RUSH: Okay. So the Virginia gubernatorial election and the — well, it was widespread, more than just the governor on the ballot last night, same with New Jersey. Now, I’m not gonna sit here and deny that there are danger signs from these results last night. A lot of people are in denial today. “Hey, it’s a blue state. I mean, after all, these people were supposed to win the state.” Yeah. And half the swamp lives there, Republicans and Democrats. And, yeah, The Punk, Terry McAuliffe, has a major Democrat machine, if you get my drift.
I mean, there’s a lot of people that vote in Virginia that might not be able to vote in other states. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All that’s true. But there still is an undeniable truth, and that is that a Republican lost a gubernatorial election that I think could have been won. Now, a lot of people think it couldn’t have been precisely because of the circumstances that I just spelled out.
But, as usual, the Democrats are overreacting to this and claiming that now everything’s back to normal and this portends the Republicans losing everything in 2018 and in 2020 and the Democrats getting everything back. The nation had its temper tantrum but has awakened now and properly hate Trump.
They’re going through all of the predictable overreactions here which we’ll get into in great detail as we dissect this. I don’t think it’s definitive one way or the other. Meaning, I don’t think you can take one lesson from this and apply it nationwide to other elections for Congress or the Senate or governors.
The polling data surrounding all this suggests that both parties remain profoundly unpopular. These are elections the Democrats — like the mayoralty of New York. There’s no way Democrats are going to lose that. There’s no way the Democrats are gonna lose New Jersey after — he-he — several botched opportunities to fix New Jersey.
You got two blue states here who stayed blue. But in order to, quote, unquote, fix the country, some of these blue states are gonna have to turn red like they did in the Trump presidential election. I mean, if we’re talking about changing the direction of the country for the better, some of these places are places we’re gonna have to win.
Now, in Virginia the fact of the matter remains that many Republicans are happy at this result. I didn’t catch the name. There’s a Republican member of Congress from Virginia just on TV, and he was thrilled. He was happy. He loved pointing out that this was a referendum on Trump. That was a Republican representative from Virginia. That it wasn’t about these issues that everybody thinks it was about. It was about Trump, it was about this or about that. So you have several establishment Republicans very happy with this result.
What I want to do first before getting into the grand dissection is have an audio sound bite review, because the before and after, the then and now reactions people in the Drive-By Media, if nothing else, is entertaining and in some ways is going to be reassuring.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I’m not gonna sugarcoat anything today, folks. I’m telling you, this is… We’ve gotta put up with this. This is Christmas Day for the media. Let ’em have it! I mean, it happened. Democrats have finally won a couple elections. Don’t forget something. The Democrats have been losing elections since 2010. They’re going to win some. Now, I am not…
Folks, you know me. I don’t do phony optimism and I don’t try to cheer people up when it isn’t warranted. I’m the mayor of Realville. But there are some things here that just have to be acknowledged. The Democrats have been losing elections left and right. This is the first series of elections they have won. They have wanted to win. Every one of these special elections, they were gonna act the way they’re acting today had they won any of those.
All of this is predictable. All of it’s understandable, and they are still out to lunch. They’re still living in the fantasy world that they’ve created for themselves. Nothing’s changed in that regard, and in that sense, they still remain vulnerable. Now, they won a couple of elections. They won states that Trump did not carry. Trump didn’t carry New Jersey; Trump did not carry Virginia. It was not expected that Republicans would win in either of these states. It was hoped for, and it was thought to be possible, but things just didn’t happen to make the possibility reality.
I think Gillespie could have won. I don’t know about New Jersey, but I think Gillespie could have won, but it would have taken far much more than anybody on Gillespie’s team would have been willing to do, including Gillespie himself. Now, these victories are being trumpeted as proof that the country has turned on Trump and they’re now rejecting Trump nationwide. The media was gonna say that after any of these elections that they happen to win.
New York Times’ top story, right-hand column, “Democrats Score Two Big Victories in Trump Rebuke,” and then the editors wrote a spittle-flecked rant: “Virginia Rejects Your Hateful Politics, Mr. Trump.” (chuckling) That’s the New York Times editorial! “Virginia Rejects Your Hateful Politics, Mr. Trump.” Now, the “hateful politics” was found on the Democrat side in that Latino Victory fund ad. By the way, those people now say they’re gonna double down.
Since they think the Latino Victory fund ad with that black pickup truck with the Gillespie bumper sticker trying to chase down and run over Hispanic kids and a young Muslim kid, they think it worked. So they gonna be doubling down on calling Republicans Nazis and whatever else they think they succeeded in doing in that race. Let them. Let them keep doing that. That’s not why they won in Virginia — and, of course, as the New York Times goes, so goes the rest of the media.
They’re all declaring this to be a sure sign that the worm has now turned and the country is united in its rejection of Trump. Never mind just yesterday there was an ABC News/Washington Post poll which found that Trump would be elected again if the election were held today. They have forgotten that. That poll — their own poll, ABC News/Washington Post — they have forgotten it. I guess it doesn’t matter now because they won a governor’s race in Virginia where it would have been really odd if they hadn’t.
What do you think the media would have done if Gillespie had won in Virginia? What do you think the reaction to the media would have been? Well, they would have been depressed, and they would have been dejected, but they would have also said it really doesn’t matter, and they would have found their way to excuse it. We have different challenges, of course, and, you know, we’ve gotta be honest about this and try to get to the crux of what happened.
Now, Trump tweeted that, quote, “Ed Gillespie worked hard, but he did not embrace me or what I stand for.” Do you think Trump’s right? Do you think Trump’s right? Because at some point Gillespie did make a move. He did, as best he was able. I mean, he is a swamp Republican, there’s no question, but he did make a move to appear to be more supportive of Trump. But it might have been too little, too late. Audio sound bites and the review coming up when we get back.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I want to take you back to July 13th of this year, July 13th, 2017, the Washington Post ran a story about the Ed Gillespie campaign. And they talked in this story about all of the Never Trumpers that Ed Gillespie was hiring to staff his campaign: the consultants, the media people, the media buyers, the spokespeople, all of the organizational get-out-the-vote people.
Back in July, Ed Gillespie — and he wasn’t alone. I mean, the entire Republican establishment was sort of in sync with the Democrats on needing to get rid of Trump just because he’s an outsider. We can’t have this. We can’t tolerate this. You know the Republican Never Trumpers, and they cast a wide swath. Many of them are conservative media people. Many of them are conservative intellectuals in the think tanks. And even going into the 2016 presidential election, there were many Republicans who thought that it would be better to lose, better for Hillary to win, for the long-term prospects of Washington and the Republican Party, than for Trump to win.
And the swamp has never abandoned that position. Never Trumpers have not abandoned. Never Trumpers are no closer to seeing the light and becoming Trump supporters. They’re no closer to the Republican or Trump agenda. They’re still as adamantly opposed to Trump and having order restored to Washington, meaning no more outsiders and none of these flakes. And I’m gonna just tell you something here, folks.
There’s all kinds of polling data. You know what one of the crazy things in the exit polling from the Virginia election was? One of the biggest issues was health care, Obamacare. And you know what’s fascinating about it? It was not discussed. Strangely enough, it was not an issue in the campaign. And yet voters said it was the most important thing to them.
Now, why would that be? Was it that the Republicans were trying to get rid of it, Obamacare, or that they failed to get rid of it? The Republicans, the elected Republicans who want to keep winning had better wake up. This tax cut thing had better happen. They are on thin ice already with Obamacare repeal not working and very little of the Trump agenda moving forward legislatively. And if this doesn’t happen — Newt Gingrich said the same thing today on TV, that the tax reform bill, whether it’s good or bad, I mean, it’s got its problems, if they fail to get it done, then people are gonna be asking left and right, why vote Republican?
The real question is, how many Republicans don’t mind that? Remember, when you get to the swamp, folks, when you talk about the Washington establishment, the people that live there do not think we’re in any kind of crisis. They’re not. Their world is fine; their world is secure; their world is safe; their financial circumstances are all pretty healthy. The unemployment rate in Washington and surrounding counties — well, it now mirrors the rest of the country because the unemployment rate has come down, but for the longest time when the unemployment rate and the jobless circumstance was roaring out of control, they were fine.
The point is, the people inside the Beltway and the establishment have never believed, Republicans, too, have never believed we’re in danger of, quote, “losing the country” or “losing the culture.” But the people who elected Trump are. And if that aspect is not going to be serviced or promoted, Republicans are in big trouble. And the tax reform issue, if it doesn’t pass — and the Democrats are gonna double down now on making sure that it doesn’t — then there could be heap big doo-doo. I want you to just listen to what I said back on July 13th, after learning who Gillespie was hiring to staff his campaign.
RUSH ARCHIVE: You think Virginia is the swamp, and it’s all Never Trumpers there, and so Gillespie hires a bunch of Never Trumpers, but he barely squeaks by in the primary. Never Trumpers and hiring a bunch of swampsters to run your campaign with a bunch of people who don’t know how to get Republicans who voted for Trump, you’re not gonna win the governorship.
RUSH: Bingo. Now, I could have started the show with that. I could have started with a gigantic See, I Told You So. But I want to approach this in a different way, because this, it’s not as bad as some are saying, but it’s also not as insignificant as others are saying. There’s a sweet spot in here where the truth of what happened lies and what it means.
But Gillespie was hiring all these Never Trumpers and he barely won the Republican primary. Back in the summer, the Republican establishment was still misjudging what they had to do to win. Remember, they watch the Drive-By Media, too, and they believe it. So they’re of the mind that everybody hates Trump and his election was a freak of nature, a quirk.
Last night and this morning, we have a montage of people from CNN about the election. After two and a half years, they’ve now convinced themselves that they got him. After two and a half years, remember Trump comes down the escalator in 2015, they get him, it’s over, the people have spoken, yesterday was a total referendum on Trump.
CHRIS CILLIZZA: The first year of Trump, this is that referendum.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: A referendum on Donald Trump?
JAKE TAPPER: A referendum on President Trump.
CHRISTINE ROMANS: A national referendum on the Trump presidency.
GERRY CONNOLLY: It was about Trump. It was a real referendum on this presidency.
NICK KRISTOF: A referendum on Trump.
RYAN LIZZA: A referendum on Trumpism.
RUSH: Chris Cillizza, Ryan Lizza, you had Gerry Connolly, Nicholas Kristoff of the New York Times, Christine Romans, Jake Tapper, Alisyn Camerota of CNN. So it’s over. A referendum on Trump and the nation has rejected Donald Trump. That will flavor their coverage.
Now, here is the Republican from Virginia that I saw on CNN just before the program began. His name is Scott Taylor. He’s speaking with CNN’s New Day cohost, Fredo Cuomo, about Gillespie losing the election. Fredo says, “Tell us why you say that your party lost last night.”
TAYLOR: We want to be intellectually consistent. You know, in 2009, when Governor Bob McDonnell won Virginia resoundingly, it was a referendum on President Obama, and if the results last night were the opposite, we would have said that as well. So I think you have to say, you have to attribute some of these things, given the exit polls, given the Democrat turnout, you know, you have to give credit where credit’s due. There was an overwhelming thing that was looming large. That was, I think it was the divisive rhetoric. You’ve heard me on here say I support the President, not blindly. And I think that last night was a referendum. I don’t think there’s any way that you could look at it in a different way, to be honest with you, and be intellectually consistent.
RUSH: Now, he’s trying to be intellectually consistent by saying, hey, hey, hey, back when McDonnell, we blamed it Obama, so when they win, we gotta blame it on our guy, we gotta be intellectually consistent. That’s too simple. That doesn’t explain what happened. They want it to be. Do you know what this really boils down to? These people on the left, the people in the media, the Democrats, I’ve listened to enough of them last night and today, you know what they really think this is about?
Now, remember, they tend — no, they don’t tend. They do. They assume, they presume that everybody in America thinks exactly the way they now. And so they report whatever they think as what America thinks. And I heard enough of ’em last night and today say that what this election was really about was Trump’s coarse behavior and his unsophisticated way of speaking and his barbaric tendencies. He’s a misogynist, and he’s a boob, and he’s a pig, and people are tired of having a stupid president after one year.
That’s what they think this is about. They think the referendum on Trump is about his tweets. They think people of Virginia voted for this Northam guy because they don’t like the way Trump talks. Trump talks mean. Trump is insensitive. Trump hurts people’s feelings. Trump does not care about all communities. Trump only cares about certain communities and people that voted for him.
But Trump doesn’t have the heart and the soul to be president of everybody because Donald Trump is a pig and people don’t like the way Donald Trump looks and they don’t like the way Donald Trump talks and they don’t like Donald Trump’s attitude and they don’t like the way Donald Trump smiles and they don’t like the way Donald Trump is so confident. And that’s what they think determines it, because that’s what they want.
They want to believe that the nation is a nation of weaklings, of snowflakes — of hypersensitive, no-confidence people — whose feelings are hurt all the time. Because Trump hurts their feelings, and they want that to be the reason people rose up: Because what they were really doing last night was voting against Donald Trump because they don’t like the way he looks and talks and sounds — and that’s what they want people to believe.
That’s what they want you to think the voters of Virginia voted on because that’s what they, the Drive-Bys, think. Now, they’re all so convinced that they know what’s going on now. Let’s go back a year. Let’s go back one year. We have now a montage: November 2015 through October of 2016. This is an election anniversary flashback. All of the same people who tell you that Trump is finished because of an election in Virginia and an election in New Jersey are the same people who told you that he would never be elected.
TIM MILLER: (8/18/16) Trump is gonna get killed in the general election.
ALEX CONANT: (8/18/16) Trump is gonna suffer an embarrassing loss this fall.
RACHEL MADDOW: (7/29/16) Unless this election happens on Mars, Donald Trump will lose.
KARL ROVE: (11/20/15) Republicans are not going to win this next election.
MARK CUBAN: (8/1/16) It’s a landslide for Hillary. No question.
EVAN MCMULLIN: (8/14/16) Donald Trump will lose.
JEB BUSH: (12/15/15) You’re not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency.
RYAN LIZZA: (8/17/16) Trump is on his way to lose in the biggest loss since 1984.
JORGE RAMOS: (9/1/16) His strategy is to win the White House without Latinos. I don’t think he can do it.
LINDSEY GRAHAM: (8/16/16) Donald Trump is destroying the Republican Party’s chance.
TED CRUZ: (2/28/16) If we nominate Donald, Hillary beats him.
DAVID AXELROD: (10/23/16) I don’t know any consultant who privately believes that Donald Trump’s going to win.
DANA PERINO: (8/18/16) Trump would very much be able to get 35-40% of the vote and not win.
MIKE MURPHY: (8/8/16) He’s a demagogue and a neo-racist. I hope he loses: he deserves to lose.
DIANE MACEDO: (8/15/16) A landslide defeat is very possible.
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: (8/15/16) …could be headed for a landslide defeat.
BILL KRISTOL: (9/23/16) Donald Trump will just choke.
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: (05/20/16) I don’t see how he can win.
BARACK OBAMA: (2/16/16) I continue to believe Mr. Trump will not be president.
RUSH: That’s a montage of people 2015 to 2016. Those same people are now telling you why Trump lost last night, except Trump wasn’t on the ballot — except, in their world, he was. So Trump lost last night. They were just off by a year. You know what? They were right. Trump wasn’t gonna win. It just took ’em a year. Except Trump wasn’t on the ballot. Now, one of these quotes, I want to tell you who said it. It’s at the end of the montage: “He’s a demagogue and a neo-racist. I hope he loses: he deserves to lose.”
That is the leading Republican Party political consultant, Mike Murphy. That’s the guy every Republican tries to hire if they announce for the presidency, and he was working for Jeb during the Republican primaries. Mike Murphy. Landslide defeat. He “could be headed for a landslide defeat.” “He’s a demagogue and a neo-racist. I hope he loses: he deserves to lose.” And then Dr. Krauthammer: “I don’t see how he could win.”
And the last one was Barack Hussein O: “I continue to believe Mr. Trump will not be president.” These are all the same people who told you he didn’t have a prayer, he couldn’t win, he wasn’t gonna win. He deserved not to win. He deserved to lose. Now they’re back and telling you, “Trust us. Don’t doubt us. Trump lost last night and Trump’s gonna keep losing.” “People have finally started listening to us,” they think.