RUSH: So I’m sitting at home last night minding my own business, not bothering anybody. In fact, the only thing bothering anybody was the cat bothering me, mad at me that I was gone for three days. You can tell when the cat gets mad at you. Anyway, about the time the news broke that the Senate had failed at their repeal Obamacare vote, I started getting a slew of email messages from people that totally dumbfounded me.
I started getting email: “This is great! This is great! Now they’re gonna vote to repeal it and have a two-year period of time to replace it. That’s gonna carry us through the 2018 midterms, and Obamacare premiums are gonna continue to skyrocket and people are gonna blame Obama and we’re gonna win everything again in 2018.”
I wrote ’em all back. I said, “Would you please share with me the evidence that you have that they’re going to vote to repeal it? Why in the world do you think that’s automatic?” “Well,” they wrote back, “it’s easy to repeal it when you don’t have to couple it with a replacement bill.” I said, “Is there evidence for this?” And then I started converting them. And I could see in succeeding emails that their optimism started fading. Which, look, I hate being the guy that does that, but I really was shocked that that was the original reaction people had to the bill failing in the Senate.
Now, I don’t blame ’em for wanting to see the opportunity, and clearly there is an opportunity there. What I don’t see — and I addressed this yesterday — the reason we are here, folks, the reason we’re talking about this is that it is abundantly clear, it’s just a matter of whether or not you wanted to admit it to yourself or not, it is abundantly clear that the career Republicans in Washington don’t want to touch Obamacare. They don’t want to repeal it. And they don’t want to do tax reform. And they don’t want to build a wall. They don’t want to do any of the Trump agenda. The Democrats, the Republicans, it doesn’t matter what the party divisions are, because we’re really not talking about that.
We’re talking about the elite club known as the establishment. There just has never been — look, I don’t like doing See, I Told You So’s, because it sounds snarky and arrogant, and I don’t ever want to come across that way, but how in the world has this not been seen for what it is? Since the moment Donald Trump was elected you could see that the establishment began to circle the wagons and there was no way this guy was gonna be allowed to triumph on anything. There was no way that this establishment was going to permit an outsider to come in and clean house and show how Washington can work and blow their cover for the last how many decades.
Now, don’t misunderstand; I am not saying it can’t be done. I’m saying they weren’t going to help this along. They were not going to contribute. They were not gonna make this easy for Trump. It has never been about Trump unifying the Republican Party in order to beat the Democrats, and that’s been the mistake. That’s not the fight here. The fight is not Republican versus Democrat. The fight is Donald Trump and his cadre and you, the Trump base, versus the Washington establishment. It has always been that and nothing more.
And, frankly, I think one of the problems has been that there aren’t enough people in the Trump White House who understand that that’s the way the table’s set. I think there’s a lot of career people in there who think the fight is the traditional fight between parties, and taken on that basis, that all plays out, and that’s not at all what has been going on here. We’re in the midst of a silent coup. These people are trying to take this president out, and everybody understands that. So why, in that circumstance, do you think that the same people trying to destroy Donald Trump are gonna help him get rid of Obamacare, are gonna help him reform the tax code?
So they were able to make these show votes to convince voters that they were really oriented toward this direction getting rid of Obamacare knowing all the while it would never happen, they’d never have to deal it ’cause O was never gonna sign it. Now, for the last six months they can’t even agree to legislation that they have previously authored and passed seven times. It’s not hard to see what is going on here.
You have to understand something: Everything in Washington from the Republicans — the only exemption here is conservatives, genuine conservatives in Washington. And by that I don’t mean everybody who claims to be a conservative. With the exemption of genuine conservatives in Washington, everything in that town is seen through the eyes of the left. And if you don’t understand that, and you’re in Washington, you’re never going to be on the same battlefield that these people are on.
When people say, “Well, the Republicans are afraid of to do X ’cause of what the media’s gonna say about it,” they are seeing the world through the eyes of the left. They’re not seeing it through their own eyes using their own ideology and their own beliefs and principles. They’re looking at everything through the eyes of the left.
When the media reports stories and makes it sound like everybody in America agrees with their point, that’s what I mean when I say everything is seen through the eyes of the left. The sad thing is that includes most — not all — most Republicans.
RUSH ARCHIVE: President Trump has been running around, “We’re gonna repeal Obamacare. We’re gonna replace it.” The Republicans have said, “We’re gonna repeal and replace it.” People believe that Trump is gonna do that, but that’s only the beginning. Repealing it is one thing, but then there’s that word “replace,” and that’s where all of the potential danger resides. Repeal and replace. Now, as the free market advocate I am, what do you mean “replace”? Just get rid of this monstrosity.
RUSH: Just get rid of it. That’s what you voted for. You voted to get rid of it. There is nobody that voted for Donald Trump that also meant for the federal government to run one-fifth of the U.S. economy or sixth, depending on how you do your math.
The federal government can’t even regulate the building of buildings! The federal government can’t do anything! You would never hire them to do anything. You wouldn’t hire them to build your house — you wouldn’t — and yet here we are thinking the American people want the government to run their health care? There is no way. Liberal Democrats do ’cause they’re socialists, and they think it’s fairness and equality. And it is. It’s everybody’s equally miserable!
It’s everybody’s mired equally in failure! There isn’t a single sentence, there isn’t a single bit of evidence, there isn’t a single example of socialism working anywhere in the world — and by “working,” I mean meeting its promises. The people that elected Trump say, “Get rid of it!” But, folks, I’ve got the sound bites coming up. The Republicans are saying, “I — I — I don’t want to get rid of it. Too many governors and too many people have come to enjoy and expect the benefits.” The benefits! The benefits of Obamacare! The benefits. What are the benefits of Obamacare?
Yes, we trust the government, a government filled with people that never been in this kind of world or experience and don’t know it. Obama’s never had a single day of employment in the health care industry, yet he has all the answers. Obama maybe worked a week at a law firm where he considered himself to be a spy. It’s so abundantly clear to me that Trump is not going to get any assistance on his agenda. He’s going to have to bludgeon (politically, of course) opposition into defeat.
This brings into focus the role of public opinion. I had another person send me a text today, as opposed to an email, and the question was, “When will the public wake up? When will the public wake up and realize what’s going on, and what will be the result?” I had to write back, and I had to be honest. “The public waking up won’t matter. The GOP public in the counties that elected Trump already did wake up, and they caused Trump to win. But do you think they’re having any influence on the outcome of events?”
The only thing the public right now has any influence over is the outcome of elections. That’s what they can get past the Russian influence. (I’m just teasing. I’m just stirring the excrement out there.) I’m serious! The public, public opinion? Yep, when it comes to elections, that matters. But that’s when it stops. You think these people in the establishment are paying a scant bit of attention to what the public thinks? They’re not. They hold the public in contempt. In their view, the public doesn’t know enough to know the right thing.
The public doesn’t know enough to have good judgment. The public doesn’t know anything, and they’re not unified, and the public doesn’t have enough money to outspend the lobbyists and donors inside Washington who do have the money to influence the outcome of events. Yet all of this could be overcome. I know I’m painting a picture here that sounds pessimistic, but the fact that Trump won the election proves this can be overcome. But you gotta know who the enemy is. You gotta know where to take the battle and fight (chuckles) and I’m sorry, investing in the Republican leadership to carry your water? (laughing) Who ever thought that would work?
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: How do I know this? Because I play golf. I am fully familiar with the psychology of elite membership clubs, and I’m telling you I understand exactly what’s going on with the establishment here in Washington, D.C. Folks, you don’t have to be an expert in it. This is just common sense. Understand something. Washington, D.C. is the wealthiest town in the world. More money is collected there, spent there, allocated there. More money than anywhere in the world. That makes it the most powerful city in the world.
They’re not gonna permit just anybody that wants to to get in that club and join the pursuit of that money or determine how it’s spent or determine how it’s allocated, and that’s exactly who Donald Trump is. Donald Trump would never be admitted to this group. Donald Trump… If he applied for membership in the, quote, unquote, “establishment,” Trump would never be admitted, if there were such things as admissions and applications. And yet he’s found himself in the most powerful position in it. This has been met with tremendous resentment, anger, fear, loathing, hatred.
Particularly when what Trump said on the campaign trail was a clear signal that his intention was to drain the place. Well, the people that have enjoyed exclusive membership in this elite club known as the establishment are just not gonna sit there and let some outsider come in and blow it all up, and that’s what you’ve seen for the past seven or eight months. You have seen it, whether it’s Obama intelligence people embedded in the deep state, whether it’s Obama administration officials unmasking Trump people, whether it’s the media.
The whole town is built around the existence of this establishment. Harvard and Yale are feeder colleges to educate future members of this establishment. Law schools and journalism schools ditto. The idea of an outsider — particularly one that the elite considers a pig — coming in here and winning and overturning it? There is just no way, folks. They’re sure not gonna permit it. Republicans, Democrats, whatever. So while they put on a show of the argument being Republican versus Democrat, the president versus Democrats, that’s not what’s going on.
This is the elite membership of the establishment unifying to get rid of Donald Trump and make sure that nothing of his announced agenda happens. No wall, no tax reform, no immigration reform of substance, and certainly no repealing of Obamacare. Not all members of the establishment are equally powerful. There are those who run it. You don’t know who they are. They don’t seek office. They’re not officeholders. They are the chess players, the puppeteers.
These are the people who assign roles. These are the people who determine how much money from the pile goes where, how much they get, and they then have the power (because of their ability to disburse the money), who gets it and therefore who remains loyal to the power and the elite club known as the establishment. They’re all aligned and unified now to deny Donald Trump — and if they can, to sabotage his presidency. They don’t care about impeachment. Just paralyze him. This has been from day one.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
LEE: I’ve been studying this bill — which was first released to us on Thursday — over the weekend. What I concluded over the weekend is this bill doesn’t do enough to comply with the promise Republicans have been making for the last seven years. Every Republican who’s campaigned for any federal office who has campaigned on the promise of repealing Obamacare. Obamacare has made health care affordable and inaccessible. We’ve gotta undo it. It’s what we promised for seven years. Now we have to do it. This bill didn’t do that.
RUSH: This bill didn’t repeal Obamacare — and it didn’t. It doesn’t repeal Obamacare. At best, this bill would lower premiums somewhat for a certain period of time. But even that is not for certain. But there clearly is no repeal here, and Mike Lee doesn’t want to put his name to it and be a hypocrite and have to go back home and explain why he spent all these years campaigning for repealing Obamacare and ultimately voted to maintain it. Jon Scott then said, “Mitch McConnell has said he’s gonna call for a vote that simply repeals Obamacare like the one that passed the Senate in 2015. Would you vote for that?”
LEE: I will vote for any bill to repeal Obamacare. What we do matters, and this is what I have been calling for for months, is that I would love to be able to repeal Obamacare. We bring up a bill that does that and only that, let’s see if we can get that passed. I think it’s an important step forward and then we can decide what comes next after that’s passed. It would surprise me if we were not able to do that. That would be a sad reflection on our party given that it’s what we have campaigned on for the last seven years. And it’s what we ought to do first.
RUSH: Bingo! Why didn’t they do it first and why can’t they do it now? The answers here are not complicated. And he’s right, the Republicans campaigned on it. You know, you would have to conclude some things here. Let’s take some things that we know. The Republicans in the House and Senate have campaigned year in and year out since 2010 promising to repeal Obamacare. And from 2010 to 2017 they passed five, six, seven different repeal Obamacare bills, and they sent them up to the White House where they were vetoed.
In the real world, they would be scared to death to be such hypocrites. To openly pass legislation that repeals it, knowing it isn’t gonna happen, and in the campaign promising to do it for real if they get control of the House and Senate. Then they don’t, and they then go out for reelection, what do they expect is going to happen? Do they think the public’s gonna forget? Do they think voters are not gonna mind? Do they think voters are gonna understand why they couldn’t do it?
My point, something matters more to them than what they’re going to face during reelection. They are willing to incur the wrath of the voters by failing to repeal it after promising to do so. They would rather incur the wrath of voters than to face whatever else it is that greets them if they do it. They’re afraid to do it. They’re afraid to repeal it. Why? Afraid of what? Who are they afraid of? What in the world has them more frightened than facing you on the reelection campaign trail? You answer that question, we answer that question, and we will know a lot more than we know now.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We go to Fort Worth. It’s Elizabeth. Welcome to the program. Hi.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. It’s good to talk with you. I wanted to agree with you but take your point one further. You’re talking about the animosity between all the Republicans or the ivy elitists versus Trump. Now, actually they’re mirroring how they really feel about their constituents. It’s just being displaced on Trump. And I think that the voters’ memories are so intuitive; that’s what brought us Trump. They do remember.
RUSH: I know. That’s right.
CALLER: And the best way to ensure this health care be the best that it is — you’ve stated this before, but it’s worthy to state it a second time — is to make them be put on the exact same plan. Repeal it and then rally the base and make them be on the exact same plan we are.
RUSH: One of the things that was accomplished here is they did exempt themselves from whatever they were gonna pass. They did. Last week, they exempted themselves from whatever ended up being the health care law of the land.
CALLER: And that’s the anger. You see? When we hear about that, we get even more angry, and it only makes Trump more formidable. Unfortunately, the people in Washington have been so acclimated to their own lifestyle, they fail to know what the temperature is outside.
RUSH: They don’t care. It’s more than they don’t know. When they find out what it is, they mock it, they make fun of it, or they ignore it. They don’t care. This is the thing. The elite establishment does not have its roots in the Constitution. It doesn’t have its roots in the American founding or in the separation of powers or any of the rule of law, none of that, none of the things that really are the glue that hold the country together. That’s not who they are. They are purposely, they are expressly established to be immune from all of those constraints. That’s the point.
We saw this when Boehner and all of the others got in because of Obama, and he was made House speaker. He should have been on his knees instead of crying in gratitude, he should have been on his knees humbled enough to the very Republican voters, because they’re not the ones that voted him in. He got in because we voted against Obama. And that turnover in 2010 wasn’t a reflection of Republican accolades. It was Democrat offsets.
I’ve lived in Kentucky for 12 years. I’ve lived in Arizona. I’ve been under McCain. I’ve been under McConnell. I’ve been in Florida. And it’s the same thing. But you asked a very important question. You said, what’s the answer to this? They’re not afraid of the answer. They’re afraid of the questions. Quite frankly, they’re not smart enough to put something together. They’re really not. We’d be in a better position to hand this over to Walmart and have it become Walmed, you know, or Home Depot or Target —
RUSH: That is exactly right, and that is my point! They are not equipped. Why do we think they are? Because we turn everything into a law, and therefore only select few — of course, it’s virtue of election can write our laws and so forth. But you’re exactly right. Walmart, Apple, any number of private sector concerns could come up with a better website, a better health care access point, a better health care plan that is suited for the government that has roots in the private sector and free enterprise, competition, market prices and all that, absolutely right. That is another way, great way you’ve restated my point.
CALLER: Well, thank you, Rush. It’s great talking with you, and keep plowing on, and let’s rally the base and force them to whatever plan they do, to put them on it.
RUSH: I think the base is — look, I agree with, but we’re not at that point here. Well, I say we’re not at that point. I don’t think we have anywhere near agreement that Obamacare needs to be repealed, so whether or not it’s repealed and then eventually replaced with something, yeah, members of Congress have to live with what they put us in, absolutely right. But we’re not there yet, in the timeline of events.
But, yeah, that is so well stated. Walmart could do a better job. That Home Depot, which, by the way, Home Depot, who’s Home Depot? Home Depot is Ken Langone and Arthur Blank and one other, they’re the three people that founded that company. Arthur Blank now owns the Atlanta Falcons, and Langone owns everything he touches. (laughing)
Now, Langone’s an establishment Republican, though. He leans to the right, but he would know full well how to do this. Langone even was smart enough to avoid Bernie Madoff. While everybody else couldn’t wait to get in with Bernie, Langone said something about this smells. This is after Bernie had pitched him on a new separate fund while everything was falling apart, Langone sniffed it.
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