RUSH: Megan in Baltimore. Great to have you with us. Hi.
CALLER: Hi. Thank you so much, Rush, for taking my call. I appreciate it.
RUSH: You bet.
CALLER: I just wanted to talk to you about the fact that I really hope you’re right that, you know, all this that’s going on between Elijah Cummings and the president results in Baltimore getting cleaned up because it really is… It’s full of really great people, but it is rat infested, like, even the nice parts. I think a lot of people here actually have lived here their whole lives and they have a lot of hometown pride, which is a great thing.
But they’re operating under the assumption that, like, “Oh, if it’s this bad here,” as far as, you know, taxes, whatever, “can you imagine what it’s like other places.” I don’t think that they have enough taste of what it is like other places. My husband and I lived in Florida — before we lived near Baltimore — where there’s no state income tax. And, you know, we were griping about how high our taxes are and everything and everyone’s like, “Yeah, well, if it’s this bad here, can you imagine what it’s like other places?” I’m like, “Yeah, there’s no state income tax in Florida, and it’s great.” (giggles) So I hope that, you know, that something is spurred and something changes. We’ve been —
RUSH: Let me ask —
CALLER: Yes?
RUSH: I need to make sure I understood something you said. Are you essentially saying that the people who live there who’ve accepted, either in good areas or bad, that there are rats and vermin and pollution and all that, that they think that’s it is the way it is everywhere, so they don’t really expect it to get cleaned up? It’s just the way things are?
CALLER: Um, I think that they think that that’s just how Baltimore is, like, “How are you gonna get rid of all the rats,” you know? I think there’s a kind of resignation there, and —
RUSH: Well, that would explain why Democrats keep getting elected. If the public’s perception is, “Hey, there’s nothing anybody can do about it. We can’t get rid of rats,” the evidence of that is that the Democrats are still in office, too. So I can see the line of thought.
CALLER: All these images that are coming out of Baltimore, my husband and I were driving through Baltimore up near Pimlico where the horse races are held.
RUSH: That’s right. That’s right, yeah.
CALLER: We ran a stoplight on a corner, and there at the corner there was a bench that said “Baltimore: The Greatest City in America,” and under the bench was a giant pile of garbage, and right behind the bench was something… They have a line of stores called Obama Mart here, and it just made a really funny picture (giggles), like there’s Obama Mart with a bench in front of it that says, “The Greatest City in America” and then literal piles of garbage. I think that’s how a lot of Baltimore is, and I think that either people have just lived here and are turning a blind eye to it because it’s kind of like a helplessness or — or I don’t know.
RUSH: It sounds like resignation to me, which is kind of disappointing. If I’m hearing you correctly, it sounds like people think that these problems are just part of daily existence and finding a way to coexist with it is about the best that you can do ’cause there’s really no solution to it.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: If that’s the case, then the Democrats have gotten away with it. Folks, if you’re just tuning in, she is calling and reacting to a point that I made in the opening monologue of the program today in which I said I think there’s a possibility Trump could do for Baltimore what he did for the NFL. He saved the NFL. The NFL was on the way to destroying itself with these flag protests and the players kneeling.
They were driving fans away, customers away, driving audiences away on TV. Trump came in, called everybody out. And I think that what Trump is now doing… You can’t miss it. Believe me, on news that I find and look at and study, there are so many local news media videos now of rat infestation and pollution all over Baltimore that it can’t be ignored now. My theory is that Trump calling attention to it is going to force somebody to at least look like they’re trying to do something about it.
That’s my theory, and if it holds true, it means that despite all this criticism Trump’s getting, that he might actually be the person who ignites and spurs a different attitude there to clean it up. ‘Cause this has gotta be… It’s gotta be embarrassing to city leaders. It’s gotta be embarrassing to representatives of Congress. It has to be. It’s one thing if you know this is happening where you live that nobody else knows it, nobody else see it. Now that the nation is seeing it, it’s got to be embarrassing, and it’s gonna be a tough thing to blame it on Trump. But you could be right. I mean, the public attitudes are there’s nothing can be done about it, then they won’t demand anything be done about it.
CALLER: Right. I hope that that’s not the case, and I hope that —
RUSH: Well, you clearly… You wouldn’t have called if you didn’t think I was maybe wrong about this because… I mean, don’t misunderstand. I know you wish and hope I’m right about it, but you wouldn’t have called her if you didn’t have your doubts.
CALLER: Oh, well, I was calling to say that I hope you’re right. Um, and I hope that that’s how this pans out, ’cause I think there are a lot of people who have been born here and raised here and they love it here, and I want them to see that they do deserve better, like, that Baltimore can be better, and I hope that it changes.
RUSH: Look, it’s not just Baltimore! In Los Angeles, where the downtown police headquarters is, it’s the same thing! In downtown San Francisco, it’s worse! It’s like this in a number of places that have been run only by Democrats for many, many years. It’s not just Baltimore! Anyway, I’m out of time, Megan, but I’m really glad that you called. Thank you very much.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I’m looking at photos. Somebody sent me some photos here of an Obama Mart. There actually are Obama Marts. I don’t have time to put ’em up on the Dittocam here. We’ll put ’em at RushLimbaugh.com. But they look like Army surplus stores.
They look like… (sigh) I don’t know. Just… That’s what they look like. They look like there’s really cheap stuff in there (I don’t know how else they’ll say it), which is where a lot of people go buy things. Because, of course, people are naturally interested in saving money.