RUSH: Let’s go to the audio sound bites of Trump and the press conference from last night. I just want you to hear some of this because it was really good. It was reasonable, reasoned. It was not histrionic. There was no attempt to scare anybody. It was the exact opposite. It was a really good effort to calm everybody down. One of the questions, “Mr. President, the CDC said yesterday they believe it’s inevitable the virus will spread to the U.S., and it’s not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when.’ Do you agree with that?”

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t think it’s inevitable. It probably will; it possibly will. It could be at a very small level or it could be at a larger level. Whatever happens, we’re totally prepared. We have the best people in the world. Now, it may get bigger. It may get a little bigger, may not get bigger at all. We’ll see what happens. But regardless of what happens, we’re totally prepared.

RUSH: He didn’t take the bait, because that question is based on Rosenstein’s sister two days ago at the CDC saying (summarized), “Aw, it’s not a question of ‘if.’ It’s only a question of ‘when’! We’re gonna have to kick kids out of school, uh, and they’re gonna have to go to school by teleconference, FaceTime, and you’re not gonna be able to go to the office. You’re gonna have to go to the office and communicate with your boss at the office via FaceTime.

“You can’t go. That’s what we’re gonna have to do.” So it was Rosenstein’s sister, obviously somebody that doesn’t like Trump, setting him up. They questioned the question. “So, do you disagree with CDC?” “No, I don’t have a problem. No, no. May get bad. May not get bad. We don’t know.” He didn’t fall for it. That made them mad, the fact that Trump didn’t fall for their trap. So then Chip Reid… This is when Kathryn and I were watching this together.

We looked at each other, we just smiled, and we started laughing. We said, “There’s nobody like this guy.” Chip Reid, CBS White House correspondent said, “The stock market’s taken a big hit over the last few days. What can you do about that — and if the CDC is right in saying the spread’s ‘inevitable,’ are you gonna be able to deal with the stock market issues and the economy issues for some time to come?”

THE PRESIDENT: I think they look at people that you watched debating last night and they say, “If there’s even a possibility that can happen…” I think it really takes a hit because of that, and it certainly took a hit because of this — and I understand that also because of supply chains and various other things did and people coming in. But I think the stock market will recover.

RUSH: You hear what he said? He blamed the stock market crumbling on a Democrat debate. He said (paraphrased), “Those Looney Tunes, anybody watching that would be scared out of their wits if these people happen to win! I can understand the market plummeting because of that.” Just (buzzer)! “Do you disagree with the CDC? Do you think the economy is gonna go in the tank and it’s gonna be your fault?” “Nah, I think the Democrats are responsible for it,” and of course, the reporter, Chip Reid, is just sitting there frustrated as he could be.

You could see it all over his face. They think they’re smarter than Trump, they think they’ve entrapped Trump, and Trump comes back and says something to ’em they haven’t even expected. The next bite’s when he called Pelosi “incompetent.” An unidentified reporter said, “Mr. President, Mr. President, what is your response to Speaker Pelosi who said earlier today that you don’t know what you’re talking about with the coronavirus? I’m also wondering if you want to address critics who say that you can’t be trusted, what your administration is saying.”

THE PRESIDENT: I think Speaker Pelosi’s incompetent. She lost the Congress once. I think she’s gonna lose it again. She lifted my poll numbers up 10 points. I never thought that I would see that so quickly and so easily. I’m leading everybody. We’re doing great. I don’t want to do that way. It’s almost unfair if you think about it. But I think she’s incompetent and I think she’s not thinking about the country. And instead of making a statement like that, where I’ve been beating her routinely at everything, instead of making a statement like that, she should be saying we have to work together.

RUSH: Yeah, exactly. But that’s not what they’re doing. You heard it in this idiot question. How about this question. “Mr. President, what’s your response to Pelosi who said today you don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t know what you’re talking about? I’m also wondering if you want to address critics who say you can’t be trusted with what your administration is saying?”

Trump, calm, cool, collected: “I think Pelosi’s incompetent. I never knew somebody could cause my approval numbers to go up so fast. Never thought I’d ever see that. She lost Congress once. She’s gonna lose Congress again.” These reporters are fuming. They are livid.

Now, let’s get some prepress conference comments on our own beloved Special Report with Bret Baier. Mara Liasson from NPR, who whenever I see her in person, she’s so nice to me, she’s so sweet. She even tells me that she thought things I said about Hillary Clinton were funny. But here she is last night talking about the coronavirus before Trump’s press conference.

LIASSON: A lot of people are very confused. What is this virus, how dangerous is it, what do they need to do to prevent it, is there a test, is there a vaccine? I mean, there’s a lot of questions around this. And there’s a lot of conflicting messages. We’ve heard from the administration, it’s very scary, or as the president said the other day, everything’s fine. Rush Limbaugh called it no more than a common cold. So he needs to clarify what this disease is and what people need to do about it.

RUSH: Once again — folks, don’t misunderstand. I’m not putting myself down. Do not misunderstand. What does it matter to them what a guy on the radio is saying about this? The very fact they’re mentioning me is evidence of how they are politicizing it. I said it’s no more than the common cold in terms of the universe. When I said this 53 Americans had coronavirus, or 57. Now it’s up to 60.

It’s the common cold in terms of how widespread it is. There’s no reason to panic, was my point. So because I said it’s nothing different than a common cold, “The president has a duty to correct Rush Limbaugh and make the American people understand exactly what’s going on.” No, no, no, folks, don’t misunderstand now. I’m asking the question rhetorically, what difference does it make what a guy on the radio says?

Why quote me? How many other people are out there talking about this? But they zero in on me, old El Rushbo. Why do you think that is, Snerdley? (interruption) Why do you think it is? (interruption) No, I don’t know why it is. You tell me why you think it is. (interruption) It’s easy. It is easy.

They think I am a way to galvanize opposition to Trump. They think they have so created hatred and distrust, dislike for me that whatever they say I say, people automatically reject it. People that don’t listen to my program and so forth. (interruption) Why don’t they say something like, Mara Liasson of NPR, she’s on Fox, Bret Baier, why doesn’t she say something like, “You know, Michael Strahan on Good Morning America said.” Why is it always me?

It’s never Gayle King on CBS said. And they say stupid stuff on those shows every day. Uh, Hoda Kotb said, you never hear what Hoda Kotb said. (interruption) Well, I know those people don’t go against the grain like I do, but they still never quote it. I’ll guarantee if Hoda Kotb said there’s nothing to worry about here, folks, it’s no more than the common cold, they wouldn’t quote her saying it. How’d they even find out I said it? They don’t listen here, so how did they find out I said it? We know how they find out about it.

Let’s see. We got one more of those. This is on CNN Newsroom today, John Vause talking to Democrat strategist Caroline Heldman. “The thing I keep thinking about is potentially this is a huge problem for Donald Trump.” Yep, the coronavirus. You are the people that can’t even count the votes in Iowa, and you think this a problem for Donald Trump. “At the same time, though, do Democrats have to be careful in how they use this sort of health emergency to attack the president?”

HELDMAN: I actually think this is a very good opening for Democrats. And, unfortunately, it’s become political, right? When you have Rush Limbaugh, for example, saying that the coronavirus is like the common cold and it’s being used against Donald Trump. At the end of the day, this shouldn’t be political, but Donald Trump’s response has been so backwards on this that I think it’s an opening for Democrats

RUSH: What response? He hadn’t even responded yet by the time you people were saying this. All you could do was talk about me. You people politicized this first by saying this stuff about Trump being incompetent and unable to deal with it. You people know exactly what this is. You’re so excited, you can’t see straight. This is the next Russia collusion. This the next Mueller report. This is the next Ukraine phone call. This is the next impeachment. You pathetic bunch of failures in terms of getting Trump.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Richard in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Welcome, sir. Great to have you with us on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thanks for taking my call.

RUSH: You bet.

CALLER: May God bless you and keep you always.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: I just wanted to say that there’s one thing that is more dangerous and more contagious in humans than any bone disease, and that is panic. Because when people panic, they cease logical thought, and they make horrible decisions. And I just wanted to thank you as the mayor of Realville and America’s Real Anchorman for being a voice of calm, reason, thoughtful reflection in helping people keep all of this in perspective.

RUSH: I am so happy that you perceive what I’m doing here that way, because, I mean, I get worked up when I talk about the Democrats and their attempts to politicize this. I mean, what the hell else is it when the media says this could be an opening for the Democrats, what the hell does that mean? See, I’m getting worked up about this. I’m not calm, cool, reasoned ’cause I’m ticked off about it.

When the Drive-By Media — and they know who they are — talk about this is an opening for the Democrats? An opening for the Democrats to do what? You mean a calamitous, potential pandemic is an opening for the Democrats? Like Hurricane Katrina, which did great damage to New Orleans, was an opening for the Democrats. Is that how we want to see the Democrats? The Democrats prosper when people suffer, when people are sick, when there is damage going on to the economy, that’s when the Democrats suffer?

Is that what you people in the media want the Democrats to be known for, that that’s an opening for the Democrats is the American people sick and suffering? Because it isn’t Donald Trump that’s gonna get sick and suffer. It’s the American people that are gonna get this disease, and they’re gonna be sick and they’re gonna suffer, and you’re telling me that that is an opening for the Democrats and then you accuse me of politicizing this?

You people in the media ought to damn well be ashamed. You are so possessed with hatred for Donald Trump that you have lost all compassion, you’ve lost all ability to reason, you have lost all ability to think rationally. All you can see is killing the political fortunes of Donald Trump. That’s all you can see. And so the American people getting sick, a pandemic around the world is an opening for the Democrats.

You ought to go ask Pelosi, “Madam Pelosi, do you want to be seen as a party benefiting from the sickness of the American people? Because the media has claimed that this is an opening for you.”

“Hey, smiling, crying Chuck Schumer. Are you happy to be a Democrat known to benefit when the American people get sick?” You people in the media need to go ask these people if they see it the way you are portraying it about them. This is an opening for the Democrats, a potential pandemic, a potential deadly virus is an opening for the Democrats. How the hell does that work?

How is it that potentially hundreds of thousands of people getting sick, how is that an opening for the Democrats? How does that work? Oh, it works because maybe the media and the Democrats can blame it on Donald Trump or claim that Donald Trump didn’t know how to stop it, as though people who can’t even count their own freaking votes in Iowa know how to fix this and stop it. So, yeah, it ticks me off, folks, especially when they make up a bunch of garbage about how I’m the one politicizing it. Thanks for the call out there.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay, Frank in Troy, Michigan. You are next. Great to have with us, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Hello. It’s an honor to talk to you. I was wondering how you thought the COVID-19 virus is going to affect the 2020 election because you’ve got a mass of people standing in line in close proximity to vote and no inoculations until about a year and a half out.

RUSH: “No inoculation until about a year and a half…” Well, I’ll tell you… (sigh) Look, I could tell you what I think, but you ought to disregard it ’cause I’m not a medical person. I’m not in the CDC. I’m not in the DCC. Not in the CDD. Not at the NIH. I’m not at the HIV. But I think it’s a virus, and it’s gonna have a seasonal life span. I don’t see it as being any more prevalent than the flu or anything else that is seasonal. I don’t know. Do people not go to vote because of the flu? Do they not go vote because of the common cold?

Do they not go vote for any airborne virus? Now, if it becomes a pandemic — if what the media’s hoping for, that millions get sick so they can blame it on Trump — then all bets are off. You know what they’ve done in Japan? Japan has canceled school. They closed school. They’ve closed every school in Japan. The Japan professional baseball season still has 70 games to go. They are closing the stadiums. They’re playing the games, but no fans are allowed to go.

It will be on TV, I assume, but the stadiums are gonna be empty. Japan professional baseball. So Japan… If that kind of thing were to happen here, then by the time you get to November and elections and whether or not people stand in line…? There will not be a vaccine by then. That is more than likely. I mean, the clinical human trials will barely have begun by then, I would think.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: There’s one thing I didn’t get to today that I’ll tease here, we’ll do tomorrow, and that is Trump’s use of the word “inevitable.” He said yesterday in his press conference, “Nothing is inevitable,” and I think that is such a huge insight into who he is and why he’s so successful. You know, “inevitable” is fatalistic.

When people use the word “inevitable,” it’s always about something bad — and Trump believes that things can be fixed. He thinks things can be solved, that nothing is inevitable, and I want to expand on this tomorrow because I think it’s an insight into who he is. The Democrats have really set themselves up, because if there’s no major outbreak in this country, who looks bad?