RUSH: Just to give you a flavor of some of the sound bites… I’m telling you, the first 16 sound bites are the media blaming me for all this, still — and they’ve added some blonde to the list of criticism here. This is Friday night in Philadelphia at Philadelphia International Airport. Vice President Joe Bite Me — former Vice President Bite Me — speaking to CNN correspondent Randi Kaye about the government shutdown…
BIDEN: Republicans overwhelming voted to keep the government open. Then, uh, Rush Limbaugh and the conservative blonde woman said he’s losing his base — and so he’s changed his mind!
RUSH: Right. Grab sound bite No. 1. We put together a montage once again. This is what Americans heard who were watching cable news throughout the two-week break…
ANA CABRERA: Earlier in the week, President Trump appeared to be ready to sign a budget resolution and avoid a government shutdown. What happened? Rush Limbaugh and (music) Ann Coulter!
KURT BARDELLA: As soon as the Ann Coulters and Rush Limbaughs went apoplectic over it, Donald Trump blinked.
CHRIS HAYES: We are in a government shutdown now because Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter…
ALEX WITT: …Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter both calling him out…
CHARLIE SYKES: Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh have a veto power.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: …Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter told him not to.
LISA MONTGOMERY: …Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter…
BRENDAN BOYLE: …Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter…
WILLIAM JENKINS: …Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter…
BRIAN STELTER: …Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter…
TRACE GALLAGHER: …Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter…
HOWARD KURTZ: …Limbaugh and Coulter…
TARA SETMAYER: …Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter…
JOAN WALSH: He got bullied by Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh took him to the woodshed.
BARNEY FRANK: Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter yelled at him.
MEGHAN MCCAIN: Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh going absolutely ape crap.
HILARY ROSEN: What he cares about is that Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter…
MARIA CARDONA: … people like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: …people like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh…
MONA CHAREN: This issue has become the Limbaugh-Coulter shutdown.
BARBARA BOXER: He’s still listening to President Rush Limbaugh.
JOHN HARWOOD: The relevant negotiations are between Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter.
RUSH: You want to hear the names here? These are… Ana Cabrera, Alex Witt, Joe Scaroborough, Kennedy, Brendan Boyle, Brian Stelter, Trace Gallagher! I mean, some of the people on Fox News were saying this stuff! Joan Walsh, Tara Setmayer… Let’s see. Meghan McCain, Hilary Rosen, Maria Cordon, Nia-Malika Henderson, Mona Charen, Barbara Boxer. These people are idiots! They’re flat-out, closed-minded idiots, and it’s amazing.
It’s just like our montage on “gravitas” or whatever. They all get hold of an idea and every one of them… How in the world do any of them think that they’re gonna stand out if they all end up saying the same thing? The one thing that they may have forgotten: I once appeared in a that was produced by Joel Surnow and his team called The 1/2 Hour News Hour. It ran on the Fox News Channel, and we did a skit, Ann Coulter and I, as president and vice president, back in 2007. And this is it…
BEGIN ARCHIVE CLIP
RUSH: America’s best days are still ahead of her now that the grown-ups are back in charge.
(phone ringing)
RUSH: Yes, Rosemary?
ROSEMARY: Mr. President, the vice president is here.
RUSH: Oh, great. Send the vice president in, please.
COULTER: Mr. President.
AUDIENCE: (applause and laughter)
RUSH: Madam Vice President, welcome to the Oval Office. Great column this week.
COULTER: Thank you.
RUSH: You like to join me in a cigar?
COULTER: Isn’t the White House a smoke-free zone?
RUSH: Not anymore.
(phone ringing)
RUSH: Yes, Rosemary?
ROSEMARY: Mr. President, Nancy Pelosi on line 1.
RUSH: Pelosi? How did she get this number?
AUDIENCE: (laughter)
RUSH: Well, take a message. Now, my fellow Americans, stay tuned to The 1/2 Hour News Hour coming up next right here on the Fox News Channel.
COULTER: And if you don’t, we’ll invade your countries, kill your leaders, and convert you to Christianity.
AUDIENCE: (laughter)
RUSH: — Madam Vice President. Good night, God bless, and may God bless the United States of America. And us.
END ARCHIVE CLIP
RUSH: Talk about being prescient. That’s 2007, The 1/2 Hour News Hour, and what we joked about back then — as we often do — has come true today in terms of what the media is trying to convince the American people. Anything to diminish Trump! Anything to make Trump seem like an idiot or a buffoon or somebody detached and lonely and not involved. I mean, it’s incredible. This is the mainstream media. It has become and continues to be a gigantic joke. The thing is it’s like the rest of the left. I don’t think they understand how ridiculous, how just flat-out childish they all sound.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Okay. Grab audio sound bite number 4. Now, this is Sunday morning on Meet the Depressed. Mick Mulvaney, who is sitting in there for a while acting chief of staff. He also runs the Office of Management and Budget. He was on with F. Chuck Todd. And the question: “The implication here is that essentially Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter have more sway over the president’s base than the president.”
Now, don’t play the bite yet. This is NBC. This is Meet the Press. This is Tim Russert’s legacy. And this is absurd. Now, don’t misunderstand. I’ll take it. As a media figure, I’ll be glad to accept the accolades that in these people’s minds this can actually be true. But that’s the point that in their minds this can actually be true, that media people. I think it gives us a window on how important they think they are and how they’re a little bit jealous. They think that Trump and national policies are actually being made by media people!
Now, part and parcel of that is their steadfast belief that Trump is an idiot, and I’m telling you, folks, he’s got more common sense and intelligence in his little finger than these people have the ability to think independently in their entire brain. So here’s the acting chief of staff, takes his job very seriously, loves and respects the president, Mick Mulvaney, “The implication here is that Sean Hannity, Limbaugh, Ann Coulter have more sway over the president’s base than the president does. Is that the implication here?”
MULVANEY: I’ve seen that. I would make the argument the president has probably more sway over Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter than vice-versa.
RUSH: “I would make the argument the president has probably more sway over Hannity and Coulter than vice-versa.” There’s a name not mentioned there. I wonder why. How many of you caught that? Anyway, this is the point that Mulvaney made and I think it’s another indication of just how absent reality so many people on the left are getting.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Rush Limbaugh, a guy in a golf shirt in Palm Beach ostensibly running the country and am responsible for the government shutdown, according to the Democrat Party and the Drive-By Media.
Now, do not think that I am falling for this. I know full well what the media’s doing. The media, they already hate Trump so they want to do anything they can to diminish Trump and to portray him as basically a stooge and me as a puppet master Svengali diminishes him. Mentioning me, they think, is one of the best fundraising tools that they’ve got. And so continuing to criticize me and using me to diminish Donald Trump they think is a twofer winner for them in terms of keeping their base stoked.