RUSH: This is the first time we’ve had a chance to speak since the South Carolina primary, which happened on Saturday. And I think this is itself an object lesson in how you ought to be paying no attention to the media whatsoever.

Can we go back just to Friday? Let’s go back to Thursday last week. In fact, pick a day. Go back to any day last week. And what was the media theme? The media theme was that Biden is finished. And, by the way, they all conceded last week that Biden was gonna win South Carolina. He had gotten the endorsement of James Clyburn, the father of Mignon Clyburn, the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucasians in the House of Representatives.

And even after giving the endorsement, Clyburn said, “But we’re gonna have to retool this campaign,” admitting that Plugs’ campaign is an abject joke and in a dismal state. But my point is — I really want to zero in on this — everybody knew Plugs was gonna win. The polling data, everybody in the media thought Plugs was gonna win South Carolina. Two-thirds of the electorate’s African-American, he was gonna get ’em. Then after he got the Clyburn endorsement, they all thought he was gonna win, right? And even at that it was over for him, right? Remember?

Crazy Bernie was going to amass an unsurmountable delegate lead. He’s gonna get 415 delegates in California. Plugs doesn’t have a prayer when you look at the delegate count. Even after winning, even if — this is before — even if he wins South Carolina. My point is, go back any day — Cookie, randomly pick a day last week and give me any news report talking about the dismal state of the Plugs campaign and how it was pretty much over no matter what happens in South Carolina. You don’t have to. I’m just saying if it’s readily available and easy, do it.

It’s stunning because they all knew and were predicting that Joe Biden was going to win South Carolina but that that didn’t matter, that it was over for Joe. Then what happened? Well, then Plugs wins South Carolina, like they all said was gonna happen, except all of a sudden now Plugs is back in it. All of a sudden Plugs is a serious contender. All of a sudden Crazy Bernie’s in deep doo-doo. All of a sudden Plugs may have insurmountable momentum. All of a sudden it’s Biden’s race to lose again.

How does this happen? It is not Biden’s race to lose. Now, we all know that the Democrat establishment doesn’t want Crazy Bernie to be the nominee. We know that. And that, I think, is what explains the Drive-By Media. But it was incoherent. They predicted exactly what happened, and all during the week, didn’t matter what happened, Joe Biden was finished. He was gaffe-prone.

Hell, yesterday, did you see he was on with Chris Matthews yesterday. Chris Matthews, by the way, is invisible. You know, nobody can find him. The #MeToo movement, he may be in one of Hillary’s testicle lockboxes out there with a double padlock on it ’cause nobody can find the guy. Have you seen him? Nobody knows where he is. He’s not visiting Harvey Weinstein, we know that.

So, anyway, Plugs is on with Chris Wallace, Fox News Sunday, and when it’s over, what does Plugs do? He says, “Thanks, Chuck.” He thinks he’s on with Chuck Todd. “Thanks, Chuck. Stand up, Chuck! Let everybody see you, Chuck.” And Wallace corrected him. “No, no. I’m Chris Wallace. Who are you thinking of? Chuck? Did you think of the guy in wheelchair can’t stand up or are you thinking of Chuck Todd? Anyway, Plugs didn’t know where he was. I think it is just stunning.

You go back last week, folks, and Plugs was buried.

They knew he was gonna win the South Carolina primary; it didn’t matter. Then he goes and wins it, and now everything’s upside down. Now all of a sudden, “Plugs is in the driver’s seat. Plugs has got the inside angle to the job. Plugs is stunning and shocking everybody!” He didn’t stun and shock anybody. He did what he was predicted he was gonna do. Everybody knew he was gonna win South Carolina.

But last week it didn’t matter. Then he does, and you know what they say, “Well, look at the size of the victory.” Well, there’s nothing surprising about the size of the victory. Everybody knew what was gonna happen in South Carolina, and you still had the guy written off. And then he goes on and wins it like everybody knew was gonna, and then all of a sudden this race is turned upside down?

Then Mayor Pete decides to quit. And you know why Mayor Pete quit? Because they got him on the phone with Barack Hussein O. Yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen. They got Mayor Pete on the phone with Obama. Let me get the story here because everybody’s wondering, why did Pete quit Sunday? What does this mean? Well, there’s a New York Times story. I have it right here.

The Times article, I guess, is today. It says, “Mr. Buttigieg talked with Mr. Biden and former President Barack [Hussein O] on Sunday night, according to a Democratic official familiar with the conversations. Mr. Biden asked for Mr. Buttigieg’s support and the former mayor indicated he would consider the request. Mr. Buttigieg wants to sleep on the decision, he told aides, some of whom believe he should move quickly to endorse Mr. Biden,” Plugs.

Now, also, you know, Biden wants Klobuchar and Warren to stay in. He doesn’t want them quitting because he’s afraid that their delegates might end up with Crazy Bernie. So he wants them to stay in to forestall Crazy Bernie amassing delegates, but he wanted Mayor Pete out of there. “Mr. Obama did not specifically encourage Mr. Buttigieg to endorse Mr. Biden, said the official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations.”

Well… (Snort!) I doubt that Obama would actually come out and say so, but I doubt that he left any confusion in Mr. Buttigieg’s mind what he wanted. It’s kind of like, you know, when they used to have Bill Clinton call people like Bob Torricelli or Andrew Cuomo. (impression) “Hey, Bob! (chuckles) Hey, hey, what’s happening, buddy? You know that stuff you stole? You got caught. Look, I don’t care what you do, but I just gotta tell you if you don’t get out of there? (chuckles) You like being able to walk, Bob?

“We all like to walk like go for walks in the park. You need to think about whether or not you’re gonna continue to like that. Do what you want.” That’s kind of the way these things happen, once you get to the Mafia level of these political parties. “Mr. Obama did not specifically encourage Mr. Buttigieg to endorse Mr. Biden… But Mr. Obama did note that Mr. Buttigieg has considerable leverage at the moment and should think about how best to use it.”

See? So you know what happened in there on this meeting on this phone call. They got Mayor Pete in there and they told him, “Man, your future is bright. Look at what you did. You laid down out there that you’re gay, you got your husband, you’re kissing him on the stage; you got away with it. Everything’s fine. You’re young. It’s not your time. We’re gonna get rid of Trump; we’re gonna get rid of Plugs.

“We’re gonna get rid of these old guys in the Democrat Party like Plugs and Crazy Bernie and it’s gonna be your time in eight years, four years, you never know. But you gotta do the right thing right now, Mayor Pete,” and Mayor Pete’s sitting there saying, “Before all this started, I was an anonymous mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Now look at me. The former president, leader the Democrat cares about what I’m gonna do.”

So there’s no question. We just don’t know specifically what Buttigieg was offered to get out of the race. We don’t know what he was offered if he does end up endorsing him. Has he endorsed Plugs yet or not? Has he endorsed anybody yet? That may be, and if it does then we know that Mayor Pete has been promised something, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s how political parties operate.

I’m just curious what it is, for my own edification. But, folks, really, I can’t… I was telling you some people at lunch yesterday who were asking me, “So is it Biden back in it” This is an example of how everybody falls for this stuff. “Is Biden back in it?” See, they had him buried last week, he was finished. It was done, even though he was gonna win South Carolina, ’cause it didn’t matter.

They all were telling the truth last week, by the way. It doesn’t matter if he wins South Carolina. Bernie Sanders was not expected to win South Carolina, so it’s no great shock that he didn’t. He wasn’t expected to carry a lot of delegates out of South Carolina, so it’s no shock that he didn’t, and yet they’re acting like Plugs’ win was something that came out of left field that nobody saw, “Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What does this do to shake up the…?”

It does nothing to shake it up. It doesn’t have anything to do with Bernie Sanders’ delegate lead. The mathematics is the mathematics, and there is no way Joe Biden is gonna catch him. And yet the media does this gigantic 180 making it look like Plugs had some sort of magic event that nobody was expecting when everybody was expecting it. I guarantee you that the Democrats want Mayor Pete’s…

Everybody that was gonna vote for him tomorrow. They want those votes now to go to Biden — and, you know, Trump tweeted. Trump tweeted. I think Trump is right. I think never discount Trump’s political analysis. Trump tweeted that this is now the official beginning of the Democrat Party and the 2020 attempt to take out Bernie Sanders, and that’s why the media was going batty and bonkers last week or Saturday after Plugs’ win.

‘Cause it doesn’t mean anything, and yet they’re acting like, “The whole race got a shock. Everything’s turned upside down! Plugs is now the front runner!” He’s not, and there’s no way the math works for Joe Biden. There’s literally no way that he can overtake Bernie Sanders. He just can’t. It’s not gonna happen. The math is the math.

Bernie’s lead after tomorrow, after Super Tuesday and those 415 delegates in California… It’s not winner-take-all, but Bernie’s gonna get the lion’s share of ’em. So they get Mayor Pete to quit; they’re hoping to get Mayor Pete’s lame, little amount of votes over to Plugs. I think Trump’s right. The official beginning of the beheading, the political beheading of Bernie Sanders has now officially begun.

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RUSH: Here’s an example. This is the New York Times — da-da-da-da-da — and this is February 26. So five days ago. Essentially five days. Headline: “Why Joe Biden Lags in Super Tuesday States — Joseph R. Biden Jr. is counting on a victory in South Carolina to revive his candidacy. But a daunting challenge awaits next week in states where he has limited resources,” and we skip forward to a paragraph fairly early on in the story. Ready for this?

“Mr. Biden is counting on a win in the South Carolina primary on Saturday to help position him as the leading moderate challenger to Mr. Sanders, after three straight losses shredded Mr. Biden’s status as the onetime front-runner. But even if he succeeds in South Carolina, his lack of resources and thin campaign organization in California and other states … present a daunting challenge to a candidacy already on precarious footing.”

Okay. So they knew he was gonna win. They knew that if he won, it didn’t mean anything because he has nowhere to go after South Carolina. Now he wins and all of a sudden, all of this — no resources, nowhere to go, all that stuff — is now water under the bridge, and all of a sudden Plugs could go all the way after winning in South Carolina. Come on, folks! How stupid do they think we are?

They think we’re pretty stupid. It means that every story the Drive-By Media ran last week on the Democrat campaign is meaningless. It’s pointless. They lied through their teeth to you. They created false expectations, and they did it on purpose. They purposely downplayed the Biden… Remember, the media is part of the Democrat establishment, and they want Bernie Sanders gone.

They want Bernie gone so fast — and it’s not because they disagree with Bernie. Again, you must understand this, folks. The only reason they want Bernie gone is ’cause they think he’s gonna lose in a McGovern-type landslide. That’s the only reason. It may not even be personal. They just think he’s gonna lose. They don’t disagree with him on policy. They just think he’s got no prayer against Trump.

So last week it’s Biden, and it’s forlorn, and Biden’s got nowhere to go and (crying), “Poor Biden, he gave it everything he’s got for nothing! There’s just nothing in the tank,” and then he wins South Carolina. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God,” they say. “Joe Biden has reviving his campaign. He’s the front runner!” They’re playing you. They’re trying to make you believe that Biden’s come out of nowhere and is shaking up the race.

When all he did was what everybody knew he was gonna do: Win the black vote in South Carolina because James Clyburn fixed it. James Clyburn made sure the black vote was gonna go… Well, the black vote’s gonna vote however Clyburn said. Clyburn went out there and endorsed Plugs, and that’s that. I’m telling you, nothing has changed. Bernie Sanders’ delegate count dwarfs Biden’s. There’s no way Biden can catch up to him no matter what.

That’s why the games have begun. That’s why the official political decapitation of Bernie Sanders has begun with Pete Buttigieg getting out of the race. And you Sanders supporters, I’m trying to help you here. You probably know it as well as I do what is ahead for your guy. They did it to him in 2016. They’re gonna try to do it again this year. Finding out where Chris Matthews is is your first step to getting to the bottom of this.

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RUSH: I have more evidence, more evidence. Do not doubt me. When it comes to media analysis and when it comes to telling you what the left is — what they’re saying, what they mean, what they’re going to do — do not doubt me. So just to refresh, you’re all being played. Last week Joe Biden, he was finished, even if he wins South Carolina.

They knew he was gonna win South Carolina, but it wasn’t gonna matter. They all said, “Too little, too late. He can’t go out and win one primary when Crazy Bernie’s rackin’ up delegates like this and have any hope.” Then he wins and all of a sudden, all that’s out the window? All of a sudden, he’s the frontrunner?

Here. I want to go back and show you how they had him buried last week. This was all by design ’cause they knew he was gonna win, so they wanted to set up this big win as all of a sudden he has been reborn. “Oh, my God! The race has been turned upside down. Oh, my God. It could be Plugs!” You and me, we were all played, and here’s an example of how. Here’s Van Jones Friday on CNN…

JONES: The problem is a former vice president — two-term vice president, Obama’s guy — should be just sucking in money. He’s broke. That shows there’s a lack of enthusiasm not just at the grassroots level where he needed that, but also at the top. And so, it’s very, very hard to understand the rationale of the Biden candidacy as a campaign. Uh, he doesn’t have the grassroots enthusiasm. He’s not filling stadiums like Bernie Sanders. He’s not vacuuming in money from the top. He doesn’t have a grassroots operation. It has just felt like a Dead Man Walking campaign for a long time.

RUSH: That’s a day before the South Carolina primary, folks. That’s the day before: “He’s done, he’s buried, he can’t get any money. Nobody’s donating money. Joe Biden is a dead man walking. Then he goes and win. Van Jones is African-American. He knows the African-American vote South Carolina is gonna line up for Plugs ’cause Clyburn’s given him the endorsement.

They know it’s gonna happen, and they turn right around, and they proclaim, “Oh, my goodness, look at Plugs! He’s totally shaken up the race,” when he hasn’t done anything of the sort. He’s still a dead man walking. If they don’t find a way to somehow politically decapitate Bernie Sanders, Plugs doesn’t have a prayer. He cannot win this. With the mathematics, there’s no way it works.

Let’s go back even further last week. We’ll go back to Monday, a week ago today, the Drive-By Media convinced that Crazy Bernie had it in the bag.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: …if Bernie Sanders is at the top of the ticket, that the Democrats could lose the House.

JAMES CARVILLE: If you’re voting for him because you think he’ll win the election, politically, you’re a fool.

RAHM EMANUEL: This has been tried. We just saw it in Great Britain. Jeremy Corbyn went down dramatically.

NICOLLE WALLACE: …sounds a lot like political suicide.

JOY REID: Democrats need to sober up…

JANE HARMAN: The Democrats won’t win unless the ticket reflects the center.

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON: Democrats that go through the five stages of grief…

CHUCK TODD: Sanders, may have crushed the hopes of a Democratic establishment desperate to stop him.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: The fall of France in the summer of 1940, and the general, Renault, calls up Churchill and says, “It’s over,” and Churchill says, “How can it be? You’ve got the greatest army in Europe. How could it be over?” He said, “It’s over.”

RUSH: That, by the way, is the last public comment anybody has ever heard from Chris Matthews. They can’t find him. They don’t know where he is. If he’s been talking, nobody’s heard it. Comparing Crazy Bernie’s win to the Nazis (laughing) conquering France (laughing) in 1940? Anyway, you hear this. It was over! Bernie had this thing sewn up. It was so bad. “He’s gonna destroy the Democrats down the ballot. Oh, my goodness, it’s over!”

And, see, here comes Plugs winning one really insignificant… In the big scheme of things, winning the South Carolina primary is insignificant in terms of the delegate count, and Plugs doesn’t have any money. That’s why Buttigieg had to get out, to give some of his delegates, some of his money. Folks, we are being played by these people just like… You are being lied to by the media.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Like right there: “Biden Hopes to Reshape Race After Blowout South Carolina Win,” that everybody knew was going to happen. Now they’re saying that Plugs is starting to angle and maneuver around for how to secure a brokered convention and how to win it. You Crazy Bernie supporters, they’re gonna try to drive you insane here, and they may succeed. So you need to pay close attention.