RUSH: Now, let me talk about the rally in Cape Girardeau last night before we get back to the meat and potatoes of Election Day. I was invited by President Trump and the White House to introduce him, and it went through many different configurations. When I was first contacted, it was to introduce the president. Then, they said, “Hey, if you’d like, you could be in the audience and the president could call you up and you could speak for a few minutes and then sit back down. What do you want to do?”
So I thought about it. “I think the introduction would be best. I don’t want to… If he’s on a roll and a flow, I don’t want to get up and interrupt that.” They said fine and dandy. It went back and forth as these things always do. We finally settled on the 10-minute introduction and flew in, got in about quarter of 7:00 Central Time. The rally was scheduled to start at 9:00 Central time. The president was coming in from Indiana. He was due to arrive, due to land at 8:35.
And when the president is coming in and leaving, all kinds of rules at airports go into effect. So the air traffic control people in the White House establish a time period where the airport’s closed to allow the president in, and then nobody can arrive and nobody can depart until he is gone. So we were given a latest-you-can-arrive time of 7 p.m. So we didn’t cut it close. We got in there at 6:45 and were met by some people. The Missouri Highway Patrol was just superb last night in getting me in and out of the Show Me Center.
There were thousands of people. It had been raining all day. There was a big thunderstorm cell that was over Missouri, southeast Missouri for most of the day, but most of it had pulled out by the time we landed, which was an unexpected piece of good news. It was supposed to be right in the middle of inclement weather when we were due to land. But it got out of there to just sprinkling and trickling rain. But people had been lined up all day, and no umbrellas were allowed inside the Show Me Center (for security reasons) whatsoever.
So a lot of people ended up getting soaked. But they stayed! I mean, it was like everywhere else: The crowds outside the place were as numerous as the people that got in. And I tell you, folks, I’ve never… I’ve done a lot of these events over the course of my career. I’ve never seen a crowd this wired and this — and they were there, they were in their seats by 7 o’clock, in some cases maybe earlier. I don’t know when they opened the doors to let people in.
But by the time the thing officially got going, they’d already been in there for two hours. The energy that they had was almost indescribable. So I got there and I’m backstage with people, meeting some people — the early arriving White House staff — and the president and his traveling party showed up, and he had everybody, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were there. I’d not met them. It was nice to do that.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway were in the traveling party, and it was good to see them all beforehand. The president came in; we had a little 10-minute chat before the whole thing started, then he left to go over to do… (interruption) No, that was after he’d appeared on Hannity. He said, “Look, do whatever you want. I mean, this is great. This is our last stop. Just do whatever you want.” He thanked me for being there. I went out, and I had a few things in mind that I wanted to say, and I got…
Folks, I’ll be honest. I was totally… Well, not totally, but I ended up being distracted by the crowd. The acoustics in there coupled with the loudness of the crowd, I couldn’t hear myself when I was speaking. I probably did not hear 80% of what I said. I trusted (chuckles) that I said what I intended to say or what I thought I was saying, and simply because of the acoustics and the loudness. The crowd was just incredible.
I have never seen that kind of whatever you want to call it, love or support or enthusiasm. But everybody in that crowd was wired. It was as upbeat and positive, and I found myself thinking, “This has been happening all across the country.” Nothing like this, nothing even approaching this is happening anywhere on the Democrat side, not even close. So I went out, and I made an on-the-fly adjustment in the middle of my little 10 minutes. I decided, “You know what?
I don’t know. My hearing is such that at some point it all just overloads my little implants here and just sounds like… I can’t describe how it sounds. It’s distortion, fuzz, bombs going off. It becomes impossible for me to hear specific sounds. It was just a cacophony. And I can just tell you I’ve never had anything like it before. And I felt gratified to be the recipient of much of it. It was just tremendous. I was just counting my lucky stars to have been included in it.
After watching these for two years, since 2015, since the campaign started — understanding why they are, what they are, understanding the bond that Trump has with his voters and with his audience — and to see it on display was incredible uplifting and gratifying. And I kept asking myself, “How can anybody…? (chuckling) How can anybody not appreciate what’s going on here?
“How can anybody not want to sign on to this?” Now, I know full well there are a bunch of socialists and leftists who despise this; don’t misunderstand. But it was that infectious, and it was that exciting — in a little town of 30,000 people. We have some sound. First we’re gonna start with the president in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He spoke with reporters about the rallies.
RUSH: That’s exactly what he said to me when he arrived and came into what was serving as the greenroom. They shut the door. It was just the president and me in the greenroom. HE said, “Something is really happening out there. It really is,” and I’ve heard that before. You know, Bob Dole called this program in 1996 on the day before the election. “Something’s happening out there.” So it doesn’t… It doesn’t always mean that over the hump has happened here.
But he was firmly believing than that is happening and he even made a point of you mentioning that during his remarks. I’ve got time for one bite here before we go to the break. And this is after the crowd had died down a little bit after I was introduced. This is the first bite or the portion of my remarks at the rally. I don’t know how many of you saw the whole thing. Fox carried the first four minutes or five and then bumped out.
One America network covered the whole thing. C-SPAN covered the whole thing. There are some YouTube channels that covered the whole thing. I don’t know how many of you have seen the whole thing. But I was very proud. They gave me 10 minutes and I got out of there at 10:25. My instincts were right on the money — and, by the way, if I had gone 20, it wouldn’t have been a problem. But they said 10 minutes and that’s what they got, and this rally was late.
It got started late because the president’s arrival. Then a woman had… During Trump’s remarks, a woman, I think, had not had her insulin. She’d been in there so long; she’d not had her insulin and had diabetic reaction. So they quickly got that taken care of, and the president stood aside while she was being dealt with. But it ended up going long even as everybody stayed to the time limit. So here’s just, before we go to break, just a little bit of some of the early contents of what I said.
BEGIN ARCHIVE CLIP
RUSH: [T]he president and all of us have been labeled by some Democrats and the media as “divisive.”
CROWD: (boos)
RUSH: Divisive? That Democrats haven’t even accepted that they lost the election in 2016!
CROWD: (cheering and applause)
RUSH: That’s what this is all about!
CROWD: (cheering and applause)
RUSH: It’s serious stuff! All of this. I mean, for crying out loud, folks, you know, you look at what happened the last two years. For two years, year and a half, every day, newspapers — every newspaper, New York Times, Washington Post — “Anonymous intelligence sources confirming that Trump colluded with Putin to steal the election.”
CROWD: (booing)
RUSH: There is no evidence for it. Zilch, zero, nada. It didn’t happen. It was made up! Hillary Clinton colluded with Russia.
CROWD: (cheering and applause)
RUSH: Hillary Clinton rigged an election!
CROWD: (cheering and applause)
RUSH: Right on! Right on!
CROWD: (chanting) Lock! Her! Up!
END ARCHIVE CLIP
RUSH: I was so hoping that mentioning here name would cause the “Lock her up!” chants. I knew it would happen. But that kind of reaction applause was just the whole night. Now, let me take a break because I’m a little long here so I have some time left the other side.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Need to squeeze in a couple of more bites from my introduction of President Trump last night at the rally, the final rally in Cape Girardeau…
BEGIN ARCHIVE CLIP
RUSH: They got the message.
CROWD: (chanting) Lock! Her! Up!
RUSH: They got the message. These rallies, I have to tell you, they are the envy of official Washington. Do you realize there isn’t a single elected official in either party who could do what this is tonight?
CROWD: (cheering and applause)
CROWD: (boos)
RUSH: So guess what? They want to get in on it. Bill and Hillary Clinton and their national stadium tour, talking about… Have you seen Obama?
CROWD: (boos)
RUSH: He has been stumping in Florida where I live. He’s drawing crowds of 1,000 people, 2,000 people. Joe Biden can’t fill a phone booth ’cause he’s looking for somebody to punch out.
CROWD: (laughter)
RUSH: This is incredible!
END ARCHIVE CLIP
RUSH: I can’t tell you enough during 2016, all those rallies, how many people in the media and the Washington establishment said, “You can’t judge voter enthusiasm from these rallies. Don’t mean anything.” They continually discounted them. The reason they did is ’cause they were jealous. They were envious. They didn’t want the people! It’s not that they were jealous that you were supporting Trump. It was that Trump could do that and that they couldn’t — and they actually, I think, were afraid of it. I think they remain afraid of it. Here’s one more.
BEGIN ARCHIVE CLIP
RUSH: We get all these labels thrown at us, and we love our country and we want the best for everybody in it.
CROWD: (cheering and applause)
RUSH: We want the best for our kids and grandkids. We want everybody to be great. We want everybody to experience the American dream. It was… You know, I’m from here. I’m from Cape Girardeau.
CROWD: (cheering and applause)
RUSH: It was… Now, don’t take this the wrong way. Fifty years ago was the first time… I was 16. It was the first time I was told I wasn’t good enough to succeed in radio. Don’t misunderstand. We are all told this. We all know how to fail. We don’t need to go to the library to find books on how to fail because we all do it. You’ll never go to the library and find a book, Great Moderates in American History or Great Committees in American History.
CROWD: (laughter)
RUSH: Donald Trump wants America to be great again — and, it’s not a slogan, it is an objective.
END ARCHIVE CLIP
When I get real deep down inside myself, I don’t understand how anybody could vote against this country, but that is what the Democrat Party’s agenda really is. The Democrat Party’s agenda is voting against America. It’s filled with revenge over the so-called discrimination and unfair treatment of various minority groups or what have you, in the greatest country on earth where all of these grievances have been addressed. And they are constantly repaired and fixed because our Constitution was structured in such a way as to make that kind of evolution possible.
The portrayal of this country as something that it is not, saddens me — and then I see people falling for it, and it is doubly hurting.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Okay, one more sound bite from my introduction of President Trump last night at the final rally for the 2018 midterm campaign season, and then a couple of bites of the president from his remarks. Here we go…
BEGIN ARCHIVE CLIP
RUSH: You’re not angry. You love people! You want your country to be the greatest it can be and you finally got someone willing to help you do it!
CROWD: (wild cheering and applause)
RUSH: Somebody to stand up for you!
CROWD: (wild cheering and applause)
RUSH: Somebody to stand with you!
CROWD: (cheering and applause)
RUSH: We, in certain ways, are hanging by a thread. Do you realize, folks, there is nobody…? I shouldn’t say nobody. There are some on the Republican side who would attempt to do what the president has done. But for the most part, there is nobody who would do what Donald Trump has done. Nobody would buck the system. Nobody would take it on.
CROWD: (applause)
CROWD: (cheering and applause)
RUSH: — because he is indefatigable. The man simply doesn’t get tired. He doesn’t wear out. For those of you —
MAN: (expressing confusion)
RUSH: No, no. There’s somebody from Rio Linda here. “Indefatigable.” He doesn’t get tired.
CROWD: (laughter)
RUSH: He just keeps going and so forth.
MAN: Attaboy, Rush!
RUSH: Without any further ado, folks, thank you so much. It has been great. It’s great to be here, to be part of this.
CROWD: (cheering and applause)
RUSH: Raise the roof, ’cause here he comes: The president of the United States, Donald J. Trump!
END ARCHIVE CLIP
RUSH: That was awesome. It was… Folks, it was electric in there, and to be part of something like this… Even though I’ve been doing this for 30 years, to be part of something like this is just the greatest thing. It’s just a wonderful, wonderful thing. I’m so thankful and grateful to President Trump and for his administration for extending me the invitation.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Back to the audio sound bites from the Trump rally in Cape Girardeau last night. After I had finished and had my crescendo, big finish, introduction of President Trump, he came out.
BEGIN ARCHIVE CLIP
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Missouri!
CROWD: (cheering and applause)
THE PRESIDENT: You are incredible, incredible people!
CROWD: (cheering and applause)
THE PRESIDENT: Wow.
CROWD: (wild cheering and applause)
THE PRESIDENT: And we never said to Rush he’s got eight minutes. Rush can have two hours, three hours. There’s nobody like him. There never has been anybody like him.
CROWD: (cheers and applause)
THE PRESIDENT: I was speaking to Sean Hannity backstage. Do we love Sean, by the way?
CROWD: (cheering and applause)
THE PRESIDENT: And Sean said, “There is nobody like this man, and he’s a real good guy, although he’s tough! He’s tough!” But I tell you what: When he’s on your side, there is nobody you want better. I mean, it’s really great.
CROWD: (wild cheering and applause)
THE PRESIDENT: It’s really great when he is with you. The biggest of all time at what he does.
END ARCHIVE CLIP
RUSH: That’s incredible. That’s just incredible stuff, And I’m standing… you know, I exit the stage. there’s some steps there to the left and I’m not backstage. I’m on the floor standing right next to the crowds signing autographs, posing for pictures. Again, my hearing. It’s nothing but a giant echo and reverb for me. But fortunately, I ended up standing right below a speaker area and I was able to hear what people at the microphone were saying. It took me about 10 minutes and I accidentally ended up there just wandering around, meandering in that area back there, and I got to hear that, and that was… I don’t know. And he kept going. He wasn’t finished.
CROWD: (cheers)
THE PRESIDENT: And David Limbaugh. Yes, siree, David. Thank you, David. Great lawyer. I hear David’s a great lawyer, right David? David told me. No, but Sean told me. Everybody told me. Thank you, David. This is the home of Rush, and what he did today was fantastic, because he doesn’t do that. He doesn’t do that. This is his home. He loves Missouri.
RUSH: That was the beginning. The president began his remarks. A woman had a health problem during the rally, and I was told that she had been a long time without her insulin, and she had passed out, and Trump noticed it because the crowd was drawn to her plight. The president asked for a doctor, if there was a doctor in the house, and there was, and Trump stood aside. He stood by and told ’em to take their time and so forth, and the crowd spontaneously began to sing Amazing Grace.
THE PRESIDENT: Say a little prayer. Go ahead. Say a little prayer. That’s good. That’s good. Say a little prayer. Take your time. Relax. Take your time. Thank you. We’ve got plenty of time, right?
CROWD: (singing Amazing Grace)
RUSH: That just spontaneously began right out there in the audience.
THE PRESIDENT: That was really something. I want to just thank everybody for the way you behaved. That was beautiful, and that, at the end, was beautiful. Amazing Grace. Thank you very much. That was beautiful.
RUSH: You know what? Somebody said to me today… What do you think somebody said to me today about that? “Aw, man, Rush, that was the worst thing. Now people think Missouri is nothing but Bible thumpers! It’s gonna prove exactly what the left…” “Are you kidding me? It’s just gonna prove that Missouri and the Midwest are a bunch of Bible thumpers?” “Yeah, Rush. Oh, my God.” These are people so, so afraid of what the media says and so forth. I don’t know. I don’t think… I hope that wasn’t a predominant reaction. I didn’t hear it from a lot of people, not a lot of people. But it happened, and it was being televised.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: The Democrat Party and the media are trying to say that Josh Hawley didn’t even show up for his own rally with Trump last night, and then they’re trying to say that Josh Hawley didn’t even hang around. Well, let me tell you something: Josh Hawley was there. I saw Josh Hawley! I saw Josh Hawley take the stage, I heard Josh Hawley make his comments, and I saw Josh Hawley come offstage. But they’re out there trying to tell people that Hawley was either not there or didn’t hang around; he couldn’t stand being next to Trump.
What? It was an absolute crock, and all of you that were there last night know that to be true.
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