{"id":4041,"date":"2016-03-02T17:52:10","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T17:52:10","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2017-06-20T10:21:29","modified_gmt":"2017-06-20T14:21:29","slug":"trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Running a General Election Campaign He\u2019s Been Planning for Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: Last night and Trump\u2019s press conference. Once again he comes up with Planned Parenthood. He gets a question about Planned Parenthood, and he\u2019s not wavering from this. And people are misunderstanding what\u2019s happening. In the South Carolina debate I was taken aback when I saw Trump go on and on about Planned Parenthood. That was the debate where he accused Bush of knowing in advance of 9\/11, knowing that there were no weapons of mass destruction, I mean, all this stuff that left-wingers say, the radical left wingers say, Trump\u2019s out there saying it, and then I realized what\u2019s going on, it\u2019s an open primary, Democrats can cross over and vote.<\/p>\n

But actually it\u2019s even more than that. There are two stories here today. One of them is in The Politico: “The Media\u2019s Trump Reckoning: ‘Everyone was Wrong<\/a>‘”<\/p>\n

And this story was a review of a number of bold-name, very well-known Drive-By Media reporters and analysts having to eat crow. It goes back and cites all of these different people who said Trump was a one-month wonder, a two-week wonder, he\u2019s not gonna last, he\u2019s gonna implode, Trump\u2019s gonna blow it, Trump\u2019s this, he\u2019s not gonna be a factor.<\/p>\n


\nThis story goes back, talks to many of those people and asks them what did they do wrong. And they all admit they got it wrong, and The Politico concludes everybody was wrong. Everybody was not wrong. I did not think that Trump was gonna implode. I was one of the first people to tell you that this was gonna resonate, even on June 16th during that outrageous introductory speech, I warned everybody this was gonna resonate with people, back when everybody was laughing it off, this is a joke. Back then the establishment, “All right, all right, this is great. This is gonna make Jeb look even more presidential. This is gonna make Jeb look even better. ‘Cause Trump\u2019s looking like a genuine insane lunatic.”<\/p>\n

And I said, “Nope, nope, you\u2019re misreading this. This is gonna resonate.” I said it\u2019s gonna resonate because of immigration. Oh, remind me, I don\u2019t want to get sidetracked right now. The exit polls do not show immigration as a top three issue in many of these states. Remind me to talk about that. The second thing that\u2019s going on here — and I also referenced this within the past couple weeks. Koko, do a site search, find out the actual date I mentioned this<\/a>, because I mentioned in passing that certain things that have happened and things that Trump said made me realize he\u2019s been planning this for years.<\/p>\n

This is something Trump has been planning for years. And I\u2019ll give you a little hint. I forget what it was that was the catalyst that made me realize that, but it forced me to remember some things, and it was probably a conversation about does Trump really want this, is he really gonna stay in this, do we trust Trump, what he\u2019s saying. It was a conversation like that, and it might not have been even with a caller, but I made the point I think he\u2019s been thinking about this a lot longer than anybody thinks. I don\u2019t think this is a snap decision. The reason I said this, you know, don\u2019t misunderstand me here, but I\u2019ve played golf with Trump a number of times, and each time I\u2019ve played politics, of course, is one of the primary subjects.<\/p>\n

And I remember on two separate occasions he was really, really curious, wanted to know in detail why I moved to Florida from New York, what was it about New York taxes. And then he admitted, “You know, Rush, I have to tell you: I had a lot of people tell me the same thing. They\u2019re thinking of leaving. They can\u2019t handle it anymore. It\u2019s just it\u2019s…” This is just the last two or three years, and then many in-depth discussions about Obama. “He\u2019s a bad guy, right, Rush? Is a bad guy. What kind of guy you think Obama is?” And it was a back-and-forth.<\/p>\n

He was acutely interested. This was not just idle chatter during a round of golf. It was pretty focused and intense, although I didn\u2019t attach this kind of meaning to it. There was… At no point did I ever think, “My God, this guy sounds like he\u2019s thinking of running.” I just thought it was somebody that was deeply interested and talking about things that you don\u2019t normally hear him talk about in public. But now looking back on everything that\u2019s happened, I think two or three years ago he was planning this.<\/p>\n

Two or three years ago he was plotting and strategizing and learning and formulating thoughts, this, that, and the other. And I think that\u2019s what this Planned Parenthood stuff is. All that stuff that happened in the South Carolina primary, I think what it means is that Trump already thinks in terms of being the nominee. I think he\u2019s been running a national presidential campaign for a while now. In other words, I think he\u2019s been focused on Hillary. I don\u2019t think his real focus has just been on Cruz or Jeb or Rubio.<\/p>\n


\nParticularly after the first couple of months when his poll numbers through the roof and nobody else is getting any traction whatsoever. And his level of confidence. You know, last night he mentioned Planned Parenthood again. And in that answer on Planned Parenthood, he kind of gave something away. He talks about, “Yeah, so-called conservatives,” and then he caught himself. “But I\u2019m a conservative! I\u2019m a common-sense conservative.” “So-called conservatives.” There was a… That means there is a…<\/p>\n

Oh, I wouldn\u2019t go so far to call it “a foul taste in his mouth about it,” but clearly he\u2019s got some discomfort, problems with rock-ribbed — I mean, super-serious — ideological conservatives, much like the Republican establishment does, by the way. That\u2019s what makes \u2019em nervous about Cruz. “Nobody\u2019s that way! Nobody\u2019s this earnest and ideological in everything they say or do. It makes us uncomfortable,” they say. But his continuing support of Planned Parenthood and his reasons why…<\/p>\n

“They do great health things for women!” He acknowledges abortion\u2019s no way. “We\u2019re gonna defund \u2019em because of that,” but he… Folks, he\u2019s running a national campaign here, and he\u2019s talking about broadening the base. Last night he said, “We\u2019re gonna unify.” Last night he acknowledged a point that I\u2019ve been trying to make everybody here for weeks now, and that is that he has put together a coalition that\u2019s way beyond the Republican base. It\u2019s way beyond a conservative Republican base.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s got every ethnicity and demographic and every age-group and every income bracket in his support. This is exactly what the Republican Party\u2019s been telling us they need to do to win, while they tell us conservatives to shut up and go away, that they can\u2019t win with us alone. Trump\u2019s done it, and he\u2019s continuing to, because he\u2019s running his national campaign right now. And he fully intends to grow it. He\u2019s talking about, “I\u2019m making the party bigger! I\u2019m enlarging the party. I\u2019m making it bigger. I\u2019m growing the party, exactly what everybody says needs to happen — and you watch how I\u2019m gonna unify the party.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Last night and Trump\u2019s press conference. Once again he comes up with Planned Parenthood. He gets a question about Planned Parenthood, and he\u2019s not wavering from this. And people are misunderstanding what\u2019s happening. In the South Carolina debate I was taken aback when I saw Trump go on and on about Planned Parenthood. That […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nTrump's Running a General Election Campaign He's Been Planning for Years - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Trump's Running a General Election Campaign He's Been Planning for Years - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: Last night and Trump\u2019s press conference. Once again he comes up with Planned Parenthood. He gets a question about Planned Parenthood, and he\u2019s not wavering from this. And people are misunderstanding what\u2019s happening. In the South Carolina debate I was taken aback when I saw Trump go on and on about Planned Parenthood. That […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GeorgePrayias\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/\",\"name\":\"Trump's Running a General Election Campaign He's Been Planning for Years - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-02T17:52:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-20T14:21:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9a33276eb9dc5b6d3f8218957f30e6b4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trump\\u2019s Running a General Election Campaign He\\u2019s Been Planning for Years\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9a33276eb9dc5b6d3f8218957f30e6b4\",\"name\":\"GeorgePrayias\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d290ab65e2eaca3719268528f83b85bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d290ab65e2eaca3719268528f83b85bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"GeorgePrayias\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/GeorgePrayias\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump's Running a General Election Campaign He's Been Planning for Years - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"Trump's Running a General Election Campaign He's Been Planning for Years - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"RUSH: Last night and Trump\u2019s press conference. Once again he comes up with Planned Parenthood. He gets a question about Planned Parenthood, and he\u2019s not wavering from this. And people are misunderstanding what\u2019s happening. In the South Carolina debate I was taken aback when I saw Trump go on and on about Planned Parenthood. That […]","twitter_image":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"GeorgePrayias","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/","name":"Trump's Running a General Election Campaign He's Been Planning for Years - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2016-03-02T17:52:10+00:00","dateModified":"2017-06-20T14:21:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9a33276eb9dc5b6d3f8218957f30e6b4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2016\/03\/02\/trump_s_running_a_general_election_campaign_he_s_been_planning_for_years\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump\u2019s Running a General Election Campaign He\u2019s Been Planning for Years"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9a33276eb9dc5b6d3f8218957f30e6b4","name":"GeorgePrayias","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d290ab65e2eaca3719268528f83b85bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d290ab65e2eaca3719268528f83b85bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"GeorgePrayias"},"url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/GeorgePrayias\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237653,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4041\/revisions\/237653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}