RUSH: Hey, folks, there’s another way to look at this debacle yesterday, and it’s this — and let’s keep everything in context. We’re now being told today from Politico and everybody that everybody’s known for a long time that Mueller’s not all there anymore, that he’s feeble, faded away, not mentally able to do what he used to be able to do. It happens to everybody. Not a criticism. My point is, “everybody’s known it.” That’s what they say. That’s what the Drive-Bys say, “Everybody’s known it!” Okay. So why was he there? The answer’s very simple.
The Democrats don’t know how to beat Trump, folks. They wanted Mueller to do it. Despite Mueller’s infirmities, despite Mueller’s incapacities and his now incompetence, they rolled the dice. They hoped and prayed. They wanted Mueller to go beat Trump yesterday, not just by triggering impeachment. They wanted Mueller to do the dirty work. They wanted Mueller to defeat Trump yesterday, because they can’t. They don’t know how to defeat Trump. That’s one thing we’ve seen in the last 2-1/2 years, and don’t count the midterms in this.
They weren’t running against Trump. If you go back and look at what they ran on in the 2018 midterms (I looked this up), they did not mention Trump in these individual races. They ran on issues. They did not run against Trump in the midterms. They’re flummoxed now — and there’s something else interesting. I’m gonna give you a little bit of this, but we’re gonna have to analyze this further. Sound bite number 12. David Gergen last night on CNN. Erin Burnett asked him, “Did Mueller help Republicans today?” Listen to this…
GERGEN: The Republicans or conservatives are crying out now that this was a disaster for the Democrats. It wasn’t just Mueller’s hesitancy but, in fact, the substance. He wasn’t there, and they — they came prepared to fight. I had not expected that! I mean, they were much more coordinated. Y’know, they presented things, frankly, we haven’t talked about much on CNN, aspects of this that are on the right, but we don’t… Y’know, we haven’t visited them because we don’t put much stock in a lot of what they’re arguing.
RUSH: Do you realize the importance of this? This is David Gergen admitting that they are knowingly ignoring over half of this story! He’s talking about Fusion GPS. He’s talking about Christopher Steele, the Steele dossier! If it weren’t for the Steele dossier, CNN would not have won a Pulitzer reporting it, and he’s admitting that they’ve ignored it. (impression) “All that stuff’s just right-wing news. Republicans were far more prepared. They were far more coordinated. They were better prepared to fight. They talked about things that we don’t talk about on CNN.” Remember when I said yesterday (everybody thinks I’m wrong) that Mueller looked to me like he was hearing a lot of that stuff for the first time, the Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele?
Especially with what we know now, I think it’s more likely today than I did yesterday.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We have more coming up from CNN. Jeffrey Toobin was dejectedly telling everybody watching CNN last night that one look at Mueller and everybody knows Trump is winning. It’s just devastating where they thought they would be today versus where they are.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I would love to go back to the archives and find the earliest instance. Cookie, don’t bother doing this because I’m jammed as it is, but I’d love to go back to the archives and find the first time I told everybody that I don’t think Mueller is anything but a figurehead here, that he wasn’t really running this investigation. He was the “of counsel,” kind of figurehead designed to give it respectability, to give it the air of Washington nonpartisanship. When in fact, this thing was nothing more than a gigantic gotcha by a bunch of pro-Hillary lawyers, led by one of them named Andrew Weissmann.
That’s all this was, and Mueller was simply there for his reputation: Mr. Honor, Mr. Integrity, Mr. Unassailable. So as long as it was “the Robert Mueller investigation,” you couldn’t criticize it. You couldn’t say it was partisan. You couldn’t say it was biased. (impression) “‘Cause Bob Mueller is a Vietnam hero. Bob Mueller is an American hero. Bob Mueller has got more integrity in his little finger than you or I will ever accumulate in our lifetimes!” That was his purpose. He didn’t sit in on many, if any, of the interviews — and there were gobs of ’em.
Even now, even now the people that really ran this investigation get to stay hidden. Nobody’s calling them up to testify. Nobody’s calling them, putting them on the spot. They’re not having to answer questions about why they ignored Fusion GPS. “Why did you ignore the Steele dossier?” Weissmann and his buddies, Zebley, they’re not having to answer this, Mueller is — and he’s clueless! Mueller doesn’t know about Fusion GPS. Mueller doesn’t know about Steele. Where are the FISA court judges, for crying out loud?
Why aren’t these guys fit to be tied over what happened to them? The FBI lied to them four different times to get FISA warrants to spy on Carter Page and thus the Trump campaign. The people that really ran this show, the people that really ignored Fusion GPS, the people that really ignored the Steele dossier — in fact, the people that might have been involved in crafting the Steele dossier — get a total pass! So the media and everybody else sits here today and says, “Oh, poor Bob. Poor Bob. Nobody knew,” or then we’re told everybody knew!
I’m just telling you, if they knew — and now it appears likely that everybody did — then the Democrats are meaner and more extremist than even you imagine. If they’re willing to put a guy with this impeccable reputation up there and if they’re willing to throw him to the wolves like that yesterday… They were using Bob Mueller yesterday like they use anybody, and when you’re finished being used, they discard you like that. (Snap!) They couldn’t care less about you. They were hoping Bob Mueller would do their work for about ’em.
They do not find a way to beat Donald Trump, folks. They wanted Mueller to do that yesterday. Now they’re faced with having to defeat Trump in 2020. In fact, there’s even a piece in the Washington Post today by Dan Balz making the point that the Democrats now are down to one option, and that’s the election of 2020. Somehow, they gotta nominate somebody that can beat Trump. They wanted Mueller to do it for ’em yesterday! They didn’t want to have to do the heavy lifting. They wanted Mueller to end the Trump campaign yesterday.
I don’t mean by kicking him out of office yesterday. They wanted Mueller to do something that would destroy Trump public opinion. They wanted Mueller to do something yesterday that would have the American people clamoring for Trump’s scalp. Except Trump didn’t do anything. Trump hasn’t done anything except tweet things people don’t like. Audio sound bite number 13. This is Jeffrey Toobin. You know, actually, grab David “Rodham” Gergen again. Here’s David “Rodham” Gergen last night on CNN OutFront with Erin Burnett, and the question: “Did Mueller help Republicans today?”
GERGEN: The Republicans or conservatives are crying out now that this was a disaster for the Democrats. It wasn’t just Mueller’s hesitancy but, in fact, the substance. He wasn’t there, and they — they came prepared to fight. I had not expected that! I mean, they were much more coordinated. Y’know, they presented things, frankly, we haven’t talked about much on CNN, aspects of this that are on the right, but we don’t… Y’know, we haven’t visited them because we don’t put much stock in a lot of what they’re arguing.
RUSH: Why don’t you? The Republicans were much more prepared? The Republicans were much more prepared than the Democrats? That’s all you’ve got to say about what happened yesterday, that the Democrats kind of let you down? What’s at stake here! There are two different things at stake. You and I are fed up with these people taking the country to the precipice.
We are fed up with having to sit here and defend the country every day against whoever mounts the attack — be it Omar or The Squad or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or these clowns in their committees yesterday — and to David “Rodham” Gergen, this is apparently just some kind of political skirmish, and he’s upset that his side wasn’t prepared! And how was our side prepared? Why, we came knowing what we were talking about, and we talked about things CNN doesn’t talk about, and CNN doesn’t talk about those things because they’re “on the right.”
Hello, media bias? You want to admit it, Mr. Gergen? You don’t talk about it because we do? Is that the standard? If we talk about it on Fox or on conservative talk radio, by definition, the Drive-By Media doesn’t? Is that how you decide what’s news now? Well, it is, and it has been for the longest time, but they’re now admitting it. Jeffrey Toobin! Late yesterday on CNN talking about what it had been like to watch yesterday…
TOOBIN: I was struck by the enormous personal contrast between Robert Mueller and Donald Trump. Y’know, they have a lot in common. They’re within months of each other in terms of how old they are. They were both raised in wealth. Both Ivy League educated. And in demeanor and in approach and… They’re from different planets. You know, he said so much less than he could have said. He didn’t pass judgment beyond what’s precisely in the report, and as we all know from watching tweets and watching the president, they are just so different. And, y’know, you look who’s winning now. It certainly seems like Donald Trump is winning!
RUSH: Do you realize where they thought they were gonna be yesterday when they were finished? Trump was gonna be practically gone. They thought that every day for the past last two and a half years. They thought they were gonna be able to get rid of Trump; they haven’t. Now all of a sudden Trump’s winning. The delusion and the hate that has taken over these people makes them really, really dangerous. They are more poisoned by sheer hatred now combined with delusion, and I’m loving it.
I’m absorbing all of this and I’m enjoying it. You know what? Here’s what Toobin’s really saying here. Let me translate this for you. (impression) “Gosh, look at these two guys! They’re the same age. They both come from wealth. One of them’s losing his mind and the other guy’s beating us. Our guy is losing his mind. Our guy is aging right before his very eyes and doesn’t know where he is half the time, and Trump is on top of the world, on top of everything, and Trump is winning!”
To Toobin, this is the epitome of unfairness. It’s unfair that their 72-year-old should be doddering and out of it and our 72-year-old is on top of the world. (impression) “That’s not fair. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. Mueller is supposed to be the guy running this town! Mueller is supposed to be the guy ruling the roost, not Trump. Trump’s a buffoon. Trump’s an ogre. Trump’s a joke. But Trump is winning. Aw, damn it!”
Nothing’s going the way they envisioned it. Nothing is going the way they planned it. I guarantee you, for these people seeing Mueller yesterday, measured against what their image of him was, measured against what they thought his reputation was, I guarantee you they were shocked. They were in a fit of despair within 30 minutes of those hearings beginning yesterday.
Some of them were probably begging that somebody move in and stop it like a referee in a fight, go in there and just stop it! Throw in the towel! This is unfair! It’s not nice to watch. Stop it! Nobody did. And that’s another thing. If they all knew, if they all knew that Mueller was doddering and incapable now and infirm or whatever, why did they do this to him? And after seeing it in action, why did they not pull the rug out?
I’ll tell you why. I’ll tell you exactly why. Because Adam Schiff wanted his day in the sun. And it didn’t matter if Robert Mueller knew where he was or not. Adam Schiff was gonna get his day. These Democrats were gonna get their five minutes of speechifying about what a reprobate Trump is and how he ought to be impeached and it didn’t matter what happened to Bob Mueller in the process.
But, again, don’t feel sorry for Mueller. There are a lot of people’s lives that have been ruined because of the way Mueller ran Justice. People innocent, in jail for 23 years. Michael Flynn, a patriot’s life is ruined and destroyed. I mean, it’s obscene what has been done here in the name of justice. One more Gloria Borger last night on Anderson Cooper 219. She was asked for her thoughts on what had transpired yesterday.
BORGER: What are they gonna do to get Don McGahn up? I mean, this is the star witness. Mueller as is turns out, was anything but the star witness. How do they get Don McGahn there? They have to get McGahn because having Mueller who wrote the report is not like having John Dean White House counsel — (crosstalk)
COOPER: Wait a minute, but don’t….
BORGER: …testifying before the Watergate committee.
COOPER: Don’t they keep moving the goalpost on this?
BORGER: Yes.
COOPER: It was all about the Mueller report, that was going to be it. That’s the Bible, they have all this investigative powers and then it was, well, it’s confusing, it’s 448 pages, when he testifies, when he talks, and now it’s Don McGahn?
RUSH: See, even Cooper — and that’s the exact reaction. Gloria Borger is simply following the herd. What did the Democrats do yesterday? They focused on obstruction, and there’s one element in the report where apparently Trump told McGahn to fire Mueller and McGahn refused to do it, and so they want to get McGahn up there and they want McGahn to have to testify, “Yeah, the president told me to fire –” As though that would qualify as obstruction.
Never mind the fact that Mueller was not fired. Never mind the fact the investigation was not impeded, never mind nothing happened. And now Cooper: What do you mean, McGahn? This started out you wanted Mueller. It started out you wanted Trump. And now you want McGahn? Why isn’t McGahn up there? They are so clearly flailing away. And nobody is really in charge of this effort to get Trump.
You’ve got a bunch of people thinking they know how to do it, executing the plan. It’s comical, and at the same time, it’s frustrating to watch this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Do you realize what a joke it is for David “Rodham” Gergen to say the Democrats were not prepared or that the Republicans were more prepared? They had a 448-page report. They had the script right in front of ’em. They ran the committee! They practiced! They rehearsed!
Do you know they had Democrats pretending to be Jim Jordan and his brutal questioning? That’s right. Schiff and Nadler actually had rehearsals. They had people in there playing Mueller. That might have been fun to see how that went. But how in the world can you say the Republicans were more prepared? The Democrats, whatever did ’em in, it wasn’t lack of preparation, Mr. Gergen. It’s the fact that they don’t have a case!
You people do not have a case. You don’t have any evidence. You don’t have any impeachable offenses. You don’t have any evidence of collusion or obstruction. You don’t have anything. You have tried to create this alternative reality where there are all of these crimes, and you’ve been hard-pressed to convince the American people they existed. But the reality is you’ve got no case. You’ve got nothing. And most of the time they don’t.