RUSH: I mentioned earlier that during the first hour of the program with my sterling and unique take on events today as the show opened, one of the things I mentioned that the Democrats and the media are still puzzled and, if anything, a little depressed that Trump is still there, and every time Trump — like he had his big rally in Miami today to walk back every aspect of Obama’s new Cuba policy. Trump went down there, a major, major big-production event to announce that he was canceling the Obama Cuba policy. He was walking it back.

It was a huge event. The point is Trump gets up every day and is continuing to work. He’s not acting like any of this is getting to him. It’s not stopping him. The Washington Post has a story. They’re devastated. The story was just published. The interior secretary is in the process of reassigning and firing a number of high-ranking people in the Department of Interior, career people that have been there since the Obama administration and even before, and the new interior secretary is brooming ’em, getting rid of them and restructuring the agency.

And the Washington Post is beside itself. This would come under the headline of draining the swamp. Now, my contention to you is that when these things happen each and every day, the media, which is the leader in the get-rid-of-Trump movement, Democrat Party, they suffer massive disappointment and they experience huge doubts. In their mind they’ve already destroyed Trump. In their minds they have caused Trump to descend into a fit of depression in which he doesn’t do anything.

They think they have effectively stopped Trump, that they have nullified Trump. They think they have destroyed Trump’s public support. They haven’t. He’s at 50% approval in the latest Rasmussen poll. So when the news hits that Trump is draining the swamp at interior, going down to Miami and canceling Obama’s Cuban policy, they blow up. Internally, they start asking, “What more do we have to do? Good grief, does this guy not knowing it’s over for him?” And that’s what these two sound bites are about.

We start here with Charlie Rose last night on PBS speaking with the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg. This is how, I don’t know, insane, deranged, delusional they are. You’ll hear here, they actually thought they were going to drive Trump out by now. I am convinced that they thought that Trump would quit in the face of all this, not even wait for impeachment. It would just become too much. This is not what he wanted. This is not what he bargained for. He didn’t want all this opposition, and just quit. And they can’t get over the fact that he is still there. And they pick it up with Charlie Rose asking Goldberg what he thinks of all this.

ROSE: You think he’ll survive four years?

GOLDBERG: It’s very hard president. I know I have a lot of friends on the left who think that, well, this is not gonna — how could this go on? And the answer is, this is not Italy. This goes on. You’ve got to convince him to resign or you’ve got to impeach him.

ROSE: Somebody has to.

GOLDBERG: Yeah, somebody has to. And the idea right now of Republican leaders of Congress driving up to the White House and saying —

ROSE: As they did with Nixon.

GOLDBERG: Yeah. And having that work is — it’s implausible on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

RUSH: See what they’re thinking about? I told you. Folks, I know these people. Do not doubt me. They get up every day and wonder why Trump is still there. They think they’ve beaten him. They think they’ve beaten him down. They think that they have beaten the life out of him. They think they’ve taken the competitive juices away. They think they have created destitution and depression. They think they have totally robbed him of his spirit. And he remains there, and he’s still doing everything he’s been doing.

He’s marching on down the Trump agenda doing whatever he can without the assistance of Congress, rearranging the deck chairs in the interior department, going down to Miami. And you hear these guys; they can’t believe it. Now they’re talking about, “You mean we’re no closer to the day where the Republicans on Capitol Hill drive to the White House and tell the president he’s lost his support?” That’s what happened in Watergate.

Howard Baker. You want to know why the swamp loved Howard Baker? Howard Baker, a moderate Republican, Tennessee. He married the daughter of, oh, one of the great Republicans, Illinois, what was the guy’s name? It doesn’t matter, it’ll come to me in a moment. Howard Baker was the guy who drove up to Nixon’s White House, said, “Mr. President, I’m sorry to tell you, but you’ve lost on Capitol Hill. There aren’t enough Republicans to save you.”

And when Nixon heard that — Everett Dirksen, he married Everett Dirksen’s daughter. Everett Dirksen, great orator from Illinois, Republican. And ever since Howard Baker drove up there and told Nixon it was over, Howard Baker was a king of the swamp. Howard Baker could do no wrong. When Howard Baker was hired by the Reagan White House, the swamp, “A-ha! Howard Baker’s gonna tell Reagan it’s over. That’s what Howard Baker does. He tells Republicans it’s over.”
He didn’t quite do that.

They can’t separate themselves from Watergate. “Oh, my God, are we getting close to where the Republicans drive up and tell Trump?” And this guy from The Atlantic says, “No, we’re not there yet. It’s really, really hard to get rid of a president, it’s really hard.” And Charlie says, “Really? Really that hard? Wow.” And so Charlie said, “It doesn’t seem to be in his DNA to quit. It doesn’t seem to be in his DNA to give up.”

GOLDBERG: That’s quitting. That’d be quitting. Removal is another thing. But again, you know, 2018, maybe after the election in 2018 we’ll see a different kind of —

ROSE: Not quitting is also part of the American creed, too.

GOLDBERG: You don’t quit the presidency. You don’t. I mean, what Nixon did was so far gone. But you don’t really quit. So I assume, unless someone can prove to me otherwise, that he’s president for four years.

RUSH: Why wouldn’t he be? They’re admitting that they can’t make it quit. And they’re admitting that this Congress isn’t gonna impeach him, “Damn it, damn it. What have we been doing for two years?” I’m telling you, they believe they should have driven him from office already.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Don Lemon last night on CNN talking with Chris Cillizza, recently of the Washington Post, now moving to CNN for the big bucks, this little conversation…

LEMON: I go places and people say, “Well, is he gone yet? When is he…?” And I’m like, “He’s not going anywhere.” “Why hasn’t he been impeached?” That’s not gonna happen.

(crosstalk)

CILLIZZA: Why hasn’t Congress conversation impeached him yet? Well, what has he done to be impeached?

LEMON: Hold on. Hold on, I do think that we need — people need to be trained in how to absorb and take in media. People sit around and they watch the same news programs, they read the same blogs where everyone agrees with them.

RUSH: Wait. Did you hear what he just said?

LEMON: And if you’re watching a network that is to the left, you believe that Donald Trump’s gonna be impeached at any moment, right? And if you you’re watching on the right, you think that Donald Trump is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

RUSH: He said that people have to be trained in how to absorb and take in media? This is an amazing bite. So Don Lemon actually says, “I got people coming up to me, ‘Is Trump gone yet?'” That’s what they’ve created. They think Trump should have quit by now. Cillizza says, “Why hasn’t Congress impeached him yet?” “Well, what has he done to be impeached?” And that caused a minor explosion in there and that’s why all those voices at the same time.

And Lemon says, “Yeah, and I tell these people he’s not going anywhere. Why hasn’t he been impeached? That isn’t gonna happen. I think people need to be trained in how to absorb and take in media. People sit around and they watch the same news programs, they read the same blogs where everybody agrees with them and if you’re –” No. No. Don, you gotta understand, it’s the way you’re reporting this that your viewers think Trump’s already gone or should be.

Chris, your viewers are mind-numbed robots. Don, your viewers are mind-numbed robots. Your coverage every day is how Trump can’t survive, Trump is guilty. It’s only a matter of time. Trump’s gone, it’s gonna happen. And so your viewers get up every day and Trump’s still there, and they look to you, “Well, when’s Trump going?” You have told them Trump’s history. You have told them. That’s why your viewers are surprised that Trump is still there.

Can you imagine if one of my warnings to the new audience, “Now, my friends, you are going to need to be trained. You are going to need to go to seminars and learn how to absorb and take in this program. Find somebody who knows how and have them train you.” I mean, actually, it would be a great bit. But he means it.

If you’re in the business of communication, you are doing the news. You believe you’re doing the news. You’re telling people what happened that they don’t know about. And yet you’re doing it so badly that your viewers need to be trained on how to absorb what you’re telling them. If I were Fox I’d make an ad out of this. Even if I were MSNBC, I’d make an ad out of this. “Watch us. You don’t need any training.” I don’t know. I find it hilarious.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, wait. I know that Howard Baker was married to Nancy Landon Kassebaum. That was his second wife. That’s Alf Landon’s daughter. But I think his first wife was Dirksen’s daughter. For some reason, I think that she passed away, and then I remember when Baker married Nancy Kassebaum, the swamp, man, that was nirvana.