Let me get started on the phones to Manhattan. This is John. Great to have you with us, sir. Hello. You’re up first today.

CALLER: Rush, an honor. Thank you.

RUSH: You bet, sir.

CALLER: You’re my third favorite American, right behind Ronald Reagan and Justice Antonin Scalia.

RUSH: I’ve often said if I didn’t have my brain, I would want Scalia’s, so I’m very appreciative of that. Thank you.

CALLER: I want to talk about the census question because I understand that Trump has sort of backed down on that and at first I was livid. I was really upset about that. However, last night I looked into this a little bit deeper. And I came to understand it really doesn’t matter. And if I could develop the thought for a few seconds, let me tell you why I think that.

RUSH: Okay. But I want to tell you at the outset I disagree with anybody who says it doesn’t matter. I disagree profoundly. You go ahead and make your point and then I will nuke it.

CALLER: Okay. Let me explain my reasoning. The first point is that the reapportionment every decade affects maybe one or two electoral votes per state or congressional seats per state. Okay. Now, with respect to immigration, in my opinion, there are four states that are arguably, even in the realm of thin or losing one seat. That’s California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida. Now, with Florida, the vast majority of the increase in immigration in that state are from Puerto Rico. And so I respectfully submit that that’s not gonna be relevant because Puerto Ricans are already Americans —

RUSH: See, none of this matters. As far as I’m concerned, not one thing — and I understand the points you’re making, reapportionment, accurate count of who lives here. That’s not the point. As far as I’m concerned, it misses the context. The point is that the left in this country has mounted and is engaged in an all-out assault on the traditions, the institutions of the founding of this country. And this is just the latest of them.

Why did somebody want to take the question off of the census? It has always been a part of the census, but in 2010 it came off of the census. Why? Because the people who want there to be no tabulation of citizenship are the same people who are pushing for the end of the concept of citizenship. And they want it replaced with residence.

The Democrat Party wants these people to be able to vote, whether they come from Puerto Rico, whether they come from Mexico, El Salvador, or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s backyard, it doesn’t matter. This attempt to not count legal, legitimate citizens is nothing more than an attack, and one of the latest attacks, on the very building foundation and structure of this country. It’s got to be opposed. And Trump has not caved on it.

He’s going to find out the information he needs in other ways rather than make a big push over having it be on the question because he knows he’s got a bunch of Obama judges just lurking out there in courtroom after courtroom waiting to shut him down. So rather than go through that again for the 20,000th time, he’s looking for an alternative route. This is about keeping America as it was founded versus people who want to blow that to smithereens!

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RUSH: Obama and his people took the citizenship question off the census for a reason. You think it was a good one?

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RUSH: I want to go back to late yesterday. This is Trump and Barr. This is the announcement of the new strategery on the citizenship question and the bite following it is a CNN panel having a cow afterwards. Here is Trump yesterday in Washington at the Rose Garden.

THE PRESIDENT: We are not backing down on our effort to determine the citizenship status of the United States population. I stand before you to outline new steps my administration is taking to ensure that citizenship is counted so that we know how many citizens we have in the United States. Makes sense.

We will defend the right of the American people to know the full facts about the population, size of citizens and non-citizens in America. It is essential that we have a clear breakdown of the number of citizens and non-citizens that make up the U.S. populations

RUSH: Okay. So that’s the first of a couple of bites here where they announce what they’re gonna do and how they’re gonna get this done. I got take a break right now. I’ll come back with another Trump, then Barr, and then CNN having a cow about this.

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RUSH: Okay, we go back to the Rose Garden at the White House yesterday, Donald Trump continuing, concluding his remarks on how we’re gonna get the citizenship question answered on the next census.

THE PRESIDENT: Far -left Democrats in our country are determined to conceal the number of illegal aliens in our midst. They probably know the number is far greater, much higher than anyone would have ever believed before, maybe that’s why they fight so hard. This is part of a broader left-wing effort to erode the rights of the American citizen and it is very unfair to our country.

RUSH: Again, folks, I have to ask, what in the world is the controversy in wanting to count the number of citizens? Why is that controversial? Why is that something that the president must be held up for ridicule? Why must the president be opposed on this? Isn’t the real curiosity the move by Obama to take the question off of the census? Trump’s right. They don’t want you to have the slightest idea how many illegal aliens actually are in this country. They don’t want you to know.

As far as the Democrats are concerned, we can’t have enough. They want more and more. The more underclass, the better. The more poor, the more uneducated, the more people that don’t even speak English, the better. Because that means the more people there are who are going to be depending on government, which ensures government’s continued growth, which the Democrats translate as expanded power for them.

Here’s William Barr, the attorney general, in the Rose Garden yesterday.

BARR: There is no question that a new decision to add the question would ultimately survive legal review. The problem is that any new decision would be subject to immediate challenge as a new claim in the three ongoing district court cases. As a practical matter, the Supreme Court’s decision closed all paths to adding the question to the 2020 census. Put simply, the impediment was a logistical impediment, not a legal one.

RUSH: A-ha. And so he went on to say that some in the media have been suggesting in the hysterical mode of the day that the administration has been planning to add the question to the census by executive fiat. He says this has never been under consideration. He said he applauds the president for recognizing in his executive order that including a question on the census is not the only way to obtain this information. So they’re livid! They’re livid at Barr for helping Trump out on this, as you will hear in mere moments.

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RUSH: Okay. So the attorney general in our audio sound bite roster has just praised the president for figuring out how to do this without violating the law, without going around the Supreme Court. And of course the Drive-By Media figured that when the Supreme Court said you can’t do it, that was the end of it. The Drive-By Media doesn’t want to know how many noncitizens there are in the country. They don’t want to know anything about that at all. It’s a problem they don’t want to have to deal with.

So they thought it was over. And then Trump and Barr go to the Rose Garden, explain how they’re gonna try to get this done, and here’s Dana Bash on CNN yesterday after the president and Barr spoke. Wolf Blitzer said, “So what do you think about the president’s remarks here on citizenship and census?”

BASH: The idea that he went into the Rose Garden, gave a very political speech, unleashed on the reasons why he wanted to do this saying we cannot conceal the number of illegal aliens in this country, spoke volumes. And he was speaking to the same people that we knew he was speaking to when he decided to go down this path at the beginning, it’s just now that they’re unshackled from litigation, he can be more clear how political it is.

RUSH: Really? This is political? Now, I know that this is used in various government ways to calculate spending and so forth. I know there is political context here. But notice her rage. She doesn’t sound enraged, but the words. “Give a very political speech, unleashed.” He didn’t unleash. He gave a very reasonable explanation of why he was doing what he was gonna do.

“Unleashed on the reasons why he wanted to do this saying we can’t conceal the number of illegal aliens, and that speaks volumes.” Why? What does it say? It says that Dana Bash and the media want to conceal the number of illegals. Now, of the two, which is the stranger, wanting to hide the number of illegals or wanting to know how many there are. Which of those two is the weirdest? Which of those two is the abnormal way to think? “No, we don’t want to know how many illegals are living here.”

Well, now, wait a minute. They’re all getting free health care or access to it. They’re all getting some kind of welfare. Many of them are getting this or that. Why shouldn’t we know? People are being forced to pay for this. Why shouldn’t we know?

“You shouldn’t know. It’s none of your business to know.” Really? That’s the normal reaction to this? And that “speaks volumes,” folks. “And Trump was speaking to the same people that we knew he was speaking to when he decided to go down this road.” What does that mean? We knew who Trump was talking to.

I’ll tell you what she means. Trump’s talking to these white supremacists out there who don’t want any people of color in their country, even though Trump has never, never come close to saying anything like it. This is pure slander and libel and character assassination of not just Trump, but his voters and supporters, with this insinuation that there’s something sinister here, something sinister not in hiding who’s here illegally, but in wanting to know.

Take any other law, somebody robbed a bunch of banks, you want to know who they are or is it sinister to try to find out? Is it discriminatory to find out? Run the numbers on who commits various types of crime and take those crimes that are usually committed by minorities more than others and then say we’re gonna find out who did it. You’re a racist pig! Versus saying, “No, we’re not gonna find out who’s doing this. It would be racist to find out who’s committing these crimes.”

We’re talking about crime here. Entering the country is illegal. “Well, it shouldn’t be, Rush. It’s not fair. These people are just seeking a better life.” Doesn’t matter. We have the rule of law. We have laws. You cannot come into the country illegally. There are ways to come in illegally. They don’t care about any of this. Any attempt to enforce somehow is sinister and racist.

Up next was Nia-Malika Henderson, and she is the senior political reporter. And Wolf Blitzer asked for her take on this.

HENDERSON: It is really an echo of his campaign announcement speech in June of 2015 when he seized on this idea, you know, sort of long-held in, I think, conservative and right-wing sectors, that illegal immigrants were here and they were doing bad things, and they meant harm to ordinary Americans. They vote illegally, they are getting benefits, Democrats are shielding them. I think we see what his campaign in 2020 is going to be about. I thought it was sort of a masterful speech in some ways that really, I think, tied together all of these negative ideas.

RUSH: All these negative ideas. Let’s play a little game and let’s rephrase this. Let’s take her words. “You know, he kind of seized on this idea, this sort of long held in, I think, conservative and right-wing sectors, that illegal immigrants are here.”

(imitating Henderson) “And it’s wonderful that they’re here. We love people breaking our law. And they’re getting benefits. There are people here illegally getting benefits that are being paid for by American citizens. And we think this is great. And we think there should be more of it in the media. We think this is a wonderful thing.

“But in these right-wing pockets of America, they don’t agree with this because they’re a bunch of racist pigs. But we think the middle class ought to be paying for everybody that we think should be getting benefits, because we think it’s a wonderful thing that people here illegally should get benefits and should be protected and should be applauded. The Democrats are doing a great thing. The Democrats are trying to protect these people. The Democrats are trying to prevent anybody from finding out who they are and where they are.

“And that’s why we love Democrats, because the Democrats are shielding the lawbreakers and the Democrats are forcing mainstream Americans and middle class Americans to pay for all this, and we love that. We love citizens being forced to pay for things for noncitizens. We love the Democrats doing this, so we see what Trump’s campaign is gonna be. We see what his 2020 campaign’s gonna be. All of these negative ideas about enforcing the law and making sure that people who are here illegally should not be.”

That’s what she’s saying. She’s endorsing the whole concept of illegal immigration. She’s endorsing the concept of the Democrat Party trying to hide them, i.e., not count them. She’s endorsing the idea of them getting free benefits as often as they can for as much as they can being paid for by American citizens.

And she’s applauding the Democrat Party for wanting more of this while shielding these people. And she is speaking for all of the American media and she’s speaking for all of the American Democrat Party. Up next is Gloria Borger. And let’s see. Is there a question here? Yeah, there is. He said to Gloria Borger, “Okay, so William Barr explained why the administration and the president had no choice but to back down.”

BORGER: There was a little bit of “Dear Leader” in what the attorney general was saying, the way he said, “Congratulations, Mr. President, for doing the right thing.” I think that this was such a political speech from the Rose Garden. It was the president saying the Democrats are determined to conceal the number of illegal aliens in our midst, we will leave no stone un-term (sic) and over and over again, talking about the Democrats. So he has two enemies. He has the Democrats and the illegal immigrants

RUSH: Well? Is that not true? So here she is criticizing Barr for agreeing with the president, sounded like Dear Leader, sounded like a sycophant almost to Kim Jong-un, ’cause if he didn’t he’d be shot, and she’s criticizing Barr for seeming to do the right thing here. (imitating Borger) “It was such a political speech. It was the president saying the Democrats are determined to conceal the number of illegals.” See, you’re not supposed to call out the Democrats on what they’re really doing. That’s not fair and that’s not right.

The Democrats are supposed to get away with what they do with nobody noticing. The Democrats are supposed to get away with whatever they do, whatever they want to do with nobody even criticizing it. And Trump came along, and he criticized it from the Oval Office and then the Rose Garden, and that makes it even worse because that makes it political.

And the Democrats of course are never political, the Democrats just care about the unfortunate, the Democrats just care about suffering and starving people and here’s the president trying to criticize the Democrats for trying to hide the number. These people are beyond belief. I mean, when you actually break down what they’re saying.

Now, here’s Phil Mudd. Phil Mudd’s a former CIA guy. And he was one of the many leading the charge that Trump was toast, that Trump had colluded, that it was only a matter of time. He was wrong. Now he’s commenting on this whole business of the tabulation of noncitizens. He’s on with Don Lemon, who said, “So what’s the president’s goal with determining the population of citizens versus noncitizens?” Why do you think that’s so important to this white supremacist guy, Trump?

MUDD: It’s about telling his supporters, “People who don’t look like you don’t belong in this country, I represent you.” In this case, it’s not just about citizenship on a questionnaire, it’s about telling supporters a year and a half before an election, regardless of whether the Supreme Court says no, regardless of whether I get blocked, we won. You have somebody who represents you to try to keep people who don’t look like you, whether they’re from Guatemala or El Salvador, out of this country. I think even if he doesn’t get the question on the questionnaire, he offers the same response he offered two and a half years ago. I represent you in trying to keep people out of this country. Vote for me again. I think he’s winning

RUSH: “I think he’s winning.” What is he winning? Notice these guys, Trump is telling you that he’s gonna keep people that don’t look like you out of the country. Did Trump ever say anything like this? Did Trump ever, anywhere, go anywhere near saying this? No. This is pure reverse bigotry. This is reverse hatred.

Phil Mudd telling the CNN audience that Donald Trump is a racist pig who doesn’t want any people of color, people that don’t look like them in the country, and then he’s also saying that about all of you who voted for Trump, that that’s all this is about.

It’s not about the law. It’s not about the rule of law. It’s not about the damage being done to American culture and society and watering it down by people who have no intention of assimilating, becoming Americans. “You’re trying to stop us from transforming this country away from the founding, and, damn it, Trump, you shouldn’t do it. You should let us get away with this and we’re gonna charge you with racism if you keep trying it.” And they’re worried Trump is winning, which means they’re worried that you are a bunch of bigots and that you are falling for this, that you don’t want people that don’t look like you, either.

And yet when you examine who really tries to separate themselves from people that don’t look like them, you find that the Democrat Party does as much of that, if not more. You don’t see ’em palling around with these great people. You don’t see them welcoming them into their neighborhoods. No. They’re not even supposed to be seen. The Democrats just want credit for caring about these people, but there’s no way they’re gonna be invited into Democrat neighborhoods. Ain’t no way, Jose.