RUSH: Fred in Cleveland. I’m glad you waited, Fred. It’s great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Mega dittos.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: I’ll get right to my point. I think that the dominoes for Trump are slowly falling in slow motion. The American people, because of the media, who are not being told every little positive thing that’s happening. We go from regulation reform to immigration, health care, tax reform. I think it’s time to start putting things in the rearview mirror. Forget about health care right now; let Mitch McConnell deal with it. I think we need to look forward. Trump needs a little more time. I mean, if this was…

Think about you being thrown into the leadership role of Exxon, and Rex Tillerson says, “Yeah, I’ll be a nice guy. I’ll coach you through it,” and instead, he does things behind your back and turns the screws. It would take you five years be the good leader of Exxon. So Trump, we wish him another three months, four months. A year from today, I’m telling you: Everything’s gonna be reversed, the Trump train will be rolling through Washington and throw the disagreers off the train as it rolls forward.

RUSH: Wait. I’m confused here. Who are you upset with?

CALLER: I am not upset with anyone, but I fear that Maha Rushie is being roped in by the negativity in the media.

RUSH: That’s what I mean! How am I being roped in by the negativity? What am I saying that’s making…?

CALLER: I think that we’re getting lost in the details, in the weeds with this whole health care thing. I don’t care how many insiders we know, we’ll never know the details of what’s really going on with, you know, the details of health care. The Dems are gonna lie about it.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: The Republicans are too afraid to speak up and —

RUSH: Oh, I get it. You think that I’m off the reservation by spending time talking about the leftists complaining that if they’ve been raped, they’re gonna be classified with preexisting conditions, and you think that sounds unfair. You think Trump is having some success here. It’s slow, but the dominoes are starting to fall on repealing Obamacare and basically getting rid of the Democrat agenda at large. You think it’s happening. It’s happening slowly. The media’s not reporting it, you wish there were more positive reporting on this — and you think I am falling prey to the negativism?

CALLER: (chuckling) Yeah, somewhat. Somewhat, but not on a grand scale. I think we just need to control the narrative and push forward. You know what I mean?

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: The next thing we should be talking about is tax reform. And when that happens at the end of the week or in about two weeks, then we put that in the rearview mirror and start —

RUSH: Wait a minute.

CALLER: — on what’s next after that.

RUSH: Fred, I get all this, but the point is nothing’s happened yet. I’m not being negative here. We’ve had the first stage of repealing Obamacare. But we haven’t repealed Obamacare. Obamacare is still the law of the land. What the Republicans passed in the House now has to go to the Senate, and it has to pretty much… If they make very many changes in this, whatever they come up with, if it differs in any way, then the House and Senate have to get together and come up with an agreement based on the differences in the two.

That’s called a conference committee. Then out of that one bill both houses agreed to. That bill, goes back to the House and the Senate where they each have to vote again to pass it, and then it has to go to Trump. So there hasn’t been any change yet. I’m not being negative here. I think it’s a great first step, and I can make the case that this… If it’s intact and goes all the way through, it’s gonna be a major, major achievement. It will lower premiums, and in a political sense, that could be wind at the Republicans’ back that the Democrats can’t stop.

But it hasn’t happened yet. Tax reform hasn’t happened. Yes, it has been presented. The president’s plan has been presented, but nothing’s happened yet. That’s not being negative. I’m not acting like nothing’s happened. I’m not acting like we haven’t had anything that’s good. There is progress. And you’re right, it’s slow. Now that you…? (sigh) I wonder if I ought to mention something here. Let me… Fred, let me ask you a question before you go. Are you still there, Fred?

CALLER: Yes, sir.

RUSH: Let me ask you a quick question. When you watched the celebration last Thursday in the Rose Garden outside the White House — with the Republicans from Capitol Hill bused up there and they had this big party and celebration with Trump at the podium and various members of the House Republican caucus — what did you think of that? Did you like that? Did you like the optics? Did you think it was good thing?

CALLER: Rush, what I saw on the faces of those people standing behind Trump was enthusiasm and reassurance. You know what I mean? Trump does things as president that no other president has done. Obama never met the people in the Senate or Congress. You know what I mean? Trump is willing to do what other men that were president would not do. He’s a man of the people.

RUSH: All right.

CALLER: Those people behind him, if there were no cameras around, they would have been jumping up and down with their hands in the air high-fiving and cheering. They’re ready to go!

RUSH: Okay.

CALLER: They’re ready to get work done.

RUSH: All right. Fred, I get it. I understand totally.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: All right. I’m glad you called to help me out here, okay?

CALLER: Well, thank you, Rush. I’m concerned! I don’t want to see you get lost in the weeds.

RUSH: Fred, don’t worry about me, my man!

CALLER: (laughing)

RUSH: Do not worry about… I don’t like weeds! My father made me mow weeds and cut weeds when I was a kid. I’ve hated weeds ever since I was 12 years old.

CALLER: (laughing)

RUSH: I’ll never go in the weeds! I’ll never gonna take you in the weeds.

CALLER: All right.

RUSH: I don’t go in the weeds! I don’t get in the weeds with this stuff. That’s not what I’m doing. (sigh) To dare call me, the prince of optimism, a pessimist? But I understand why. I understand… (interruption) Tell him what? (interruption) No, I’m not gonna tell him that. (interruption) That’s… (interruption) Because to him, that celebration was all Trump. That didn’t… All Trump. Trump is the big difference here.

And he’s right in that sense. But he’s a Trump voter. You’ve got to understand and these people are not being talked out of supporting Trump. That’s why Fred’s opinion on this is so relevant. The media’s doing everything they can to distance guys like Fred from Trump, and it isn’t working. And that’s gotta be infuriating. Fred, thanks. I understand it. Don’t worry about me, though, Fred. Don’t worry. Do not worry.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: With a shout-out here to Fred in Cleveland. Fred’s our recent caller who thought… What was he…? (interruption) He thought that I was drinking the Kool-Aid and going negative here? (interruption) “Pessimistic.” But about what? What have I said today that made him think that? Seriously, what have I said? I’m asking. (interruption) The what? (interruption)

Okay. So Fred was worried that I’m pessimistic or falling prey to the media negativism about Trump. Okay. That’s a good way to put it. Fred thought I wasn’t positive enough by focusing on all these media complaints — and that’s what they are. They’re not Democrat complaints. They’re media complaints. It’s the Washington Post where the story was that the Republican health care bill was going to deny rape victims insurance because they’re gonna call rape and the cause of it… By the way, this is very important too.

You want to get in the weeds? Imagine claiming that the Republican health care bill is going to deny women who have been raped insurance based on it being called a preexisting condition. Not just rape, but the cause of it, whatever that is. The complaint here is the rape and the circumstances leading to it, the Republicans want to classify as a preexisting condition so that rape victims will not be able to be insured. And that is against the law already in 44 states. The Republican health care bill doesn’t say a word about rape or sexual assault or preexisting conditions regarding either instance.

It’s not in the bill. What it does say is that it turns back to the states some discretion in the rules that insurance companies will have and can mandate. The whole objective is to bring down the cost of premiums because Obama has sought to basically insure everything, that nothing could be denied. And therefore, nobody would have to spend a dime of their own money, theoretically, other than the premium, which nobody could afford, or very few. Anyway, my point here was that it was not a Democrat coming up with this; it was the media.

It was the New York Magazine and the Washington Post, and then the Huffing and Puffington Post came along and start making hay about this, even though in 44 states it is already expressly illegal to say that rape or sexual abuse qualifies as a preexisting condition, meaning nobody in those circumstances could get insurance. They could be denied. The upshot of it is that the Republicans wanted to deny rape victims health insurance. That’s what the claim is, and it’s nowhere in the bill. It’s nowhere. It’s not even alleged, it’s not even assumed, it’s not even imagined, it’s not even pretend there. It’s zilch, zero, nada.

And they’re running around with this meme. I’m talking about this, and Fred says, “You’re getting way in the weeds here! You’re not being optimistic enough. That’s too pessimistic; you need to focus on the positive.” Folks, what we do here is anti-leftist critique and studies. I told you why I don’t know how many times. These people have got to be defeated. It’s getting… Bill Maher. Everybody thinks that what Colbert did was beyond the pale. How about Bill Maher on Friday night? Did you hear about this? He literally made a joke that it was up to Ivanka Trump to give her dad oral sex to keep him from going extreme.

That’s her role. That she to go in, if she has to. She has to give him oral sex in order to keep him from going off the reservation. And this stuff is… It’s not even funny. I don’t know how you want to characterize it. But it is… It’s unbalanced. There’s something really, really off about these people on the left. And the question is, “Who’s really driving this?” Are these comedians saying these things because that’s what their audiences want to hear, or are the comedians leading with this attempting to influence their audiences?

Either way, no matter which side of equation you come down on, we are dealing with sincere sickness — some legitimate sickness — that gets cover as “late-night comedy” or, “It’s just a joke. Learn to deal with it.” But it is stuff… You turn this around and say one of these things about Obama’s daughter and see what happens to you, or try something like this on Chelsea Clinton and see what happens to you. (chuckles) I mean, you can forget ever being accepted as a civilized member of your city or town, your community. You’d be fired from your job.

Here it gets analyzed under the guise of critical acclaim and it’s judged to maybe have gone a little bit too far — “a little bit too far.” But then people say, “But we understand what Maher is trying to say here. Trump’s really unpredictable and his moderating influence is his daughter, who he has said he thinks is really beautiful.” So they take that and they run to the most obscene conclusions that they can come up with. I think they’re running out of material, because really, this stuff doesn’t take any talent to come up with. All it takes is coarseness. I don’t know.

In citing this stuff, though, I’m not trying to be pessimistic or negative about Trump or any of this, but there has to be — at some point — a resolution to all this. There has to be a price paid for this kind of stuff. There’s always a price for… I mean, one-tenth of this! If somebody on the right happens to misspeak in a joke or whatever, there’s always a severe and serious price to pay. There’s zero price on the left for any of this. And I think what’s really happening…

You’ll never see it reported because, of course, the media is running the entire left wing of this country. But I think they are disgusting more and more people all over this country. I think they are just turning people off, and I don’t think they yet have any idea of the damage they are doing to the Democrat Party, which is where people show their disgust with this. I mean, HBO doesn’t get rated so there’s no way you can boycott HBO. There’s no way you can not watch and have it hurt HBO. They make their money on how many people subscribe.

And even if you don’t watch it, you’re still paying the subscription fee if it’s on your cable system. All you can do is cancel it; it won’t matter to them. Over at CBS with Colbert, Les Moonves who runs it says, “I don’t care about ratings; I just want buzz! You know, I haven’t cared about ratings in late night. It doesn’t matter to me.” Of course, when they’re getting close to Fallon, they tout it and highlight it. But publicly they say ratings don’t matter. So the only place that this stuff shows up is when it comes to time to vote for Democrats. It’s Democrats that are gonna be held accountable for all this rotgut sleaze, as it should be.

“But, Rush! But, Rush! The Democrats aren’t making the…” Yeah, I know, but the people that are Democrats. They extol the virtues of the Democrats. It’s well known they hate Republicans, and the only way people can express their shock and disgust with this is to vote against the people who are associated with this, and that happens to be the Democrat Party, and Democrats have been losing elections (as we’ve noted here) since 2010, even before that, outside of Obama. Try this, from our old buddies at Campus Reform:

“Professor: House GOP ‘Should Be Lined Up and Shot‘ — An Art Institute of Washington professor recently declared that House Republicans ‘should be lined up and shot’ for their passage of an Obamacare-replacement bill. ‘They should be lined up and shot,’ Professor John Griffin posted to his Facebook, according to a screenshot of the post obtained by Campus Reform, even clarifying that he wasn’t being hyperbolic, saying ‘that’s not hyperbole; blood is on their hands.'”

They are literally saying that the Republican vote on Obamacare repeal and replace is genocide, that the Republicans are killing people. Bette Midler — I gave you her quote earlier — said that this is the Republican version of the way Bashar Assad gasses his own people. The Huffing and Puffington Post has promoted the idea of mailing the ashes of dead people to Republicans to protest the health care vote. “The methods by which liberals are protesting against the President and his polices are becoming more bizarre by the minute, and are now turning disturbing.”

We have all this stuff going on out in Berkeley with riots any time a syllable of conservatism is uttered. “As the Huffington Post writes dramatically of college student Zoey Salsbury, ‘She said she watched in horror Thursday as House Republicans passed an Obamacare repeal bill called the American Health Care Act, either unaware their legislation would kill people, or simply unsympathetic enough to care. So, Salsbury set out to make GOP politicians face the consequences of their vote, launching MailMeToTheGOP.com, a website that pledges to send the ashes of your cremated body to a member of Congress, should you die because of the Republican health plan.'”

This professor says members of the House “should be lined up and shot. That’s not hyperbole; blood is on their hands.” Where do you go from here? I mean, once you say that Republicans are gonna kill people — which they’ve been saying since 1995 — where do you go from there? How much worse can it get? The Republicans are already killing and destroying the planet. The Republicans are poisoning the air and poisoning the water. The Republicans are starving your kids. Now the Republicans are killing you — and not just the Republicans.

Corporations like Exxon and all these others. Big Pharma. They are killing their customers. Where does this go from here? How do they add to this? Zoe Salsbury, student. “Shipping cremated remains through the mail by any other service other than the U.S. Postal Service is illegal, but the U.S. Postal Service has a guide on how to do so. Salsbury, a junior at American University, told [Huffington Post], ‘Yes, it is real … Many of my friends will die’ if AHCA becomes the law. She hyperventilated, ‘People will literally die, and they don’t see that that’s going to happen.’

“She concluded, ‘It’s really morbid and not fun to talk about. But that’s the reality of passing a health care bill like this.'” Now, I mean, liberals have been accusing the Republicans of killing people since 1995. However, there’s no evidence for it. Actually, it’s further than 1995. I remember — and you do, too. Remember the seventies and eighties where the Democrats are saying Republicans wanted to kick old people out of their houses? Republicans wanted to take Social Security away from old people! Let me repeat a funny story.

I made a speech once at GOPAC in Washington, and at the time, there was a major, major budget being discussed (as there seems to always be) and the Democrats were trying to say that the Republican budget was going to starve the elderly. And it was going to force the elderly to make a choice between lifesaving medicine or food. But either choice they made, they would die. If they chose food, they would die from illness ’cause they couldn’t afford the medicine. If they bought the medicine, they would die from starving because they couldn’t afford the food.

This was a major Democrat theme. So I opened my speech at GOPAC, which is Newt Gingrich’s organization at the time, and I acknowledged the budget fight. I thanked the people for being there, and mentioned that I was aware of what’s going on but that I had found the solution. I had purchased my mother a new can opener for the dog food that she would buy. My mother would be able to do both. My mother was gonna buy dog food, have a new can opener to open it, and still get her medicine. And this was the way I was compassionately gonna solve it.

Pat Schroeder, congresswoman from Colorado, went to the floor of the House and actually didn’t get the joke. She didn’t realize I’m making fun of them, and she actually reported — in a speech on the House floor — that I thought the solution to this was buying new can openers for the elderly so that they could more easily open the dog food they would eat after the Republican budget. She called me “the big kahuna” of the right, and she said, “Well, there it is. This is who they are.”

Not the slightest idea that I was making big fun, totally humiliating her and this entire Democrat Party meme. So after she makes the speech, somebody actually tugged her, pulled her aside, and said, “It was a joke.” Not another word was said about it. But if somebody hadn’t pulled her aside and told her, they would have made campaign ads out of it, I’m sure. “Limbaugh solution to budget crisis: New can opener for Mom so she can eat dog food.”

They believed I was serious. These people are nothing but sick — and this isn’t new, and they are now paying the price for it at the ballot box. They just don’t know it. And this stuff is only ratcheting up now. So now here’s this serious proposal: Line ’em up and shoot ’em — or, the next time somebody in your family dies, cremate them and send the ashes to somebody in Congress claiming the death is due to the Republican health care act.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: You know, my little joke about Democrats running around claiming that senior citizens back in the nineties had to make decisions about whether they were gonna buy medicine or food ’cause they couldn’t afford to do both ’cause of Republicans cutting the budget. That was all BS. What’s really true is, how many people have had to make decisions on rent and mortgage payments or health insurance because of Obamacare? How many people have had this gigantic, oppressive Obamacare premium cost — or any other insurance cost — versus other things in life that are necessities now that Obamacare has become a mandated law; you have to have it?

Do you realize how many people have had to give up other things in their life in order to comply with the law on this? Yet the Democrats run around make all this stuff up about things Republicans are doing to people, while they actually force these kinds of choices on people — and then want great credit for having compassion and concern for the little guy, who they’re wiping out!