{"id":291053,"date":"2018-11-05T16:09:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T21:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=291053"},"modified":"2018-11-06T16:53:23","modified_gmt":"2018-11-06T21:53:23","slug":"trump-manipulates-media-into-touting-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2018\/11\/05\/trump-manipulates-media-into-touting-the-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Manipulates Media into Touting the Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: I will tell you, there\u2019s something fascinating going on. I don\u2019t know if you saw over the weekend. Trump… Folks, this man is more brilliant than anybody is ever gonna give him credit for or realize. Do you know what the Drive-By Media spent the weekend doing? Hyping the economy! We\u2019ve got the audio sound bites coming up to prove they are hyping the economy. The Democrat Party, the media is hyping the economy!<\/p>\n

\"\"Why? Because they also are criticizing Trump for not talking about it. Why? Because Trump\u2019s talking about immigration. That\u2019s what converts Democrat suburban women to Republican. They\u2019re mad Trump isn\u2019t talking about the economy. They\u2019re trying to get Trump to stop talking about immigration and get him talking about the economy. In the meantime, both are happening. They are touting the economy. Ha! The media! The Democrat media is touting the economy, and Trump\u2019s zeroing in on immigration.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a twofer.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s brilliant.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Now, I mentioned some amazing things that were happening on the Sunday shows. The Drive-By Media… Let me set this up by pointing out the economy is roaring. The economy is doing so well. African-American approval for President Trump is like 40%.<\/p>\n

I mean, if that\u2019s accurate, and if African-Americans are gonna vote for people associated with Trump on that basis, then, I mean, that\u2019s a real problem for the Democrats. We know that African-American unemployment is at a record low as well, at around I think was 4.4%. So the economy is going great. Wages have gone up by 3.1%. That hasn\u2019t happened in a long time. Unemployment, we have more job openings than there are people to fill them! So you couple that rising employment, rising wages, productivity is off the charts, jobs that Barack Obama said were never coming back have come back.<\/p>\n

Manufacturing jobs because of policies implemented by Donald Trump. And it\u2019s these policies the Democrats want to erase. The Democrats want to erase the tax cut. They want Medicare for all. They want to grow government. They want to establish as the premise that government is the focal point of everybody\u2019s life, that government is where you go if you need anything. Government\u2019s where you go if you want anything, including your enemies punished. And the economy\u2019s doing really, really good.<\/p>\n

So good that the Drive-Bys have been ignoring it, because in their world, in the world of the Washington establishment, back-pocket issues have been the sole determinant in who wins elections, especially in presidential election years, which this one is not. But if the economy is kicking butt and if it\u2019s going great gangbusters, the party out of power has traditionally had something practically impossible to overcome what\u2019s fascinating is that the Drive-Bys have been ignoring the economy.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve been downplaying it. They have been acting like it\u2019s not really that good, it\u2019s… Kamala Harris, who\u2019s one of the supposed dream presidential candidates for the Democrats went out to Iowa last week, and she said, “Don\u2019t be fooled by any of this. The economy\u2019s not that great. The only reason things look this good is \u2019cause everybody\u2019s having to work two jobs.” Which is not true! That\u2019s what\u2019s not necessary anymore. A lot of people still are; don\u2019t misunderstand. But it isn\u2019t necessary. That\u2019s the whole point of this.<\/p>\n

And yet she\u2019s downplaying it. No big deal. The Drive-Bys have been trying to downplay it because they think it\u2019s such an important factor. They think it would be such a boon to Trump and the Republicans that the economy\u2019s doing well. They would look at it as a huge obstacle for their buddies, the Democrats, to overcome. So they have been ignoring it. Until this past weekend. Mike, I\u2019m gonna switch up on you here. I need to find a sound bite here.<\/p>\n

\"\"I\u2019m looking for Jake Tapper and what\u2019s his name, Tom Perez. I put that aside somewhere. Yeah. Let\u2019s see. That would be No. 20. This will be the prelude. This was Sunday morning on State of the Union. Jake Tapper, the host, is talking to Tom Perez who is the chairman of the Democrat National Committee, and… Wait. No. This is not the one. I guess it\u2019s 21. Let me see if I can find 21 real quick. I\u2019ve got my whole… Here it is, No. 21. This is not the one I\u2019m looking for.<\/p>\n

What happened was that Tom Perez started talking about how, “It\u2019s no big deal this economy. This economy you…” Jake Tapper took him to task on it. Let me see if I do have it here. Jake Tapper… (interruption) What was that? (interruption) No we don\u2019t have it. Jake Tapper started laying into Perez. “You can\u2019t… You…” He didn\u2019t let him get away with it. He didn\u2019t let him get away with running down the economy.<\/p>\n

I said, “Whoa. Something\u2019s up here,” and something indeed was up. The Drive-Bys have all of a sudden decided to start praising the economy. Here we have a montage. We\u2019re starting here with audio sound bite No. 4. And we have here a series of bites where the Drive-Bys in the media are praising the economy and asking why Trump isn\u2019t focusing on it.<\/p>\n

JONATHAN KARL: With a president presiding over an economy as good as this one, you would expect there to be almost a morning in America message, stay the course, the economy\u2019s booming, let\u2019s keep with this.<\/p>\n

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Is it wise to be focusing on this when you\u2019ve got an economy going gangbusters?<\/p>\n

CHRIS WALLACE: Why aren\u2019t Republicans driving home the message on the economy?<\/p>\n

JUAN WILLIAMS: The economy is doing fairly well, why wouldn\u2019t Republicans be running on it?<\/p>\n

CHUCK TODD: Why he doesn\u2019t talk about the economy.<\/p>\n

KASIE HUNT: They wanted to talk about jobs and the economy. And every Republican candidate I talked to.<\/p>\n

JAKE TAPPER: The economy is booming. Unemployment is at a 49-year low. Annual wage growth topped 3% for the first time since 2009. But — and you knew there was a but — the president\u2019s closing message is not on that.<\/p>\n

JOHN DICKERSON: If we focus on the James Carville maxim, “It\u2019s the economy, stupid,” the economy is strong. Why should people want to change course?<\/p>\n

RUSH: I cannot tell you, I cannot overemphasize how incredible this is. They have been avoiding talk like this for a year! They have been making it a point to not talk about the economy this way. In fact, they\u2019ve done their best to downplay the economy roaring along. And these people — by the way, this was media-wide. This was ABC, Fox News, NBC, CNN, and CBS. There was a coordinated effort all throughout the Sunday shows to start touting the economy while asking why Trump isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Why isn\u2019t Trump touting the economy? Do you realize what genius this may well be? Trump has been touting the economy. If you listen to his rallies, which apparently these people don\u2019t. At every Trump rally, he extols imprecise improvements of the economy. And he explains why, not just that his administration deserves credit; he gives the policy reasons for unemployment falling, wages increasing, new jobs coming back, businesses expanding.<\/p>\n

He gives you the things his administration has done policy-wise that have made all this happen. And yet here they are all over the Sunday shows yesterday complaining Trump isn\u2019t talking about it. In the process, they are. Can you imagine if you\u2019re a steady viewer of the Drive-By Media and for a year you haven\u2019t heard one virtue from them about the U.S. economy. If anything, you\u2019ve heard it sort of ignored or maybe talked down.<\/p>\n

And then all of a sudden the Sunday before the election the Drive-By Media is singing the praises of the economy like nobody has been. How about Jake Tapper here? Unemployment 49-year low, annual wage growth topped 3% the first time since 2009. The president isn\u2019t talking about it! (But he is.) What\u2019s the real point here? Well, I\u2019ll tell you here in just a minute. Here\u2019s the next bite. This is Tom Brokaw. He\u2019s worried the economy is humming. (interruption) Yeah, recue that. He\u2019s worry the economy is humming and you can\u2019t discount that. He\u2019s very, very worried about this.<\/p>\n

\"\"BROKAW: At the end of the day, people have the best job creation economy we\u2019ve had since the 1960s. I mean, in the industrial Midwest where Trump did so well in the last election, it\u2019s booming out there. You\u2019re right. The economy is humming. You cannot… You cannot overestimate the importance of the economy when people walk into that voting booth.<\/p>\n

RUSH: What changed here? Why hasn\u2019t the media been talking about this for the past year? Why haven\u2019t they even been worried about it? They haven\u2019t been worried about it because of his they haven\u2019t been telling people about it. And in their world, if they don\u2019t tell anybody about it, then nobody will know it even if they\u2019re living it. The Drive-Bys think, unless they tout anything, nobody will actually know it or think that it\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n

But now all of a sudden here\u2019s Brokaw and the rest of these guys worried to death that the economy is going… And then they have to add Trump isn\u2019t talking about it, even though he is. He may not be running ads about it per se, but he\u2019s talking about it. Now one more. Skip forward to number 7. This is last night in Chicago, Obama at a rally for Jay Pritzker runing for governor there.<\/p>\n

By the way, this was another meager crowd. I mean, they said it was 9,600 people. They said that\u2019s what this place held. It was not full. Obama, the Clintons, they just can\u2019t… They can\u2019t do it. They cannot do what Trump does. They cannot draw crowds. They cannot create excitement. They\u2019re trying. They want in on the action, but they\u2019re not pulling it off. But here\u2019s Obama. And he has to get something in about the economy.<\/p>\n

OBAMA: Democrats had to come in and I had to grab a broom and we had to get a mop and we had to clean up their mess. And it was hard, and it was slow, but we got the economy growing again. And we covered another 20 million folks with health care. And we made sure the wealthiest paid their fair share of taxes. And by the time I left office, wages were rising —<\/p>\n

RUSH: No.<\/p>\n

OBAMA: — unemployment had fallen —<\/p>\n

RUSH: No.<\/p>\n

OBAMA: — the uninsured rate was falling.<\/p>\n

RUSH: No!<\/p>\n

OBAMA: The economy created more jobs over my latest 21 months than it did the 20 months since I\u2019ve left office.<\/p>\n

RUSH: No way!<\/p>\n

OBAMA: So when you hear the Republicans bragging about how good the economy is right now, where do you think that started?<\/p>\n

\n

This short clip of Obama has it all:<\/p>\n

– Mocks Ebola outbreak that killed thousands
\n– Mocks press for caring about Hillary\u2019s e-mails.
\n– Mocks Trump for cell phone use
\n– Says “a bunch of poor refugees” not a threat
\n– Says Trump moving troops to border is “a political stunt”<\/p>\n

Wow pic.twitter.com\/rn9qqxUUeP<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Benny (@bennyjohnson) November 2, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n