RUSH: Here is Adam. He’s 15 years old. He is in Champlin, Minnesota. Great to have you. I’m glad you waited, Adam. Welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program. Hi.
CALLER: Thank you. It’s an honor to be talking to you.
RUSH: Is this the best program in the world, Adam?
CALLER: I don’t know. I haven’t listened to every program in the world.
RUSH: That’s a Donald Trump-type question. You’re supposed to say “yes” because I’m acting childlike here asking for praise.
CALLER: Oh, yes. Yes.
RUSH: Okay. Good. Good answer.
CALLER: So recently the United Nations did this investigation into poverty in the United States, and they concluded that the American dream has become the American illusion. My question is, is the American dream an illusion or is it still a reality?
RUSH: Let me ask you a question. It’s not a diversion. I need to know. You’re 15. Do you have a definition of the American dream yourself?
CALLER: Yes. I think it means social mobility, that you have the potential ability to change your economic status for the better or the worse.
RUSH: Okay. The American dream is alive and well and in better shape than it’s been in eight years, and if I were you when it comes to the United Nations — and I’m not exaggerating here — when the UN releases a report on the United States, your first reaction should be not to trust it and to look into it more deeply and find out what’s behind it. Because, in this case, nothing could be further from the truth. The evidence is in the numbers of people trying to get here from all over the world. The evidence is every day in the number of people who are succeeding and improving their economic circumstances, their social circumstances.
This country still is the best place to realize your dreams. There is no place anywhere on this earth better for being able to live your dream, or to have an opportunity to do so. It is in no way over. Now, I’m gonna be honest with you here, Adam, and I run the risk of you thinking that I’m just a partisan hack, but I’m telling you, if the Democrat Party were still running this country and were in charge of the U.S. economy, I would tell you that the American dream’s still there, but it’s tougher because you now have more obstacles to overcome in the form of the United States government.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: People have been overcoming obstacles in this country from the beginning. Ordinary people have accomplished extraordinary things, and it happens every day. And you can too. It depends on your degree of ambition, how much you want it, how hard you’re willing to work at it, and how much luck might come your way, luck being defined as when preparation meets opportunity.
Adam, you’re gonna have no trouble finding people all over your life who tell you something can’t be done or that you can’t do something. But as long as you’re an American, as long as you live here, you will be able to seek opportunity, you’ll have opportunity to be and do whatever you want. That opportunity has not been destroyed. It has not been eliminated. There are people who have tried to whittle away at it, but nobody is gonna succeed totally as long as we have our constitutional liberties and freedoms.
CALLER: I believe that. Yeah.
RUSH: Do, because it’s the truth. You know, you could always find people who failed at something. Don’t listen to ’em. You can always find people that haven’t succeeded. They’re legion. And you can always find people that tell you how to fail ’cause everybody knows how.
CALLER: And they’re the kind of people who will blame America for not having any chance of success.
RUSH: Well, in large part, because that’s what they’ve been told. The Democrat Party makes victims out of people, and of course once you accept that you’re a victim, it’s not your fault. It’s gotta be somebody else’s. It’s a great way of exonerating yourself. Hey, look, I’m gonna ask, I’ve got 10 seconds. Yes or no, do you want an iPhone X? I got some extra. I want to give them away today. Do you have a desire for one?
CALLER: Sure. That would be very nice of you.
RUSH: All right. Who is your carrier?
CALLER: I don’t have a carrier. I only have a TracFone. But we have T-Mobile, our family does.
RUSH: A TracFone. Okay. I’m gonna send you a phone that has a Verizon SIM card in it, but take it out. It will work on any carrier in the world. Just don’t take it to an Apple store ’cause they’ll tell you, “It’s got a Verizon SIM card, it won’t work.” It will. Just take it to wherever and it’ll work. I’ll have a note enclosed with your phone.