RUSH: This is David “Rodham” Gergen today on CNN. The anchor, John King said, “What goes through your mind on this day when you think about where we are in the calendar and the consequential election that’s just ahead?”

GERGEN: Yeah. The president and the White House come out and show some humility about this — to recognize, in fact, that they could have done a better job — I think it’s gonna go one way. If, on the other hand, what we see is a president within just a few days bouncing into our living rooms by television and saying, “I’m the guy who beat COVID. I’m just staying here for extra caution’s case, but I took it like a man and everybody else can do it, and we’ve turned a corner.” If he’s defiant, in other words, I think it’s gonna go a very different way, and I don’t think the public will have much sympathy for him.

RUSH: Now, what must you be thinking if that is the way you’re thinking he’s gonna react to it? That’s David “Rodham” Gergen, former Clinton adviser, former Bush adviser, former… He’s Mr. Washington Conventional Wisdom. If you want to know what the conventional wisdom is on any given day, topic in Washington, D.C., just find out what David “Rodham” Gergen is saying about it.

He says, “Yeah, if he has some humility here, it could be okay. But if what we see is a president within just a few days bouncing back into our living rooms on television saying ‘I’m the guy that beat COVID, and if I can do it, everybody can do it.’ If he’s defiant, in other words, I think he’s gonna go a different way. I don’t think the public will have much sympathy for him whatsoever if he turns into a braggart about having beaten COVID-19.”

This has been one of the… Ever since the campaign of 2016, the one thing that Trump critics have thrown at him constantly is he has no humility. He does, and it’s on parade. It may be fleeting, but you can see it in every one of his rallies. He has humility and he’s got empathy. But the humility is on display. You can see him.

He fully thanks everybody for showing up.

He lets them know.His supporters, the crowds, he lets them know how much he appreciates it, how much it means to him. He may say it in 30 seconds; he may say it in ten seconds. But he lets these people know, and his supporters know it. Now, Michael Moore thinks that Trump may be “lying about” it, that he doesn’t have COVID-19, that he’s making it all up just to “gain sympathy” because he knows he’s losing the presidential election.

Michael Moore floated the theory that “Trump might be ‘lying about having COVID-19 to prepare us and counteract his game … in order to ‘gain sympathy'” ahead of the election. He said, “Democrats, liberals, the media and others have always been wrong to simply treat him as a buffoon and a dummy and a jackass. Yes, he is all those things. But he’s also canny. He’s clever. He outfoxed Comey.”

(laughing) Sorry. It hurts to laugh. “He outfoxed Comey”? “He outfoxed Mueller.” Mueller? There was nothing to outfox, Mr. Moore! There was no evidence. He didn’t outfox anybody! That was, in fact… Well, we don’t want to go down that road again. We’ve been down that road. It was so damn dangerous what they were trying to do.

They were trying literally to have a guy convicted, thrown in jail without any evidence whatsoever of any crime having occurred. They were making it all up. It was the most scandalous thing to happen in Washington in my lifetime, that whole Russian collusion/meddling in the election thing. Trump didn’t outfox anybody — and I’m not trying to take anything away from him.

There was nothing to outfox. Those people had no evidence. Now, you might say, “Well, Rush, it was still a monumental achievement. You’ve got the whole town of Washington, you got the whole government gunning for you, and you still beat them back?” Yeah, I’ll acknowledge that.

But he didn’t outfox anybody. Anyway, Michael Moore believes… The point is, Michael Moore’s proving the point I made: You hate him, you love him, whatever, he’s still invincible to you. You still can’t lay a glove on him. He outfoxed Comey? Comey is now so humiliated and embarrassed that Comey’s running around, “I don’t remember. I don’t recall.”

You remember James Comey was Mr. Government, Mr. Honorable, Mr. Last Man in Washington You Can Trust? This guy was so… You want to talk about no humility? You want to talk about no grace? You want to talk about no empathy? James Comey was one of the most falsely manufactured images of purity that we have had ever had in government or in Washington.

This guy lived off what is obviously now a totally contrived reputation for honor and integrity. What’s he been reduced to? Hillary Clinton! “Uhhh, I don’t know. My mind is Jell-O. I can’t recall. I don’t remember.” That’s his only way out, “I don’t remember,” nd yet for three years, James Comey’s assuring everybody that Trump was a Russian agent, that Trump is a traitor.

Anyway, as far as Michael Moore is concerned. He’s “outfoxed” all these guys. “He outfoxed 20 Republicans in the GOP primary and then did the same to the Democrats, winning the White House despite receiving fewer [popular] votes than his opponent,” Hillary Clinton. Moore said, “He’s an evil genius and I raise the possibility of him lying about having COVID-19 to prepare us and counteract his game.

“He knows being sick tends to gain one sympathy. He’s not above weaponizing this.” This is a Facebook post, by the way, put up just hours after Trump announced that he and the first lady have COVID-19 early this morning. Yeah, he’s losing the election. He needs to do something here to rebound really quickly. So he could just be making all of this up.

The New York Times is beside itself. Two things. Here’s a Newt Gingrich tweet: “Just when you think the New York Times can’t get any dumber,” they tweet this: ‘If he becomes sick, it could raise questions about whether he should remain on the ballot at all.'” You have Pelosi out there now saying (summarized), “Trump ought not even debate anybody. This is the end of it.

“Biden needs to not debate anymore. Put a lid on it. No more debates.” For a guy that won the debate hands down, they sure seem eager not to do any more of ’em. “Times reporters Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman: Trump’s positive test throws ‘the nation’s leadership into uncertainty,'” and then the New York Times had an editorial: “Trump’s Coronavirus Infection Is the Result of His Deadly, Foolish Recklessness. …

“No matter how you feel about Trump’s performance as president — and we feel pretty strongly that it has been a disaster,” writes the Times, “this is another crisis for a nation reeling from a year that almost seems apocalyptic: Trump’s impeachment, COVID-19, a popular outcry over racial injustice, the deaths of John Lewis and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, catastrophic wildfires. And now this:

“A reckless president whose irresponsibility has endangered not only himself and his family but the stability of the country by throwing the executive branch into chaos. Another crisis, this one fully of Trump’s own making.” What do they want to do? They want to throw him out of office. They want to get him out of there. They want to get rid of Pence. They want to install Pelosi — and Pelosi’s even keen to the idea.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here is Joe in Looking Glass, Oregon. Great to have you, sir.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Mega maximus dittos to you and Kathryn and prayers for you, Kathryn, the president, and the first lady.

RUSH: Thank you. Thank you very much. We all need the prayers, I guarantee you.

CALLER: Well, I wanted to let you know that I think that this thing with the COVID affecting the president will probably just prove how unkillable he is. If he can beat this, then anybody in the country can, and it’s time to start opening things up.

RUSH: Oh! I wondered where you were going. Time to open things… You know, David “Rodham” Gergen of CNN addressed this very thing today. He said that if Trump comes out and does what you just suggested, that it will be extremely unlikable. It will be no humility. If Trump comes out and starts bragging about how he beat COVID-19, about how COVID-19 is nothin’, that there no reason to be afraid of this…

“I, Donald Trump, beat it back! The first lady beat it back. There’s no reason to be afraid.” If he does that, said David “Rodham” Gergen, then it’s the end of Trump. He said he’s gotta be more empathetic. He’s gotta be more understanding. But you think it’ll show greater invincibility and redound to him positively.