{"id":331616,"date":"2019-12-16T16:03:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T21:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=331616"},"modified":"2019-12-17T15:41:42","modified_gmt":"2019-12-17T20:41:42","slug":"only-republicans-can-remove-trump-from-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/12\/16\/only-republicans-can-remove-trump-from-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Only Republicans Can Remove Trump from Office"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH:  So Chuck Schumer is demanding four witnesses at the Senate trial.  He\u2019s demanding four witnesses.  Now, you know what my reaction to that is?  “Screw you!  The hell with you!  Who are you to demand four witnesses?  The Republicans didn\u2019t get any witnesses over in Schiff\u2019s basement hearings.”  But here\u2019s the main reason why.  If the Republicans go out of their way to show fairness for the Democrats, it\u2019s gonna be a one-way street like it always is, because the Democrats are gonna say about the Republicans — and the media is going to repeat it regardless what happens.<\/p>\n

\"\"If the Republicans let Schumer have his witnesses, and then they have the vote and Trump is acquitted, you know what the Democrats in the media will say?  “Well, the Republican senators were biased.  They admitted they weren\u2019t gonna be fair! They weren\u2019t gonna be fair. They weren\u2019t gonna listen to the evidence.”  No matter what the Republicans do, it\u2019s gonna be ripped to shreds, it\u2019s gonna be lied about, and they\u2019re gonna be called racists and sexist and bigots. They\u2019re gonna be called unfair.<\/p>\n

The only focus for Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham and the rest of these guys is the result — and the result is an acquittal.  That\u2019s all that\u2019s at stake here \u2019cause you cannot buy their approval, you cannot do anything to get their approval, and why the hell would you want it anyway?  Why the hell, after all of this, would you want the approval of the people who have been running this coup, who have been running this corruption, who have been the architects and authors of it, including in the media?<\/p>\n

Why in the world would you seek fair reporting from them?  This is an all-out political war, and the only thing that matters is the result, and the result here is Donald Trump not guilty.  Even having to go through this charade is insulting enough.  So here comes Chuck Schumer, in the minority, demanding four witnesses.  Demanding four witnesses?  The same guy didn\u2019t think there should be any witnesses during the Clinton impeachment.  Pound that back at him.  I don\u2019t care what they say.<\/p>\n

Pound the reality back at them.  Hit \u2019em with all the hypocrisy we can muster, because it doesn\u2019t matter.  If the Republicans give Chuck Schumer his four witnesses, if the Republicans go out of their way to meet every Democrat and media demand — and believe me, it will be a media demand — to have a fair trial, the perception of fairness in the Senate, they\u2019re still gonna accuse you of a rigged outcome.  They\u2019re gonna say that you had the outcome already rigged before the trial even began no matter what you do, because there\u2019s only one result they want, and that\u2019s Trump convicted and removed from office.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the only hope they\u2019ve got of winning the 2020 election, is having Trump kicked out of office by his own party.  That\u2019s it.  That\u2019s the only chance they\u2019ve got, and the only way that can happen is if Trump\u2019s own party removes him from office, because the Democrats do not have the votes to do it.  And every damn Republican had better face that squarely and understand what they face.  The only way Donald Trump can be removed from office is if his own party decides to do it — and wouldn\u2019t the Democrats love that?<\/p>\n

“The Republicans got rid of their own president.  They knew how odious he was.  They knew what a reprobate he was.  They knew how orange his hair was,” whatever they want to say.  ‘Cause I don\u2019t care about all this blathering.  I don\u2019t care about all the pretrial chat and talk and all that.  The fact remains the only way Donald Trump can be thrown out of office is if his own party decides to do it — and if they do, “Sayonara, GOP.”  You\u2019ll be in everybody\u2019s rearview mirror. (interruption) No, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s gonna happen.  I\u2019m just saying it\u2019s the only way it can happen.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why you don\u2019t give \u2019em their witnesses.  You don\u2019t let \u2019em have one inch.  You don\u2019t let \u2019em have one inch after the unfairness and the corruption and the bogus nature of all of this, starting with this bogus investigation, bogus allegation. “Trump\u2019s illegitimate, a Russian spy, a traitor!” We need to be fair with these people?  It\u2019s about time they got a dose of their own medicine, as far as I\u2019m concerned.  They are losers, and they need to keep losing, and be pounded over the head with defeat after defeat after defeat.<\/p>\n

\"\"They need to pay a price for what they have done, and that price will come at the ballot box with their own accountability, which takes me… Let\u2019s get started on the audio sound bites here.  I want you to hear this. Here\u2019s Carly Fiorina.  I told you I saw this on CNN.  But I just want you to hear it.  Carly Fiorina is one of the Republicans who wants to remove Donald Trump.  She wants him gone.  I tell you, it\u2019s people like Carly Fiorina who are gonna be the ones that will have to do it.  The Democrats… You must understand this, folks.<\/p>\n

The Democrats cannot remove Donald Trump from office.  They don\u2019t have the votes.  The only way Trump can be removed from office is via a conviction in the Senate.  It would take 20 Republicans and all Democrats voting together.  The Democrats cannot do it.  In fact, I think that the more that is used as the way to frame this is… You\u2019re worried about Republican defections?  Well, then put it straight on \u2019em.  “Yep.  The only way Trump can be removed is if his own party does it.<\/p>\n

“You Republicans that want Trump gone, there\u2019s no way for you to make it look like the Democrats did it.  You can\u2019t get away with getting rid of Trump and have it blamed on the Democrats.  The only people that you can do it are you.”  Every Republican voter needs to understand that.  Here\u2019s Carly Fiorina, just for the fun of it, on CNN today — a “special interview,” \u2019cause she\u2019s got some new book out — talking to the infobabe Poppy Harlow, whose question: “Do you believe President Trump should be impeached and removed from office?”<\/p>\n

FIORINA:  I think it is vital that he be impeached.  Whether removed this close to an election, I don\u2019t know.  But I think the conduct is impeachable.<\/p>\n

RUSH:  What conduct?<\/p>\n

FIORINA:  And what I regret is that the principles that are being debated in this impeachment trial — separation of powers, abuse of power, obstruction of Congress — those principles are not as immediate or intense as partisanship or people\u2019s belief that the policies that I care about impact me personally.<\/p>\n

\"\"RUSH:  What is she saying?  ” I regret is that the principles that are being debated in this impeachment trial — separation of powers, abuse of power, obstruction of Congress — those principles are not as immediate or intense as partisanship or people\u2019s belief that the policies that I care about…” In other words, people ought to not care about the policies and how it\u2019s improving their lives.  They ought to care about separation of powers, the grotesque abuse of power, obstruction of Congress.  There isn\u2019t any obstruction of Congress, Ms. Fiorina.<\/p>\n

Anyway, here\u2019s Chris Van Hollen, former member of Congress, now senator. Well, he\u2019s still in Congress.  He\u2019s just from the Senate.  He\u2019s from Maryland.  He was on CNN this afternoon. Dana Bash said, “Elissa Slotkin turned her district in Michigan from red to blue, but she\u2019s voting ‘yes\u2019 on both articles.”  By the way, this woman, this Elissa Slotkin, let me tell you a little bit about her.  She\u2019s a former CIA operative or some the such thing.  So she claims to have inside knowledge of the horrors and the outrages committed by Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

If this woman was really concerned about that, she would want to get rid of John Brennan.<\/p>\n

She would want James Clapper and Brennan sent somewhere for some accountability.  She\u2019d want Comey and McCabe and Strzok and Page and Bill Priestap and the Ohrs. She would want those people held accountable, not Donald Trump.  Donald Trump hasn\u2019t done anything.  He literally hasn\u2019t done anything, particularly within the context of these so-called charges.  She\u2019s a CIA operative. She\u2019s one of these 31 Democrats elected in a Trump district in Michigan.  So last Friday, she made it a point to go on Fox.  She was on Fox, and she was wringing her hands, and she was struggling, and she didn\u2019t know how she was gonna vote in impeachment.<\/p>\n

She had to take the weekend to really, really think about it. Elissa Slotkin, who was the author of one of the first congressional letters and memos saying Trump\u2019s got to go and be put in jail. But now she\u2019s going to think about it. She\u2019s going to spend the weekend searching her soul. She\u2019s going to wring her hands, and she\u2019s gonna dig deep within, deeper than she\u2019s ever been, to find guidance on how she should behave and how she should vote, which was a crock.<\/p>\n

She was always gonna vote to impeach. She just put on a little show for the Fox audience, for the voters in her district. If you are in her district in Michigan, she\u2019s decided after all of this very careful introspection and after all of this mind-numbing thought, she has concluded she has no choice but to vote for impeachment. And that\u2019s who Dana Bash is asking Van Hollen about.<\/p>\n

So he says Elissa Slotkin turned her district in Michigan from red to blue. She\u2019s voting “yes” on both articles. She got an earful at a townhall this morning. She had a lot of people telling her that they don\u2019t want her voting for impeachment. \u201cDoes this complicate the Democrats\u2019 goal of keeping the majority in the House in \u2013” so essentially the question is, these 31 Democrats voting to impeach, is it gonna hurt them, do you think, Mr. Van Hollen?<\/p>\n

VAN HOLLEN: I don\u2019t think so because I don\u2019t think anybody can really read all the political signs here and figure out how this shakes out. At the end of the day, even for those swing voters who may disagree with a particular decision, I think they will respect a member of Congress who comes out and clearly states their position and explains why.<\/p>\n

RUSH: So Chris Van Hollen is telling these 31 Democrats, don\u2019t worry. Don\u2019t worry at all. Your voters will respect your decision to impeach Trump. Don\u2019t sweat it. Your voters will respect that you want Trump gone on no evidence whatsoever. They will respect that you hate Trump and that you hate him like we do and that you want him gone even though he hasn\u2019t done anything impeachable. Your voters will respect you for that.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Van Hollen is saying. Well, it may not be the case. Because, as we know, Jeff Van Drew, a Democrat, New Jersey, announced on Friday he\u2019s switching parties. The scuttlebutt that I\u2019m hearing that in the Senate there may be three Democrats who vote against conviction.<\/p>\n

\"\"Remember, to get conviction, they need all the Democrats voting for conviction and 20 Republicans. If three Democrats defect and vote against acquittal, then they need 23 or 24 Republicans turning tail and voting traitorous. There are gonna be minimum three Democrats in the House who will vote against these articles and maybe six.<\/p>\n

This impeachment is gonna turn out to be bipartisan, except it\u2019s gonna be bipartisan against. It\u2019s gonna be bipartisan against in the House. It\u2019s gonna be bipartisan against in the Senate. Now, in Oklahoma City there was another town hall meeting, Representative Kendra Horn, Democrat, she replaced a popular Republican in this particular district. She had a town hall event, and here\u2019s a montage of voters telling her what they think at her town hall recently.<\/p>\n

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1 UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Since the election of 2018, has been concentrated on impeach President Trump. We want Congress to get back to work for the American people, please.<\/p>\n

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Where was it ever fair to our president, the one we put in — that I voted for? And we\u2019re mad. We\u2019re mad as hell.<\/p>\n

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: He\u2019s a duly elected president. And I feel it is not your responsibility to take somebody that was duly elected out of office. I think you\u2019re in a lot of trouble if you vote for this impeachment<\/p>\n

\"\"RUSH: And the look on her face during all this was one of scorn and indifference. She didn\u2019t care. It didn\u2019t matter at all. She showed up at this town hall in an obligatory way, meaning she had to go there, but she didn\u2019t care what these people were saying, and you could see it on her face. She didn\u2019t even try to look warm and engaged. She just had a flat, blank glare on her face, Kendra Horn.<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s go to audio sound bite number 4. Meet the Depressed sent a correspondent out to Michigan, Kent County, Michigan. The correspondent, Dante Chinni, and they went to out there talk to Republican voters about impeachment, and here\u2019s a montage of what they happened to say. Again, this is NBC sending a reporter to Michigan.<\/p>\n

MIKE: I don\u2019t even care about it, it\u2019s just noise. Have you ever recorded a football game but found out the final score before you watched it? Then you just don\u2019t even care.<\/p>\n

CINDY: We\u2019re not hearing people talk about it in my circle at all. They\u2019re just not interested.<\/p>\n

PETER: Looking back on the Nixon impeachment which was really, really grave at the time, and was by the vote very bipartisan. And this just seems like it really is political theater.<\/p>\n

NATE: A predetermined process that was going to be played for political gain on both sides.<\/p>\n

MARY: People are just tired. They see it as a political hit. It is very partisan.<\/p>\n

TIM: For me, it\u2019s beyond Trump. Trump will come and go. Worst case scenario for some, right, 2024. And I still believe that the Republican answers are the answers to solve some of our country\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n