{"id":16621,"date":"2012-02-08T18:41:34","date_gmt":"2012-02-08T18:41:34","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-02-08T18:41:34","modified_gmt":"2012-02-08T18:41:34","slug":"trump_doesn_t_understand_what_s_motivating_conservative_voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2012\/02\/08\/trump_doesn_t_understand_what_s_motivating_conservative_voters\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Doesn\u2019t Understand What\u2019s Motivating Conservative Voters"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: In these next two we have Trump. This was this morning on CNN\u2019s Early Start with Ashleigh Banfield. And they played a section or a portion of Santorum, I believe. Regardless, they were talking about Santorum <\/a>and his victory speech last night. And this is what Trump had to say…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

TRUMP: Rick Santorum <\/a>was a sitting Senator who in reelection lost by 19 points. To my knowledge, the most in the history of this country for sitting Senator to lose by 19 points. It\u2019s unheard of. Then he goes out and it says, “Oh, okay. I just lost by the biggest margin in history; now I\u2019m gonna run for president.” Tell me, how does that work? That\u2019s like me saying, “I just failed a test. Now I\u2019m gonna apply for admission to the Wharton School of Finance,” okay? He just failed a test and now he\u2019s gonna run for president? So I don\u2019t get Rick Santorum. I don\u2019t get that whole thing.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. So obviously Trump is another that doesn\u2019t understand what is happening on the conservative side of things in the Republican Party. Now, you\u2019ve gotta be very careful in discussing all this because these are periods here with all of these different instances of misunderstanding, lack of knowledge. At some point, all this gonna get put back together again. And when it gets put back together we\u2019re gonna have to have a semblance here of unity, which every party goes through during a primary process<\/a>. But I want to take this and analyze it: “Rick Santorum was a sitting Senator who in reelection lost by 19 points. To my knowledge, the most in the history of this country for sitting Senator to lose by 19 points. It\u2019s unheard of. Then he goes out and it says, ‘Oh, okay. I just lost by the biggest margin in history; now I\u2019m gonna run for president.'”<\/p>\n

Now, keep in mind it was just last week that they had the big show in Las Vegas where Trump endorsed Romney. <\/a>And the school of thought was… ‘Cause leading up to this point, late last year (well, the last three months of last year) Trump was gold. Trump himself was leading everything. And so the assumption could be made by Trump and others that Trump\u2019s still gold. And if Trump\u2019s not running, whoever Trump\u2019s supporting is going to be the beneficiary of all the love and support Trump had. That doesn\u2019t happen, and so people start scratching their heads. This thing last week, with Trump endorsing Romney, I guarantee you whoever thought of this…<\/p>\n

And even if it happened genuinely, and I\u2019m not saying it didn\u2019t, but everything\u2019s possible here. I\u2019m sure the people… Let\u2019s put it this way: I\u2019m sure the people excited about this thought this was gonna put Romney over the top. I\u2019m sure they thought this was it. “This is the gold endorsement. Maybe McCain didn\u2019t do the trick, and maybe Dole didn\u2019t do the trick, but here\u2019s Trump; this is gold,” and it didn\u2019t happen. So there\u2019s a little… I don\u2019t know, “upsetedness” here, confusion, curiosity. (paraphrasing) “My gosh, I just endorsed Romney last week, and Santorum, this guy who lost by 19 points? I never heard of this! I don\u2019t understand this!”<\/line><\/p>\n

He says, “That\u2019s like me saying, ‘I just failed a test. Now I\u2019m gonna apply for admission to the Wharton School of Finance,\u2019 okay? He just failed a test and now he\u2019s gonna run for president? So I don\u2019t get Rick Santorum. I don\u2019t get that whole thing.”<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure he speaks for a lot of people who are not oriented toward conservatism ideologically, and by the same token who do not understand what is happening and has been happening with the Republican base. And I should probably point out that these people also fail to understand what the 2010 midterm elections were all about. They don\u2019t get that. And this is frustrating for us because it\u2019s so simple what\u2019s going on! It\u2019s not accidental. It\u2019s not a quirk of fate. It may be a quirk of fate, but it\u2019s not coincidence that Santorum had his sweep. It\u2019s not at all to people who vote in Republican primaries. Now, Santorum responded this morning on the same show, CNN Starting Point. Soledad O\u2019Brien played a clip of Trump saying Santorum loses reelection for Senator by the biggest margin in history, and then decides to run for president. How does that work?<\/p>\n

And then Soledad O\u2019Brien said, “Okay, Senator Santorum, how does that work?”<\/p>\n

SANTORUM: Why don\u2019t you ask Abraham Lincoln, who lost just about every single race he ran before he ran for president? A lot of folks lose races. What I didn\u2019t lose, unlike Governor Romney, is my principles. I stood up and fought for what I believed in in a very tough election year. And guess what? Governor Romney was up for reelection that year, too. His poll numbers were so bad, he decided not to run for reelection. I stood for what I believed in.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

RUSH: So Santorum says (paraphrased), “Why don\u2019t you ask Abraham Lincoln, who lost just about every race he ran. A lot of people loses races, but I didn\u2019t lose because of my principles. I stood up and fought for what I believed in.” In that 2006 election, a lot of people got taken out. I mean it was that middle of the Iraq war, the Bush administration not defending itself, the whole Mark Foley thing. It all came together. They were saying we\u2019re in the middle of a recession, trying to create this notion of a recession, if not a depression. It finally came out. There was a bunch of frustration the country was feeling over a number of things; it all started to come out.<\/p>\n

And, by the way, Santorum endorsed Arlen Specter. Santorum is a good party guy. He was a good party man. I mean, you endorse your fellow Senator from your state. That happened to be Arlen Specter. At the time everybody said, “You gotta be for Pat Toomey,” but he was a loyal party guy. He supported Bush in a lot of legislation that increased spending. And people on our side have been fed up with that for a long time, including the spending that went on in the Bush administration. So there was a message being sent by Republican voters in 2006 to a lot of incumbents that they didn\u2019t care about the consequences. They were gonna get rid of people who they thought were lying to them in their own party or who they thought were not governing as they had promised to while they were campaigning.<\/p>\n

Really none of this is this hard to understand. If you are a conservative who understands it ideologically, nothing about last night — nothing about what happened to Newt when he was doing well, nothing about the lack of total support for Romney, none of this — is confusing to conservatives. What\u2019s confusing to us is how everybody else doesn\u2019t see it. It\u2019s right in front of your nose! All you need is one eye to see this. Couple it with what Obama is, who he is, and what he\u2019s doing, and what\u2019s the alternative — and the fact Santorum continues to talk about, “This election\u2019s about freedom,” bingo! There\u2019s Connection A. Connection #1. That is what a majority of people voting in Republican primaries actually fear is happening: Their freedom being taken away.<\/p>\n

Not just being “lost,” but it\u2019s actively being taken from us. Every day this administration has something else, either in mind or something else that they are doing, that is usurping these freedom little by little. When you get to that point, the fact the guy loses an election by 19 points doesn\u2019t really matter that much right now. What matters more is the fact that the supposed Wizards of Smart in the Republican Party don\u2019t seem to understand what\u2019s at stake in the election. They don\u2019t seem to understand what\u2019s at stake for the country.<\/p>\n

And so Republican primary voters — as much as voting for Newt or voting for Santorum — are sending a message to the Republican establishment at the same time. There\u2019s so much going on here, but it isn\u2019t complicated. It isn\u2019t mysterious. By the way, Trump\u2019s debate back in December 5th or 7th, whenever it was supposed to happen? Santorum and Newt were the only two that agreed to do the Trump debate, and that was eventually canceled.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Who\u2019s next on the phones? Breck in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Thank you for calling. Great to have on the EIB Network. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: (garbled cell connection) Hi, Rush. Something I haven\u2019t heard anybody address anyplace is Trump made several comments that if he wasn\u2019t happy with who was elected to run for our side, that he\u2019d run again. Now, if Santorum or Newt wins, is he now gonna turn around and run as the spoiler? Because he\u2019s no fool. He\u2019s got to know that would guarantee a second term for Obama.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, I don\u2019t have any idea. But are we to tiptoe into the future on the premise that if we don\u2019t do what Trump wants, he might run as an independent?<\/a><\/line><\/p>\n

CALLER: Absolutely not.<\/p>\n

RUSH: And so we do what Trump wants?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, absolutely not. I was more interested in your opinion and whether you think this will take some fluff out of his feathers and he\u2019ll stop the grandstanding, or whether he\u2019s really serious about doing it.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I don\u2019t know at this time. I\u2019m not able to predict that. I\u2019m not sure that Mr. Trump knows what he\u2019s going to do after The Apprentice ends. He can\u2019t declare anything until May. He can\u2019t get involved \u2019cause he\u2019s got a television show which violates equal time rules. So you can\u2019t really do anything on this until May. So if he wants to go third party, he has to wait until then to pull it off. But beyond that, I don\u2019t know what he would do. And I don\u2019t know how upset he is that he endorses Romney big time in Las Vegas and then Santorum sweeps.<\/p>\n

You would think that he\u2019s being honest about, “I don\u2019t understand this. I don\u2019t understand Santorum. He loses big.” Trump ought to ask Romney why he didn\u2019t run for reelection as governor of Massachusetts. He\u2019s talking about how badly Santorum lost in 2006. There\u2019s a reason that Romney didn\u2019t run for reelection as governor, and it wasn\u2019t so much that he planned on running for president. It\u2019s because (go back and look at the polling data then) it was not favorable for Governor Romney\u2019s reelection. So if it isn\u2019t Mitt, Trump said… I don\u2019t know how recently he said it, but you\u2019re asking because he has said it.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Correct.<\/p>\n

RUSH: That he might run third-party. So you could say that Trump would be holding the party hostage saying, “If Romney\u2019s not the nominee, I\u2019m gonna go independent. I might, might not,” what have you. My only point is that you can\u2019t tiptoe around that. If you do that… No matter what you think of Trump, by the way, if you allow one person to determine what your whole party\u2019s gonna be, what your platform\u2019s gonna be in order to make sure he\u2019s happy, then you deserve what you get.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I was very set on Newt. But the more I watch Santorum, it\u2019s kind of like he\u2019s thrown a snowball off the top of the mountain and it\u2019s getting a lot bigger. And by the time he gets to the bottom of the mountain, I think he\u2019s gonna have a full avalanche behind him pushing him in the right direction.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, you\u2019re right. I don\u2019t want to be an I-told-you-so, but I remember specifically (it\u2019s been the last month, maybe a month and a half) there were a couple of days shortly after primaries where the mood was dark. The conservative movement, the Republican primary voters were despondent. They were depressed — even Snerdley — and I remember saying, “No, I\u2019m not worried at all. Let the process play out.” I didn\u2019t know anything. I just not afraid of the process. I\u2019m not afraid of this. I\u2019m not afraid of the primaries playing out. I never have subscribed to the belief that we have to have our nominee chosen by December and then January and now February. I\u2019ve never subscribed to that. But none of this is deeply concerning to me. It\u2019s playing out exactly as it\u2019s going to, and there\u2019s not a whole lot anybody can do to stop it anyway. As long as it\u2019s gonna happen, what needs to then happen is people stay involved in it and try to prevail, rather than stand by and simply watch it. Thanks for the call. I appreciate it much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: In these next two we have Trump. This was this morning on CNN\u2019s Early Start with Ashleigh Banfield. And they played a section or a portion of Santorum, I believe. Regardless, they were talking about Santorum and his victory speech last night. 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