RUSH: I have been commenting all week on what I thought was just the strangest inauguration that I’ve ever seen. And each day new things become aware, or I become aware of them. And it just adds even more weight to the impressions that I have recorded and have about this.
On the one hand, we’re told to believe that the American people hated Trump, the American people wanted Trump gone. Never mind that 74 million, 75 million people voted for him. And that the unity agenda of Joe Biden, everybody’s embracing that. And yet there weren’t any Americans there. They weren’t permitted. They weren’t allowed anywhere near this inauguration for unity.
Why not? Well, I will tell you why not. I have a piece here in the New York Post today by Glenn Reynolds. Glenn Reynolds, he’s a columnist, he’s a law professor, University of Tennessee. And he’s quite informed. And he has a piece here, I have a slight disagreement with it. But that’s not the point.
Let me give you a pull quote. He says, “Nothing says, ‘This was a perfectly normal election, and now it’s time to come together as a united nation,’ like having your swearing-in behind 12-foot-high razor wire surrounded by 25,000 troops whose loyalty you doubt. That’s what we witnessed at President Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday: a grim testament to the fundamental insecurity and fragility of the re-ascendant liberal elite.”
So Glenn thinks here that the reason all this happened — the 25,000 National Guard troops, the 12-foot-high razor wire — is ’cause they’re scared. They’re insecure. They’re very, very fragile in their belief that they are legitimate victors, whatever. While that could be true, I have an alternate viewpoint. I don’t necessarily subscribe to the fact that they are insecure.
They may be insecure, but I don’t think that’s what’s guiding this. I think that this is all politics. I think everything they do has been politicized, and there was a reason why they didn’t allow people. There was a reason why they had razor wire. There’s a reason why they had 25,000 National Guard troops.
It was to create the impression that they were already discussing that there might be another attempt to seize the Capitol like there was on January 6th. Trump supporters, don’t you know, they can’t be trusted! And they’re lurking out there. And they are hiding in the deep, dark crevices around the Capitol. And they are waiting to just unload on the new president.
But we gotta be prepared.
So we can’t have you here because you would be in danger. We need the National Guard here to create the illusion that you might be in danger. I think this was all an attempt to make it look like the government of the United States is under siege because of the deranged Trump voters. “Nothing says, ‘This was a perfectly normal election, and now it’s time to come together as a united nation,’ like having your swearing-in behind 12-foot-high razor wire surrounded by 25,000 troops whose loyalty you doubt.”
More on that in just a moment. I don’t know. Some people might think that they are inherently fragile in their insecurity. What are they insecure about? Are they insecure of their victory? Are they insecure of Biden’s victory, of his presidency? Are they insecure that the American people accept it? Are they insecure that the American people in the sense of a majority support Biden?
What are they insecure about?
And then, giving that these people are a bunch of authoritarians and totalitarians, what does insecurity have to do with it? Their insecurity just allows them to exercise even more control and even more authoritarianism, if you will. I think, again, that this was staging. I think it was an effort to make the American people think that Trump supporters and Trump himself, maybe (yeah, from way down there in Mar-a-Lago), might be secretly planning a plot to take over the United States during the immaculation of Biden.
That’s the impression they wanted to create, and as they do that, they also create the impression of Biden as a very brave guy going ahead with this.
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RUSH: So I got an email. I checked the email during the break.
“Dear Mr. Limbaugh: I think Glenn Reynolds is right and you may be not quite so right. (I would never say you’re wrong, but you may be not quite so right.) I think the Democrats are insecure. I think they are fragile. They are so insecure with President Biden’s win that they have had to literally censor or try to cancel or threaten everybody in this country who might mention or who might whisper or who might allude to the fact that the election was maybe not on the up and up.
“There used to be a First Amendment in America where you could say what you wanted to say, especially about politics. But now they’re gonna hunt you down. They’re gonna find you, and they’re gonna try to cancel you, and they’re gonna try to gin up public opinion against you, and they’re gonna have a mob do what it can to intimidate you. Now, is this the act of secure people, Mr. Limbaugh? I ask you.
“And take a look at what you’ve often said. You’ve said, ‘The left doesn’t even want to talk about issues. They don’t want to debate anybody.'” That’s right. I’ve said that’s because they don’t think they should have to. They are authoritarians. There’s no reason for them to enter the arena of ideas! There is no alternate point of view. There is their view of things, and that’s it — and if you don’t subscribe, then, well, we’ve gotta talk about how to deal with you.
“People on the left, Mr. Limbaugh, cannot discuss an issue because they would lose in the arena of ideas. So they have to cancel us and censor the right, conservatives, from expressing opinion.” That’s a persuasive case. But I still say that this was a giant show, the razor wire and the National Guard. It was designed to make it look like a domestic terror operation could begin at any time to deny Biden the presidency, deny the inauguration or what have you.
I think there’s no question that that was an image or an impression that they wanted to create.
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RUSH: This is Scott, New Philadelphia, Ohio. Welcome, sir. Great to have you here.
CALLER: Mega dittos, Rush. Praying for you every day. Certainly love you. I’m a Rush 24/7 member and just thankful you’re here.
RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much.
CALLER: Hey, just the last four years, you know, the Democrats have constantly got us to question the election, the legitimacy of Trump being elected. And you had predicted it over and over again. And I just was wondering if you were gonna — just a major See, I Told You So moment that you had said they undermine the whole legitimacy of the election process and now that’s exactly what’s come to happen. That nobody believes this election is legitimate, and it’s really started with Nancy Pelosi and the whole impeachment process and them questioning the Russian collusion thing. And I would be interested in seeing you replay some of your quotes over the last four years —
RUSH: You know, I’m glad you reminded me, Scott. I don’t need to go replay any of the quotes because I can say them directly because I remember them. And it started with the Russian collusion hoax, which was a four-year false flag operation. It was a totally made up – look, I don’t even want to repeat that. You people are tired of hearing about it, I’m sure. You know that there was never a shred of evidence that Trump — it’s so ridiculous to have to go through this each and every time. Scott, I’m not frustrated with you. I’m frustrated for people in the audience that have to listen to me go through this again.
It was a bought and paid for operation by Hillary Clinton. There was never a shred of evidence that Trump colluded with anybody. He’s, I think, probably the cleanest in terms of scandal person in Washington. This guy was investigated for four years for virtually every aspect of his life, and they came up with nothing. Nothing. But what Scott’s point is here, is that starting back in 2016 — folks, I knew that this whole thing was a coup and a bogus operation the minute it began during Trump’s transition.
There was no collusion with the Russians. Trump’s victory was legitimate. But the Democrats spending four years challenging the legitimacy of it, claiming that Trump should not have been the president, trying to overturn the results of 2016, trying to say that the American electoral system was easily corrupted by Russians and Trump and it made it look like there was nothing we could do to stop it. They had the FBI looking into it; they had the CIA looking into it; they had a lot of former Obama officials at CIA and intelligence looking into it. And they couldn’t stop it. Even though they knew that Trump had colluded, they couldn’t stop it.
Well, what does this do? This challenges the integrity of the American electoral system. And it was done for various reasons. They literally were trying to get Trump to resign. Then they were trying to get him impeached and removed from office. They were attempting to get him thrown out of office whenever, however they could do it. They spent four years on it. They failed in that regard.
But after four years of this, the Democrat Party itself — not me, not you, not us — the Democrat Party was essentially telling the world that the American presidential electoral system was corrupted and we couldn’t trust it, that the Russians found a way to come in and pick the presidential winner. They impaneled the Mueller team to investigate. And they supposedly came up with evidence that the Russians had been making some crazy advertising buys on Facebook after the election. And it’s all they had.
So what does this do? Well, this effectively creates the impression in the minds of the American people that the American presidential election system has lost its integrity, that it can’t be trusted. The Democrats themselves told us this every day multiple times a day for four years, folks. And so why is anybody surprised that people now don’t believe the result of the 2020 election? The Democrats told us for four years that 2016 was illegitimate, that Trump stole it, that he colluded with the Russians. Therefore, it can be done. The American presidency can be stolen. The American presidency can be stolen by virtue of corrupting the electoral process.
And I said back starting in 2017, folks, I’m telling you, the Democrats are doing a better job at sabotaging the integrity and the honor of the American presidential election system than the Russians could ever hope to. This relentless, unstoppable four-year attack on Trump and the Russians and the integrity of the elections can’t help but have a negative impact on the public opinion of presidential elections.
Now, note since the Democrats’ win in 2020, guess what? There’s no problem with the presidential election. In fact, if you question it, if you question it, why, why, why, we might have to come in and deprogram you, we might have to report you, if you question the results of 2020, why, why, we’re gonna be monitoring you and we’re gonna be checking you and we’re gonna make sure that you get your mind right or else. See how this works?
So Biden wins the 2020 election, and there’s not a problem. You can’t even — no, no, no, no, no, no. This was maybe the cleanest, maybe this was the most honest, maybe the best presidential election we’ve ever had, they’re telling us, after four years of them essentially telling everybody that the American presidential election system had been corrupted, that Trump was illegitimate, didn’t deserve to be in the White House, should be removed. Impeach him two or three times just to make the point. The 2020 election comes along and nothing to see here. Perfectly fine, perfectly safe. If you don’t sign on to it, well, then you’re taking your own existence at flight risk.
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RUSH: No, no, no, no, no. I think it’s rather obvious, ladies and gentlemen. Joe Biden, Pelosi, Chuck You Schumer, while guarding against the next “erection” on the Capitol grounds, they put on a show this past week. They created a fictional show where you and I were supposed to believe that Trump and his supporters were planning on another attack to take over the government.
There’s no question that that was one of the reasons why they had razor wire all over the place, and one of the reasons why they didn’t allow a single person. There was nobody there, folks. The people who supposedly elected Joe Biden were not there. Instead, there was razor wire and 25,000 National Guard troops, all on display to keep things safe. Safe from what? Safe from who?
You know, once January 6th happened, you think the Democrats are gonna drop it? Once January 6th happened, they’re gonna make it as though it could happen tomorrow, it could happen in February, it could happen at any time, because the people who engaged in that, why, they could pull off another operation at any moment! So we need to be constantly on guard.
Now, are they insecure? Well, maybe. Why would they be insecure, Mr. Snerdley? What would make the Democrats insecure on Wednesday, on Biden’s Inauguration Day, and today and days going forward? Why would they be insecure? (interruption) Because…? (interruption) I can’t say that. I’m sorry, I can’t say that. I can’t. I’m sorry. (interruption) I can’t allude to that! I can’t say that.
They’re already… (interruption) They’re already monitoring me out there in all the usual outposts, and they’re ready to call my syndication partners and tattletale on me. I can’t say that. I guess I could say 75 million people voted for Trump. That could make them insecure. (interruption) “Seventy-five million…” Oh, I can’t say that. I can’t say that.
See, that’s easy for you to sit in there and think ’cause you don’t have a microphone. This is why, by the way, you don’t. I have a microphone, and I can’t say those things. First Amendment? Nah. The real question is — or a real question is — here’s Amazon. It wants to help now with vaccines. And now experts (quote-unquote “experts”) are talking about a very narrow definition of who dies with COVID-19 — and Dr. Fauci says, guess what?
COVID-19 cases are plateauing. It’s everything we predicted about how the news was going to change after Biden was inaugurated! Yeah, COVID-19 are plateauing. That means the worst has happened and we’re on the way down, for those of you in Rio Linda. So how are they gonna deprogram people, ’cause they’re talking about it.
AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has openly stated conservatives need to be “deprogrammed.” So what is it gonna look like? Will there be mandatory white privilege training? Are they gonna install computer chips to identify us? Will they award social points given for good thinking, like the ChiComs do? They talk about deprogramming, reprogramming. They never spell out what they’re gonna do, but they do talk about doing it.
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RUSH: This Steve in Niagara Falls in New York. Welcome, sir. Great to have you.
CALLER: Great to have you, Rush. I’ve been listener since 1988 and hopefully for a lot longer. The point I wanted to make was about taking advantage of this crisis that happened on the 6th and everything that went on. I really believe that the reason why they locked Washington down so much was because they didn’t want to the embarrassment of having probably the lowest turnout for an inauguration, similar to the turnout that was going on through his campaign. So that was pretty much the observation, the point I wanted to make.
RUSH: Okay. Well, it could be. I don’t… I mean, they might have been aware that there wasn’t gonna be a big crowd, but I think they had to know that because of things that they had not only seen in terms of the Biden campaign. But they’ve been scaring people to death about the virus and about Trump cultists. They literally had talked people out of going to Washington, whether they had intended to do that or not.
So it might have eventuated that they said, “You know what? There’s not gonna be a number of people here anyway, so we may as well lock it down,” and the excuse being, “Nobody’s here because we’re not allowing anybody here,” rather than people to start taking the opinion that there’s nobody here ’cause they don’t want to come.
I think they created that reality in the lead-up going back to the campaign. But you’re right. I can’t deny it. I mean, if you look at the Biden campaign, there wasn’t a shred of evidence that he had a connection with numbers of people, thousands of people who were voting for him because of a bond. It doesn’t exist. It never did. Certainly not like Trump.
So there wasn’t a good chance that a lot of people are gonna show up anyway. And after the 6th of January, I mean, it was almost guaranteed nobody would show up. So whatever steps they took to lock it down, your belief that they had to do this ’cause they knew people weren’t gonna show up anyway, probably true.
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RUSH: Remember we had a caller who called here in the last hour and said the reason why they didn’t want anybody showing up at the Biden inauguration is because they knew nobody would show up? I had to acknowledge there might have been a certain amount of truth in that, but I said the primary reason they did what they did was to create this illusion that another domestic terror attack could break out at any moment.
I really do believe that, folks. I think they thought that this is how they can solidify Biden and everybody else that’s in his agenda, in his administration here. You know, once the January 6th attack on the Capitol happened, I mean, that’s… Remember, the Democrats “never let a crisis go to waste.” So the Capitol is attacked.
I’m not saying that it was not a serious thing, and I’m not saying that it was wrong to take it seriously, but I do believe that they created an image with the National Guard and razor wire that it could happen again, that nativist Trump cultists are waiting to hatch another attempt to take over the government, and so we have to be prepared for it.
I think that was an element in the way they staged the inauguration. But the caller said, “Rush, they just did it because they knew nobody was gonna show up. Nobody showed up at any of Biden’s campaign events.” So the editrix of The Limbaugh Letter has sent me a couple of headlines. New York Times November 30th.
“Biden’s Inauguration: Expect Smaller Crowds and More Social Distancing.” So she’s making the point here that the caller was right, that they knew Biden wouldn’t draw many people for his inauguration. That’s New York Times, November 30th; then the Washington Post… Wait. I think this is… I don’t know whether this is December 15th. Maybe it’s the same.
I don’t know what paper it is, but it’s a similar headline. “Biden’s Inaugural Committee Discourages People from Traveling to D.C. for Ceremony.” Why would they do it? That’s December 15th. That’s less than a month before, or right around a month before the inaugural. Why would they be discouraging people from traveling to Washington?
They didn’t want anybody there. They didn’t want anybody there. Maybe go back to the top headline: “Biden’s Inauguration: Expect Smaller Crowds and More Social Distancing.” Look, they’re not stupid. They knew Biden didn’t draw any crowds during the campaign. Why would anybody show up at his inauguration? This is why so many people had questions about this because the bond just didn’t exist.
Did somebody with a D next to their name really…? I can’t say any more. My First Amendment ceases to exist beyond this point in my question. I am self-censoring, ladies and gentlemen, to show how it’s done. So there you have it. Anyway, when callers are right, we go out of our way to acknowledge it and praise them.
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RUSH: Here’s Linda in my adopted hometown, Sacramento, California. How are you, Linda? Welcome to the program.
CALLER: I’m fine. And, Rush, I just wish God’s blessing on you and Kathryn, your whole family. I hope you have the blessings that God blessed us by giving us you.
RUSH: Oh, believe me God has bestowed more blessings on me and my family than I deserve.
CALLER: Well —
RUSH: I have already benefited from so many blessings. You know, it’s strange that you called ’cause I was literally sitting down thinking about Sacramento a couple nights ago and how just crucially important it was to my success and my happiness and my enjoyment of life. I was only there for three or four years ago, and I felt like I was there 20, it felt like I was there for most of my life. And I still have a lot of friends in Sacramento and people who I knew there who have left and gone on to other things like I have.
But I was thinking about it, about my life there and how meaningful – I was listening to a bunch of music that reminded me of the last month I was in town. I was creating a new playlist on my music app, and it so happened that some of the songs I was putting in this list happened to be songs from the last month I was in Sacramento. I said, man, all the memories this is reviving. And they were all good. They were all just wonderful. But in all candor, God has blessed me in ways beyond that which I deserve. So I appreciate the sentiment. I really do. But please understand, God has treated me very well.
CALLER: Well, he’s treated us well by giving you to us. Anyway, what I called about is I feel that Nancy Pelosi is the one who should be impeached for sedition. I feel that there’s all kinds of evidence that Nancy Pelosi knew about the impending attack on the Capitol and purposely let it happen for political reasons. The reason that I feel is because everybody knew about the massive Trump rally and protest that was coming. The FBI is saying that there was chatter for a week in advance that people — they weren’t hiding it. They were broadcasting what they were planning to do. They didn’t hide it.
But the most damning thing was her own sergeant at arms, I think you call the head of the Capitol Police, I think he’s been fired, said he begged her and anyone — I heard the man say it — he begged her and anyone else who would listen for more men and resources to protect the Capitol, and he said he was ignored. So my point is, President Trump didn’t know what was going to happen and didn’t want it to happen. Nancy Pelosi did know what was going to happen, and she wanted it to happen. So she’s the one who should be impeached for sedition.
RUSH: That is a fascinating theory. And I think that there are — I want to maybe stop short of saying “evidence,” but this is something, a strategy, or at least an operating procedure I think that we’ve seen Pelosi implement over the years, where she has wanted certain things to happen because she’s convinced that her political opponents are gonna be blamed for it. I remember the Tea Party being besmirched and impugned. I remember all the Congressional Black Caucasians claiming the Tea Party spat on them and Pelosi amplifying that when it didn’t happen. You can’t find one bit of evidence for the Tea Party spitting on anybody when the Congressional Black Caucasians were marching.
One thing you’re absolutely right about, and that is, Donald Trump had no idea what this operation was. He could not have been for it. It’s not who he is. He’s smart enough to know what the reaction’s gonna be. There was no way under the sun that Donald Trump was in support of whatever action took place on January 6th at the Capitol. It’s just not who he is. He’s not this stupid. He’s not that dumb. He’s not dumb, period. And the timeline doesn’t work. The operation began before Trump’s speech began, before it even finished. Trump was never, ever articulating the words that translated to the action that took place.
We also know that many of the perps were Antifa, who had learned of this operation and infiltrated it and sabotaged it. But the main thing that you’re right — we keep hearing the Never Trumpers and all the others talk about the need for character in the chief executive. And that’s true. The Federalist Papers are devoted a lot on the subject of the character of the executive, the president. And I know the popular opinion is that Trump and character are strangers, that he doesn’t really have any, that he’s a loose cannon, he’s Bad Mr. Orange Man, that he’s a loose bull in a china shop and all this sort of stuff.
But I know Donald Trump. He does have character, he does have humility, and I’ve seen it on display, and I have seen how he treats people that can’t do anything for him. You know, that’s one of the biggest measures of someone’s character you could ever witness, how do they treat people who can’t do anything for them. And if they’re treated like dirt, then I’m telling you you’re looking at somebody that doesn’t have much character.
But Trump goes out of his way to acknowledge, be kind to people who can’t, never would be in a position to do anything for him. And even if they are, if they’re trying to service his professional needs or one way or the other, he’s aware and is always very thankful for it, and lets these people know.
But beyond that, there’s no way Donald Trump would authorize an armed insurrection of the United States Capitol. There’s no way he thought that’s what he was doing. There’s no way he would do it. He’s smart enough to realize what his enemies would turn that into. He’s got to be sitting up there at Mar-a-Lago just frustrated as hell that this happened. Anyway, thank you again, Linda, very much from Sacramento. I greatly appreciate your call.