X

We’re Stuck in the Middle of a Grand Illusion

by Rush Limbaugh - Nov 4,2019

RUSH: A lot of polling out there today, folks, a lot of misleading, misrepresentative polling. It’s stunning how we continue to be stuck in the middle of a grand illusion. Do you realize, just to hit you between the eyes with everything here, folks, from the get-go, from the beginning, starting on election night and even prior, but let’s just use election night. Trump wins, shocks the Washington establishment, shocks the world, the coup begins, the effort to remove Trump — and it has not stopped.

It has been one continuous overall effort, get Trump thrown out of office or reverse the election results. And through this phase there have been numerous discoveries. Trump colluded with Russia, Kavanaugh had a rape train, Trump wanted Ukraine to dig up dirt, Avenatti, Stormy Daniels, every one of these things has been a shocking discovery, apparently. And through it all, the thing to keep — now Trump has released the transcript. You can read the transcript. This is the most amazing of all of this, second only to the Mueller report.

The Mueller report shows no collusion, no obstruction, and yet they continue as though it does. Now, there’s a very interesting reason why this is the case. I’m gonna illustrate here in a minute. They believe that there is no such thing as public opinion. I’m telling you right now they think public opinion doesn’t matter. Public opinion is what their published polls say it is. That’s a big difference, folks. It is a huge difference. There is no public opinion.

NBC found out themselves, NBC, Meet the Press, sent some reporters. They had to get their flu shots, vaccine shots, and visas to go out to other states. They went out to try to find out just how feverishly people are talking and thinking about impeachment. They found nobody cares. They can’t believe it. And yet the polls that they put out claim 49%, 51%, 48% want Trump impeached and gone. And yet whenever they leave Washington to go out and try to find evidence of it from the general public, they can’t. So what’s the disconnect?

The disconnect is that there is one glaring truth. And this is why it is not hard to defend Donald Trump. They have nothing! They never have had anything that is real. And even this impeachment and this transcript of the phone call with the Ukraine president and Vindman and the whistleblower. It isn’t real. None of it is real. They have yet to have a fact backing up their discoveries or their claims or their assertions.

Folks, do not doubt me on this. They are relying on things that they claim represent public opinion, but in fact are nothing more than efforts to shape it and to misrepresent it. We’re in the midst of a massive, bigger than I have ever seen in politics — and I think there have been competing illusions in other aspects of life. I know there have. I mean, there have been massive propaganda efforts, there have been massive PR efforts to sell a movie, a record album.

But in politics this one may — and it would be a tough argument because none of us has been alive the entire time the country’s been around, and there have been some outrageous things happen in this country from the beginning. But in our lifetimes, this is the biggest sustained illusion that I have ever seen. That’s what’s so frustrating about it.

See, this is where common sense becomes an enemy. You would think that a simple majority of the American people would have figured out this out, after having been lied to for two and a half years about Trump colluding with Russia, with there being no evidence for it at all because it didn’t happen. It’s not that there’s evidence they couldn’t find. It didn’t happen.

That whole effort to link Trump to Russia blew up in their face, as I say, like they are Wile E. Coyote. You would think after just that that the American people would have figured this out and then would become suspicious of the next discovery.

Stormy Daniels didn’t pan out. Michael Cohen didn’t pan out. Michael Avenatti didn’t pan out. Kavanaugh thing didn’t pan out. You would think the American public would say, “Wait a minute. I think it’s time maybe we start doubting you people.” But can I give you the biggest contraindicator to that? It’s like Steve Bannon said, wait ’til Millennials find out how great capitalism is.

Steve Bannon said that Trump’s economy is gonna do so well — he said this two, three-years ago — it’s gonna do so well, it’s gonna be so great, Capitalism’s superiority is gonna be on display. Millennials will have no choice but than to see it, to recognize it, and to support it. And yet what?

Seventy of Millennials prefer socialism, they say, and 30% are really intrigued by communism. So wait. If real life experience, if a roaring economy, if rising wages, if low unemployment, record low unemployment with African-Americans and Hispanics, if that reality, if living it, if living the reality does not affect public opinion, then what does?

And here is another serious question. In three years, the Trump administration has literally, factually — no matter how you slice it — done more for the African-American population of this country than the Democrat Party has in 50 years. Yet 90% of African-Americans are going to vote for the Democrat in 2020. How does that square? And it’s not just 2-1/2 years, three years of Trump. Fifty years of empty promises, 50 years of the Democrat Party promising this, to fix that, to end racism, to end discrimination, to let the incarcerated unfairly out of jail.

The Democrats have failed miserably to improve life and circumstances for African-Americans, and yet they still vote for Democrats. Now, you would think Bannon would be right. You’d think that living the life, living the reality would then permeate and force people to change their minds and hopefully consider it. But it doesn’t. Not all the time. It doesn’t happen nearly enough. So you would think that a simple majority would have figured out the Democrat-media game. There’s nothing. Trump has done nothing impeachable.

They can’t find a crime. There isn’t one. And of the stated allegations — starting with Trump-Russia collusion on through Avenatti, on through Cohen, on through Kavanaugh, now the Ukraine business, whatever it is, an endless stream of these things — not a single, not a single one of these things has borne fruit. And yet we have polling data which say 49% to 51% of the American people want Trump impeached and removed from office. Hasn’t done anything. In other words, the Democrats, they get to fail.

They get to bomb out with everything while the public seemingly believes each new discovery that the Democrats and the media claim to make — or not.  Maybe, ladies and gentlemen, a majority has figured this out and all of the polling is as illusory and phony as all of these phantom charges.  Could it be that we’re living in a gigantic Democrat illusion that many people have figured out, but nobody knows it because the polling data doesn’t represent it?

After all, what is polling data?  I submit to you that polling data cannot be an absolute reputation of public opinion based on the public thinking about things and coming up with an opinion or conclusion.  Public opinion polling is an attempt to shape public opinion, and what is it that shapes public opinion more than anything?  Wanting to be with the majority.  Wanting to be like the smart people.  If liberalism is presented as the belief system of the cool kids — the smart people, the intellectuals, the what have you — then a lot of people are gonna say that’s what they like.

A lot of people are gonna say that’s what they think.  I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about all this over the weekend, a lot of thinking about how we are manipulated beyond anybody’s ability to even keep track of it.  Well, not anybody’s.  I am able to keep track of it and that’s part of what I am attempting to share with you here now.  My point is I don’t think any of these polls, as they are presented, contain any reality.  But if you dig into the polls, they do.  For example, the presidential election is not a national election.

It’s a series of state elections, and you add ’em all up in the Electoral College.  So looking at a national poll for the presidency doesn’t tell you anything.  So they have a poll out there today that Hillary “beats” Trump in another presidential race!  No, they don’t.  They have a poll that suggests that if the presidency were the result of a popular vote or popular poll, that maybe.  But it doesn’t say that at all.  If you get into the state-by-state polls of these polls that they report nationally, you’ll find Trump is sitting pretty.

You’ll find the Democrats are in trouble, if you look at it state by state, battleground by battleground, but they don’t tell you that.  And how many members of the public dig into it to find out?  They don’t.  Who’s got time?  People’s lives do not include the kind of time we make for ourselves here because this is our life.  But it’s not most people’s.  They just see “Hillary tied for the lead,” “Biden leading Trump by 12!”  It’s all an illusion.  I’ll tell you what fired me up on this, what made me start thinking.

I got an email from a friend, and it’s got screen grab here from Fox News.  It’s a screen grab of a Fox News poll, and it is “Issues Extremely Important to Voters in 2020,” and here are the results.  This is the Fox News poll.  They went out and asked people, “What are the issues really, really important to you?”  Top of the heap is health care, 53%.  Economy, second place, 52%.  Guns, 44%.  Oh, have we got a story for you out of Florida about guns! Oh! It’s a great example how they ain’t taking our guns from us, bro.  They are not taking our guns from us.

Just hang on.  I can’t do everything here in the opening monologue.  I can see I’ve got you hooked in there.  All of this is a hook because all this is fascinating.  This is boring stuff in the mouths of most people, but in my mouth, you want in on it.  In third place, guns.  Fourth place, immigration, 43%.  Terrorism, 42%.  So we’ll review.  The Fox News poll of “issues extremely important” to 2020 voters:  Health care, 53%.  Immigration, 43%.  Terrorism, 42%.  If those are the extremely important issues to 2020 voters, then somebody explain to me how Trump is not way ahead in the polls.

Because under Trump, drug prices are down 28%. There’s a reduction in Medicare premiums. The economy has not been better in decades.  Guns? (chuckles) Maude Behar is out on The View today.  She said Beto made one mistake.  He should have waited ’til after he got elected to tell everybody that he was gonna take guns their away from ’em.  She’s being very honest.  Lie to the American people.  That’s what Democrats have to do: Lie to the American people!

Beto made the same mistake that Walter F. Mondull made in 1984 promising to raise people’s taxes.  The Democrats… The guns issue, by the way, is one of the areas (if I may be so bold) that the country is turning conservative.  Abortion may be the next.  But we gotta make that happen in more than just two issues, two areas.  Immigration?  Immigration is important to 43%? Tell me who in the world owns that issue besides Donald Trump.  Terrorism?  Well, we just wiped out Bakr Ul Absahib Skyhook Baghdadi.  He’s gone.

The ISIS guy’s gone.

The second in command’s gone.

This is all Trump!  This is all Trump.  These the issues extremely important to 2020 voters; and yet in every poll, including the Fox poll, Trump is losing.  Somebody explain this to me.  Well, that’s what I just did in the opening monologue.  The polls are not really reflecting public opinion.  They are reflecting what people see in the media, and I’m get into this a little bit more as the program unfolds, ’cause it’s really crucial, because, folks, there’s nothing. There isn’t a single fact! I don’t care if it’s Mueller, if it’s Schiff, if it’s Pelosi, if it’s Kavanaugh, whatever.

They don’t have anything.

They never have had anything real.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Speaking of these polls, this is a carryover from the first hour.  Ladies and gentlemen, I got poll after poll after poll, there are three polls today.  We have an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.  We have a Fox News poll.  We have an AP poll.  All three of these polls say 49% want Trump impeached and removed — and one of them says, 51% or 52% want Trump impeached or removed.

These polls also say that Donald Trump is losing to Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.  But that’s meaningless, because we don’t have national presidential elections, and so a national poll is irrelevant!  If you take these polls and you dig into them and go state by state, then Trump is kicking butt in the Electoral College states that he needs to win!  NBC/Wall Street Journal: “49% Want to See Trump Impeached and Removed from Office.”

But! If you dig deep, you know what you’ll find? NBC found that 92% of Republicans oppose removing Trump from office! Well, then, the rest of it doesn’t matter. With 92% of Republicans not wanting Trump removed, he’s not going anywhere because the Republicans are never gonna vote to convict or to even impeach.

Forty-five percent approve of the job Trump’s doing. Wait, wait. 45? I thought it was 42. Yeah, he’s up two or three points in this poll in approval. They’re hiding it behind this magic number 49% say they want him impeached, 92% of Republicans do not. And 91% of Republicans approve of the job he’s doing. And you know what else? These numbers are unchanged from last month and over the last year.

In other words, this coordinated, condensed media effort to destroy Donald Trump has not moved the polling an iota! A year ago, 49% wanted him impeached. Today 49% — magic, isn’t it? Not a shred of movement either in his approval rating or the impeach-and-remove rating. Not a shred of movement in these three polls.

How do you explain that, Myrtle? For crying out loud, the media’s done nothing but burn Trump at the stake here for the past 12 months. How in the hell can his poll numbers not have gotten worse? But they haven’t. Which tells me that they’re even better than what they are publishing.

But now, ladies and gentlemen, let’s dig deep. New York Times: National preference polls for the presidency are interesting to help fundraising but they are meaningless unless there is a landslide that is going to happen. Because it is state polls that count since we still elect presidents by the Electoral College vote. I’m gonna tell you this. If I was a Democrat one year out from a national election, if I saw this poll, no less by the New York Times, it would terrify me. It would panic me. And I suspect they know this. That’s why they’re trying to impeach.

They can’t defeat this man in the election, folks. Their polling data shows it! Biden is barely ahead. Elizabeth Warren, I saw it on TV today. Elizabeth Warren’s toast because of this Medicare for All plan. By the way — just a little observation here — Democrats are spending so much time on health care plans: Medicare for All, Medicare for All Plus your Dog, Medicare for All Plus your Guppy. It’s gonna cost $52 trillion dollars, 52 trillion!

Isn’t there an obvious question? What happened to Obamacare? I thought Obamacare was the answer. Pardon me for screaming here. I’m not really screaming. It’s your compression making it sound that way. But why all this focus on health care after Obamacare? Every damn one of these Democrats supported it. Every one of these senators voted for it. But now it’s like we didn’t even do it because whatever it did made things so bad. Actually, the truth is this is part of the plan.

If you recall, I, El Rushbo, told you, Obamacare was designed not to work. Obamacare was sold as some grandiose thing: you keep your plan, keep your doctor, reduce your premium, it’s magic. But then these Republicans get in there and big businesses and they thwart it and so the solution, we got go all in on single payer. That’s it. We gotta go government-run from top to bottom, beginning to end. This is part of the plan. The Obamacare plan was designed to get screwed up, setting up people like Fauxcahontas and others coming along, Crazy Bernie, demanding government-run health care.

But now they put their price tag, $32 trillion, 52 trillion. Did you see, Snerdley, under Fauxcahontas’ plan, Jeff Bezos’ annual tax, annual income tax would be up seven billion! Jeff Bezos tax rate, under Fauxcahontas’ Medicare for All plan and her tax plan to pay for it, Jeff Bezos’ income tax will go up $7 billion. Now, how many years do you think Bezos is gonna pay that before he puts Fauxcahontas on one of his ships to Mars? Seven billion! And then let’s go over to Gates and Buffett and all these other wizards of smart and ask ’em how long they gonna pay that.

When she actually announced $32 trillion over 10 years, she should have been laughed out of whatever room she was in, including by the media. It’s just absurd. I don’t think we have ever printed $32 trillion dollars’ worth of money! Jeez, folks, it isn’t possible! It’s not possible to raise that kind of money in 10 years with taxes alone on anybody!

Do you know how much, a trillion is 1,000 billion. We don’t have a trillionaire. I think the richest billionaire is, what, $84 billion. Not even close. Confiscate everything he’s got and you’re not even 1% of the way to $32 trillion! Anyway, she’s toast. I mean, everybody is talking about it on TV, so it must be true.

I want to get back to this New York Times poll before time runs out. ‘Cause if you go to this poll state by state, it’s an entirely different picture than the New York Times poll that shows Biden or Hillary beating Trump. Biden is barely ahead. I think Biden cannot win. He’s gonna be beaten like a drum. He’s only ahead now because the Democrats don’t have anybody whose normal. Plugs seems safe and familiar. Except it’s dangerous to bring young women anywhere near Plugs. He may not be able to contain himself. And if it ends up on video, it’s gonna be trouble. I mean, they even say in this poll that Biden beats Trump in Florida. There is no way.

But, anyway, “Signs that the president’s advantage in the Electoral College has persisted or even increased since 2016.” That’s the New York Times headline. Not for the overall poll story, but for the state-by-state analysis, which I guarantee you they’re not gonna read at Zabar’s. The people on the Upper West Side that read the Times are not gonna see this story. If they do, they’re gonna slash their wrists.

Headline says it all: “Signs that the president’s advantage in the Electoral College has persisted or even increased since 2016 — Despite low national approval ratings and the specter of impeachment, President Trump remains highly competitive in the battleground states likeliest to decide his re-election, according to a set of new surveys from The New York Times Upshot and Siena College.”

Bottom line, state by state, Trump wins bigger than he won in 2016. And yet here come all these polls, 49% want Trump impeached and gone, 52% want Trump impeached and gone, Biden beating Trump by 12, Hillary beating Trump by five. No. That’s not what is actually happening. It’s all, folks, it’s a grand, grand illusion.


Related Links