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RUSH: It was just 24 hours ago, ladies and gentlemen — a mere 24 hours ago — that I was behind this very Golden EIB Microphone informing you that I had come across a bit of news. The bit of news was that big-time Republican donors had ordered to take out Donald Trump in the debate last night.

We all made a mistake. We assumed that the orders went out to the candidates. But the candidates did not make one move toward taking Donald Trump out. The broadcast network did; the candidates didn’t. I mean, let’s review. The first question from Megyn Kelly to Trump was, “You’ve called women fat slobs, pigs, whatever,” and he said, “No, just Rosie O’Donnell.” The place starts laughing and so forth, but she’s not amused, and she tells him, “No, it’s more than that.”

She keeps going on and on and on about it, and says, “Is this the right kind of temperament?” Whatever it was. Trump was clearly caught entirely off guard by it, and even today he said, “I’m not… I don’t know when I’ve ever said this stuff.” Who knows if he writes all of his tweets that he posts. You know, this is the danger that when you start going in the social media stuff and tweeting stuff and maybe you hire somebody to do it for you.


I happen to know Trump does not use a cell phone, folks. He does not do e-mail, for this very reason. I was told long ago when I first started playing golf with the Trumpster, he does not use a cell phone, or at least he doesn’t do e-mail. I was kind of surprised, frankly, when I saw that he started tweeting. My first question is, “Does he write these tweets himself or does he have somebody on his staff doing it just because it’s hip and it’s hot and he wants a presence in it?”

Regardless, don’t misunderstand. I’m not getting on Megyn Kelly for asking the question. This is a presidential debate. And, folks, I don’t care. I know full well that no Democrat candidate is ever gonna get a question like that. No Democrat candidate is ever gonna be made to justify his or her existence, like our candidates are. I know. I understand that. And I know that it may seem to be unfair. The point is, if you’re going to enter this arena, you have to know that that’s what it’s going to be for you if you’re on the Republican side, and you can’t complain.

And he’s not. He’s not complaining. He’s saying (paraphrased), “I think she’s unhappy with me. Her question was unfair and maybe a little mean,” but these realities exist. And I thought he was caught a little flat-footed, and it illustrated something. I don’t think… I’m not sure he ever got back on solid footing after that. Trump, as I have observed, shines when he’s in control. He’s not a collaborator, folks. That’s why I began predicting on Monday that he would do something to take control of this debate because that’s his strength.

He’s not a reactive guy. I mean, he’s okay at it, but he doesn’t share well. He’s not a collaborator. He runs the show, and he doesn’t do a lot of talking. But here’s the point. That’s all sideline stuff. Here’s the point. Not one of the remaining nine candidates joined Megyn Kelly in taking the shot at Trump. Not one. Yet we have been told that there were orders from Republican donors to take Trump out. And there were a couple of other instances when Trump restated his views.

Remember the contretemps when the moderators were demanding that Trump prove that the Mexican government was knowingly sending rapists, murderers, purse snatchers, and so forth? Finally he said, “Well, I’ve been down there. I met with the Border Patrol. I’ve talked to the Border Patrol guys. There’s no question that the Mexican government is doing this!” I can’t recall off the top of my head now either.

But I’ve reported stories like the Mexican government is advertising in Mexico how to get on the American welfare rolls, how to get food stamps. The Mexican government is doing it all. Trump was right. He just could not recall where he saw it, who told him, how he knew it, or what have you. And that’s why not a single other candidate piled on. The candidates were given at least maybe three chances here to pile on.

Join the moderators in the whatever you want to call it, the hit or the criticism or the questioning of Trump, and they didn’t. They didn’t go there when Megyn brought up the business about what Trump said about women in the past and Twitter and wherever else. And when immigration came up, no one — no one — joined the fray. No one tried to dump on Trump. What do you make of that? And in fact, when Trump’s name came up, John Kasich and Rubio said, “Hey…” They praised Trump. “Hey, he’s preaching a group of Americans…”

My point is, not one… Now, you look at Chris Christie and Rand Paul. They went at it over government spying, but there was none of that at Trump. Nobody went at him. I found it kind of interesting. I thought there were a lot of really, really quality people last night on that stage. And I tell you, despite everything that we’re gonna say today and that you’re gonna say, there’s not a one of those people on that stage last night I would not take over Hillary Clinton.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We all saw what happened in the debate, but some of the candidates and what they said in post-debate interviews, I don’t know how many people hung around. It was late. I mean, Trump tweeted his final tweet at 3:45 a.m., for example.

But let’s grab audio sound bite number two. We’ll start with Trump after the debate on Hannity last night. Hannity’s show started at midnight, and I guess Trump showed up about halfway through that. And the question was, “I interpreted your comments that you made about Mexican immigrants differently. I interpreted it as they’re not doing anything to stop the quality of people coming across the border, and it’s a stopgap for them if they allow people to leave at will.”


By the way, let me just clarify something. This is another thing. You know, they try to dump on Trump, demand proof from him that the Mexican government is knowingly sending rapists, murderers, and purse snatchers, and this kind of thing. They are! It’s something I know full well. We’ve had the stories. We’ve done them on this program, including and up to the fact the Mexican government is running advertising on Mexican media, radio, TV and print on how to get on the food stamp program once you have left Mexico and emigrated to the United States, illegally.

There’s no question the Mexican government — if you had a chance, would you not get rid of the dregs of your neighborhood if you could ship ’em out? I mean, if Mexico wants to get rid of its debris and the United States, primarily Democrat Party is willing to take it, why wouldn’t you do it? But Trump couldn’t come up with a name or anything, so he was put on the spot. But afterwards, that’s what Hannity’s asking him about here, and Hannity is saying (paraphrasing), “What I’ve always thought you meant was that the Mexican government’s not doing anything to stop illegal immigration, and it’s a stopgap for them, meaning it helps them if they allow people to live, it’s less they have to pay for.”

TRUMP: I took tremendous heat that first day. I mean, a lot of your friends like Rush Limbaugh and a lot of people, they said, boy, they used the word “incoming.” I hadn’t heard that word, but “Trump is taking tremendous incoming.” But it was an honor, and now some of the people that you would least suspected are calling me up and apologizing. And what I said tonight is true. The word “illegal immigration” would not have been a topic if it wasn’t for me.

RUSH: What about that, folks? Illegal immigration would not have been a topic if it not for him. I don’t think you can deny it, folks. I really don’t. Now, you might say that Rubio some others might have brought it, but you wouldn’t have had that on any stage the way it has been discussed since. There isn’t anybody in the political class that has been discussing illegal immigration and sanctuary cities and the criminal element that’s coming across the border, and nobody doing anything about it, in either party. That is undeniable. This morning on Good Morning America George Stephanopoulos, “What was unfair about Megyn Kelly’s questions to you?”

TRUMP: Some of the statements she made about the women, I don’t recognize those words whatsoever. I mean, we’re gonna look at that very carefully, but I don’t recognize those words. You know, when I said the Rosie O’Donnell thing, that got the biggest — I would say the biggest laugh, applause, et cetera of the evening. That was pretty startling noise in that arena. So, look, it was an amazing evening, I’m not complaining about anything. I think that — I think I did very well. You know, Drudge had me as number one and TIME Magazine had me as number one and the New York Times has me as number one.

RUSH: Right. These post-debate online polls, Trump is still at number one. He did not take himself out last night. Some in the Republican Party establishment might think so, but we’ll find out. You know, it’s gonna be almost like one of these incidents we had with the illegal immigrant comment followed by the McCain comment. Remember the political class thought Trump ended it? They’ve been waiting for him to step in it and they thought he did, particularly with the McCain comment. It turned out he grew his support.

So now had this first question and then his refusal to take the pledge not running third party, and everybody’s thinking again, you know what, he finally stepped in it. But nobody’s got the guts to say it as strongly as they did after the McCain comment. They’re all thinking it, they’re all thinking it, guaran-damn-tee you, they are all thinking it’s over for Trump. They just learned their lesson. They’re not gonna go out and brag about it right now in case they’re wrong and support rallies to Trump again. So time will tell on that. We’ll know very soon just like we did last time.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Hey, hey, hey, hey. Look at these two headlines. Recent stories published today. Not last night, but today. First is Bloomberg News, Joshua Green, headline: “Fox News Couldn’t Kill Trump’s Momentum and May Have Only Made It Stronger.” Wait just a minute. Forgive me. You may have seen it. This is the first media I’ve seen that Fox was out to “kill Trump’s momentum.” Salon had a piece. No wonder I missed it. That’s a trash rag. It’s a bunch of losers there. Why would I bother reading Salon?

The only thing they’ve got good in there is Camille Paglia, but I don’t even have to read Salon to find her column. “Fox News Could Not Kill Trump’s Momentum.” Well, there’s a clear implication there that they were trying to. And Politico. They’re the ones that had the story that Jeb had called Trump names that Jeb denied and Trump said, “God, I love you, man,” last night after the debate. This is by Roger Simon: “Donald Trump Terrifies Republican Field — They are afraid of him; they are really afraid of him. The other Republican candidates for president are afraid of Donald Trump.”


Those are the first three sentences of the story. So our guys are being portrayed as a bunch of cowards. “They are afraid of him; they are really afraid of him. The other Republican candidates for president are afraid of Donald Trump. The smart ones are, anyway. Donald Trump didnÂ’t just steal much of the show at a Republican debate Thursday night, he didnÂ’t just command the stage whenever he chose to — he is an experienced TV performer, after all — but he showed his contempt for the very debate that he was taking part in. And the audience ate it up.”

Wait a minute. Dr. Krauthammer says that Trump blew his candidacy last night, and Frank Luntz says the same thing. What are we to make of this, folks? Time will tell. But it’s clear these media people have learned a lesson. They thought the McCain comment and the illegal immigrant comment would doom Trump — and when it didn’t — when it actually made him more popular. They’re now hedging their bets.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I’m just gonna tell you this: If Trump maintains his support or if it grows, you are gonna see a mainstream establishment that will not have any idea how to explain it. They will not believe it, and it might drive ’em nuts, because they think he didn’t finish last night.

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