RUSH: Can I tell you what we’re watching here? If you really want to get down to brass tacks. If you want to know what’s going on between Trump and Fox News and Trump and the rest of the media, if you want to know, if you really want to understand this, you are watching a Trump negotiation that you never normally would see.

Most negotiations take place behind closed doors, whatever they are. Negotiating a compensation package, negotiating a deal between countries, a deal between one business and another, whatever it might be. They never do those in public. Nobody sees those talks. And when they’re over with, there’s a mutual announcement: “Happy to say that the XYZ Widget company and the ABC News media company have reached agreement on a new accord to do,” blah, blah, whatever it is, and everybody goes and has a cocktail and it’s the end of the day.

But you never see how they got there. What you’re seeing here, this is Trump. This is how he negotiates. It’s all there, the book The Art of the Deal, when to walk away, when to have the courage to walk away, when to say no, when to mean it. You’re watching a negotiation. He doesn’t think about rules, the setup is advantageous based on previous experience, so he’s not gonna do it again. It’s so far outside the rules that it’s considered rude. It’s considered to be obstinate. It’s considered to be arrogant. Who is this upstart, who is it that thinks he’s bigger than the rules?

This stuff all reminds me of Steve Jobs, in a way. Steve Jobs, one of his big advertising slogans early on in the days of Apple was, “Think different.” And Jobs would constantly tell people (paraphrasing), “Why do you assume everybody’s smarter than you are, just ’cause they’ve got the job and you don’t? Just because they’re in a position and you’re not, why do you accept that? You except that because of the rules. You accept that because that’s just the way things always are. Somebody earns more than you, they’ve gotta be smarter. Somebody has a job more powerful than yours, they’ve gotta be smarter, they’ve gotta be better. Don’t think that way. Don’t naturally subordinate yourself to everybody. Just because you’re not in the club that’s making the rules does not mean they know more than you do about how to be best for yourself.”

Jobs’ point was so few people actually ever stand up for themselves. It’s considered too risky. It’s safer to conform. It’s safer to go by the rules. It’s just safer to let everything fall out as it’s supposed to and try to make your mark within those confines. But when you do it that way you’re still waiting on somebody above you to anoint you and grant you the permission to climb the next rung on the ladder rather than just doing it on your own and letting the chips fall. I worked for a corporation for five years and found out after year three I’m not made for that, ’cause I’m not a conformist and I don’t have 40 years to wait to climb the ladder to do what the rules of that game say you have to do to become a VP.

And that’s all Trump’s doing here. He’s taking the way he lives his life and always has — and this does not equal support for Trump. I’m explaining it. The way he lives his life, the way he always has, and he’s decided he wants to get into politics, and he’s gonna continue to run by his rules. He’s not gonna sit there and willingly let people take shots at him just because that’s what you always have to do if you want to be elected president. You’ve gotta go through the media gauntlet. No, he doesn’t, he’s saying.

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RUSH: This is Scott in Lyons, Ohio. Great to have you on the program. Hello.

CALLER: Hello, Mr. Limbaugh. It’s an honor to talk to you today. Thanks for taking my call.

RUSH: You bet, sir. Thank you.

CALLER: My question is just that in my mind I’m comparing the CNBC debate after which the RNC and the entire field decided to cut ties, they called it cutting ties, or backing out of any of the NBC debates because they feel that they were treated unfairly in the previous debate with CNBC. And I’m wondering in my mind what’s the difference between Trump feeling that he was treated unfairly and the entire field and the RNC feeling like they were treated unfairly.

RUSH: Yeah, you know, it’s an interesting point. The question came up yesterday, and you’re right. Let’s just review here, for the sake of memory refreshment. The CNBC debate that he’s talking about is the one where about 30 minutes into it Ted Cruz had had enough. Some inane question about whether somebody wears diapers or not, whatever it was. It was that inane, and Ted Cruz said (imitating Cruz), “That’s it. You know what? We have been here a half hour, and you have –” and he recited every meaningless, worthless, silly, insulting question everybody had asked, and the place erupted in applause.

And the moderators at CNBC loved it. They had big smiles on their face because they had succeeded in making themselves the story, which is what modern day media wants to do. They want to be the story, and they want to be the arbiters. They want to determine who wins, and they want to pick our candidate, okay?

So when it was over, it was so bad that the RNC said, “You know what? We’re through with NBC. We’ve got a debate coming on NBC, but we’re not gonna do it because you guys are so bad in the way you ask questions.” Everyone, “Yeah, right on, man, way to stand up for yourselves,” everybody said, “Way to be, way to be tough.”

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RUSH: Now, back to what our last caller said. I’m not trying to slough that under the rug. It’s really good point, and we talked about it yesterday, and that is that on the CNBC debate, after a half hour of just inane, insulting questions, Ted Cruz puts a stop to it. The important thing to remember here is that the CNBC people, the moderators, they loved the fact that they have become the story. Don’t kid yourself. The media loves it when they become the story. And don’t forget something else.

When we’re talking about mainstream media, Drive-By Media, they want to select the Republican nominee. They want to be the focus, and they want to have that power. They want whoever the nominee is to have to go through them. So the RNC stood up and said, “You know what? We’ve got a future debate on NBC, but we’re gonna cancel it. Your moderator’s behavior was so egregious and so insulting and so puerile and so infantile, focusing on things that nobody cares about, we are not attending.” This is what the RNC essentially said.

“We are not going to give you the chance to make fun of us, to impugn us, to whatever you tried to do in this debate. We’re not gonna give you the chance to do it again.” So our caller wanted to know, how is that any different than what Trump is doing? And in the broad sense, there isn’t any difference, which is my whole point yesterday. But when the RNC does it, see, in favor of whole group, all the candidates and people stood up and cheered. Because this is the kind of behavior and backbone Republican voters have wanted to see from the Republican establishment.

If the truth be known, this is the kind of behavior that the Republican establishment has not been willing to engage in that we have wanted them to. Just show some backbone, not some linguini spine. Show some backbone. Stand up! Don’t take it. You don’t have to take it just ’cause they’re the media and you’re Republicans. Who says the game has to be played that way? So they backed out of it. “We’re not gonna give you a chance to insult us that way again where we just have to sit there and take it.”

So here comes Trump.

The difference here is, Fox is not assumed to be part of the mainstream media. Fox is… By definition and by acclimation Fox is different and apart from the mainstream media, and it’s only one guy pulling out, not the entire field. But it’s still a good question. If it was okay for the RNC to pull out en masse from a future NBC debate, then why is it so bad that Trump is pulling out because of the way he thinks he was treated?

And this is what he says. By the way, I think there’s so much more going on here than we know. I don’t think it’s… He’s not afraid of Megyn Kelly, and he’s not… He might be personally insulted over the way he was treated and doesn’t want to give them a chance to do it again. By the way, let’s ask yourselves a question. Let’s say Trump is scheduled to be at the debate tonight and is gonna show up. None of anything that’s happened here has happened. He’s not pulled out, and decided to go.

Let’s just play a game here hypothetically, none of this happened, the debate is tonight, and it’s going to be the second time Trump and Megyn Kelly encounter each other. Did you think about this before any of this other stuff happened? Did you ask yourself, what does Megyn Kelly have to do tonight to maintain, say, credibility or whatever? In other words, is she pressured to not back down, to not be perceived as backing down at all? In other words, is Megyn Kelly telling herself she’s got to come at Trump hard again or people are going to not take her seriously?

And what’s Trump thinking? How does he behave? The way he behaved last time, people didn’t like it, were a little critical; does he tone it down and behave a little bit different? These are all questions that people — that’s what we would be talking about right now if Trump hadn’t pulled out. And other things, too. But if Trump hadn’t pulled out, I guarantee you the focus, “What’s Megyn Kelly gonna ask tonight. How’s Megyn Kelly gonna ask her question? Is Megyn Kelly gonna get the first question of Trump? How’s Fox gonna deal with this?” That’s what everybody would be talking about right now.

So Trump’s pulled out and people are still talking about Trump, even while he’s not there. But I maintain that there’s not a whole lot of difference in the RNC telling NBC, “Sorry, treat us that way once and that’s the only time. We’re not coming back.” By the way, don’t forget the RNC also told National Review, “You know what? We don’t want you helping us moderate any future debates. We’re canceling your co-moderator status because of your anti-Trump issue. Trump is our front-runner, and you’ve just run a whole issue on why he ought not be, why we ought to do everything we can to defeat Trump. We’re not gonna have you here moderating the debate.”

National Review said, “Okay. Well, we kind of expected that.” So it’s okay for the RNC to broom National Review; it’s okay for the RNC to tell CNBC, “Sorry, we’re not giving you another chance to hit us.” Trump pulls out for arguably the same reasons, and the reactions are much different when you can find commonality through each and every decision that we are talking about.
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RUSH: Here’s Bruce, Muskegon, Michigan, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Thanks, Rush, for taking my call.

RUSH: You bet, sir.

CALLER: I agree with you that what Trump has been saying for the last six months has been appealing to all of us frustrated Americans, or at least most of us frustrated Americans. His appeal, and I give him credit for it is, you know, “I can get things done.” But that doesn’t not necessarily make him a strong conservative or a person with strong moral values, which I think we need in the next president. But, having said all that, I think there’s one fatal flaw which I don’t think you recognize or at least I haven’t heard you talk about it on the radio.

And that flaw I think is the same flaw that we’ve seen in President Obama. Both of these men, I’m convinced, have narcissistic personalities. Meaning a person that has an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration, a lack of empathy for others, you know, and behind this mask of ultra-confidence, they have a low self-esteem and they’re very vulnerable to criticism. And this characteristic, which I’m convinced Trump has, is one of many flaws we’ve been witnessing for the last eight years in President Obama. And we just don’t need another narcissist in the White House. I just wanted you to comment on that.

RUSH: I think Bill Clinton was in that list of people that you have just described as well.

CALLER: Well, that’s true, but just take this case the day before yesterday. He gets picked on or, you know, he can’t take a comment from Kelly on Fox News, Megyn Kelly so he picks up his toys and goes home —

RUSH: Do you really — let me take the occasion of your call to put something out on the table. Do you really think that’s what’s going on? Do you really think Trump’s deciding not to go because of what Megyn Kelly says about him, or because of a Fox —

CALLER: Well, no, no, no, no. No, you’re right, I’ve been listening to you the last couple days, and you’re right, he’s got everybody’s attention. But that, there again, that’s a narcissistic characteristic. He has to be in the spotlight. I agree with you. He’s controlling the media. He’s controlling the situation. But when he can’t control it — and this is the flaw that President Obama has had, we’ve seen it in Obama for the last eight years. He just can’t be wrong. He just can’t take criticism. I’m convinced he has low esteem, and I’m just so frustrated seeing this characteristic in Obama and I’m afraid that’s exactly what Trump has.

RUSH: Okay. So who out there does not have these characteristics but yet satisfies you on issues that you think —

CALLER: I would vote for Carly, I would vote for Carson, I’d vote for, you know, Rubio, or even Cruz. Any one of those four.

RUSH: What do you mean, “even Cruz”?

CALLER: Well, I like Cruz. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t say “even Cruz.” Cruz I think is a good candidate. I think he’s very, very to the right. I’m very conservative and I would certainly vote for him. I don’t think he could pull as many independents in as Carly could. Carly would be very good. Carson would be good. I mean, Carson, I just think he’s great, but course he doesn’t get —

RUSH: Well, he is.

CALLER: — doesn’t get the press.

RUSH: I mean, there’s no finer man walking the planet than Dr. Carson.

CALLER: We need a strong conservative with moral values, Rush, and we need one, again, who, again, we don’t need a narcissist in the White House, and that’s what we’ve had for eight years and I’m convinced that that’s what Trump is.

RUSH: Is that what bothers you about Obama, that he’s a narcissist?

CALLER: No, no, no. All his policies — (laughing) —

RUSH: Well, no, it’s a legitimate question. I understand that there are personal characteristic traits that drive people crazy. I have my own that I can’t handle. I can’t stand a liar. I have no tolerance for people who are pathological liars, to my face, who think that they are fooling me. I cannot help it. I expose them. I let them know. And that makes them dangerous. They become very dangerous. That is one of my pet peeves. Obama, there’s no question he’s a narcissist. He’s got only child syndrome. He’s been told how wonderful and great he is his whole life. But that alone is not problematic. You add that to his arrogance attached to the superior attitudes he has about his ideology, and it’s a bad package, I have to agree with you.