RUSH: Jim in Putnam Jake, New York. Is that Lake or Jake?
CALLER: It’s Lake.
RUSH: Putnam Lake. I’m sorry. I didn’t have my glasses on. Didn’t think it was Putnam Jake, but that’s what it looked like.
CALLER: It’s Lake.
RUSH: How you doing?
RUSH: What is the evidence that you see that the pendulum is beginning to swing back in a good direction?
CALLER: Well, the economy, the fact that the inundation of illegals coming here is starting to be openly addressed. I mean, it’s just amazing all the stuff that he’s doing. Even the tax, the tariffs and everything like that. The war has already been started. You know what I mean? People say it’s gonna be a trade war. We already lost the first one. We’re gonna get back into it maybe to win it now to get our fair share —
RUSH: See, the reason, again, I have to thank you for calling. I mean, you’re exhibiting your own degree of brilliance ’cause he’s exactly right. My guess is that when some of you heard him say the pendulum is starting to swing back, “Well, come on. We haven’t gained any ground at all, yet. I mean, maybe, but don’t get overconfident.”
Folks, it is. That’s the thing. The pendulum is beginning to swing in the right direction. And the evidence is all around us. I tried to address this in a lengthy monologue on Friday after another caller reminded me that, you know, you don’t sound nearly as positive about America these days as you have. I told him he probably had a point, but here’s why, i.e., we get up every day and 10 to 15 different times every day the media is basically lying about things.
It has to be addressed and has to be answered and it can sound negative in the process. But the only — well, not “the only.” But the reason why it’s difficult to see the pendulum swinging is in fact the media, which is nothing but a daily presentation of ills and negatives and crises and chaos, and part of it is designed to make sure that people do not feel optimistic and robust.
But all of the ingredients are there. The dramatic changes from Obama in just this first year and a half and rolling back the Obama legacy, the economy, the numbers in the economy, the real-life realities of the economy and what it means for jobs and people’s standard of living, all of these things are indeed trending finally back in a positive direction.
The Democrats have not had this little power, as defined by seats held, elected seats held, since the 1920s. The primary obstacle people have in seeing a robust pendulum switching back to the right direction is the daily presentation of what’s called news in the media. I know I sound a little bit like a broken record on this. But it happens to be the case.
And I again offer you a suggestion: Stop watching it for a week, just as a test. Stop watching TV. Go where you want to go to inform yourself. I’m not saying stop informing yourself. I’m saying stop watching cable news. Maybe watch a little Fox, but stop watching CNN, and don’t read the New York Times, the Washington Post. You know the things to avoid. Find other ways to inform yourself. Just listen to this program, basically.
And after a week you will feel entirely different about the country and the direction things are going. Because you’re not gonna be hit daily with this never-ending drumbeat of chaos, pessimism, negativism, and so forth. And it will make a difference.
But if you look at some of the recent polling data, nearly 70% of the American people, including blacks and Hispanics — it depends. Some polls it’s the lower sixties, mid-sixties — want stricter enforcement of immigration law. Despite this crazy movement to abolish ICE, over 50% of Democrats do not want it abolished. But do you think that’s the picture people get when they turn on the news? If you read the New York Times or watch cable news in any shape, manner, or form other than Fox, you’re gonna believe that the majority of Americans wants to get rid of ICE so as to allow more illegals into the country. But even a majority of Democrats don’t want ICE abolished.
And how about almost 60% — and some polls it’s even higher — want illegal immigration literally stopped and don’t want any part of amnesty? Now, how do you think these polls are getting their results? I think it’s based on reality. I think people are seeing — I’m circling back here to one of the things that Trump has pulled off. Whether he’s intended to or not — and I believe he has — I think Trump is much more a political, quote, unquote, genius than anybody in the media or anybody in the political-media complex would ever acknowledge.
They do not believe, despite what the media says, that Trump officials deserve to be bullied, beaten up, harassed and singled out. Most Americans don’t think that. We haven’t lost our country. Most people are recoiling at this. Most people don’t want any part of this. And most people are privately seething that it happens, and they’re seething at the media when they acknowledge it and seemingly promote it, which is encouraging the Democrats to behave this way.
I’m convinced Hillary Clinton lost the election because she believed her media. Her media every day told her, assured her she’s gonna win by a five- to eight-point landslide. She believed it. Her own pollsters told her the same thing. Well, the media, by propagating a false narrative of this country every day is encouraging Democrats to think they’re in the majority and that most people are regretting they voted for Trump.
Nothing could be further from the truth, and it’s drawing them out, and that’s why you’re getting poll results like this, because the left doesn’t get to hide behind compassion and tolerance and equipment. They’re demonstrating they’re not at all about those things. And I think for first time in a long time a lot of people are actively angry at Democrats and the left over this kind of thing. But they’re never gonna be recorded. The media is never gonna go do stories on how the Democrats are tripping up.
Well, actually, they are. There are those stories. You can find every now and then a story warning Democrats to dial this back a bit, that there could be a backlash that’s gonna help Trump. And Trump is the one making it happen. Trump could stop it. Trump could start acting like he likes them. He could start acting like he’s hearing them. He’s doing the exact opposite. Trump is provoking them every day, folks. He’s provoking them, driving them crazy every day. In the process they’re being flushed out. I think it’s great.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Back on Saturday, Fox & Friends weekend, cohost Ed Henry talking about and playing a clip of me talking about the June jobs report and how it will help in the November elections.
HENRY: In 1992 for Democrats, “it’s the economy stupid.” This is one of the things the president is banking on heading into midterms that he can buck historic trends with a strong economy and Rush Limbaugh yesterday called out the Democrats for basically being against anything Trump, even if it’s good for your pocket.
RUSH: Right. But it wasn’t, and it was in decline. Now it’s actually happening. And I was struck last week by Pelosi saying that this was an illusion, it was a raw deal, it was very bad news for the American people. How can it possibly be? This is the kind of insanity that Trump is forcing the Democrats to exhibit. So I think it’s all good.
I think the pendulum — here’s another example. Now, this is something hardly anybody else would notice, but I’ve got a Trump tweet here: “Pfizer & others should be ashamed that they have raised drug prices for no reason. They are merely taking advantage of the poor & others unable to defend themselves, while at the same time giving bargain basement prices to other countries in Europe & elsewhere. We will respond!”
Now, what is this? This is a tweet today. Is Pfizer in the news? Not in a major way. You realize what this means. This is what happens when you don’t depend on lobbyist money. There is no way any other Republican is gonna tweet or even make a negative statement about Pfizer and raising their drug prices.
Most everybody in politics is taking Pfizer money along with other drug company money from lobbyists, but Trump hasn’t and doesn’t and therefore he can take this stuff on and not have to incur the usual political penalties. This is the kind of thing that the political class just can’t get its arms around and understand.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
I had a meeting with President Trump shortly after he had been inaugurated. It was at Mar-a-Lago. It was late February of 2017. Steve Bannon was in the meeting and Reince Priebus was in the meeting, and we were walking around Mar-a-Lago. And Trump is great this way. There was a big benefit that night, the annual Red Cross ball, which here is the biggest charity event of the year.
And they will spend about $1.2 million to raise one million. But everybody has a great time. They put on their best dresses, their best jewels, and they bring out the best orchestras and they serve the finest caviar and champagne. They’re really swell.
The event was that night at Mar-a-Lago, so all of the support people are already there setting up and getting ready for it, including a lot of military people who were going to be part of the festivities and the so-called meeting with Trump consisted of walking the grounds.
I think it’s actually an act of humility that people do not think Trump has, but I think he has loads of it. And his supporters know that he does. When he says things like that, I kind of bow my head a little bit and put my hands up and start shaking, “No, no, no, no, no, no.” And the crowd there all start applauding because they can’t believe that the president of the United States is walking around openly. You can’t find the security. They’re there, but it’s not like he’s cordoned off and away from all these people.
At one point during the meeting, we did stop at a particular room and we’re talking about a whole bunch of things and he’s talking about the protesters that line Southern Boulevard all the way from the airport to where Mar-a-Lago is. And he says the media never talks about his supporters that are on that route. It’s always the negative people. And I said, “Well, what surprises you about that?”
He said, “I expected by now, after I’ve been in office a month, that the country would start to unify. I thought people would be over the opposition and they’d start coming together.”
I said, “You did?”
He said, “Yeah,” and he really believed that he had the ability to do that. So I got kind of gutsy, I looked at him and I said — I’ve always called him Donald, but now it’s “Mr. President.” “Mr. President, if I may. If you gave them everything they want, if you started to acquiesce to every criticism, they would still hate you. They are always going to hate you, and it has nothing to do with your issues. They hate you because you beat them. And they’re never gonna forgive you.”
I said, “You have to understand, they thought even up to 8 p.m. on election night that they were winning in a landslide. They can’t believe this happened. They literally despise you.” And I said no matter what you do, they’re never gonna love you. And I said, “Please do not make the mistake of thinking that you can buy some support from them.” And I have to tell you, he hasn’t done that. He has not tried to buy them off. And you know how big a deal that is?
There have been a couple of occasions where people thought that he might have been wobbling a little bit in the early days of coming up with an Obamacare compromise. But aside from those few early times, if you get down to it, you really look at it, he hasn’t done the typical Republican thing once. He hasn’t tried to convince them that he’s not the kind of person they say he is. He taunts them every day. He is provoking them every day.
And, by the way, I should tell you, he acted surprised when I said that. I’ve had it said to me twice since then, it must have made an impression, because I’ve had people in his immediate orbit tell me twice that he still talks about that. And it must be that he thought — and people like Donald Trump who, you know, running for president is not an insignificant thing. And winning is certainly not insignificant. And to do something like that, good or bad, you have to have a huge ego, and you have to really like yourself, which I don’t think there’s anything wrong with.
You have to be confident. You have to like yourself. You have to be proud of yourself. You have to love yourself. And there’s no reason not to. You only get one life. Why not make the most of it. You have every right to yours as does everybody else to theirs. And somebody like Trump I really believe in the early stages thought, despite all of the evidence everywhere, I really think, this where the ego comes in, that he really thought that he could bring together factions that had been at war in this country for the longest time because of his policies.
I think, in his world, who could possibly oppose making America great? And I think it’s been a great eye-opener to him that there are people to whom that is worth fighting over. But he’s reacted to it in exactly the right way because he provokes them every day, he’s in their face every day and it’s driving them nuts. And I’m gonna make a prediction to you.
The prediction is we had this caller a moment ago who thinks that he sees this momentum shifting and that we’re in the midst of it, good momentum shift. And a lot of people will hear him say that, I’m sure, “Oh, come on. We got a long way to go.” Yeah, we do, but we’re finally moving in the right direction, folks. I mean, nobody can deny that.
Imagine where this country is today versus where it’d be if Hillary had won. Imagine if Hillary was making the Supreme Court choice tonight. Imagine how you’d feel, the way you feel today compared to how you would feel, there’s no way of denying this momentum.
Well, the left sees it too. Despite all this blustering in the media, despite all this attempt to make it look like everybody hates Trump and people regret voting for him, it’s the exact opposite. Trump is going to keep winning. He’s gonna get this nominee confirmed. And I hope they get it done before October 1st. I hope they don’t dillydally. I hope they get going and get these hearings started next week. The Republicans can force this.
Whoever is nominated is gonna have plenty of record. The nominee is not gonna have to spend a month stopping by every senator’s office, getting to know them. They know these nominees. Many of them have already sat for confirmation hearings. Kavanaugh has. Kethledge has. Amy Barrett has. They all have. They’ve all had to sit for confirmation. So none of ’em are unknown.
And I think as Trump keeps notching these victories, the thing that’s gonna happen that nobody I think even yet sees — and I’m not saying I’m the only one that sees it. I’m saying people are so occupied with what you have to deal with daily in the media. But what’s gonna happen in the not-too-distant future, the left is going to start griping amongst themselves. There’s gonna be war. There are gonna be battles between the factions.
You know, the Democrat Party’s made up of a bunch of radical coalitions. You have the radical feminazis, radical civil rights crew, radical gay rights, radical climate change, radical whatever. And they’re gonna start turning on each other and blaming each other for Trump winning. And we’re beginning to see the early stages of this.
And it’s gonna be remarkable because one of the things that is most obvious about the Democrats is their ability to stay unified in their opposition to us. They don’t go through these internecine battles that we do. When it comes to beating us and marginalizing us, they are unified and of single mind and purpose. But we start battle with each other and blaming this group or that group as not combative enough or not conservative enough or whatever. That’s gonna start happening to them.
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