RUSH: I wonder what the Trumpists are gonna make of this. Well, it’s a Washington Post headline. It’s written by Robert Costa, who used to write for National Review which means at one point he used to be a conservative, and may still be, not that it matters. Just telling you who the guy is, he’s still got credibility. Headline — you ready for this? — dadelut dadelut — “To Counter Cruz’s Organization, Trump to Personally Court Delegates at California and Virginia GOP Conventions.”
Well! What do you make of this? So Trump is gonna start courting delegates out there, and that’s not the only place where the story appears. It’s also at PMSNBC: “Trump Adopts Cruz Playbook in Delegate Hunt.”
Greetings, my friends. Great to have you with us. It’s Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Network, this is the nation’s most listened to radio talk show, the most talked about radio talk show and host. Great to have you here. Telephone number is 800-282-2882. The email address, ElRushbo@eibnet.com.
What is happening today in these primaries — and, look, I’m not saying anything. I never, ever try to make people mad. I never purposely try to irritate anybody, and, in fact, just the opposite. But what’s happening today, the end result today is not gonna change much of anything because what really matters down the road is Indiana. Indiana is what really matters, and nobody knows what’s gonna happen in Indiana.
Now, what happens today in these Northeastern primaries can impact what’s gonna happen in Indiana by virtue of creating media narratives and momentum and all of that. But what’s gonna happen today is pretty much expected. I’ll give you a good summary of what’s gonna happen today and what you can expect and what the analysis of it is gonna be in due course.
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RUSH: Now, let’s look at this delegate situation. No, no, before we get to the delegate situation and show you how Trump is now starting to emulate what Cruz is doing. And yes, we have the sound bite of the Trump supporter confronting Cruz, demanding to know how it is that he gets delegates in Colorado when nobody voted. And Cruz tries to say 65,000 people did vote, they are grassroots activists, and this Trumpist won’t hear it. This Trumpist doesn’t want to hear one word of it.
It’s kind of hard to hear for me because of the cross-talk and all the other noise. Let’s see what we can found out. This is how it happened. This was yesterday in Columbus, Indiana. It was during a campaign event at an ice cream shop and Cruz is speaking with voters. During the Q&A an unidentified woman, obviously a Trumpist, comes up and says, “People haven’t voted at a local level yet. So how can you justify that, how can you say that you are not the establishment candidate? How can you get all these delegates when nobody voted?”
CRUZ: Thank you for that question. In Colorado, 65,000 people voted and the people who voted were the grassroots activists, the exact opposite of the establishment. It’s the conservative grassroots who are overwhelmingly —
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Was Colorado the state that no vote was ever cast, they just chose them?
CRUZ: No, 65,000 people voted.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Wyoming, one of ’em, no vote was ever cast.
CRUZ: The problem was Donald Trump and his campaign said that no vote was cast in Colorado.
RUSH: That’s right. I mean, there were votes cast in Colorado, but there wasn’t a primary. There were votes cast at the Republican convention. There were votes cast for delegates. You know, when you start throwing around terms like “grassroots activists,” I don’t know how well that communicates what you’re talking about. You have a committed Trumpist here who is persuaded already, is convinced that cheating has gone on and she’s basically asking Cruz to explain how what has happened in Colorado isn’t cheating.
And it’s really easy to do. But apparently it isn’t easy to do. So the woman then said, “How can you have delegates, Senator Cruz, how in the world can you have delegates without a vote?”
CRUZ: Every state sets up different rules. I don’t control the rules, but I can tell you the Washington establishment is who IÂ’ve been fighting against every day, whether it is leading the fight against Obamacare or leading the fight against amnesty. I’m the one who’s led the fight. Donald Trump is the one who funded the Gang of Eight that pushed for Amnesty. And Donald TrumpÂ’s —
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: $50,000 over four years isn’t funding much of anything.
CRUZ: Well I gave zero dollars to ’em. And I led the fight against it.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: You led a fight against TPP but yet voted in favor of it.
CRUZ: Ma’am, I’ll have a respectful conversation with you.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: That is my respect. I’m asking you. You fight on the wrong end.
RUSH: (laughing) That is my respect, I’m asking you, you fight on the wrong end. You know, this delegate stuff is so easy to explain to me, I don’t know why it escapes everybody here. Cruz makes it — well, no, this is tough. But Cruz makes it, almost comes off as though there’s something nefarious that went on out there in Colorado, and nothing did.
But, anyway, it’s neither here nor there. The die is cast; people believe what they believe, and there isn’t any changing their minds. Now, from the Washington Post: “To Counter Cruz’s Organization, Trump to Personally Court Delegates at California and Virginia GOP Conventions — [Trump] whose campaign has struggled in the delegate-selection process, will appear at party conventions in California and Virginia later this week to personally court activists and address the gatherings, according to three people familiar with his plans.
“Trump will stop by the Hyatt Regency hotel near the San Francisco International Airport on Friday for the opening day of the California GOP’s state convention. A day later, he will visit Harrisonburg, Va., for the Republican Party of Virginia’s convention, the people said. The Virginia GOP convention will be held at the James Madison University convocation center. In a Twitter message on Monday, the university said that here is ‘no contact between JMU & Trump campaign.” It’s just where the event is being held, but there’s no contact.
“The people who told [everybody] of Trump’s still-unannounced appearances and their impetus requested anonymity to discuss private conversations between state GOP leaders and [Trump]’s top aides.” So Trump is gonna start courting delegates now, which he has not done. MSNBC has the same story: “Trump Adopts Cruz Playbook in Delegate Hunt — Donald Trump says the electoral delegate allocation is ‘rigged’ and rival ‘Lyin’ Ted’ Cruz is trying to steal the election away by wooing supporters.
“‘Then you’ll read in these papers, like the Washington Post, Trump with the dele–‘ he said before interrupting himself on Monday in West Chester, Pennsylvania… But in Pennsylvania, where 54 unbound delegates are elected directly by district and free to vote as they wish, Trump is employing the same hunting playbook Cruz has used for weeks,” and that is going straight after delegates. I wonder what Trumpists think of this. “See? Yeah, right! When you’re in a rigged game, you have to play it.” Is that what they’re gonna say? “When you’re in a rigged game you have to play it like Lyin’ Ted.
“Look, it’s an acknowledgment that Lyin’ Ted has been out there playing the game and is running ahead of Trump in this aspect of it.” Keep in mind all we’re talking about here is second and third ballots at the convention, not changing the way anything lines up on the first ballot.
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RUSH: Here’s Allison in Bryan, Texas. Great to have you on the program. Hello.
CALLER: Thanks. Rush Baby dittos. So one of my frustrations is hearing all of the media who it’s their job, the political pundits, it’s their job to know how the delegation system works, how the delegates work, how this whole system is supposed to work. And yet they’re acting like it’s the weirdest thing that they’ve ever seen, that they don’t know what’s going on, it doesn’t make any sense, they don’t understand it, and it’s driving me crazy. It’s their job. They know what’s going on.
RUSH: Hold a minute. I’m not sure who you’re talking about. Who’s upsetting you?
CALLER: The political pundits like people in the media or — not you of course — but other talk show hosts are acting like they have never heard of how the system works and how —
RUSH: Oh. Oh, yeah. I agree with you. I totally agree. That really does tick me off, folks. I mean, to hear people talking about this like this is the first time this has ever happened and like nobody has ever cheated like this, or nobody’s ever gamed the system like this or how do you have delegates without votes. This is what happens every four years; you just never see it. No, I totally agree with you.
But again, that’s part of pushing the narrative. There’s a narrative out there. A lot of people — (laughing), “Zip it, Rush, just zip it.” A lot of people get where they get by whining and moaning and crying and pretending or actually thinking that they are victims. It is one of the things that actually worries me greatly about our culture. The Democrat Party’s willing to victimize anybody, willing to put as many people in whatever victimized group they can, because that immediately makes them helpless, and it renders them totally irresponsible.
They have no role in what happens to them. Therefore they’re not subject to self-restraint, responsibility, anything of the sort. Then when it comes down to the victimhood involved in being cheated and people carrying forth, it’s not hard to figure out how this works. It’s standard operating procedure.
The delegate selection process, how delegates are appointed, how they’re elected, how they must vote, all of this has been around for eons. And I agree with you, it’s irritating to have to listen to how people who don’t understand it characterize it as cheating or gaming the system. I’m not talking about just one campaign. I’m just talking about generically.