it is, is a bunch of childish immaturity. At best, that’s what these Democrats are engaging in. The Drive-By Media is doing everything it can to incite unrest, to incite lack of acceptance, to promote whatever unhinged and deranged feelings there are out there.

The Drive-By Media is sympathetic to them and could even be said to be promoting ’em. And now we have on CNN a story last night: Assassinating Trump could keep the Obama administration in power, and this is what the story was about. “Well, if it happened…” Can you imagine if on either of the days prior to Obama’s inauguration, either 2004, 2008, I, on this program, had done a story about what is going to happen should something happen to Obama? Can you imagine the excrement storm that would have happened?

We have Jeff Zucker at CNN running around talking about how Trump has destroyed journalism but he’s not gonna let him, and journalists are getting introspective. I have a couple of really, really fascinating stories today. One of them is a two-parter that I found on one of my tech blogs, a New York University journalism professor with advice for today’s journalists on how to deal with Trump. I guess Obama yesterday telling them to not be sycophants and instead be skeptics wasn’t enough. Was that not a laugh, by the way?

Barack Obama telling his State-Controlled Media, “No. You know what? You’re not supposed to be sycophants. You are supposed to be skeptics.” Are you kidding me? He had a room full of sycophants. He had a room full of people who, if it kept on, would die of anal poisoning, they were so far up and gone. And Obama’s telling them, “Now, you gotta stop being this way. You gotta become skeptics now.” Obama with the illusion that they never were sycophants.

And the stories in the media today are all filled with tears. “Oh, my God, he’s actually leaving! I can’t believe it. What are we gonna do?” The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof, “Missing Barack Obama Already.” He not even gone. But this thing that CNN did last night — and, by the way, they cloaked this as a genuine story on the order of succession, given the circumstances. But clearly the only reason for such a story is if something happens to President-elect Trump before he’s sworn in. So you know what they’re thinking about.

You know what’s on their minds. You know how unbalanced the entire American left is. You know how unbalanced the Democrat Party has become. I also have a fascinating story here in The Politico today. It actually prints out to 14 pages. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna spend 14 pages on it. But I’ve got a lot of highlights and pull quotes. “Democrats in the Wilderness Inside — A decimated party’s not-so-certain revival strategy.” Oh, I can’t wait to get to this for you. It is eye-opening. It is an actually honest and truthful assessment of just where they are, which is nowhere.

It’s an honest assessment of how many seats they have lost in the Congress and in state legislatures. It’s an honest assessment of how they are a regional party now, at best, not national. It’s an honest assessment how they are a Jurassic Park party, that the people on their bench that people are saying, “That’s gonna be our next nominee,” are all 70 years old or older. I mean, when this guy describes the Democrats in the wilderness, he’s actually doing it. He actually does it. So those are two things I’m looking forward to getting to.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Let’s do a little quick test. How many of you out there across the fruited plain are surprised to learn that CNN would run a segment rooted in…? Well, here’s how Wolf Blitzer introduced the segment. He said, “What if an incoming president and his immediate successors were wiped out on Day One?” How many of you out there are surprised that CNN would run a segment like this? Now, if some of you in the audience are shocked, then you may be new to the program, so welcome. You have a lot to learn.
The fact of the matter is, many people in this audience are not surprised at all. They may be angry about it, but deep down, not surprised. These people have gone off the deep end long ago. They’re making no effort to climb back on solid ground. They cannot accept reality. To this day, they believe that what’s happened here is a construct; it’s something that somebody created — like the Russians hacking the election or what have you — to deny them what is theirs by birthright, and that is power and winning elections.

And so they can’t accept what happened, and they’re not even making any effort to accept what happened. “What if an incoming president and…?” Can you imagine turning on Fox News eight years ago, and take your pick of any Fox anchor…? Bill O’Reilly. Bill O’Reilly says, “What if an incoming president is immediate successors are wiped out?” Can you imagine what the Drive-Bys would say? Can you imagine what CNN would say about it? It’s disgusting, and it’s beyond the pale.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We’ll start here in Phoenix. Mark, great to have you. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. I would like to get your opinion on something that I saw on the news this morning that the Obama Regime sent a B-2 bomber to Libya and killed hundreds of ISIS people. I was wondering if he would have done something like this now so that it could possibly provoke attacks in the United States during Trump’s early days.

RUSH: Well, you know, I saw that myself, and like you, the first question I had is, “What is this?” and then I remembered that I once asked a defense department guy, Donald Rumsfeld. I once asked him as secretary of defense: “Do you know — is there anybody who knows — everything going on at any moment in time in the Pentagon?” He looked at me said, “There’s no way.” I said, “Well, pardon my naivete, but who does? Doesn’t somebody? I mean, how much independence is there? Can somebody launch military salvos without you, for example, knowing it?”

“Well, no. There’s structure, and everybody has orders and so on. But day to day what’s happening? There’s too much. There’s simply too much go. I asked the same thing of Michael Hayden. I ran into him at a Steelers game. He was running the CIA. I said, “You know, I’m a logistics guy,” which is the root of this question. I asked him, “Look, as director of the CIA, do you know everything going on?” “No. It’s not possible.” I said, “You don’t know where we have covert operatives and covert actions?” “Well, yeah, but I can’t tell you day to day what’s happening and who’s doing what.”

So I thought of that when I saw this story. It could well be that what happened today in Syria with the B-2 has been on schedule for a while and it’s part of the ongoing military operation that’s there, but I can totally understand your take. And I don’t think something like this would be… If they wanted… You’ve got me sounding like CNN here. If they wanted — meaning if Obama, if the Democrats wanted — to do something to cause a terror attack tonight or tomorrow, I don’t think this, by itself, would be enough.

They’d have to do something working much closer to home here, and then to pinpoint the time that it happens so as to happen on… That would require, I would think, a specific operation or plan. I don’t think they would say, “Yeah, let’s send a B-2 over Libya and hope some wacko attacks Washington tomorrow!” I just can’t imagine that would be the thinking. But before any of you out there get upset, we didn’t start this. This line of thinking was put out there last night by CNN, and this is exactly what happens.

CNN does a story on if Donald Trump is assassinated either right before or right after he’s inaugurated, takes the office, who becomes president? His cabinet hasn’t been sworn in! Is it Obama? That’s what they hoped. Is it Obama? Does Obama stay president? That’s what they wanted to hear. Could it be? Does Obama stay? Can Obama stay? Can Obama stay if Trump can’t go? Is that right? Can Obama come out and play?” They put it out there. So don’t blame us for starting to think this way. We react, folks. We’re not the aggressors in stuff like this. But I don’t think that this action with the B-2 doing whatever it was doing over Libya is connected. It’s too much, too big a chance to take that happen.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Renee in Butte, Montana. You’re next on the union EIB. Hello.

CALLER: Hello, Mr. Limbaugh. It’s certainly an honor to speak with you.

RUSH: Thank you. Thanks very much.

CALLER: Yeah. I wanted to comment on CNN’s reporting yesterday, I believe it was, about president-elect being assassinated. I believe that was their way of manipulating and encouraging all fruitcakes out there to assassinate Trump without coming out and directly saying it.

RUSH: You really do?

CALLER: I really do.

RUSH: You think they were actually trying to inspire, encourage somebody out there to try to assassinate Trump without saying those words?

CALLER: Why else would they say that? There’s no other reason. I mean, what an ignorant thing to concoct.

RUSH: Well, look, I understand what you’re saying. They’re continuing to push the story.

CALLER: Mmm-hmm.

RUSH: I mean, this is from this morning at 3:28. I mean, the story ran initially last night in prime time. And here’s a 3:28 a.m. update: “Designated Survivor From Obama Cabinet to Sit out Inauguration in Case of Tragedy — When Donald Trump is sworn in Friday, a group of civil servants you’ve probably never heard of will likely be running some of the country’s most critical cabinet posts — at least temporarily,” and this is story is about what would happen if the unthinkable happens, who would be president.

Now, I think of it as the heighth of irresponsibility. What CNN’s gonna hide behind and what they’re gonna say is, “No, no, no. It’s a legitimate story, legitimate story. I mean, you have to admit,” CNN would say, “these are heightened times with much stress; a lot of tension; many, many security threats out there. It’s an entirely legitimate question to ask: What would happen if the unthinkable happened?” and then somebody would say, “Don’t you think maybe you’re trying to further the notion in the minds of the insane and the deranged out here to give them some sort of inspiration?”

“No, you can’t accuse us of that! This is a legitimate news story. We’re just doing a story on what is the line of succession should the unthinkable happen.” “But you don’t think this story is sort of a dog whistle to some of the lunatic, insane people out there that would like…?” “No, no, no! And we really resent you accusing us of this.” That would be their line of defense. But your question: Why do it? Well, speculation. ‘Cause I don’t know anybody at CNN. Well, I do. Actually, I know one person at CNN, but I haven’t talked to him in a long time.

So I can’t claim to know what goes on over there. But I don’t think it’d be a stretch to conclude that (How to phrase this?) some of them might be harboring hope that something happens, or if that’s a little too brutal for you, let me rephrase it and say, “There are probably some people over there who wouldn’t be all that upset.” And in fact there are probably a lot of people over there who think it would be a great story. “Oh, man, would we love to break that story! Oh, wow, would we love to cover that story.” So I can understand your suspicion.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I want to go back to CNN’s story, because we just had a woman on the phone who said she thinks this is about trying to create that behavior that would result in harm coming to Trump. And I have to tell you, folks, if we go back… If you look at Black Lives Matter, I mean, they constantly were doing things to expire protests. They wanted hellfire and damnation to descend on various people at certain times at various events. What reason could there be for doing a story like this? I mean, does it not demonstrate what somebody at CNN’s thinking?

“What if Trump can’t be sworn in? What if something happens and Trump…?” Well, what would that something be? Somebody at CNN had to come up with the idea, had to pitch it to somebody and somebody said, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Great idea!” Maybe they all came up with the idea at the same time since they all think alike. You can speculate on what their motivation would be, but there’s no denying here why they’re doing the story, and it’s not because people are clamoring to know what the line of succession is if the president-elect doesn’t get sworn in.

Now, people on the left maybe want to know that. The people that don’t like Trump maybe want to know that. And they may be holding out hope. Maybe the purpose of story was to find out if there was some way they could keep Obama in office. I think that might have been involved in the germination of this. “Gosh, is there a way? Is there a way that Obama wouldn’t have to leave? I mean, like, yeah! Like what if somebody attacks Trump? What if Trump can’t take the oath? What happens? Does it mean Obama gets to stay?”

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if that’s where this whole thing started. But, folks, it’s hard to deny. I mean, they’re doing a story on what happens if Trump’s not sworn in. There’s an elephant in the room and we’re looking at it, and the elephant in the room is the elephant. By the way, there is a little history that we can fall back on. You remember when, after the election, Trump ditched the press to go have dinner with his family at the 21 Club in Manhattan. What was the AP’s complaint?

The AP actually said they were there in case there was an assassination attempt like there was on Reagan. They have to have somebody assigned to cover “the body,” meaning the president. It means, “We need somebody on ‘the body.'” Body coverage means somebody has constantly got eyes on the president, whoever it is, in case the unbelievable, the acceptable, the untoward happens, and this was their complaint: “What if somebody had taken a shot at Trump? What if somebody did, and we weren’t there!

“We weren’t there; that’s not fair! That’s not… He can’t ditch us this way.” And that was their concern: “What if something happened to Trump while we weren’t there?” So my point is, you know, it’s in the back of their minds. So it’s November 16th AP, “Trump Ditches Media — The Public’s Eyes and Ears — Again.” From the article: “The White House depends on having journalists nearby at all times to relay the president’s first comments on breaking news.” (snorts) Ha!

“A pool of reporters and photographers was in the motorcade when President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas. The pool was just steps away from President Ronald Reagan when he was shot outside a hotel…” Yeah, but he didn’t do stories about it before it happened. JFK goes to Dallas. Gee, what’ll happen if he’s assassinated? I’ll tell you, it didn’t take ’em long to get in gear to blame it on the right wing even though a communist was the shooter!

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Let me ask you a question. Let’s say Ted Turner goes in… I know he doesn’t own it anymore, but he founded it. He’s still a big guy. Ted Turner goes into CNN, and while Ted Turner is there, some terrorist group launches an attack and wipes the building out and everybody in it, including Ted Turner. Who would replace Ted Turner in that scenario? Well, it’s a legitimate question.

I mean, people want to have a right to know. You know, what would happen if somebody…? What…? Who would run it? (interruption) Who would…? (interruption) Who would take ’em out? (interruption) Why are you offended by…? (interruption) You’re telling me you’re offended by that? (interruption) Oh, you think they’re gonna be coming after me on that? (interruption) Oh, ignoring what they’ve…? (interruption) You may be right.