RUSH: You know, the first hour, take one, I told you what my take on this is. Even though CNN’s misrepresenting it. CNN’s putting me in the Chatsworth Osborne Jr. category where I think Trump sold us out. And that’s not what I think happened yesterday. I’ve been very clear what I think happened. But CNN is eager to make it appear that Trump is losing his base.

Grab sound bite 23. This is the most recent one. Again, back to John King’s show on CNN. He spoke with their White House correspondent named Abby Phillip about conservative reaction — and, by the way, you better get sound bite number one handy, ’cause we’re probably gonna follow this with that.

So John King says to Abby Phillip, the White House correspondent, CNN, “Ann Coulter, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, many others saying, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, you were our guy on this. You were build the wall, anti-amnesty, Little Marco, Jeff is soft. What happened yesterday? Was that a one-day episode of the reality TV show that sometimes is the Trump White House where ‘I need Democrats right now so I’m going to pretend to be nicer and softer?’ Which was it?”

So, you see, I’ve been put in that camp that thinks Trump is selling us out. Well, let me remind you, this is what I said yesterday after I had considered everything. This was my take on it. Audio sound bite number one.

RUSH ARCHIVE: It was a brilliantly conceived and flawlessly executed rebuttal to this stupid Wolff book. The pictures tell the tale. Trump is in the room dominating it, controlling it. He is cooperative. He is open. He’s tolerant. He’s understanding. He’s in total command of over 45 minutes of televised meeting on immigration. He is totally informed on the issues. … So after you watch this, how would you react to anything in the Wolff book characterizing Trump as just the opposite of this? And this was the purpose of this today. It was not about immigration. It was to counter the Wolff book. It was to get rid of it, it was to toss it aside, it was to rebut it. It was to nuke it. It was to dispel it. It was to render it meaningless and to have it seen for what it is: a pack of lies.

RUSH: And, by the way, I should add that a bunch of Trump critics are now very upset with the Wolff book. Did you know this? Oh, yeah. A bunch of Never Trumpers think the Wolff book is hurting their cause because Wolff is so off the wall lying through his teeth and wrong about so many things and appears to not care if he’s wrong.

All he wants to do is sell books and get famous, and that’s happening. But the true Never Trumpers think that he’s damaging their cause, that the Trump critics are getting more and more stupid! It’s delightful! Okay. So there’s my take. John King asks the CNN White House correspondent, “You know, Ann Coulter, Mark revenue, Rush Limbaugh, many others way, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, what happened to you on us yesterday?'” And here’s her take on it.

PHILLIP: I think it was one day of the episode of the Trump reality show. Because frankly, what happens behind the scenes is going to be different from what we just saw in that room.

RUSH: Bingo!

PHILLIP: And there’s another element of this that I think is constantly being revised and debated inside the White House, which is at what point does Trump start dealing with his problem with independents? At what point does he acknowledge his base and try to keep them as happy as he can, but also start dealing with the middle?

RUSH: All right. Now, up until she got into that area, I was gonna heap praise on a CNN infobabe for having proper perception. The first half of this sound bite, folks, she’s right on the money. She instinctively, apparently, understands that, hey — and if you doubt it, we’re gonna play Trump’s opinion of what he did yesterday in just a minute, replay that for you. But she correctly identified that this is just one of many such events like this, and what happens behind the scenes is gonna be far different than what happened on camera yesterday, far different from what we saw in that room.

And there she’s right. But then she veers off, and this is where these people, in my humble estimation, go wrong in trying to analyze Trump. Then she veers off into, (imitating Phillip) “When is Trump going to, and the White House, at what point they start dealing with his problems with independents?” And there they are plugging Trump into their holes, into their system, into the way they look at an electorate, in the way they look at campaigning. Okay, you’ve gotta have a message for your base and hold your base, but then you’ve gotta get out there and get the independents.

This is why the Republicans have foolishly always claimed to be for comprehensive immigration reform, because they believe they can say one thing to keep their base intact and then go out and say something a little bit different that supposedly is gonna dazzle independents, or in this case Hispanics, and cause them to vote Republican. And it’s entirely wrong, because you end up being who you’re not.

When you start tailoring your message to your audience, it’s over. I don’t care if you’re a public speaker; I don’t care if you’re in politics. It’s over. You have to be who you are, and you have to be persuasive. You have to tell people what you believe and bring them to your side of things, rather than pander to them.

But, you see, the Drive-Bys think, “Oh, Trump’s got his base. When are they gonna figure out what they gotta do to independents?” You know, that’s not for another three years, for crying out loud. The simple answer to this, if Trump wants to get reelected, do the agenda. If the Republicans want to get reelected with him, do the agenda. Just keep moving the agenda. And if it takes fooling the Democrats along the way, all the better. Just keep moving the agenda.

This is not complicated and it’s not rocket science. The people involved in this want you to think it is so that you don’t think you’re unqualified to get involved and talk about it. But it isn’t that complicated.

Trump has demonstrated how you attract a crowd and hold it. Trump has demonstrated how you create a bond between yourself, whether you’re a reality TV show star, whether you’re a president, a politician, how you create that bond and how you hold it.

Trump and his people weren’t doing a bunch of calculations, “Okay, I’m gonna say this about Mexicans to get that group. I’m gonna say this about Oprah to get that group. I’m gonna say this about Rosie to get that group.” That’s not how Trump was acting during the campaign.

What are we gonna do about independents? Totally missing the point, of Trump, anyway. And again, living in this area where they admit they don’t understand even now why Trump won and what he’s gonna have to do to get elected.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Happy to have you here, El Rushbo, behind the Golden EIB Microphone. Let’s talk about the art of negotiation. There have been many, among them Chatsworth Osborne Jr. (our affectionate name here for Tucker Carlson), claiming that this yesterday was an abomination. It was horrible negotiation. There was no sign that Trump knows what he’s doing. All this Art of the Deal stuff? Where was it? Aaron Blake of the Washington Post (paraphrased), “That that that was horrible. I mean, if this was it, this is nothing. We were sold a bill of goods.”

A lot of people think that Trump was a buffoon yesterday. But I want to remind you of something that I know nobody remembers. New York Times, September 13, 2017. “Pelosi and Chuck Schumer Say They Have a Deal with Trump to Replace DACA“. That’s last September. We’re now in early January. Well, if Pelosi and Schumer thought they had a deal with Trump last September to replace DACA, then why is it still an issue? What happened there?

Remember a couple of months ago when Trump met with Pelosi and Schumer, “Chuck and Nancy,” and they said that Trump had agreed to a deal with amnesty for the DREAMers? This is the September thing. Where is it? They clearly think he told them. They’re out there telling everybody in the New York Times (paraphrased), “Yeah, we got a deal. Trump says he’s gonna have a deal with us on DACA, the DREAMers and so forth.”

But where is it? Is Trump lying to them? Maybe. Is Trump misleading them? Maybe. In a negotiation, there’s no law that says you have to be truthful. How many of you people have been involved in negotiations? You know one of the greatest negotiation techniques in the world? Let’s say that you’re the boss, and you have an employee that you think needs to be given a raise or maybe even put on contract. And you’re willing to pay a lot, but the last thing you want is for the employee to know it.

You know, it’s enough of a concession that you’re reaching out and trying to make a deal. So in a circumstance like that where you think you may be on the very large of losing any leverage because you’re having to express interest in this, how do you get the leverage back? Well, there are all kinds of ways of doing it. You reach out, and you get things started, and then at some point act like you don’t know what’s going on. The guy shows up for the next negotiation session, and you say, “Why are you here?”

The guy says, “Well, well, we had a meeting agreed.”

“No, we don’t. I don’t have anything on my calendar. Why are you here?”

The employee says, “We had a deal.”

“No. Sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The employee leaves. You simply lie! You simple say, “No, we don’t have a deal. We don’t have a meeting scheduled here.” So the employee leaves and says, “What the hell is going on?” And then that one little moment here, if there is any leverage perceived on the part of the employee, doubt starts creeping in. “Can I respect this guy? Can I trust what this guy tells me? Is this guy serious?” All kinds of things. So here’s Trump. How many times have Nancy and Chuck thought they’ve had a DACA deal (laughing) with this guy since last September?

And what did he do yesterday? “I’ll sign anything you send me. I’ll take the heat.” They’re taking him literally, and I’m telling you: It’s the worst thing anybody can do. It’s the biggest mistake you can do is take Trump literally in this stuff. “I’ll sign anything you send me.” What if Trump knows that they’re not gonna be sending him anything? What if he knows the Republicans in the House and Senate are not gonna agree on anything without him being involved that would be something he would sign in the first place?

Folks, I’m telling you, if you look at that meeting yesterday, and everything about it… It was televised for the first time ever. That meeting was not about what everybody in it thought it was about. That meeting was not about immigration. Because even some of the critics last night, after they analyzed this, finally figured out (laughing) there wasn’t one concrete said in that meeting yesterday, by Trump, on the substance of immigration. “Yeah, I’ll signed whatever you send me.” He can always say, “I’m not signing that.”

(laughing) Just like you can always say, “No, I didn’t have a meeting on my calendar with you today. What you are doing showing up? Negotiate with you? No, I have nothing for you.” “I’m not signing that. That’s absurd. There’s no wall in it!” He made it clear that it’s gotta have a wall. He’s made it clear there’s gotta be security in it. But aside from that? And yet all of these critics are continuing to look at this in the only way they know how, and that is the way it’s always been done.

Trump doesn’t know the way it’s always been done the way they do it. He knows the way it’s always been done the way he does it. But there was panic. There were… Folks, people were taking it literally yesterday, and there was some genuine fear. “Oh, my God, he’s selling us out! Oh, my God, this guy’s been beat up so much, he just wants a little love and so forth.” Many people on our side, I wouldn’t blame them if they felt a little sold out. But if you go back and look, there wasn’t anything really concrete that was…

I mean, in reality, almost every participant left that meting wishing Trump had listed some demands, wishing Trump had put himself on the record as things he want. He didn’t. He left it totally up to them. (laughing) He said, “I’ll sign whatever you send me” while looking cooperative and engaged and understanding and appreciative. Yeah, even suggesting that if they to want bring back earmarks for themselves, it might be time for that. (laughing)