RUSH: Here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m gonna play the sound bite about which I’m talking. And then we’ll take a break, and then we’ll go to the phones, and in the next half hour we’re gonna break down this sound bite almost line by line, start, stop, Mister Broadcast Engineer, as I try to demonstrate what is wrong with this whole thing. This is Trump denouncing white supremacists but the media saying that he hasn’t and didn’t.
WALLACE: Are you willing, tonight, to condemn white supremacists and militia groups — (crosstalk)
THE PRESIDENT: Sure.
WALLACE: — and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha, and as we’ve seen in Portland.
THE PRESIDENT: Sure, I’m willing to do that. (crosstalk)
WALLACE: Are you prepared specifically to do it.
THE PRESIDENT: I would say — (crosstalk)
WALLACE: Go ahead, sir. (crosstalk)
THE PRESIDENT: I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing not, not from the right wing. (crosstalk)
WALLACE: So what are you — what are you saying?
THE PRESIDENT: I’m willing to do anything. I want to see peace. (crosstalk)
WALLACE: Well, then, do it, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: I am — (crosstalk)
BIDEN: Say it! Do it! Say it! (crosstalk)
THE PRESIDENT: Do you call them — What do you want to call them? Give me a name. Give me a name. (crosstalk)
WALLACE: White supremacists — and right-wing militia. (crosstalk)
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead. Who would you like me to condemn?
BIDEN: White supremacists. The Proud Boys. (crosstalk)
THE PRESIDENT: Who.
WALLACE: White supremacists and right-wing militia.
THE PRESIDENT: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what. Somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left. Because this is not a right-wing problem — (crosstalk)
BIDEN: His own — his own FBI director said — (crosstalk)
THE PRESIDENT: — this is a left-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem. (crosstalk)
BIDEN: — the threat comes from white supremacists. Antifa is an idea, not an organization.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, you gotta be kidding. (crosstalk)
BIDEN: Not militia.
RUSH: So that’s the sound bite. I’m sure you remember it if you watched the debate last night. I’m sure there are elements of it that ticked you off and made you really mad. But I want to go through this and just the opening of it, just to give you an example, “Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and –” He already has. It’s not as though he’s not done it. He’s done it over and over again. He’s refuted the lies of Charlottesville I don’t know how many times.
It’s just like that silly question, “Will you acknowledge tonight, will you admit tonight, will you promise tonight that if you lose the election, you evil orange guy, that you will leave peacefully?” You know, these questions are never asked of Biden. And Trump has already denounced white supremacists. He’s not a white supremacist at all. He has created the lowest African-American unemployment in the history of keeping track of that.
His percentage right now of approval among African America — if he gets the 15 to 20% of the African-American vote that his approval numbers suggest he has, it’s over for the Democrats. The idea that Trump is a racist and a white supremacist is unfair. It’s simply something that they’re trying to attach to him because he’s a Republican. Pure and simple.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Let’s give this a shot here, folks. Grab back audio sound bite number 1. I’ve also just been made aware that Joel Pollak, Breitbart, has done a treatment of this as well, that particular sound bite that we played for you just a few minutes ago. And they do it under the guise of a — premise of a — fact check. The transcript shows Trump agreed to condemn white supremacists. He said, “stand by.” He followed Wallace’s prompt.
The transcript shows that Trump said “sure” when asked to condemn white supremacists. The “stand” language came from the moderator, and the Proud Boys were first brought up by Joe Biden. Now, critics of the president are claiming incorrectly that he would not condemn white supremacists at the debate, and he did. We got the transcript here, and you’re gonna hear it go by. You have to listen to it because there’s a lot of noise and crosstalk.
But that’s not what bothers me about this. What bothers me about this is he’s already done it! How many times does he have to denounce white supremacy? The whole concept of white supremacy is something that tars and feathers me, because the number of people in this country who are genuinely white supremacists — as the strict definition of that term would imply — is so tiny and so few that it is irrelevant.
This isn’t the 1800s or the 1700s. We’re nowhere near it, and the idea… You know, all of this is based on a lie that Trump said that there were good people on both sides, talking about in Charlottesville when there was an effort to tear down statues and so forth. The allegation is that Trump said it about neo-Nazis and skinheads, that there are “good people on both sides,” and he did not.
He did not say that. He didn’t come close to saying it. He’s been abundantly clear for years now that he didn’t say it, and yet here it comes from Chris Wallace: “Are you willing to condemn white supremacists and militia groups?” Are you willing to admit tonight that you will stop beating your wife? Are you willing tonight to admit that if you lose the election, you will peacefully leave the Oval Office and the White House?
How many times does he have to denounce this stuff? But it’s even worse! “Are you willing tonight to condemn” means “maybe not. Maybe he’s not willing to.” He already has! He has never spoken in support of white supremacy. He has never spoken in support of militia groups. So the presumption is what bugs me, the presumption of guilt.
Based on what? The repeated denials never matter. The people that have explaining to do are every damned member of the mainstream media that knowingly and willingly reported and perpetrated a lie and a series of lies for four years and counting on Trump stealing the election in 2016. Why do they not have to apologize? They have won Pulitzer Prizes for this garbage that they reported.
They have. CNN and the New York Times won Pulitzer Prizes for reporting a pack of lies. Why are they not held up and asked, “Are you willing tonight to condemn false reporting on the Russia collusion between Trump and the Russians in 2016? Are you willing to admit tonight that you lied? Are you willing to admit tonight that those reports were wrong and that it never happened?
“Are you willing to admit tonight that it was Hillary Clinton who bought and paid for that story? Are you willing to admit that you knew for four straight years that that story wasn’t true?” There are a lot of people that have a lot of explaining to do, folks, but it isn’t Donald Trump. Donald Trump is as out in the open about who he is and what he believes as anybody in politics ever has been.
He does not fudge. He does not lie. He does not skirt the issue. I think it’s absolutely repulsive. But it’s this presumption that Trump is somehow guilty. He’s guilty! In the 2016 campaign, the media was constantly barging Trump to denounce David Duke, which he did. Do you know when he first denounced David Duke? Trump was a member of the Reform Party.
That’s Perot’s bunch. Perot founds the Reform Party. Trump was attracted to it. He’s thinking of running for president. Then he finds out David Duke is a member, and he quits the Reform Party. He denounced David Duke I don’t know how many times. But all during the 2016 campaign they kept demanding that Trump denounce David Duke. I just get tired of it.
I get fed up with it. It gets extremely frustrating. So here’s the bite again, and be prepared to stop this in the first five seconds. Here’s what you’re gonna hear. Chris Wallace: “Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups…?” Trump says, “Sure,” but Wallace is not finished so Wallace is talking when Trump says “sure.”
Then Wallace continues, “…and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha and as we’ve seen in Portland?” Trump says, “Sure” again. Wallace: “Are you prepared to specifically…?” Trump: “I’m prepared to that, but…” And then Biden says, “Well, then do it.” So here. You listen to the whole bite. But I want you to listen to the two times that Trump says “sure.”
WALLACE: Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups —
THE PRESIDENT: Sure.
WALLACE: — and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha and as we’ve seen in Portland?
THE PRESIDENT: Sure, I’m willing to do that, but – (crosstalk)
WALLACE: Are you prepared to specifically – (crosstalk)
BIDEN: Do it!
THE PRESIDENT: I would say – (crosstalk)
WALLACE: Go ahead and do it, sir!
THE PRESIDENT: I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing. (crosstalk)
WALLACE: So what are you…? What are you…? (crosstalk) —
RUSH: Stop the tape. So here’s Trump boring in on the truth. He says, “I would say everything I see” in regard to all of this “is coming from the left wing.” All the destruction of the cities, all this crap, Kenosha, it’s all coming “from the left wing, not from the right wing.”
Here’s Wallace…
WALLACE: What are you saying?
THE PRESIDENT: I’m willing to do anything. I want to see peace. (crosstalk)
WALLACE: Well, then, do it, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: I am — (crosstalk)
BIDEN: Say it! Do it! Say it! (crosstalk)
THE PRESIDENT: Do you call them — What do you want to call them? Give me a name. Give me a name. (crosstalk)
WALLACE: White supremacists — and right-wing militia. (crosstalk)
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead. Who would you like me to condemn?
BIDEN: White supremacists. The Proud Boys. (crosstalk)
THE PRESIDENT: Who.
WALLACE: White supremacists and right-wing militia.
THE PRESIDENT: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what. Somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left. Because this is not a right-wing problem — (crosstalk)
BIDEN: His own — his own FBI director said — (crosstalk)
THE PRESIDENT: – this is a left-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem. (crosstalk)
BIDEN: — the threat comes from white supremacists. Antifa is an idea, not an organization.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, you gotta be kidding. (crosstalk)
BIDEN: Not militia.
RUSH: You gotta be kidding. Antifa is an idea, not an organization. Now, twice Trump says “sure” as an answer. He was demanded to disavow them, and he did, and he has long before last night. Biden is the one who demanded that Trump condemn the Proud Boys. The Proud Boys are some right-wing group, and Trump denounced them. He said stand back and stand by. He’s trying to get all of this stuff out of the way. This stuff is a distraction to the point that he wants to make.
The point that he wants to make is all of this riffraff and all of the property destruction and the rioting and the looting is being perpetrated by people on the left. There aren’t any white supremacists involved here and he doesn’t support them anyway. He knows exactly what he wants to say. These people, both Chris Wallace and Biden, are clouding the issue. It had to be extremely frustrating.
Now, there’s one other aspect to this. Lin Wood tweeted, after hearing this last night. He says, get ready. “Formal demand for public retraction is being prepared for Biden/Harris Campaign on behalf of Kyle Rittenhouse. I also hereby demand that immediately retract his false accusation that Kyle is a white supremacist & militia member responsible for violence in Kenosha.”
That’s part of this sound bite, that Trump is being demanded, he’s demanded that he renounce it. Wallace says, “And to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities, the white supremacists, as we saw in Kenosha.”
Well, here comes a lawyer saying, I demand Biden immediately retract his false allegation that Kyle is a white supremacist. “I enjoy conversations on Twitter. I get to be a writer. But for 43 years, I have loved the law & being a trial lawyer. In the latter role, I am getting ready to teach a lesson he will never forget. He falsely accused a 17-year old boy & prejudiced Kyle’s legal rights.”
And the same thing is being done to Donald Trump with this constant harping. “Will you denounce white supremacists?” And he has done it so damn many times already.