RUSH: Mr. Snerdley, did the subject of Brian Mast and Jake Tapper, did it come up? (interruption) It did not come up yesterday or the day before? (interruption) All right. Here we go.
Grab sound bites 19, 20, and 21 if you would out there, Crash. Crash is the busy broadcast engineer today, nicknamed because it usually happens that the program crashes two or three times whenever Crash is running it. Hasn’t happened yet today, though. Knock on Formica.
Brian Mast. I know Brian Mast. I’ve attended cigar dinners with him. He’s a member of Congress from down here, West Palm Beach area. And he got into a bit of a dustup with a single, simple question. Jake Tapper of CNN essentially smeared Brian Mast, who lost his legs defending America in Afghanistan. So this all starts on Wednesday on the House floor debating the article of impeachment against President Trump. Here is Brian Mast, Republican, Florida, a portion of his remarks. Number 19, please.
MAST: I rise with a very simple question. On January 6, thousands broke the law by taking siege of our Capitol here with us inside. Has any one of those individuals who brought violence on this Capitol been brought here to answer whether they did that because of our president? (:30 second pause waiting for an answer)
RUSH: We’re gonna let this go. There’s 30 seconds of silence as he’s waiting for an answer to his question. Thirty seconds of silence on the House floor. I have to fill it up otherwise all hell will break loose. Crash’s board may crash, and can’t have that, so I gotta fill it up here, but 30 seconds of dead silence waiting for an answer that he did not get. It’s about over. About to resume here with Brian Mast.
MAST: It appears I will receive no answer. I will yield my time back.
RUSH: The question, again, was, has any one of those individuals who brought violence on this Capitol, have they been brought here to answer whether they did it because of our president?
No, and they won’t be because they didn’t. It’s been firmly established. The timeline, the actual contents of Trump’s speech. He didn’t encourage any of the stuff that happened. Well, this that you just heard incensed Jake Tapper at CNN. Later on Wednesday, CNN special coverage of the House impeachment vote, Jake Tapper had this to say about Brian Mast’s remarks.
TAPPER: Congressman Brian Mast, a Republican from Florida who lost his legs, by the way, fighting for democracy abroad, although I don’t know what his — I don’t know about his commitment to it here in the United States.
RUSH: Whoa. I don’t know about his commitment to democracy in the United States? Lost his legs fighting for democracy abroad, although I don’t know what his — I don’t know about his commitment to it here in the United States? How do you separate it? I thought Brian Mast suffered his injury defending the United States. In Tapper’s world he was over there helping out Afghanistan, but in the process he was not defending his own country?
Well, Brian Mast responded the next day. Fox & Friends, Steve Doocy said, “I’m sure that you would defend Tapper’s right to say anything he wants to about you, but the last part of it — he was questioning your commitment to democracy, Brian.”
MAST: I can say this emotionally. My commitment to democracy, to my country is unwavering. I love this place so much, it literally breaks my heart to see the divide that exists in it. I love our democracy. For all of our problems, there is no government that I would rather be a part of anywhere in this world. And to strengthen that and keep it strong, we have to ask those questions. It’s not the opposite of that where we don’t ask those questions, don’t ask lawmakers, “Did you take the time to ask somebody or interview somebody or have a hearing?” That has to be the foundation of having justice, asking questions and waiting for the answer in silence until somebody gives it to you or taking their silence as an answer. And that’s my response. I love this place.
RUSH: Well, there you have it. So he felt the need to explain himself in the face of Jake Tapper’s question. You find it interesting that Brian Mast felt the need to defend himself and Jake Tapper doesn’t? Seems to be out of phase. This seems to be exactly 180 degrees out of phase to me.
In this case, Jake Tapper — I just think if anybody has an explanation that’s due, it’s Tapper, not Brian Mast. Brian Mast lost his legs in Afghanistan doing his duty, and he’s gotta defend himself? Yeah, okay. So you got Don Lemon calling everybody that supports Trump a Klansman. It’s silly. But that’s the American left today. I don’t know why anybody is surprised. It just continues to irritate me that anybody is surprised by it. It’s been widely known and explained who these people are. And we’ve chronicled how they’re getting more and more radical leftist as the days go by. And apparently not enough people wanted to listen or take me or it seriously.
Related Links