RUSH: Now, in regard to the something going on out there, all these Democrats and all these media types now backing off the whole notion of impeachment. And I mentioned that the polling data is such that they’re getting nervous. Look at this. There is a new poll. This is from… It’s a Reuters poll, and it shows that Trump’s approval rating has spiked, jumped up since April 27th. Reuters has decided to quarantine the data. Reuters has decided not to publish it.

“The spike shows Trump getting 50% support from swing-voting independents, 80% support from Republicans, and 20% support from Democrats.” And the Reuters/Ipsos people say (paraphrased), ‘This doesn’t make any sense. This is unexplained,” and so they’re rejecting it. Reuters is telling people… They’re telling people they don’t believe it. They’re rejecting their own poll. When’s last time you saw this? It has happened, by the way. April 27th, again, Reuters/Ipsos.

Trump’s getting “50% support from swing-voter independents, 80% support from Republican supporters, 20% support from Democrats.” Very few people are declaring themselves not sure in the Reuters poll. Reuters is saying they don’t believe it. They are rejecting their own poll. Something is happening. I don’t want to make it sound like there’s something big and dramatic. But I think what’s happening is what has always been there.

A bunch of people are fed up with the deep state, fed up with Mueller, fed up with the media, fed up with these Obama people, fed up with the villains as they know them, fed up with it — and they’re finally being asked about it now, and they’re answering. I don’t think people are newly outraged at this. I don’t think they’re freshly angry. I think they have been since it all began. But the media and the pollsters think this is all brand-new and it doesn’t make sense to them so they’re spiking this particular poll.

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RUSH: Now Reuters has a new poll out showing Trump’s approval numbers are spiking, and they don’t believe it. They think their poll say one-off.

“No, this is not right.”

So they’re not putting any stock on it. They just don’t believe it’s true — and you can’t blame ’em. Reuters, AP, you name it. They have spent the last 2-1/2 years doing nothing but trying to destroy Trump. In their minds, it’s not possible — given what they’ve been doing — that Trump’s popularity could be increasing. Just not possible. Trump’s popularity ought to be going down, based on what they are doing. Meaning all the negative stories, all of the relentless ratcheting up of every bit of anti-Trump news they can come up with.

They just can’t believe that Trump’s numbers are going up. Which takes us to the audio sound bites I have here that will kind of document this. We’re gonna start with Steve Schmidt. Steve Schmidt ran the McCain campaign in 2008. Steve Schmidt remains a very popular Republican consultant. He remains a Republican consultant who has not won, and thus he is a perfect Republican spokesman for MSNBC and other places. He is a famous Never Trumper. He is a fervent and energetic Never Trumper.

He has wished for Trump’s demise — political demise — since Trump entered the campaign. Sunday night on Showtime’s The Circus… This is the show with Mark McKinnon and I forget the name. I got a mental block. Mark Halperin was part of this show until they found out he was Harvey Weinstein Jr. So McKinnon says to Schmidt, “What if I were to say to you hypothetically, ‘The Republicans are running with historically low unemployment, historically high consumer confidence, peace is breaking out in the Korean Peninsula’? You can run on peace and prosperity, right?”

SCHMIDT: For sure, if you had Ronald Reagan as your president! (chortling)

HOSTS: (cackling)

SCHMIDT: But not this guy! Unless the race becomes a referendum on impeachment. That’s what could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory for the Democrats.

RUSH: Okay. So what Schmidt is saying… Remember, this guy ran McCain’s campaign. He’s run some other Republican campaigns or been involved in ’em. None of them victorious. He’s saying that (summarized), “There’s no way Trump can win on the economy! There’s no way Trump can win on peace in the Korean Peninsula. There’s no way Trump can win with any of the things he’s doing ’cause he’s hated and despised.

“Trump’s a reprobate. He’s not Reagan. Now, if the Democrats goof up and make impeachment the focal point of their campaign, then Trump could win.” What do you think might be the thinking here? No, seriously. I mean, what is this guy…? He’s a campaign consultant; he obviously believes this. Why is it that Donald Trump cannot win on a great agenda that’s in the process of being implemented and is showing demonstrably great results?

Historically low unemployment. African-American and Hispanic unemployment is half what it has been. It’s a record low for both demographics. The prospects for end of war threat, nuclear threat in North Korea. Manufacturing jobs returning. Tax cuts. More money in people’s back pockets, the wage increases, tax cuts and bonuses. Why does that not work for Trump, in this guy’s mind? Why…? “Trump can’t run on that.” Why not? Then he turns around and says the only way Trump can win is if Democrats screw up and run on impeaching him.

These two don’t go together. The only way they go together is if Trump can win on his agenda and the Democrats then start talking about impeaching? That would be a death knell? But you’ll notice the scorn and tone of his voice when the prospect of Trump running on all these successful agenda items. “Are you kidding me? Sure, if he had Reagan, but not this guy!” And here’s Karen Finney.

Karen Finney is a radical, leftist, angry, Democrat woman. She been in and out of the Hillary campaign, with the Clintons on and off during recent years all the way back to the 1990s. She was on This Week, the roundtable yesterday, the ABC Sunday show, and this is her opinion. She’s now a Democrat strategist. This is her opinion what the Democrats need to do to win in 2018, the midterms in November…

FINNEY: Rather than sort of poppin’ champagne about a blue wave, it is time for the Democrats to actually focus on a message. We in 2006 talked about “the culture of corruption.” I think they could talk about a culture of corruption on steroids (chortles) here and how it is the Republicans in Congress who are protecting this president. You know, they are trying to halt the Russian investigation. They are protecting all the various things he is doing. That’s closer to a winning message than letting the Republicans make it about impeachment.

RUSH: The Republicans are making it about impeachment? When did that happen? She’s trying to say the Republicans are accusing the Democrats of running on impeachment. Sorry, but I’ve heard Auntie Maxine. She still can’t stop talking about it. I’ve heard all these Democrats say it! I heard Adam Schiff until he changed his mind. Impeaching Trump has been their go-to thing since Inauguration Day. But then, “I think they could talk about a culture of corruption on steroids here and how it is the Republicans in Congress who are protecting [Trump].

“You know, they are trying to halt the Russian investigation. They are protecting all the various things he is doing.” Well, that sounds like the kind of stuff you would impeach him for, and yet she’s saying (summarized), “Don’t run on that. We need to focus on a message.” What, the message is that Trump is corrupt and you gotta get rid of him? How does that differ from impeaching, at the end of the day? They don’t have a message. This is their eternal problem.

They don’t have a message.

Right now, they get to run against historically low unemployment. They get to run against a revival of manufacturing jobs. They get to run against the tax cut. They get to run against a foreign policy that’s accomplishing things that haven’t been accomplished in 30 years in North Korea, South Korea. And they’ve got a new mascot: A porn star in a G-string walking a runway at the Bada Bing with $20 and $100 bills stuffed in her bikini. Stormy Daniels! That’s their new mascot? That’s their agenda? That’s what they’re gonna win on?

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RUSH: Fox & Friends today, Ari Fleischer, the former press secretary for George W. Bush, Steve Doocy says, “Is it Russia, Russia, Russia for Democrats? Is that all they’ve got to talk about as we head into the November elections?”

FLEISCHER: Russia, Russia, Russia is going to be a problem, problem, problem for the Democrats —

DOOCY: (chuckling)

FLEISCHER: — unless Mueller’s got the goods. And if Mueller doesn’t, the Democrats are a one-trick pony, and that pony ain’t riding anymore. And it’s not only that. It’s how well the economy’s doing. The fact that we have 3.9% unemployment.

RUSH: Right.

FLEISCHER: The president is wise to keep banging on the fact that African-American, Hispanic unemployment’s at an all-time low.

RUSH: Just mentioned that.

FLEISCHER: He can actually make up some good numbers in those demographic groups.

RUSH: I said all this.

FLEISCHER: What’s the most important number out there? The president’s disapproval was at 58% in December and now it’s down to 52 this morning.

RUSH: Uh-oh.

FLEISCHER: If that number gets below 50 —

RUSH: Uh-oh.

FLEISCHER: — that is huge for Republicans running for —

RUSH: Uh-oh!

FLEISCHER: — reelection, because that takes a lot of energy away from the Democrats who can’t —

RUSH: Yeah.

FLEISCHER: — stand Donald Trump, and that’s what drove a lot of turnout for the Democrats in the special elections.

RUSH: I’ll tell you what all of these people are missing, including Mr. Fleischer, but this isn’t meant to… I’m not hitting him here, ’cause he’s right about this. Trump’s numbers are getting better. Democrats are not going to be able to work on this impeach, impeach, impeach stuff. What people in the Drive-By Media are forgetting — if they’ve ever known it — is Trump’s base is still there. I’m convinced they truly believe that they have dented Trump’s support base.

I mean, these Democrats in the Drive-By Media. They haven’t the slightest idea why people voted for Trump. They think they do, but they don’t know. There are a lot of Democrats in the Trump coalition. And, remember, in November of 2011, when it was announced by the Democrat campaign, the Obama campaign and the New York Times they were abandoning the white working class vote? That’s blue-collar, union people, Reagan Democrats.

Those people know the Democrat Party has abandoned them. The Democrat Party’s in pursuit of minority here, minority there, this grand coalition of all these minorities. Those people — a slew of them — voted for Trump, and they are still with him. Because the mistake they are making — and Salena Zito points this out in here book tomorrow called The Great Revolt — is Trump did not start any of this. This sentiment has been out there since the Tea Party and probably before.

Trump is the guy who is the recipient of this energy and this support because he came along and gave voice to it. But he didn’t create it. Meaning they can get rid of Trump — although they’re not gonna be able to. But if they did, it wouldn’t get rid of Trumpism, and they’re missing the point of why Trump got elected and how he’s gonna get reelected. Because they live in this dreamworld where they’ve destroyed the Trump coalition or will by the time the next election comes up. They’re misjudging this so magnanimously or profoundly, it’s incredible.

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RUSH: Let’s head back to the audio sound bites. David Brooks. This is… We’re still here on the subject of the Democrats running on impeachment. Now, remember, it was just three weeks ago that everybody in the media and all of the establishment types were talking about this big Democrat blue wave. It was gonna sweep the Republicans out of office. It was gonna stop Trump in his tracks. It was gonna paralyze him. He wouldn’t be able to get anything done.

And then if the Democrats won the House, they were gonna impeach Trump and finally get rid of the guy. And now, three weeks later, the only Democrat voice still shouting for impeachment is the insane Maxine Waters. I mean, even Pencil Neck Schiff is warning against it now. David Brooks, who is famous for saying of Obama, “When I saw the crease in his slacks, I knew he would be a great president.”

He is the faux conservative columnist New York Times, faux conservative analyst on the PBS NewsHour. He was, in fact, on the PBS NewsHour on Friday night. They had a fill-in anchor named John Yang, and he’s talking to David Brooks about Rudy saying that Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen for the Stormy Daniels payment, later saying he didn’t really know all the details. The PBS guy said, Look, “I know that you think that perhaps we’re getting a little carried away with this focus on Stormy Daniels and payments and all this sort of thing. What do you mean” we’re getting carried away by it?

BROOKS: When you think about the important things that happened this week, probably the — the China-U.S. trade talks were a very big deal. The, uh… The North Korea-South Korea thing is promising all of a sudden. The economy’s going great. And so apparently a lot of people have made the calculation, “You know, he’s got all — always a bunch of scandals those people in Washington care about, but when you think about the big substantive things, things seem to be going fine.” I — I think the threat to our norms is serious and poisonous to our country but other people said, “No, I just care about the substance,” and this week at least the substance is pretty good. Those of us who are critical of Donald Trump can’t hide from the facts that go against our story.

RUSH: Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa! “Those of us who are critical of Donald Trump cannot hide from the facts that go against our story.” So Brooks has come to the conclusion, quote-unquote, that Trump is achieving good results as a reprobate president and that that’s all people care about. And the Stormy Daniels stuff and all the rest of it isn’t gonna matter at the end of the day. Now, he says that with a tinge of regret, because, he’s right: It isn’t gonna matter. And let me tell you who we have to thank for that.

Now, you can disagree with me all you want, but we cannot deny that Bill Clinton’s a great icebreaker on this stuff. I mean, it happened. It happened, and Clinton’s approval numbers? Do you remember? They stayed between 55 and 60? And I’ll tell you, I was dumbfounded at that point. I could not understand why they were at 55 and 60. It didn’t make any sense to me.

I mean, his approval numbers during the Lewinsky scandal, toward the middle and the end of it were higher than any other time in his presidency. And I think it was primarily due to the fact that there wasn’t anything perceived to be really wrong in the country. And the American people didn’t want to upset anything. Most Americans are not dyed-in-the-wool ideologues, and so there was a natural tendency to be reflectively protective.

And remember the way the media was portraying Ken Starr. He was a space alien from Mars who was a sex pervert and on the side was selling cigarettes to kids. They had great success with tarring and feathering Ken Starr. So Brooks remembers this, I’m sure. Here’s Jon Meacham. He used to be at Newsweek. He was on Meet the Press on Sunday morning during the panel discussion about Trump being called a liar about the Stormy Daniels payments.

MEACHAM: It took four years to get McCarthy. Uh… (snickers) It took three years to get Andrew Johnson. Uhhhh… It’s a dark moment. I do know this historically and I think we all know it intuitively. The presidents who get in trouble in the fullness of time are those who think they can put a fast one past the people, and I think this will have a cumulative effect.

RUSH: So he’s telling people, “Be patient! Be patient! Look, it maybe take three or four years to get this guy, but we’re gonna get this guy because Trump’s one of these guys who thinks he can pull a fast one on people.” I don’t think they have the slightest idea. Trump’s people are not fooled by anything. Quite the contrary.