RUSH: Now, to the audio sound bites, quickly. Yesterday at the Georgetown University Law Center during the Migration Policy Institute’s annual conference. (interruption) You ever heard of that? Well, you’ve heard of Georgetown Law Center? (interruption) Yeah, I’ve never heard of the MPI, either, the Migration Policy Institute. Not “immigration.” “Migration.” And it’s their annual conference. They held a panel discussion about immigration and the Republican Party, and, during the discussion, immigrant advocacy group America’s Voice founder Frank Sharry spoke and said this.SHARRY: There is a tenacious, highly aggressive, very mobilized anti-immigrant wing, a nativist wing of the Republican. There’s certain groups that we all know but there’s also the conservative infotainment, folks, that, uh… The talk radio folks, the Rush Limbaughs that are really, uhh, using this issue to both, uh, increase ratings and anger their listeners. And that’s a very formidable force, and, in the past three rounds of immigration reform that I’ve been a part of, each time the populist right has outdueled the pro-immigrant reformist Republican right. And, uhh, that is gonna have to change.

RUSH: Okay. So again, here we are, folks, you and me. These are reactionaries, these Republicans have signed up with the Democrats, and they want amnesty, and they’re calling it “immigration reform,” and they’re agreeing with Democrats on this. I don’t know how… I’m starting my 29th year now, and I guess it isn’t gonna be possible. These people persist in this really stupid notion and presumption that what I do here is dishonest, that what I do here is calculated to achieve rating success.

I guess they just can’t come to grips with the fact that the program is number one and popular because I’m who I am. I don’t calculate anything here! I never, ever ask, “Oh, my gosh, what does the audience want to hear? I better do that!” I have an do that. I never have done that. I’ve never stuck my finger in the wind to try to figure out which way the wind is blowing and the direction it’s coming from to get in the way of it or go along with it. I’ve never done that.

I just show up every day tell you what I think. This is all rooted in principle. It’s not rooted in racism, not rooted in color. It’s rooted in culture. It’s rooted in values. There isn’t any assimilation taking place with this mass illegal immigration. That’s a stark difference from the old days! Immigrants used to assimilate. They wanted to become Americans. They’re not today. It’s not necessary. We’re becoming a Balkanized society.

We’re splitting into groups, each group’s tendency to tend toward victimology and becoming dependent on the state and thus Democrat voters. The idea here that we’re using this issue to increase ratings and anger? Is that what they really think happens here? I would maintain that, yeah, some of you people are angry, but not at me! These three hours of the day are the three hours of the day when life seems normal in this country.

I would maintain that most of the people listening to this program are happy and of good cheer during the three hours this program is on. To sit here once again — after 28 years — to have these people say, “You know, Limbaugh, he’s just trying to tick people off! He’s just trying to build up ratings, and we gotta find some way around that.” They just… You know, I don’t even think they believe it. I think it’s just what they say. I think that’s what they say.

I think they know the truth, and that’s what scares them. I mean, if I were I were simply calculating and doing all this to up my ratings, don’t you think these people could come and make me a hell of an offer to join them? I mean, if that’s all this was about? If that’s really all I was doing was calculating and trying to build audience, these are very powerful people. They could come and offer me who knows what to get them to join me. They don’t.

Oh, they’ve tried to eliminate, but why do they not do that? Why do they not call me? Why do they not approach me and say, “Hey, you know what? You join us, and the world will be your oyster!” They don’t even try, ’cause they know that my position on this is principled. It isn’t calculated. It’s not the result of any kind of calculation that’s designed to improve ratings or anger you.

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Back to the audio sound bites. Then, again, from the Georgetown University Law Center during the Migration Policy Institute’s annual conference. It’s a panel discussion about immigration and the Republican Party, and yesterday Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles president Alfonso Aguilar spoke, and had this to say…

AGUILAR: Look, I’m a conservative. A lot of my conservative colleagues are saying, “What are you doing? You’re not gonna support Mr. Trump? What is the alternative?” Well, how can I support Mr. Trump, right? At the end, it’s a question of issues and principles. On the Republican side, there are many who perhaps believe in immigration but have remained silent, afraid of angering Rush Limbo (sic) instead of being courageous.

RUSH: These are Republicans, folks. One more time, now that you know what this is. It’s Alfonso Aguilar, who is the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles president, and this is at a migration conference at that time Georgetown University Law Center.

AGUILAR: Look, I’m a conservative. A lot of my conservative colleagues are saying, “What are you doing? You’re not gonna support Mr. Trump? What is the alternative?” Well, how can I support Mr. Trump, right? At the end, it’s a question of issues and principles. On the Republican side, there are many who perhaps believe in immigration but have remained silent, afraid of angering Rush Limbo (sic) instead of being courageous.

RUSH: They’re afraid of angering…? How old is this? So no matter how you slice it, it’s my fault! I am not principled. I’m calculating. I’m trying to get ratings while making you mad. By the way, how does that work? I’m trying to anger you and get my ratings up, and now I am intimidating other Republicans who would publicly support amnesty except they’re afraid of what I will say about them once I learn that they are for it. (interruption) Well, “immigration,” I know. Immigration, amnesty, he didn’t specify.

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RUSH: One more sound bite from the Georgetown University Law Center Migration Policy Institute annual conference. Panel discussion up next. Linda Chavez, the noted conservative columnist, author, activist. It’s her turn to weigh in. And, of course, once again the entire reason, the entire problem, the reason why Republicans cannot get amnesty passed is talk radio.

CHAVEZ: One of the most important things I think is to follow the money. There is a very well-funded network. It has become an issue that you can raise money on, and it has become an issue in which you can get listeners if you have a talk radio show and your ratings will go up. It gets people mad. It gets people angry. When a bill comes up, you know, Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity get on the airwaves, and you have a flood of calls in to members of Congress. The best way for conservatives to be turned around on this — and I say this as a conservative — is for Donald Trump to have a humiliating defeat in November.

RUSH: Okay, in order: I do not give out phone numbers. I do not urge people to send faxes, to send emails, or to call Washington. You know why? Because you’re gonna do it on your own. You don’t need me to tell you to do it. I have done it one time to demonstrate to Howard Fineman of the Drive-By Media what would happen if I did it. We shut down the congressional switchboard. But I do not do it. And here is yet another so-called conservative.

Linda Chavez and I have ostensibly been on the same ideological team for 25 years, but here we come on immigration, and now — all of a sudden — I’m not principled. Once again, there’s big money behind me, a “well-funded network.” I don’t get a dime from any immigration people! We don’t take “funding.” In fact, I specifically refuse issue-oriented money. I refuse it. It’s a policy I’ve had. We’ve made exceptions to it a couple times; I’ve been burned every time I’ve tried it.

We do not do it. We sell advertising to American businesses, pure and simple, and they buy this program because we have a loyal audience, and my audience does not depend on the issues discussed here. What can these people not understand? What can I…? Can they not get through their head? This is a good show. It has nothing to do with revving people up and making ’em mad. That’s never been the forecast. It’s never been the objective here.

Now, it’s gonna happen. I mean, I have what is called in the media “perfect polarization.” That means there are people who hate me, who will listen every day in order to seek and find reasons. They’re leftists. They’re liberals. But nobody’s paying them to be here, nobody’s seeking them out, and this program doesn’t trade in anger anyway. But, anyway, you see this is classic. These are the people unable to persuade anybody that they’re on the right side of the issue.

So they have these seminars where they get together amongst themselves and they wring their hands and they start blaming conservative media. And why do they blame conservative media? Because if it weren’t for me, you mind-numbed robots wouldn’t have had your minds poisoned on immigration, you know why? ‘Cause you’re not smart enough to know whether it’s good or bad on your own. So you need a Svengali like me on the radio revving you up every day.

They’re looking at you the way the left does, mind-numbed robots incapable of independent thought. And once again, here are prominent, prominent so-called Republican/conservatives indicating, demonstrating, that they have not the slightest understanding of who the people on their team are. They talk about you the way we talk about any other leftist audience. You’re mind-numbed robots. You’re dumb, stupid, incapable of independent thought.

You have to be guided through every issue. Look at how condescending this is — and these are people ostensibly on your side! These are Republicans. These are so-called conservatives, and even with them, they probably don’t understand. By these sound bites having been aired, I’m not making anybody mad at ’em. They’re doing that themselves! They’re the ones insulting people. They’re the one’s purposeful misstating what happens on my program.

I thought I was on these people’s team all those years. I have learned, by the way (in the recent past years) that it’s not true. But for the longest time, I thought it was. So that’s where we are. That’s what the Republicans are doing while Hillary Clinton is in deep, deep doo-doo for a whole host of reasons and while Donald Trump is starting to make tracks. He’s starting to gain ground. His audiences are still huge. They’re lively; there is enthusiasm out the wazoo.

What are they doing? They’re doing two things: They’re strategizing on how to help the Democrats beat Trump, these Republican establishment types, and they’re also having their hand-wringing seminars on trying to figure out who’s ultimately to blame for them being unable to join the Democrats and get amnesty and comprehensive immigration reform passed. It’s always somebody else’s fault. Are they admitting that I am better at persuading you than they are? Or do they say, “Well, we don’t have a chance.

“Limbaugh’s got this massive audience, massive funding, massive microphone. We can’t possibly compete with that.” Yes, you could. It all depends on where you come down on issues. You people are just on the wrong side of your own party on this issue and probably a whole host of others. So that’s what’s going on. “Trump Surges Among Independent Voters.” The polling data at LA Times/USC poll has Trump up three now. Hillary was up, I think, 75 electoral votes a week or so ago. She’s now up 55 electoral votes.

This is all in projected polling data, of course. The point is, Trump’s going in the right direction. He’s gaining ground; she’s losing ground. The Democrats are worried to death that they’re gonna have to replace her.

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RUSH: Robert in Naples, Florida, you’re first today. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello, sir.

CALLER: Hi. Thanks. How are you? I just wanted to say that, you know, all these Republicans who are out there criticizing you and saying that you’re stirring up hate speech and all this? They’re the ones that are missing the point. The reason why your ratings are so high and why you have such a loyal base of followers and listeners is because you are our voice. You’re the voice of the people. This is what we believe. And they need to listen to you instead of criticizing you and find out who the people they’re representing are and what they’re supposed to be doing instead of just running amok.

RUSH: You know what amazes me about these people — and I’m gonna sound incredibly naive here, and I will admit even at my age I can be. I can have the naivete of a first or second grader. My question: Why don’t they want to become the voice of the people? They… The Republican leadership, the Republican establishment, people at this seminar, why the disdain for people? Why don’t they try to become the voice of the people?

Well, the reason they don’t is because they’re at odds with the people. These are typical — and I’m surprised that Linda Chavez is in this group. These are people that we normally associate with liberal establishment types, and that is the kind of people that look down on people that are not in the same economic class. I mean, there’s a lot of classism going on here. There’s a lot of arrogant conceit. These people think they’re more educated, more sophisticated.

They’re wealthier, they’re richer, and therefore they’re better. And there is this general conceit and contempt for people, aimed at people. Why wouldn’t they instead try to become the voice of the people? If the objective is to win, if the objective is to secure victory and power and then implement your ideas…? Well, I know. I’m answering my own question. They are obviously standing in opposition to the vast majority.

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RUSH: Washington, Oklahoma. Don, great to have you on the program, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Good afternoon, Rush, Maha Rushie. Mega 18-wheeler dittos.

RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much. Great to have you here with us.

CALLER: I just called because you were speaking earlier about the conservatives that were trying to come up with a reason not to vote for Trump. And you had that one gentleman, the Hispanic gentleman. I don’t remember his name.

RUSH: You’re talking about an audio sound bite that I played?

CALLER: Yes, sir.

RUSH: That would be Alfonso Aguilar.

CALLER: Ah. Thank you. Okay. Well, when he came out and said that he couldn’t vote for Donald Trump because Donald Trump doesn’t believe in immigration, this man’s a fraud. If he’s a conservative, so is Mayor Bloomberg. You know, neither of them are very good convincing Republicans because he said that Donald Trump is against immigration. Donald Trump never said he was against immigration. All he’s against is illegal immigration.

RUSH: All right. The reason I’m pausing is I’m not sure we’re talking about the same thing. The guy you’re thinking of does not talk about immigration. He talks about me and Trump and how he can’t support him even though he’s a conservative. There was another guy who blamed me for… I’m not sure we’re talking the same guy. I’ll have to look at these sound bites.

CALLER: I think if you go back to the sound bite, that was when I dialed was when he was on because —

RUSH: But look, your point is that Trump is not against immigration; it’s only illegal immigration. He just wants to enforce the law. That’s your point, right?

CALLER: That’s right, and I can’t understand how anybody could object to that.

RUSH: Well, yeah. It’s because this really isn’t an immigration issue to these people. It’s the umbrella under which the change they want takes place. What we’re really talking about here is amnesty for the current crop of illegals here, and they do not want to increase border security. So their overall attitude on… There’s no difference to them, illegal or legal immigration. It’s all “immigration,” and we all need to be for it, because this is what made America great. And they’re not willing to make distinction. Anybody that does make distinction, they think, is missing the point.