RUSH: This afternoon in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Senator Ted Cruz spoke with reporters about this National Enquirer story. It’s not a story yet, is it? (interruption) It has published? Oh, okay. I thought it was just something rumored to be working on, that the Enquirer had this information. Well, whatever, Cruz spoke with reporters about National Enquirer story that claims Cruz had affairs with five mistresses. This is what he said.
CRUZ: Let me be clear. This National Enquirer story is garbage. It is complete and utter lies. It is a tabloid smear, and it is a smear that has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen.
RUSH: There you have it. And of course New York Magazine with a story last October that Trump is very tight with David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer. Obviously reminding everybody of that with a tweet today trying to get in on the story.
Here’s Tommy, Orlando, Florida. Great that you waited, sir. I appreciate your patience. Hi.
CALLER: Hi. How are you today, Rush?
RUSH: Fine and dandy. I’m glad to hear from you.
CALLER: Good. I spoke with you about two years ago. I am a registered Democrat, so I could vote in the Florida primary because it’s a closed primary, but I am one of three current registered Democrats who will be crossing over to vote for Trump in the general. The three main issues succinctly that I’d like to mention are —
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. You’re one of three current registered Democrats in the state you think that will vote for Trump?
CALLER: I have two other friends that are gonna be voting for Trump, yes, so there’s three of us.
RUSH: Oh, okay. But you’re not saying you’re the only three in the state.
CALLER: No.
RUSH: Okay.
CALLER: No, not at all. Not at all.
RUSH: I just wanted to make sure that you didn’t know something we don’t know.
CALLER: No. And I also have several Republicans friends as well and, you know, everybody’s trying to label Trump as he’s not a conservative, he’s this, he’s that. I think he comes across, some people have described him as a blue-collar billionaire, and I think that’s a very, very astute adjective to use whenever you describe him, or a populist or a nationalist. I mean, a lot of his ideas are not necessarily conservative per se, but I’ve got one of my friends who’s been a Democrat for 35 years, and he’s even more worked up about Trump than I am. He actually said he would go to Canada and open the door for some of the people we both know here in Orlando and let them go to Canada to get out of the country if Trump gets elected, liberals that we both know here in Florida.
RUSH: Yeah, but they never do. So it’s an empty threat. It’s an empty promise. They never leave. They never move. So I take all those promises with a grain of salt.
CALLER: Correct. But I asked them what they think about Ted Cruz, and Cruz doesn’t have the crossover appeal to any of my friends who are Democrat or Libertarian that Trump does. So I just wanted to make that point.
RUSH: That’s interesting. Your reference to Trump as a blue-collar, what did you say, billionaire, blue-collar billionaire, and you like that, huh, you think that’s a good characterization. You know, he talked about he has some friends out there. He said he knew some Republicans. He’s a Democrat, so he’s a well-rounded guy. Well, you know, I know some trial lawyers, and I mean, these people are as dyed-in-the-wool liberal Democrat as you can get. The trial lawyer, the plaintiff’s guys, the plaintiff’s bar, these people, they have sold everything to the Democrat Party. They are all in on the Democrats. They raise money, they donate, they whatever, because it’s the Democrats that are constantly opposing tort reform.
You can’t find a trial lawyer who’s a Republican, and if you do they won’t admit it around other lawyers. It is that universal. And I know some of these guys. I’ve met them playing in charity golf tournaments. I’ve ended up as the celebrity in their foursome. And you know it’s always interesting when that happens because they show up predisposed to thinking I’m this bad thing, that bad thing. They end up thinking I’m the greatest guy in the world, and why can’t everybody know this side of you? These guys end up being very open with me.
And I just got a note from one of them last week that he is abandoning the Democrat Party, and he’s become a supporter for Trump because it has taken Trump to open his eyes to what the Republican Party is. Trump’s a Republican; this guy loves Trump. He just loves Trump, thinks Trump is one of the greatest guys. So Trump being a Republican, this guy was forced to go beyond whatever he thinks in cliched terms the Republican Party is. And he found out that he had much more in common with your average, ordinary, everyday Republican than he ever would imagined.
He wanted me to know specifically that it would have never happened, he would have never admitted, not only admitted it, he would never have abandoned the Democrat Party in a presidential campaign had it not been for Trump. He gave me details. I don’t have a lot of time to go into details. Details don’t matter. I’ve known that Trump is attracting crossovers in these open primaries. I think I might have been one of the first to allude to the phenomenon and point out that it’s exactly what the Republican Party claims they have to be doing. I mean, why support amnesty? You want Hispanic voters, you want minorities, here’s Trump putting — and they don’t want any part of it. I’ve always been fascinated by this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We had a guy moments ago, a Democrat in Florida. Where was the guy? I guess Orlando. He was saying he was one of three Democrats he knows for Trump and he characterized Trump as a blue-collar billionaire. So I want to share with you some polling data from the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that is gonna really anger many Trump supporters, and you’re probably gonna get mad at me. But your anger, if you have any, will be misplaced aiming it at me.
Just wait ’til I get through this, ’cause I don’t think this kind of stuff matters to Trump supporters. But it’s a category list, demographic list of various groups and their negatives toward Trump, their disapproval. And when you go through this, you wonder how in the world Trump is winning the Republican primary. Now, he’s winning with 37%, so you could say 63% are not for Trump. But then that 63%’s not coalescing to oppose Trump. Not yet, anyway.
Some mitigating factors: There is early voting in a lot of states months ago, where you could vote for Rubio or you could vote for Jeb. You could vote for Carly Fiorina or Christie. So people did, and by voting early, their votes actually ended up not counting at all, which is side issue, another one to just broom this early voting. It’s a Democrat trick anyway. Early voting is just a recipe for fraud, and it’s no wonder. It’s largely a Democrat idea. Here are Trump’s negatives in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.
Women: 70% disapproval of Trump. Millennials: 72% disapproval of Trump. African-Americans: 83% disapproval or negative on Trump. Hispanics: 77% negative disapproval of Trump. And suburbanites: 68%. So if these numbers are right, then Trump is gonna need lots and lots of union voters to counteract these numbers. And just to remind you, it was… Did I put this at the bottom of the Stack? Here it is. Fox News poll (just to review this): Voters 35 and under, Millennials, prefer Cruz to Hillary 51 to 37%.
That is a 14-point lead that Cruz has over Hillary in a national matchup with people 35 and under. The same group, 35 and under, Hillary leads Trump by 20. So it’s a 34-point spread if you want to look at it that way. Now, I realize a number of you pro-Trumpsters are gonna say, “That’s a Drive-By Media poll. It’s the NBC/Wall Street Journal. They hate Trump. Of course they’re gonna do that, just like Fox is probably making their poll up to hurt Trump.” Blah, blah, blah.
I know how Trump people think, the ardent Trump supporters, and I realize it’s not gonna talk you out of Trump — and I’m not trying to, by any stretch of the imagination. I myself look at these negative numbers and I wonder, “Well, if those are true…” I mean, these are striking numbers. Seventy percent of women negative on Trump? Not on this show. The vast majority of women who call here love Trump. Seventy-two percent Millennials, anti-Trump? By the way, maybe a minor distinction.
They’re not saying they won’t vote for him. Maybe they wish that that be inferred, but depending on the final matchup, this does not say how people will vote; this is just your positive feelings, negative feelings — what’s your reaction to various candidates — and those are Trump’s numbers. All negatives. Women, 70%; Millennials, 72%; blacks, 83%; Hispanics, 77%; suburbanites, 68%. Now, these numbers are before this dustup with the tweeted photos of candidates’ wives, and before this rumored National Enquirer story that Ted Cruz somehow has five mistresses out there.