RUSH: Trump was on 60 Minutes and I didn’t see it last night. I heard about it; so we’ve got a bunch of audio from that that we’re gonna review. And, according to Vanity Fair the magazine, the magazine to the stars, the magazine to celebs, the magazine celebs essentially own. Trump owned it!
Every segment he owned the interview with Lesley Stahl. She’s senior correspondent for 60 Minutes. I mean, senior, senior correspondent, if you get my drift. She’s been doing it a long time, meaning she has tons of experience. And Trump dominated the whole thing. Do you remember we had an interview she did with Jose Rodriguez, CIA terrorist specialist? He handled the enhanced interrogation, i.e., waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Lesley Stahl did that interview. She was stunned. She couldn’t believe it when she found out that we fed terrorists Ensure. (summarized exchange) “That’s horrible! That stuff they give cancer patients? That’s, that’s, that’s horrible!” “Oh, yes, we do. They love it. In fact, the Sheikh lost a hundred pounds with us. It was the best thing for his health ever happened to him.” “That’s crazy! We give ’em Ensure? We can’t… The United States doesn’t do that.” “Oh, but we do,” said Jose Rodriguez.
And she was equally as perplexed last night. She could not get over the fact how hostile Trump was to our European Union allies. There’s no hostility. I mean, it’s so many teachable moments in this thing. I’ve read transcripts so I know what I’m discussing here. I haven’t heard ’em, but we’re gonna listen to these together.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Okay. As a setup to our Lesley Stahl, Donald Trump 60 Minutes interview, I want to go back April 29th, 2012, a little over six years ago. This is Lesley Stahl interviewing CIA interrogator Jose Rodriguez. She says, “So, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was subject to waterboarding, specifically 183 pourings of water, about a half dozen separate sessions.” Jose Rodriguez: “The average pour lasted 10 seconds.”
(silence)
Do we not have sound bite 25? (pause) Do we have sound bite 26, sound bite 26 to play? (interruption) Okay. Well, so much for that. What Jose Rodriguez says in this bite, “Can I say something about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? He’s the one that was responsible for the death of Danny Pearl, the Wall Street [Journal] reporter. He slit his throat in front of the camera. I don’t know what type of man it takes to cut the throat of someone in front of you like that, but I can tell you that this is an individual who probably didn’t give a rat’s ass about having water poured on his face.”
“He never believed for one second you were gonna kill him?”
“No. And let me tell you, he would use his fingers to count the number of seconds ’cause he knew that, in all likelihood, we would stop at 10. This doesn’t sound like a person who is afraid of dying.”
“No! He gets a good night’s sleep. He gets his Ensure. By the way, he was very heavy when he came to us. He lost 50 pounds.”
Lesley Stahl: “What! ‘His Ensure’? You mean like people in the hospital drink that stuff!”
“Yes. Dietary manipulation was part of these ‘dire techniques.'” He’s totally mocking her.
Lesley Stahl: “So sleep deprivation! Dietary manipulation! I mean, this is Orwellian stuff. The United States doesn’t do that.”
Jose Rodriguez: “Well, we do.”
It would have been a perfect setup for Lesley Stahl and Donald Trump.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here we go with Donald Trump and Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes, provided our sound bites work. I’m not confident now. So the only way to know is to give it a shot.
The first one is Lesley Stahl talking to Trump about the supposed “hostility” that he has created between the European Union allies and us.
THE PRESIDENT: I mean what’s an ally? We have wonderful rips with a lot of people, but —
STAHL: (sputtering) But that’s —
THE PRESIDENT: — nobody treats us much worse than the European Union.
STAHL: But why —
THE PRESIDENT: The European Union was formed in order to take advantage of us on trade, and that’s what they’ve done.
STAHL: But this is hostile!
THE PRESIDENT: It’s not hostile.
STAHL: It sounds hostile!
THE PRESIDENT: You know what’s hostile? The way they treat us. We’re not hostile.
STAHL: No, but can’t you deal with them — with them —
THE PRESIDENT: We’ve been the stupid country for so many years.
STAHL: Are you willing to get of that western alliance?
THE PRESIDENT: No. I like NATO. NATO’s fine. But you know what? We shouldn’t be paying almost the entire cost of NATO to protect Europe — and, then on top of that, they take advantage of us on trade. They’re not gonna do it anymore. They understand that.
STAHL: Okay.
RUSH: So, once again, we have here the concept, “But you’re so hostile! The hostility! It sounds so hostile. It sounds so mean. It sounds so…” It “sounds” so…? It’s confrontational! Of course in the eyes of the left, we want to be Europe. They want us to be Europe. They want us to be western socialists, they think, functioning in a democracy. That’s what they want. But we should be forthcoming and tolerant. We should be welcoming. We should be ingratiating ourselves.
By the way, this is Donald Trump just keeping a number of promises, which, say what you want, this guy has kept more promises probably than all politicians in history combined. The problem with that is that so many people expect politicians to not keep their promises that I don’t know how big a scoring point that it is for Trump, but it does add up to the fact that you can trust him; you can count on him. He says he’s gonna do something, you can do it or die trying.
We don’t have the wall yet but not for lack of trying and we don’t have the full repeal of Obamacare yet, but not for lack of trying. Now, the Democrats are off and running here on a couple of rebirthed issues. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it or not, but all of a sudden Trump wants to once again take away health insurance from people with preexisting conditions. Where had this come from? Out of thin air! It came out of thin air.
There’s no way Trump wants to do this. There’s no Republican that wants. This is the reason the Republicans didn’t go for full repeal of Obamacare is preexisting conditions — which, if you get down to brass tacks, preexisting conditions being covered, is not even insurance! There’s no way you could get insurance if your house catches fire and then go buy insurance. Nobody’s gonna sell you insurance once the house is on fire or after it’s been robbed.
So we’re not even talking about insurance. But we are, as far as the general public is concerned. So out of nowhere, all of a sudden Donald Trump and every Republican candidate for the House and the Senate wants to take away health insurance for preexisting conditions. When did this happen? No Republican’s out there saying that. It’s sort of like when George Stephanopoulos was interviewing — well, questioning — Mitt Romney in a debate and he asked him (summarized exchange), “Do you think that states should be able to ban contraception?”
Romney look around and said, “What! Nobody’s talking about that.” Stephanopoulos said, “I don’t care if nobody’s talking about it! I want to know what you think. Should states have the right to ban contraception?” Romney looks around again and says, “What? We’re not talking about… George, I don’t think anybody would even think of this. I don’t know… Why are you asking me this?” “I just want an answer! Quit stalling. Do you think states…?”
Well, eventually Romney answered it, and it didn’t matter what the answer was. It allowed the media to report: “Romney Discusses States Banning Contraception!” Ha! Ha! Well, that’s all it took, and the Republican War on Women was reborn, and that’s what this preexisting condition garbage is. Let me tell you what the real issue is. The real issue that is raising its head out there that the Democrats don’t want to talk about is immigration, illegal immigration.
That remains the issue that coalesces Republican voters no matter what other issues they have. That is the issue. It has been poll-driven and tested in terms of being very helpful to Republicans. And of course the Democrats don’t want to talk about it, interestingly. They’re trying to gin up all this stuff about preexisting conditions. Well, Lesley Stahl here is trying to do same thing by suggesting that Trump is “hostile” to our good friends in Europe.
“You just sound so hostile! Why would you want to sound so hostile?”
It’s like when she was talking to Jose Rodriguez. “Why would you give him Ensure? That’s the stuff they give cancer patients! It’s so mean! That’s not who we are.” “You’re so… You’re so hostile,” and Trump says, “What is hostile? The way they treat us is what’s hostile. We’re not hostile.” She says, “Yeah, but you can’t deal with it without…” He says, “We have been the stupid country for so many years,” and then she finally says, “Are you willing to get rid of the western alliance?”
“No. I like NATO. NATO’s fine. But, you know what? We shouldn’t be paying the entire cost of NATO.” You know what else he said in this interview? Secretary of defense Mattis came up. Trump said, “I know more about NATO than Mattis does.” (laughing) “I know more…” Mattis, as far as the deep state is concerned, is NATO. Any army general would be NATO! So Trump just… As Vanity Fair magazine says (and it’s a surprising admission), “60 Minutes Was Outmatched by Trump.”
“The president talked over Lesley Stahl in a relentless blast of rhetoric that seemed more rally than interview.” Lesley Stahl will not be happy… I mean, Vanity Fair? They all live for puff pieces in Vanity Fair, particularly news people, ’cause Vanity Fair, you know, is Hollywood star, celebrity Mecca magazine. And if you get mentioned in Vanity Fair? Whew! You’ve done massive crossover. You’ve crossed over from news to entertainment, supposedly doing both.
Now, to be dissed by Vanity Fair?
“On Oct. 14, CBS’s 60 Minutes aired an interview with President Donald Trump — rare for its status as having appeared outside of Fox News or conservative media. Appearing the same weekend as First Lady Melania Trump’s appearance on 20/20, this would seem to represent a new level of media blitzing on the part of an administration that’s already seen its head get plenty of free promotion during rallies broadcast on cable news.”
Anyway, they go on it trash Lesley Stahl and trash CBS for letting Trump walk all over them, to just continue to dominate with relentless rhetoric. CBS let Trump get away with the same kind of persona and the same kind of stuff that he says at his rallies. They say, “Lesley Stahl’s interview with Trump was an undeniable get; he’d been scarce on mainstream media since around the time he appeared on tape with NBC’s Lester Holt and indicated he’d fired former FBI Director James Comey in part due to the Russia investigation.
“But the interview seemed governed by two motives, both of which played into the hands of a media-savvy president whose refusal to play by typical rules of engagement has been at the center of his rise.” You know, you people in the media, say that all you want. He’s been the most media accessible president you’ve ever had! This guy will stop and talk to you wherever you’re gathered.
If he’s on the way somewhere and sees you, he stops and talks to you, and he tells you exactly what he thinks. It’s not his fault if you can’t keep up with him. It’s not his fault if you can’t play your usual journalist games and dominate him and get away with re-characterizing what he says, looks like, or thinks. Vanity Fair is just admitting it here. They’re very, very frustrated that they can’t treat Trump successfully the way they treat all other Republicans they want to get rid of.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Back to the Trump 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl. We were up here at number… Oh! This is a biggie. No. 3. This is Trump talking about the necessity of consequences for illegal immigration. Lesley Stahl’s question, “What about the forced separation of migrant children from their parents?”
THE PRESIDENT: It’s the same as the Obama law. You know, Obama had the same thing.
STAHL: I-it was on the books but he didn’t enforce it. You enforced it! You launched that zero-tolerance policy to deter families with children.
STAHL: So you gonna go back to that? (crosstalk)
THE PRESIDENT: There consequences, Lesley, for coming into our country illegally. And part of… I mean, part of the reason — I have to blame myself. The economy is so strong that everybody wants to come into the United States.
RUSH: “My fault, Lesley. I’ve done such a great job on the economy, everybody wants to come here. I’ll take the blame for it.” Now, she misspoke there. This law on the books… Obama certainly did enforce separation! It just didn’t get reported because Obama was cool and couldn’t do anything wrong — and if it was happening when Obama did it, then there had to be good reasons for it. Remember, we’ve gotta two-tier system of justice in this country and we have a two-tier system of media.
Lesley says, “It was on the books, but he didn’t enforce it”? What is that? You mean it was on the books but Obama didn’t enforce the law but Trump is enforcing the law? But Trump didn’t make the law! The Democrats, Lesley Stahl included, attempted to make people think that Donald Trump purposely wrote a law or just enacted one that separated children from (sobbing) their family and it was horrible. You wouldn’t believe the number of brain-dead people that actually believe this happened.
I was watching an episode of Law & Order in Your SUV the other night, and they had a whole premise. Some guy keeping abandoned kids in his basement in a cage was a hero because he was saving these kids after Trump’s policy had forced them to be abandoned. He was saving them. He was just running child sex rings with ’em, but they tried to make this guy out to be somewhat of a hero because the whole point of the episode was to bash Trump for separating families when it’s a law that he inherited.
Look, I’ve explained why the law exists, and it’s above and beyond there having to be consequences for coming here illegally. It has to do with the quest for asylum and the fact that where the parents are taken while they cases are decided is not suitable for kids. The kids are put in much better surroundings and centers while their family, their adult parents’ cases are being adjudicated. There’s nothing… This is the United States of America.
We do not do to kids what these people are trying to tell you the Republican Party does to kids. It’s quite the exact opposite! It’s just more of the smear that the Democrats and the left have engaged in, and Trump does not back down from it. And even as I say, Variety magazine was stunned that Trump got away with dominating even with these questions. A couple more before the break. Up next, she says, “Do you think that climate change is a hoax?”
THE PRESIDENT: Look, I think something’s happening, something’s changing, and it will change back again. I don’t think it’s a hoax. I think there’s probably a difference, but I don’t know that it’s man-made. I will say this: I don’t want to give trillions and trillions of dollars; I don’t want to lose millions and millions of jobs. I don’t want to be put at a disadvantage.
STAHL: I wish you could go to Greenland and watch these huge chunks of ice just falling into the ocean, raising the sea levels.
THE PRESIDENT: And you don’t know whether or not that would have happened with or without man. You don’t know.
RUSH: Exactly, and you don’t know that it doesn’t happen all the time anyway! You don’t know when it started, you don’t know when it ended, you don’t know how natural it might be! But did you hear her say that the chunks of ice falling into the ocean are raising sea levels? I remember one time on this program way, way back in the nineties discussing this. In fact, there are two things.
The first I pointed out because I had read it in a Heritage Foundation action report. This was during the spotted owl, Earth First, natural forestation controversy that was all part of the global warming craze in the early nineties. And I pointed out that there was more acreage, there was more acreage of trees, there were more trees in America then, in 1990, than at our founding. The left went batty!
They said I was insane, that that couldn’t possibly be true, that we had come along and we had chopped down trees and we hadn’t replaced them. We make things out of the trees, and they thought I was just insane. I pointed out, “You people misunderstand something. Yeah, we cut down a lot trees. But you know what? We plant four trees…” This is the wood industry. They need wood; right? How do you get wood? You have to grow trees!
Everything to them is zero-sum game. If a company came along and chopped down a bunch of trees to build a bunch of houses or whatever, then that was trees that were gone forever. That’s why they don’t want you cutting down the redwoods. They’ll never come back, you know. And, by the same token, I remember saying — and it’s still true today. There was another report just last week that there are more trees, forested acres in America today than there were in 50 years ago.
The second one was when I pointed out that falling ice from a glacier or like Greenland is going to raise the sea level. I said, “It’s like ice in a glass melting.” I said, “It’s not gonna raise the sea levels.” I said, “Those ice cubes being dumped into the ocean are not gonna raise…” “You’re crazy! It’s absolutely crazy! You don’t know what you’re talking about! Of course it’s gonna raise sea levels!” “No, it doesn’t,” I said. “Get a glass of ice and pour some water in it.
“Fill it up! Fill it up, glass and ice! Put as much ice in there as you can and fill it up with water. The ice is gonna melt. You tell me: Will the glass overflow? It will not. The volume is the volume, and a bunch of ice chunks falling off a glacier are in no way capable of raising sea levels! It’s too massive, it’s too big, but it’s all about…”
They thought, “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re not a scientist. You can’t say this.” Trump is right to say we don’t know if it’s natural or not, but we sure as hell are not the ones causing it. If somebody gave you the order, “Okay, you need to make 10% of Greenland melt and have the ice fall into the ocean,” what will you do to make that happen? Think about it. What would you do?
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Okay. One more sound bite from Trump and Lesley Stahl. Then we’re gonna get to the phones after the break in the bottom of the hour. This is the piece de resistance. This is classic. This is Trump saying he never knew how dishonest the media was, and then he decides to put Lesley Stahl in her place.
THE PRESIDENT: I never knew how dishonest the media was. I really mean it. I’m not saying that as a sound bite.
STAHL: (interrupting)
THE PRESIDENT: I never knew how dishonest —
STAHL: I’m — I’m gonna change the subject again.
THE PRESIDENT: No but even the way you asked me a question like about separation.
STAHL: Yeah?
THE PRESIDENT: When I say Obama did it, you don’t want to talk about it.
STAHL: No.
THE PRESIDENT: When I said let’s.
STAHL: (sputtering) I’m gonna run your answer but you did it four times. So…
THE PRESIDENT: I’m just telling you that you treated me much differently on the subject.
STAHL: I disagree, but I don’t have to that fight with you.
THE PRESIDENT: Hey, it’s okay.
STAHL: I want another fight with you.
THE PRESIDENT: This is okay. In the meantime, I’m president and you’re not.
And they’re always going to simply because they can’t get rid of him. They’ve thrown everything that they know at Donald Trump. They have tried every maneuver, every strategery, every tactic. They have tried everything that has always worked getting rid of Republicans. They have tried intimation. They’ve tried threats, they’ve tried lies, they’ve tried reporting a bunch of stuff that isn’t true.
They have try intimidating voters. They’ve done everything that has always made other Republicans back off or cave or sue for peace or what have you, and Donald Trump does not respond to any of it. And I love this, challenging the way she asked him the questions and the way she’s not following up on his answers the way she would with others.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Let me get back to the audio sound bites. Oh. One more thing about this poll. The headline: “Republicans Worry that Trump and His Aides Have no Idea the Hell that May Await.” What is this “may” business? It either is or isn’t?
Are you not sure you’re gonna win this? “The White House is completely unprepared for the onslaught it will face if the House flips, says a former official in the Trump White House.” Who would that be? Like Omarosa? “From a communications perspective, the White House is completely unprepared for the onslaught it will face if the House flips.” I can’t believe there’s a soul in there that doesn’t know what’s coming.
“A second former Trump adviser said simply the White House is only able to focus on one thing at a time.” Well, that’s absolute BS. Trump proves that every day! “Republicans on Capitol Hill have largely protected the Trump White House from seriously investigations, which is not unusual when the White House and Congress are controlled by the same party.” What an absolute crock. Republican Never Trumpers have done everything they can to slow walk Trump’s achievements.
I’ve got some audio sound bites I’ve got to get in here. Here is Lesley Stahl attacking Trump for mocking and mimicking Professor Blasey Ford.
THE PRESIDENT: Had I not made that speech, we would not have won. I was just saying she didn’t seem to know anything —
STAHL: No, I didn’t.
THE PRESIDENT: — and you’re trying to destroy a life of a man who has been extraordinary.
STAHL: Why did you have to (pause) make fun of her?
THE PRESIDENT: I didn’t really make fun.
STAHL: Well, they were laughing.
THE PRESIDENT: What I said is the person that we’re talking about didn’t know the year, the time, the place.
STAHL: Professor Blasey Ford got before the Senate and was asked what’s the worst moment, and she said when the two boys laughed at me, at my expense.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, well —
STAHL: Do you think you treated her with great respect?
THE PRESIDENT: I think so, yeah. I did.
STAHL: But you seem to be saying that she lied.
THE PRESIDENT: You know what? I’m not gonna get into it, because we won. It doesn’t matter.
STAHL: Well —
THE PRESIDENT: We won.
RUSH: “We won.” Jose Rodriguez: “Yes of course, we do. We do. We do feed people Ensure, and we did waterboard them. We do.” Lesley Stahl, once again? What is this? He didn’t show her respect? She’s the one that couldn’t prove anything! Do we have to go down this road again? She didn’t know when, she didn’t know where, she didn’t know why. The people she named who were there all said they weren’t there!
She couldn’t tell anybody where she went afterwards other than home and she couldn’t tell anybody how she got there or who took her or what she said, and that’s all Trump pointed out. He did not mimic her. He did not imitate her. Is it showing her disrespect by pointing out what she doesn’t know? This is how the left tries to control speech and thoughts by castigating anybody who dares tell the truth about them. Dr. Blasey Ford did not have evidence.
She did not have corroboration, and Trump is right. If he had not done that at that rally, there’s a lot of Americans that would have never known that was the truth about her, because the media — people like Lesley Stahl — were not repeating tried it by Blasey Ford. They were not telling the American people she had no evidence; she couldn’t remember who, what, when, where, why, and that the four people she claimed were there said they weren’t, including one of her so-called best friends.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I’ve got two more here. This one more with Trump and Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes last night which, again, Variety magazine is really complaining Trump owned it, dominated it; Lesley Stahl didn’t score a point. Notice what that means, that the purpose of the interview was to destroy Trump. The purpose of the interview was not to learn anything, not to get Trump’s perspective, but to expose Trump. Which, of course, is what all of journalism is aimed at us.
So here is Lesley Stahl (paraphrased), “Will you pledge, will you promise, cross your heart and hope to die, that you will not shut down the Mueller investigation so that we can finally get rid of you?”
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t pledge anything. But I will tell you, I have no intention of doing that. I think it’s a very unfair investigation, because it was no collusion of any kind.
STAHL: But you won’t pledge?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t want to pledge. Why should I pledge to you? If I pledge, I’ll pledge. I don’t have to pledge to you. But I have no intention of doing that.
STAHL: To date, 32 people have been charged or pled guilty in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. President Trump’s campaign chairman, top campaign aide, former national security adviser, and longtime personal attorney are all cooperating in the inquiry the president calls a witch hunt.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you really think I’d call Russia to help me with an election? Give me a break. They wouldn’t be able to help me at all. Call Russia… It’s so ridiculous.
RUSH: You know what? I’m surprised he’s been able to keep his composure about this for as long as he has. Honestly, folks, the idea that the election is illegitimate and that he cheated with Russia and that he was able to keep it such a secret that despite everybody in Washington writing books about it, looking for evidence, there isn’t a scintilla of evidence, I would have blown my top on this a long time ago. And this is just clearly misstating.
“To date, 32 people have been charged,” 26 of them are Russians who will never, ever see the inside of a courtroom, who were not charged with anything having to do with Donald Trump! There isn’t a single one of these people that’s been charged that has anything to do with Trump, and she’s including Michael Flynn in this and Manafort and all… There isn’t a single charge here. By the way, the Drive-Bys are very, very depressed because like Jonathan Turley had a piece warning the left.
“If you think Mueller is going after obstruction,” Turley says (paraphrasing), “I don’t think there is any. I don’t think Mueller’s found any. I don’t think Mueller’s even looking at that.” Turley’s trying to set people up not to be too disappointed when Mueller doesn’t deliver goods at least on the obstruction side. “Thirty-two people have been charged or pled guilty in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.” Pled guilty. Two, three? And Manafort and Rick Gates have nothing to do with Trump!
Flynn was just to get rid of the prosecution so he would save his family and save his bank account. As I say, there’s total, I think, 25 Russians in two different charges. And they’re bogus. Mueller knows that those Russians are never gonna show up and be tried. The charges dependence him are never gonna be tested. And Lesley Stahl knows this too. That’s what makes this all so bogus. (impression) “Why should I pledge to you? Why should I pledge to you?
“If I pledge, I’ll pledge, but I won’t pledge to YOU that I’m not gonna shut down the Mueller investigation. Who the hell are you to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do or to make me promise to you?” Drive-Bys are not used to this.
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