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Rush Finally Turns on Trump
Millions of conservatives have listened to Rush Limbaugh since his syndicated show first appeared on their AM dials. For more than a quarter century, the mighty El Rushbo has argued passionately for Constitutional principles from behind his golden EIB microphone, eviscerating liberals and also weak-kneed establishment squishes who deviated from the small government mantra of classic Republicanism.
Which is why so many conservatives have been bewildered by Maha-Rushi’s months of fulsome praise for the pro-gun control, pro-choice, pro-universal healthcare, Clinton-donating, eminent domain-abusing, Republican-as-of-last-Tuesday Donald Trump. Rush has always loved sticking it to the GOP establishment, but selling a literal RINO like Trump to his loyal listeners seemed distinctly out of character.
However, The Donald’s recent attacks on Senator Ted Cruz have finally prompted the nation’s most popular talk show host to give his Palm Beach neighbor a stinging brushback pitch. Over the weekend, Chris Wallace asked Donald Trump what he thought of Ted Cruz. Trump responded:
I don’t think he has the right temperament. I don’t think he’s got the right judgment. You look at the way he’s dealt with the Senate where he goes in there like a … you know, frankly, like a little bit of a maniac. You’re never gonna get things done that way. You can’t walk into the Senate and scream and call people liars and not be able to cajole and get along with people. He’ll never get anything done, and that’s the problem with Ted.
Rush was not amused. From the transcript of Monday’s show:
Whoa. Wait just a second here. Doesn’t that kind of describe the way Trump has been dealing with people he disagrees with? I mean, he’s been calling them stupid, he’s been calling them incompetent, he’s been saying you can’t get anything done with these people. But for the people in the Trump support base who are conservatives, and who may not even have any affinity for Cruz … The conservative base of the Republican Party likes a lot of different people.
But even people who are not particularly aligned with Cruz on the right have gotta be curious about this because this is no different than what the media would say about Ted Cruz. This is no different than what the Democrat Party would say. I mean, this is what the Republican establishment would say, for crying out loud. I mean, this is akin to saying, “I’m the guy who can cross the aisle and work with the other side.” That hasn’t been the way Trump has come off up ’til now. He’s not positioned that way.
He’s come across as somebody who’s gonna beat somebody in negotiations, who’s gonna beat them down. He’s gonna tell them how it’s gonna be. This… This is so obvious. You know, I’ll tell you what this is. This is obviously the Trump campaign deciding to use the most common criticism against Cruz because they see that Cruz has negatives. They see that Cruz is not liked by the Republican establishment, and so they’re just piggybacking on that, I think, as a way for Trump to maybe score some points with the Republican establishment.
‘Cause after all, he needs ’em on his side for the nomination if he wants there to be the respect and unity, and not have to go third party. So he’s decided to go after Cruz here in the way the establishment Republicans go after Cruz, in the way the media goes after Cruz, in the way the Democrats go after Cruz. He’s essentially put on his John McCain hat here and is saying, “I’m Donald McCain, and I’m the guy that can cross the aisle and work with the other side. Ted Cruz can’t.” I was kind of surprised by that.
Playing footsie with the loathed GOP establishment is as damaging as criticism gets for Limbaugh’s audience. For Trump to echo the claims of Sens. McConnell and Graham undercuts the “tell it like it is” persona that has made him so appealing to radio talkers.
Rush also was upset about Trump’s dig at Justice Antonin Scalia. When asked what he thought of the jurist’s reported comments about African-American students, The Donald said:
I thought it was very tough to the African-American community, actually. I don’t like what he said. I actually saw it in print, and I’m going … I read a lot of stuff. I’m going, “Whoa.” I have great African-American friendships. I have just amazing relationships. But, yeah, I was very surprised at Scalia’s statements, actually.
Rush’s response:
Well, they weren’t “Scalia’s statements.” They were arguments that had been submitted to the court that he was engaging in oral argument over. But these are two things that … If you’re a conservative voter in the Republican primary, these two things have gotta raise some red flags for you people, I would think.
A question for longtime Dittoheads: Will Rush finally move on from his pro-Trump enthusiasms, or will he be back to praising the GOP frontrunner tomorrow?
Update: Mark Levin isn’t pleased with Trump either.
Published in General
Better late than never.
It would appear that it is finally time for some actual evaluation by those that once praised tRump of tRump and it has been a long time coming. I can’t wait to see what happens. Currently both Cruz and tRump have been handling this in ways that their supporters find less than satisfactory.
I heard this today and wanted to cheer. Rush is usually on top of things so I have been puzzled by his caution regarding Trump. I don’t hear Rush that much any more as I always have a bunch of podcasts to listen to when I get in the car. We need all the talk show hosts to drag out Trump’s progressive positions and explain to Trump supporters why Trump would be a disaster for Republicans and the nation. Maybe they’ll listen to him. Beck is too bright to be fooled, but Hannity is still there.
I rarely listen to Rush but happened to turn him on while doing errands today and heard the exact segment you’ve quoted. He was quite clear about his displeasure with Trump.
Sorry Jon. Rush isn’t pro-Trump or pro-anyone. He merely points out candidates pluses and minuses, and how they they deal with the press. You can’t possibly be a regular listener to Rush or you would know that. Besides he rarely endorses anyone (Levin is the same way). Trump happens to be running rings around the media–which Rush and his audience love. JEB and fellow RINO’s (Graham, Christie, Kasch) are setting themselves up to be McCain’ed by the press, i.e. they’re letting the press make them.
So Rush isn’t a RealConservativeTM now or is he now Establishment?
Yup.
I think that “brushback pitch” captured it far better than “turns on [against]”.
Trump has largely served his purpose. Not yet, but soon. Meanwhile, bad dog, don’t chew on Cruz. Everybody has an angle.
I think too much is/was made of Rush’s previous comments about Trump. I am not a listener of his, just a web site consumer, and he never struck me as promoting Trump. I always perceived it that Trump was the bludgeon of choice to highlight the legion of incumbent republican and media shortcomings, not a candidate of choice.
This may hasten Trump’s exit, but I am not sure it is going to help his competitors.
I’ll second most of JimGoneWild’s comment.
Rush is savvy.
He has never developed Trump derangement syndrome the way most of the print conservative commentators have. Nor is he on the Trump bandwagon as Breitbart media seems to be.
Rush mostly comments in response to the mainstream and left stream media, and the apoplexy Trump causes in the media makes great hay for Rush.
Rush also knows Trump personally, and like other people that know Trump personally (e.g. Conrad Black) he knows that Trump’s public persona mostly an act.
In the end, Rush doesn’t support attacks on fellow Republican’s – particularly when you attack fellow Republican’s like the mainstream media would attack said Republican. i.e. It is okay to go after Rubio for his support of sugar subsidies, but it is wrong to go after Rubio on his prior stupid personal finance decisions.
Trump is living proof that snakes breed with cockroaches. Just look at his copperhead.
Exactly.
The fact is that Cruz alienated most of the Senate. If Trump nominates him a federal judge, he’ll sail through the Senate confirmation — they’re that eager to get rid of him.
Incidentally, Chris Christie is no RINO when it comes to national security, prosecuting felons, speaking up for cops, and calling out the teachers’ union. I prefer his position on NSA data collection vs. Cruz’.
I do, however, commend Cruz on the active data warehouse solutions being employed for his analytics-enhanced door-to-door effort in Iowa. Maybe when he sees how useful it is to know the magazine, food, and automotive habits of his supporters, he’ll realize the value of micro-targeted psychological profiles of potential terrorists.
Sorry Jim. I lived in NJ for 4 and half long years. You can’t be an elected politician in NJ without being a RINO. It is just not technically, politically, socially or healthfully possible.
Why many of the Senate Republicans didn’t back Cruz on everything he has done bothers me.
“Rush Finally Turns On Trump” = TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!!
Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have an inclusive style? When you’re new in any group, people expect you to listen for awhile, and get the sense of the room. Or so I’m told.
Jim Gone Wild is correct. Rush admires Trump for his taking it to the “press”, but he does not support anyone much, in the primaries. Whoever we nominate must learn from Trump as to handling of the Democrat Lapdogs.
What would Ronald Reagan think of Trump?
I suspect that he would not be impressed with his shtick. Reagan may have been outside the establishment, but he took politics and conservatism very seriously. He spent a good chunk of his life crafting his outlook and thinking of his policy positions. I suggest downloading the audiobook of his radio show, Reagan In His Own Voice. He was not a conservative for convenience.
Would Reagan be impressed with how Trump has manhandled the entire media and made the GOP establishment afraid to attack him?
So basically, when Trump finally attacked Ted Cruz from the left, Rush and Levin finally did the math I was able to do way back in September — when Trump attacked Scott Walker from the left.
Not impressed, gentlemen, but better late than never.
I think that with President Reagan, tactics served strategy, tactics weren’t the strategy. Who truly knows where Trump’s strategy intentions lie? Winning the nomination cannot be an endgame. I would think that the winning of the opportunity to lead this Nation is a next step in setting the government for the governed, on the right course. As for fear of the Donald, I can’t think of a candidate who is afraid to engage Trump it is just that none of them reason an upside,
yet. When the time is right, engagement will come and satisfaction will be had.
Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin are right, and so is JimGoneWild.
It’s about time.
I expected the change in tone from “Maha Rushi” after I read Pete Wehner’s criticism in Commentary’s blog last week and did not hear Rush answer it. Rush has known Wehner for a long time. He used to use him as a source of inside information from the Bush White Houses and as a sounding board for his own positions. The criticism had to sting. Today’s monologue reflected that Rush took it seriously.
Ted Cruz’s rise in Iowa, his ascent to the runner-up position in most national polls, must also be a factor. Rush sees that with less than two months to go before the Hawkeye Caucii it’s time to start lining-up behind the most conservative candidate. That’s Cruz, so Rush and his buddy Mark Levin have decided it was high time to look past Trump the media manipulator and put a hard eye on The Donald’s positions. And Trump’s statements about Cruz and Scalia gave them the perfect opportunity.
This is as it should be. Trump performed two valuable functions in the GOP primary race: elevating immigration to the top of the issues heap and dispatching Jeb Bush. But Trump was and is an imperfect vehicle for true immigration reform. His work is done. Now it’s time for Cruz, highly intelligent and riding on a wave of small-money donors, to say the five magic words that will catapult him to the Presidency:
“Today, America needs fewer immigrants.”
You’ve convinced me. Cruz is my kind of Republican. Christie is out of the question.
Cool! I’m not the only person here who reads James Taranto’s column.
Jon, are you being provocative or do you really not know Rush’s position on Trump?
Jeb’s campaign was dead even before he kicked it off, and certainly before Trump showed up. There was just a bunch of money to keep the consultants living for a little while.
“if Trump nominates him a federal judge …”
You are operating under the presumption that the nomination of Trump would be anything other than a guaranteed victory for Hillary, and I’m afraid that is a false assumption.
I certainly hope this is correct.