TODD: It is and always has been an honor to sit in for Rush — and in a way, we’re still doing that. Rush would be here if he could. And I start my radio show at KTTH in Seattle by saying, “Today is the day the Lord has made,” and these are the times in which God has asked us to live and it was this week where God Almighty tapped Rush on the shoulder, and he said, “It’s time to come home.”
And with Rush went the talent that God had loaned him, but Rush saw fit to leave an archive and a broadcast museum. And it’s at RushLimbaugh.com. And it’s available to all of us. And EIB is gonna continue for the foreseeable future. There’s so much, so much Rush shared with us that we will have the opportunity to share with you and that will continue at this time of day we’re used to listening.
You can know a person by their friends, and you can know a person by their enemies, and you can look back on a person’s track record. And you can look at some things that are not commonly looked at with Rush’s program. How many small businesses became large businesses because they spent the money to have Rush endorse them?
After Rush investigated their companies, and then came to the point where he could say, “I will put my name on this. I will use these products,” or “I will put my name on this”? And there’s a ton of them. And I bet you, you could create a list of hundreds. The people who surround this program — I have gotten to know them through the years, and they’re with us today — and I’ve said their names before, Susan and Paul and Mike Maimone.
You’ve heard his name on the air, broadcast engineer, and Ali, Kraig, Brian, Keith, Crash, a bunch of people put the show together. The New York Times is apparently of the mind that one such partner, Bo Snerdley, does not exist. He’s someone that Rush made up. Well, he has a lot of pictures with the made-up guy. And the New York Times has also decided to see fit that James… They attempted to degrade his role. I’ll tell you something. It wasn’t in our outline today.
Rush loved this team. How do I know? Because of the 32 years. Because of the longevity. Notice something. When Rush passed away, was called to God, it was his wife who announced it on this program. Nothing leaked, no one ran to sell the story, because there’s a family here. There’s a family. So that sense you had that as you listen to the program that something really special was going on all these years, you’re right.
I gotta believe that that flowed from something in Rush, because he had enough power in this business that he could change staff every year. He could have done what he wanted to do, and guess what? He did. He rewarded the loyalty of these people. And every single day that the program goes on — when myself or Mark Steyn or Ken Matthews hosted for Rush — it was always about delivering you value.
And there’s tens of thousands of people who tie our success to Rush, and what we heard last hour was Rush… (chokes up) Pardon me. This is so hard, you guys. We tie our success to listening to what Rush said about not being a cog, about not being just a puzzle piece, of zagging as others zig. Had he not done that, there’s probably tens of thousands of people who’d have a lesser income because he chose not to conform.
And this is what has so frustrated the mockingbird media about Rush is that he wouldn’t conform. He never sought their approval. So today, typical of this, as our friend is passed on, is you have Joy Reid attacking Bo Snerdley, saying that he was just a human shield for Rush’s opinions about Obamacare. Um, I know Bo Snerdley.
He has his own views. And it happens that many of them, maybe most of them lined up with Rush’s. That really frustrates people like Joy Reid. I believe the treatment of this team came from a place in a huge heart. I want you to hear something here. This is Ainsley Earhardt. She’s telling us about Rush’s faith as she heard it told by Rush’s niece, Christen.
EARHARDT: His niece is a good friend of mine, and she works here with us and she’s in my Bible study. I always tell that family, “Christen, I would love to meet your grandparents because Rush is such a stellar individual and just fought for freedom and fought for conservatism in our country.” David has written so many books. He has a deep love for Jesus and his daughter Christen is an amazing person. And I asked Christen yesterday, I said, “What would you like me to say about Rush?”
She said, “He never missed a Christmas with our family.” All of Christen’s siblings, sisters and brothers were like Rush’s children. He would fly to Cape Girardeau where they grew up to go see Christen in her high school plays. She said that he showed up for his family in a grandiose and generous way and didn’t just throw money at us, but in ways he really put his heart into our family because he was so generous. She said her sister loved video production, so he would always buy her the best equipment.
One time Christen was going home to Cape Girardeau for her wedding shower and there were a lot of problems with the flights, and Rush sent his plane there so that she could come back and not be so upset about almost missing that. That was his gift to her. And she said when he was diagnosed, they texted a lot and she said, “If you mention anything this morning, please talk about his faith. It was the core of who he was and everything that he believed.
“He wasn’t vocal about it, but he had a deep relationship with Jesus.” She sent Romans 8:28 to him, “And we know that God works all things for the good of those who love him” when he was diagnosed, and Rush wrote her back and said, “I believe that to the T.” It’s not that everything that happens is good, but he knew with all of his heart that God is good.
TODD: “God is good.” I will tell you something I’ve never said on the air, and this is fully about Rush. I got to do the show in New York with his team, the team that’s with us today, and we got to the topic of Gold Star dads, Gold Star families. A gentleman called. (breaking up) Oh, guys, this is gonna be really hard. He called because they had found in their son’s effects… He was a Gold Star dad.
They’d found in their son’s effects (his son was killed on duty, I believe he was in Iraq) a collection of cigars too expensive for their son to afford. And in too nice of a box. And so his father became very curious. And he looked into the box, and there was a note, a handwritten note from Rush, because Rush chose to communicate with him and to take care of him. And it said in the note, “This is my private number.
“If you need to reach me, if you need anything, you can use this — and please do.” And I asked that gentleman to say his son’s name, his full name and job title on the air, and he did. And then as I was just wrapping up this phone call, Ali, who’s with us today, often screens calls — Ali, I don’t know if you remember this. She said, “Don’t let him hang up. Do not let him hang up. Whatever you do, Todd, do not let that man hang up.
“Rush wants to be able to get in touch with him.” See, that man had seen on the Rush 24/7 cam, Rush TV, he had seen a flag he had sent Rush in thanks for the cigars. His son’s flag behind our Rush’s head. Someday the stories of this heart will hopefully be told. None other than President Donald Trump spoke for the first time since he left office and talked about the last time he spoke with Rush.
DONALD TRUMP: Three or four days ago, I’d called him just to find out — you know, his fight was very, very courageous, and he was very, very sick. And, you know, from diagnosis on it was just something that was not going to be beaten, but you wouldn’t know it. And he is married to an incredible woman, Kathryn, who really, every time I spoke to him, he would tell me how great she was, she took such great care.
He was very brave. I mean, he, in theory, could have been gone four months ago, really. He just… He was fighting ’til the very end. He was a fighter. He was a great gentleman. Was a unique guy. And he was a — he became a friend of mine. You know, I didn’t know Rush at all. I had essentially never met Rush.
And then when we came down the escalator, he liked my rather controversial speech. I made that speech that was a little bit on the controversial side, and he loved it. And he was — without ever having met him or talked to him or, you know, had lunch with him or asked him — he was with me right from the beginning. And he liked what I said. And he agreed with what I said. And he was just a great gentleman, great man.
TODD: And I betcha if you get a chance to talk to Team EIB you’ll hear the same thing.