RUSH: President Trump yesterday, a press briefing in the White House pressroom — and he lit it up again.
Before I tell you how, let’s go back. Grab audio sound bite number 14. This is from 2016, debate night in Las Vegas. Donald Trump and Hillary Rodham Clinton, the third and final presidential debate, and during a segment in which Trump claimed that the election was rigged against him, Chris Wallace, moderating the debate, said, “Mr. Trump, do you make the same commitment that you will absolutely accept the result of the election?”
THE PRESIDENT: I will look at it at the time. What I’ve seen — what I’ve seen — is so bad. First of all, the media is so dishonest and so corrupt and the pile-on is so amazing. The New York Times actually wrote an article about it, but they don’t even care. It’s so dishonest. And they’ve poisoned the minds of the voters. But unfortunately for them, I think the voters are seeing through it. I think they’re gonna see through it. We’ll find out on November 8th, but I think they’re going to see through it.
WALLACE: But — but — but, sir, are you saying you’re not prepared now to commit to that principle?
THE PRESIDENT: What I’m saying is that I’ll tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense.
RUSH: So after that answer, do you remember the media went nuts? They were barely able to keep their underwear on, they were so upset. (sputtering) “He just said… He just said that he won’t accept the results of the election! Did you hear that? He just said…” Hillary went nuts. She said, “He’s an open threat to our democracy. He’s an open threat. He just said… He just said he wouldn’t accept the results of the election.”
Now look at what happened. Who is it that didn’t accept the results of the election? It’s Hillary and the Democrats. They still haven’t. You know it. Trump lit ’em up, and he was only being sensible, ’cause here’s what Trump knew. If he had said, “Of course I’ll accept the results,” you know what the headlines that night and the next day would have been. “Trump Concedes Election!”
The media would have taken that as an opportunity to run stories: “Trump expects to lose! Trump acknowledges long-shot win chances! Trump this, Trump that! Trump acknowledges that he will concede the final vote,” blah, blah. That’s what they wanted. That’s why the question was asked and Trump knew it, and he wasn’t gonna give ’em that.
He said, “How can I tell you that? I don’t know what the circumstances are gonna be.” It was a right-on-the-money answer. Well, the same thing happened yesterday in the White House. Playboy, Playboy magazine senior White House correspondent. Man, was this guy rude. This guy was snarky. His name is Brian Karem, and he said:
“Win, lose, or draw in this election, will you commit here today for transferal of power after the election? There’s been rioting in Louisville. There’s been rioting in many cities across the country, your so-called red and blue states. Will you commit to making sure there’s a peaceful transferal of power after the election?”
THE PRESIDENT: We’re gonna have to say what happens. You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster. Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful… There won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation. The ballots are out of control. You know it, and you know who know it better than anybody else? The Democrats know it better than anybody else.
RUSH: He did it again. He didn’t commit to a peaceful transference of power because he didn’t commit to possibly losing. He’s not gonna give them what they want. They’re repeating everything. The purpose of this question, “Will you commit to a peaceful transferal of power…?” If Trump had said, “Well, of course, absolutely,” the headlines would say, “Trump acknowledging polling data!
“Expects to lose and says, ‘No sweat,’ he’ll leave when the time comes.” They wanted that story. They wanted that headline. Trump knows what he’s up against, and he knows who he is up against here, and he’s not gonna give them what they want. He’s already made it clear that he doesn’t expect to lose. I mean, this question is absolutely insulting.
“I don’t expect to lose,” and he actually said that in his own words. He said, “There isn’t gonna be a transfer of power. There’s gonna be a continuation of power.” So they’re all atwitter now. They’re all beside them so they can’t believe it.
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RUSH: Yeah, I just get the biggest kick out of it when Trump does this: “refuses to commit to peaceful transition of power.” He didn’t do that. He did not not commit to “a peaceful transition of power.” The media are claiming that he “refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power.” This time, they didn’t wait for the debates to ask the question.
I wonder if Chris Wallace is ticked off? I wonder if they had that question ready to go and the Playboy reporter decides to ask the question yesterday? Trump said, like he always says, “We’ll have to wait to see what happens. You know that. “I’ve been complaining about the ballots, the mail-in ballots. They’re a disaster.” That’s what he said in 2016.
He went on to suggest if it weren’t for mail-in ballots and voter fraud, there wouldn’t be any transition ’cause he’s gonna win, easily. Grab sound bite number 13. While video of Democrat riots in Louisville fills the screen, David Axelrod, Obama’s guy, says that Trump’s comments “give license to his voters to take to the streets with guns.”
AXELROD: He is going to do better on election night than he ultimately will, because 62% of his voters say they’re gonna vote on Election Day. Their votes will be counted on Election Day. Uh, but, uh the write-in votes, many of them will be counted after Election Day, and he will claim when those votes come in that he had won and the votes were, uhh, taken from him. I think he’s setting up that scenario, and it’s very dangerous because he is sending a signal to people that they can take to the streets with guns if they don’t like the outcome of this election. It is really a horrifying thing.
RUSH: Yeah. What’s really a horrifying thing is for you, Mr. Axelrod, to throw out this allegation when not single Republican is out on the street with guns. The Democrats are in the streets. It’s the Democrats that are starting fires, the Democrats that are looting private property. It’s the Democrats that are manipulating, bullying, and threatening people.
He was on CNN last night with Anderson Cooper saying this. The question he got was, “What do you expect to happen now after election night? Do you see any way to avoid some sort of conflict?” So Axelrod says, “He’s sending a secret signal to his voters to take the streets with guns, and it’s abso…” That is beyond-the-pale irresponsible.
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RUSH: Here’s Robert in Orlando, Florida. You’re next on the EIB Network. Hi.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. It’s nice to talk to you, and we all love you out here.
RUSH: Thank you, sir.
CALLER: I just want to make a comment on when Trump is asked about the peaceful transfer of power, he should point out there’s only one administration in my lifetime, and possibly history, that did not do that, and that is the Obama-Biden administration. When they transferred power, they were spying on his campaign, they were sabotaging his national security adviser —
RUSH: Exactly.
CALLER: — wiretapping, they were falsifying federal documents for warrants, and then Biden recently had a phone call to Ukraine saying, don’t worry, after he’s in office, we’ll have a back channel. If that’s not a coup, if that’s not a hostile transfer, I don’t know what is.
RUSH: No, that’s an excellent point. And Trump makes that point now and then. Just not in the context of answering the question the way you suggest here. But that would have been a good answer. “You want to talk about a peaceful transfer? How about what happened to me? How about the fact that I won and they still have not accepted those results.” I would have rammed it back down this playboy’s throat, which is probably something a playboy’s used to having happen to them, something rammed down their throat.
But I’ll tell you, here’s Mark Meadows. Grab audio sound bite number 26. This was moments ago on the Fox News Channel. The question he got was from the hostette, Harris Faulkner. Question: “Mitch McConnell tweeted out that an orderly transition of power has been happening since 1972. He was asked about it by reporters, and he said read my tweet. Perhaps not everybody’s happy about how this is unfolding with the president talking about this issue.”
MEADOWS: With we look at peaceful transfer, the White House is prepared for the peaceful transfer. We really have to look at the American public. It was Hillary Clinton who told Joe Biden not to concede at all, and that’s before a single vote was cast. So we just need to make sure we’re fair on both sides.
FAULKNER: That is very true.
RUSH: There you go. There you go. Hillary Clinton has told Biden, whatever you do, don’t concede. Whatever you do, don’t concede. Translation: We are not gonna accept the outcome of the election. If you concede, then you’re announcing the outcome of the election. Do not do it. We’re not gonna have a transfer of power. Or, better stated, we are gonna have a transfer of power whether we win the election or not. So these people get away with a double standard. They accuse us of things that they end up doing routinely. Anyway, Mark Meadows is right.
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RUSH: What was obviously a planned and orchestrated moment, the question yesterday from the Playboy magazine reporter, Jonathan Karl of ABC News picked up right where the Playboy reporter left off today. The White House briefing room in the press briefing with Kayleigh McEnany. And we have a couple of sound bites from the press briefing to illustrate how it was a coordinated effort from yesterday to today to get the White House to somehow admit the president expects to lose and will have a peaceful exit, if that happens, blah, blah.
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RUSH: Kayleigh McEnany White House today, White House press secretary. Jonathan Karl, ABC News, says, “I wanted you to clarify something the president said yesterday. If he loses this election, can you assure us that there will be a peaceful transfer of power?”
Now, the president got the question yesterday from a Playboy reporter, and the president said, “I don’t know. We gotta wait and see what happens,” exactly what he told Chris Wallace in 2016 in the last debate. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen.” He talked about all of the ballots that are out there, all the bad ballots, all the incorrect ballots, all the problems with them.
He said, “I don’t know what’s gonna happen.” The main thing Trump knows is he’s not going to tell anybody before the election anything that give them a headline: “Trump announces he expects to lose!” “Trump concedes election!” “Trump expects this!” He’s not gonna give ’em that. That’s what they want. Here is how she answered the question…
MCENANY: You are referring to the question asked by the Playboy reporter, right?
KARL: I’m referring to the president being asked if — if there would be a peaceful transfer of power within and, uhh, he did not say yes.
MCENANY: Yes, we —
KARL: I’m asking, “Will there be a peaceful transfer of power if he loses this election?”
MCENANY: I believe that question asked by the Playboy reporter — in fact, I think I have it right here.
KARL: (interrupting)
MCENANY: Uh, he was asked, “Win, lose, or draw” whether he would accept the transfer of power. I’m not entirely sure if he won, why he would accept a transfer of power. That is maybe the deranged wish of that reporter —
KARL: (interrupting)
MCENANY: — but that’s not how governing works.
RUSH: Whoa-ho! Did you hear that? “The deranged wish of the reporter.”
So Kayleigh said, “Let me reread the question to you -” because there’s no question this thing has been — the media worked this up in tandem. Get two days out of this. The Playboy guy goes first in the briefing, and Jonathan Karl picks it up today. So she reads the question back. He was asked, quote, “Win, lose, or draw” — and this guy was being rude and snarky when he asked this question of Trump.
They’re getting worse when Trump does a White House briefing, these reporters are becoming snarky. They’re getting even ruder. “Win, lose, or draw, will you accept the transfer of power?” And she points out, “Win, lose, or draw, why would he accept a transfer of power if he wins?” So Jonathan Karl then said (paraphrasing), “Well, he was asked a simple question. Don’t do me technicality stuff. He was asked a simple question. If he loses the election, will this president assure us that there will be a peaceful transfer of power?”
MCENANY: The president will accept the results of a free and fair election. But I think that your question is more fitting to be asked of Democrats who have already been on the record saying they won’t accept the results of an election. In fact, I have several of them here for you. South Carolina Democrat Jim Clyburn has said that Trump is not going to win fairly.
Senator Barbara Boxer has said that the only way Trump will win is to steal it. That’s according to Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer. The Washington Post has noted, they have a headline, “Democrats May Not Trust the Results of the Election if Trump Wins.” And then you have that beautiful quote from Hillary Clinton that Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstance. So I think yours is a more fitting question for Democrats.
RUSH: That’s why they hate Kayleigh McEnany. She throws it right back. You need to go ask Democrats, Mr. Karl. They’re the ones that have yet to accept the results of 2016. Peaceful transfer of power? The Democrats have tried to make the past four years the absolute worst in anybody’s life. So she’s good. And firing right back at Karl this way is impressive.
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RUSH: You ever wondered why the Drive-By Media is not asking Biden if he will accept the results? Why? Why has nobody ever asked Biden, are you going to guarantee us a peaceful transfer of power? If you lose, will you take the Democrat Party with you and acknowledge that you’ve lost? Because you haven’t acknowledged it in – if you’re gonna ask anybody this question, the question should be asked of a Democrat nominee who is Biden, not Trump.
It’s the Democrats who have reviewed to accept the results from 2016. They should get the question. Why is nobody asking Biden, aside from the fact that nobody can find him, and aside from the fact that he’s not taking questions. Why does Biden have 700 lawyers in the battleground states with papers already written to sue over the outcome? Why is everybody from Hillary on down telling Biden not to concede? They don’t think they’re gonna win this thing. They are the ones that deserve the question, not Donald Trump.