The Press Conference Republican Voters Have Wanted to See for Years

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May 31, 2016

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  Well, that's what you've all wanted.  That's what everybody's been asking for I don't know how long.  That was a press conference.  That was a press conference.  That was the kind of press conference Republicans voters have been dying to see for who knows how many years. 

Greetings, my friends.  Great to have you here, and great to be back.  A short busy broadcast week.  Rush Limbaugh back at it.  It is 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program; the email address,ElRushbo@eibnet.com. 

Say what you will about Donald Trump -- how many years have people been begging for a Republican to just once take on the media the way Trump did? All the way from the premise, to the details, to the motivation, he took 'em all on. And the piece de resistance is some journalist said, "Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump --" and, by the way, these people in the media, they may hate the guy, but they cannot stop covering himThere are a couple things in the Trump Stack today that are gonna force me -- not force -- have, I should say, inspired me to do another in-depth explanation of why all this is happening. Why Trump is happening. Why Trump is working. Trump's relationship with the media, what is sustaining it. How it is that Trump is succeeding in getting a bunch of people that literally hate him to help him out.  It's fascinating. 

Folks, it's a fascinating case study in politics and sociology, psychology, pop culturism, post whatever modernism, it's an amazing thing, and I'm gonna do my best to explain it because it's fascinating to me.  It's literally fascinating to me.  

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, back to this Trump press conference, if you didn't see it, if you didn't hear it, we're working on audio sound bites now. We're an editor short today so we'll get them up as quickly as we can.  We only got one guy editing.  When we have two guys editing it would only take half the time it's gonna take now. 

But, anyway, the piece de resistance -- you thought I lost my place, but I didn't, because I never do.  Near the end of it a frustrated journalist (paraphrasing), "Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump, is it gonna be this way, are you gonna be attacking us after you become president?" 

"Yes, it is.  Because you are the most dishonest people, political press the most dishonest people I know. You know it and I know it.  The press is dishonest, but the political press is especially dishonest." 

And then Jim Acosta, I think it was, CNN (paraphrasing), "Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump, do you object to scrutiny?  You seem like you didn't even like scrutiny, but you're seeking the office of president of the United States, how do you think --"

"I don't mind scrutiny.  What I don't like is lies.  You can scrutinize me all day long but you set up false premises. You state things about me that are not true. Then you run stories on that. That's why I'm out here trying to correct the record."  And then Trump says, "By the way, I've seen you, you're among the worst. You're at ABC, right?  You're the worst. You're a sleaze."  And I'm thinking the people at home watching this -- (laughing) 'cause, folks, in the age of internet trolling, manners are out the window.  It's a waste of time asking for manners here.  Because, remember, in a war the aggressor sets the rules and I'm guaranteeing you that Trump thinks the media are the aggressors here. 

He was asked even about that, "Are you gonna be critical even of Republicans trying to unify --" "If they attack me, yes. Somebody comes after me, maybe not as much if they're Republican, but I'm still gonna go after 'em, of course I am."  But the media, the media totally wants Hillary Clinton to win, but they're so conflicted.  The cable networks, since this thing ended, have been devoted to the press conference and how Trump was mean to them and how Trump insulted them and how Trump criticized them. And they're now doing all these introspective panel discussions on what does it all mean and what kind of deranged guy is Trump. 

Even the New York Times. Folks, the New York Times has a story today.  This is, in fact, the foundation of the great dissertation I have coming up to explain much of what's going on, analyze it.  Well, not so much explain, I don't know how many questions there are, but I'm going to try to unravel why some of this is happening, what it really means for those of you who are just watching it casually. 

But the New York Times headline:  "Television Networks Struggle to Provide Equal Airtime in the Era of Trump."  Oh, yes.  Five pages this baby prints out.  And the New York Times has another story:  "Hillary Clinton Struggles to Find Footing in Unusual Race." This is also related. 

They've got two stories here on how the Times is actually apologizing to its readers for being unable to balance coverage in favor of Hillary.  If Trump were any other Republican, they would have practically destroyed him by now and they'd be worried about rehabbing Hillary's image and building her up. But she's so unexciting, she's so dull, she's so scandal ridden, they've got nothing to work with.  All they can do is try to destroy Trump, but they don't know how.  Because they didn't make Trump, they can't destroy Trump.

And everybody dealing with Trump -- including Bill Kristol and everybody else trying to take him out -- is making the big mistake of trying to plug Trump into the age-old political handbook.  Trump's not part of that.  You don't deal with Trump in the standard, political handbook way on policy and issues and things like that.  That's not the way to separate Trump supporters from Trump.  It isn't gonna work. 

"Television Networks Struggle to Provide Equal Airtime in the Era of Trump."  Let me tell you what the upshot of this story is.  I'm not gonna read the whole five pages to you because I don't need to.  I can make the complex understandable.  I can tell you in one paragraph what the New York Times takes five pages to tell you.  Ready?  The upshot of this is Trump's constant access to media and Trump's unpredictability is frustrating Hillary and the Drive-Bys' capacity to shape and control the narrative. 

They are unable to write the daily soap opera script as they have become accustomed to being able to do.  They're unable to do it because Trump is so unpredictable. They'll write a script, they'll write a narrative for the day and Trump will go out and do an appearance and blow it to smithereens, at the same time blowing their plans. Then Hillary is frustrating, 'cause there's nothing to cover.  All there is with Hillary is emails and shady financial dealings and Mao pantsuits and basic incompetence and boredom and a total lack of excitement. 

So there's no way that they can write a narrative every day that destroys Trump and builds up Hillary because... See, the first mistake in the New York Times is worrying about granting Trump access.  They're not "granting" Trump access.  Trump is commanding access.  Trump is taking access.  Trump is dictating the daily narrative, as this press conference today on his donations to the vets and to various groups illustrate.  What got all this started... Don't forget.

This all started when the Washington Post published an article last week right before the Memorial Day weekend -- which is a typical Drive-By Media trick.  Whenever they want to destroy anybody or take a hit on somebody, they do it at a time when even if there is a response, nobody sees it, or very few.  So the Washington Post published an article last week right before the Memorial Day weekend started in which they claimed, essentially, that Trump was lying about having raised $6 million in that fundraiser he held in lieu of going to the GOP debate before the Hawkeye Cauci. 

And it turns out, lo and behold, that the Washington Post was right after all.  Trump didn't raise $6 million for veterans groups, he only raised $5.6 million.  Only raised $5.6 million.  And, by the way, by the time he gets through, it will be over $6 million.  Money is still coming in.  Our buddy Jim Kallstrom of the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, indicated to a very disappointed CNN that Trump donated $1.1 million to them last week or last couple of weeks ago.  But, anyway, they started out with this.

They make some factual misrepresentations that Trump is lying about all the money he's raised for the vets.  They claim that Trump claims he's raised $6 million or whatever it is and they go out and they're doing what they can to try to convince people that Trump's lying about it, that he hasn't raised that much -- and, even worse, that if he has raised that much, he hasn't passed it on. He's holding on to it. He hasn't donated it all.  All of these insinuations and allegations were the Washington Post piece. 

And Trump felt the need to correct the record today and did so in his own inimitable way, which basically attacked the media for dishonesty and corruption.  And the thing is he stood there for, what, 45 minutes? I mean, he didn't hide, didn't run away from it, answered every question. He just took them on.  They have no complaint.  They can never say Trump avoids them. They can never say Trump does this or that to try to evade any kind of scrutiny, even though he got that question about scrutiny. 

But the New York Times... This is actually kind of funny, I think, because they're worried that Trump's constant access to the media and his unpredictability is frustrating Hillary.  Hillary doesn't know how to deal with this. Hillary doesn't know how to counterprogram Trump, if you will.  Hillary doesn't know how to go out and write her own narrative of the day.  Hillary doesn't know whether to focus on herself or to criticize Trump or to go after Crazy Bernie. She doesn't know what to do.  And the press doesn't, either.

The New York Times is admitting here that their capacity, their ability to shape and control the narrative -- the soap opera script -- every day, is almost impossible because of Trump.  And so the Times, in this story, is struggling to figure out some kind of Fairness Doctrine solution to the problem.  I kid you not.  They're trying to find a way they can balance this, because Trump is generating so much more coverage.  They're not starting it.  The press isn't.  Trump's just out doing what he's doing, and they are compelled to cover it. 

They cannot not cover it.  But there is no... Hillary Clinton calls a press conference; it's no big deal.  There isn't a mad dash by countless members of the media to get there and see what she's gonna say.  There is no comparative excitement, unpredictability, drama, entertainment, you name it. There isn't any comparison.  Now, not to say Trump doesn't have any competition, because he does.  That's a crucial factor in all of this, too.  Now, the Times here, they're hand-wringing. They're worried. They're complaining. (paraphrased)

"It's not fair! It's not fair! We can't control the media 'cause of Trump."  The problem is -- and they don't want to say this, but the problem is -- that Trump, no matter what anybody thinks of him, is interesting.  And Trump, no matter what anybody thinks of him, is funny.  Trump, no matter what anybody thinks of him, is different.  Trump, no matter what anybody thinks of him, is drama.  Trump, no matter what anybody thinks of him, is unpredictable.  All of that means, you can't miss it. 

You can't roll the dice and not cover it, hoping that it isn't anything.  You have to be there, as the media, and you have to hope that he's gonna attack you as the media.  But Hillary, on the other hand? Dull, totally colorless, mistake prone, scandal ridden, because Hillary doesn't have any natural talents. Hillary doesn't have any natural connection to people. Hillary doesn't have any charisma, magnetism. All of that has to be manufactured by the media. 

Hillary needs to be hyper-scripted while, at the same time, have limited availability in a campaign that's about spontaneity and entertainment.  This has become a pop culture campaign.  Like it or not, that's what it is.  And that's why so many in the political world are having trouble understanding it, dealing with it, being involved with it, defining it, what have you.  But Hillary Clinton has this problem.  The more she's seen, the more she's heard, the worse she does.  This is not arguable.

This has been proven over and over again in polling data alone.  The less she speaks, the less she's seen, the higher her numbers go.  But with Trump out there all the time, spontaneous and entertaining, the press has to do something to keep her in the game.  So they hyper-script her appearances, they hyper-script the coverage, all with limited availability because Hillary has to maintain some restraint.  Otherwise, it's a potential total implosion.  

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  The New York Times, also from over the weekend: "Rise of Donald Trump Tracks Growing Debate Over Global Fascism." There's even a photo of Hitler and a photo of Mussolini in the New York Times article.  They never call Trump a fascist.  They just claim that Trump's campaign and that Trump's rise to popularity is a sign of a growing global fascism.  Do you think that story would ever be written about Barack Obama and any other governing world leaders today? 

Here you have a guy who's nothing more than a candidate right now, and the New York Times, over the weekend -- the Memorial Day weekend -- with a story: "Rise of Donald Trump Tracks Growing Debate Over Global Fascism."  Never mind that both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton's positions are far more in line with the German National Socialism approach than Trump could even dream of being.

Forget, you know, that the Nazis were National Socialists.  National Socialists!  I mean, we're closer to having that currently in the White House than anywhere on the campaign trail right now on the Republican side.  And now we find out that Hillary Clinton's campaign set up this veterans against Trump protest to begin with. We find this out after the fact.  The media could have found out before it happened, but, no, no, no, no!

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Let me get started with these Trump sound bites.  We opened the program talking about this presser, and it was a press conference for the ages, and it's one of these press conferences that many people on the Republican side have been desperately hoping to see someday, sometime, with a Republican under assault judged to be an unfair assault, finally being ripped into by the Republican, the media being ripped into here for the way they're going about their business.  So this is at Trump Tower.  Major Garrett, CBS, chief White House correspondent, "How personally involved were you in deciding which military organizations were to be recipients and how much they got and how did you prioritize 'em?"

TRUMP:  I wasn't too involved in picking the organizations other than I gave a million dollars to the Marine law enforcement, Marine, they are fabulous people.  They honored me last year.  I knew them.  I was going to give it to three companies or three groups, and we couldn't vet them quickly, and so I gave it to the Marine.  And if you look at that number, the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation is a fabulous group, and I didn't have to go through a big vetting process with them, because I was going to split the million-dollar check up among three or four different groups, and in the end I just didn't want to go through the process of having to vet all those different groups.

RUSH:  Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, Jim Kallstrom, the former head of the New York office of the FBI is now one of the executive directors of MC-LEF, and as you know, this program is involved deep well MC-LEF, as is the Rush Revere Time Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans book series, Two If By Tea.  We are sponsors of the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation. 

If you recall, the Harry Reid letter that he wrote to the former CEO of Clear Channel demanding that I be made to apologize and maybe forced to resign over unfairly calling a veteran a phony soldier.  We auctioned that Harry Reid letter, and I agreed to match whatever it raised.  And $4 million was donated to the Marine Corps Law, 4.2, actually.  It sold on eBay for $2.1 million, and I had agreed to match it, so it was $4.2 million to MC-LEF.  And I was at the event that Trump was honored.  He was sitting, for what it's worth, two tables over.  But I was at that event, just to attest that it happened. 

I want you to hear, Kallstrom was on CNN today.  Carol Costello was hoping, hoping that Kallstrom would somehow contradict what Trump had said.  She said, "Mr. Trump pledged $1 million of his own money to one organization.  Was it yours?"

KALLSTROM:  We did get a million dollars from Donald.  He's been a big supporter of veterans groups for close to four decades now, Carol.  I knew for some time that we were gonna be the recipient.  I didn't know the actual amount.  But I guess it was about a week ago.  Don't hold me to that.  Some week ago, ten days ago, and we actually received money.

RUSH:  Yeah.  And I was there.  I think it was like two Aprils ago.  Maybe it's in March.  But it's always at the Waldorf-Astoria in the grand ballroom there.  And Trump was the award winner and the recipient that year.  One more question from Carol Costello and answer.

COSTELLO:  So I was just wondering if you found out in January shortly after the event if your organization would be a beneficiary?

KALLSTROM:  Well, there were hints in that direction, and he's always been a big supporter of us.  We give 98% of the money donated, which is a very high number, that we're very proud of.  We have one part-time employee.  And basically all the money goes to the children of those who've lost their life in the line of duty.

RUSH:  Yeah, Marines and sometimes they expand it to Army and Air Force, sometimes Secret Service, Oklahoma City bombing, all of the protective agencies that were housed in the Murrah building, MC-LEF went into action then.  But they provide scholarships to the children of Marines killed in action.  I was practically there in the living room when this foundation was formed in Rockville Centre out on Long Island.  And they are a great bunch of people.  They do have a 98% pass-through, and I know who the one employee is, and he's one of the greatest guys in the world. 

But what difference does it -- Trump does his veterans deal on the night of the Hawkeye Cauci primary debate that was on Fox, you know, Trump skipped it, did a veterans fundraiser.  So here's Carol Costello (imitating Costello), "Well, well, Mr. Kallstrom, did Trump, did he decide way back in January the organization that gets --"  What they're trying to say is that they have forced Trump into donating money that he never intended to donate, he was just saying that he was going to. That's their premise, and they're trying to catch Trump in all that, he knows it, and it's fed up with it. And that set the tone for the press conference.  Back to the next press conference bite.  This is Major Garrett following up.  "Don't you believe you should be accountable to the people?"

TRUMP:  I'm totally accountable, but I didn't want to have credit for it.  We have given to groups that are unbelievable groups, and honestly, I wish you could hear the phone calls and see the letters, they are so happy.  And I'm happy to do it.  I didn't want the credit for it, but it was very unfair that the press treated us so badly.  Go ahead.

MAJOR GARRETT:  To follow up on that, you keep calling us the dishonest press, the disgusting press.

TRUMP:  Generally speaking, that's a hundred percent true.  Go ahead.

MAJOR GARRETT:  I disagree with that, sir.  And if I can ask you this question, it seems as though you're resistant to scrutiny, the kind of scrutiny that comes with running for president of the United States.

TRUMP:  Excuse me.  I've watched you on television.  You're a real beauty.  When I raise money for the veterans, and it's a massive amount of money, find out how much Hillary Clinton's given to the veterans.  Nothing.

RUSH:  That's exactly right, because Hillary Clinton doesn't give anybody anything.  With Hillary Clinton it's all incoming.  There's no outgoing, there's no outflow with Hillary Clinton.  But Trump is right.  Okay, so you think I deserve scrutiny.  Where is the scrutiny of Bernie Sanders?  Where's the scrutiny of Hillary Clinton?  Where is one half of the interest in this whole email scandal of hers that you're showing in whether I've donated to the vets or not? 

Look, everybody knows the game here.  This is why people love what Trump is doing here.  He's not standing up there taking it.  He's firing right back at 'em. He's letting them know he knows it's an unlevel playing field, he's gonna treat them accordingly.  

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Back to the audio sound bites.  We still have some to go here on the Trump press conference that concluded -- knowingly, by the way. The message was apparently received.  The Trump press conference, 45 minutes in length, ended 15 minutes before the EIB Network began today.  Right on schedule.  So now we are up to number 25.  This is... I told you about this.  It's where he calls a reporter a sleaze.  He's talking with... It's a reporter Q&A.  It's an unidentified female reporter and ABC correspondent Tom Llamas.  Tom Llamas is who Trump calls a sleaze.

TRUMP:  It was the biggest crowd you could have had, because it was all cordoned off, and they weren't allowed to have any more people than they had.  So instead of saying, "Trump made a speech in front of a packed crowd," they said, "Trump was disappointed," because I didn't have millions of people going from Jefferson to Washington.  I mean, give me a break.  It's just honestly... It's dishonest reporting.  Yeah, go ahead.

REPORTER:  How are veterans to believe that you reported...? 

TRUMP:  I'm not looking for credit.  But what I don't want is when I raise millions of dollars, to have people say -- like this sleazy guy right over here from ABC. He's a sleaze in my book. 

LLAMAS: Why am I...?

TRUMP: You're a sleaze, because you know the facts, and you know the facts well.

RUSH:  Why am I a sleaze?  It's a badge of honor, by the way.  Don't be hurt for the media.  It's a badge of honor to be called a name by Trump.  I guarantee you what's his name, Tom Llamas, at the bars and restaurants he's always gonna be The Sleaze now.  His wife will call him The Sleaze, if it's married, I don't know.  But his colleagues, everybody will call him, "Hey, Sleaze, how you doing tonight, buddy?"  It's a badge of honor to have your name called by Trump and be made a nickname. 

What Trump is talking about here, he had a big rally in Washington where there were a bunch of bikers, there was a bikers rally for Memorial Day for vets, and Trump is claiming that he would have had just as big a crowd as Martin Luther King had, but they cordoned the area off and they wouldn't let nearly as many people get in that wanted in, and the press didn't report that.  Instead, the press reported that Trump was disappointed at the small crowd.  And that's what that sound bite was all about. 

(paraphrasing Trump)  "I wasn't disappointed.  They wouldn't let the people in that wanted to get there.  Could have been big, could have been as big as Martin Luther King."  Unidentified female reporter:  "You yourself recently reacted against what you called a spoiler independent candidate in this race.  Yet earlier in the primaries you didn't rule out an independent run of your own."

TRUMP:  Kristol's the one, he's the last one.  Don't forget, he said Trump will never run.  The guy's not a smart person.  He said, Donald Trump will never run.  Remember?  You remember?  I actually blame you.  Why do you put this guy on television?  I see him on the different shows.  He's got no credibility.  Let me tell you.  These people are losers.

CAMERON:  When you refer to some Republicans and conservatives as losers --

TRUMP:  No, I didn't say that.  I said Bill Kristol is a loser.  And I'll tell you why.  He has called every single move -- take a look, on me.  "He's going to lose this state."  I win in a landslide.  Wait a minute, Carl.  I didn't say everybody.  Many.  But I didn't say everybody.

RUSH:  Carl Cameron, what he wanted to ask here, "How you gonna unify the Republican Party when you're out there referring to some Republicans, conservatives as losers?"  "I'm just talking about Kristol, that's all, Kristol's been wrong in everything he said about me." 

The post-press coverage of this, one little bite here from CNN.  This is At This Hour, John Berman, Kate Bolduan, they had this exchange over the Trump press conference and the money he donated.  The point they're saying is the money to be donated isn't the story.  So they're announcing they're changing the narrative on this.

BERMAN:  The headline at the end of this event wasn't the money he raised or how many groups got it, but it was just how petulant and peevish he was, saying the press should be ashamed of itself for asking questions like, "How much did you raise and where did it go?"  I want to go to CNN's --

BOLDUAN:  On a factual basis, those are pretty simple questions you should answer when you're raising money, when you're raising money for charity.

RUSH:  Right.  Seriously, how many questions do the Clintons get about the two billion in their Crime Family Foundation and all those donations from foreign investors and whoever they may be?  No, no, no, no, no.  Do not do that.  I'm not defending Trump by saying, "Hey, Trump did it, but why don't you go get the Clintons who did it."  That's not what I'm saying.  I'm saying these people have two different sets of rules.  They've got two different sets of standards for their scrutiny. 

And the upshot of it is that the Clintons don't get any.  Whatever they say goes on with their foundation, that's what's reported, and whatever they say happens at Clinton Global Initiative, that's what they say and that's what gets reported.  But the Clintons aren't under any scrutiny.  The Clintons won't believe that.  The Clintons believe they're under more scrutiny than anybody's ever been, but because of the way they do things they invite that scrutiny. 

So, anyway, this was John Berman at CNN announcing they're changing the narrative here.  The narrative is no longer what Trump donated and to whom, but what a peevish, small-minded guy he is to be treating us in the press this way.  Now, back to the press conference.  Reporter:  "Is this what it's gonna be like covering you, if you're president?  Are we gonna be having this kind of confrontation in the pressroom at the White House?"

TRUMP:  Yeah, it is gonna be like this, David.  If the press writes false stories, like they did with this, because, you know, half of you are amazed that I raised all of this money.  If the press writes false stories like they did, then we have to read probably libelous stories, or certainly close, in the newspapers, and the people know the stories are false, I'm gonna continue to attack the press.  Look, I find the press to be extremely dishonest.  I find the political press to be unbelievably dishonest. I will say that. Okay, thank you all very much.  Thank you.  Thank you very much.

RUSH:  Thank you, thank you, you dishonest liars, thank you, thank you for showing up. 

END TRANSCRIPT

Trump’s turn right started a long time ago

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New York Post
Opinion

By Ron Kessler

May 8, 2016 | 8:01pm

Donald TrumpPhoto: AP

The conventional wisdom is that Donald Trump only became a conservative the day he announced his candidacy for the presidency. But like all conventional wisdom about Trump, it’s wrong.

After President Obama took office, Trump told me almost eight years ago the new president was a “disaster” whose economic policies were going to ruin the country.

Trump wasn’t ready to be quoted then. But almost five years ago, in a book that has been largely overlooked during the campaign, Trump laid out exactly what’s wrong with Obama’s vision and why conservative policies are needed to turn around the country’s pathetically slow growth under his leadership.

In “Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again,” which came out in December 2011, Trump presented a detailed economic critique that any fiscal conservative would applaud.

The reason “this country is an economic disaster right now,” he wrote, “is because Barack Obama doesn’t understand how wealth is created — and how the federal government can destroy it.”

Liberals “scratch their heads and wonder why businesses don’t want to hire,” Trump wrote. The answer: “Companies know Obama is anti-business, and his government-run health-care takeover has created a major disincentive to hire new workers.”

Raising taxes, as Obama wants to do, merely forces business owners to “lay off employees they can no longer afford,” Trump noted. “It also drives up prices, encourages businessmen and women to move their businesses (and their jobs) to other countries that have far lower tax rates and regulatory costs, and sends people scrambling for tax shelters.”

Conservative though he is, Trump knows how to appeal to most Americans. As Norma Foerderer, Trump’s top aide for 26 years, told me, there are two Donald Trumps: the “outrageous” one portrayed on television and the real one only insiders know.

The private Donald Trump, on the other hand, is “the dearest, most thoughtful, most loyal, most caring man,” Foerderer said.

Illustrating the difference, last summer, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which represents 3.2 million business owners, announced its members would be boycotting all of Trump’s properties following his statements on illegal immigrants and his vow to build a wall across the entire Mexican border. But last September, Trump met privately with Javier Palomarez, the chamber’s CEO.

“There were no bombastic statements of any sorts,” CNN quoted Palomarez as saying admiringly. “It’s kind of interesting, the dichotomy between the private Donald Trump and the public Donald Trump. He listened a lot more than he spoke.”

Far from being a bigot, Trump insisted on admitting blacks and Jews to Mar-a-Lago when several other Palm Beach clubs wouldn’t. When I first got to know Trump while conducting research with my wife Pam for my 1999 book “The Season: Inside Palm Beach and America’s Richest Society,” on the way down to Palm Beach on his plane, Trump imitated the nasal, constricted tones of Palm Beach’s blue-blood Old Guard condemning his club for not discriminating.

If Trump is intemperate, as the conventional wisdom has it, his employees haven’t seen it. Rather, as an employer, Trump is both demanding and loyal, according to Anthony P. “Tony” Senecal, who for 20 years served as personal butler to Trump and is now the Mar-a-Lago historian.

Some years ago, when Senecal had to undergo surgery to implant a stent, Trump called him the day before.

“So when do you go under the knife?” Trump asked.

“Tomorrow,” said Senecal.

“Well, if you don’t make it, don’t worry about it. You’ve had a good life,” Trump said, and then added: “Listen, I don’t want you going back to your place. You come and recuperate at Mar-a-Lago.”

“The guy is fairer than hell,” says Gary J. Giulietti, a Trump friend who handles a portion of his insurance as president of Lockton Cos., the largest privately held insurance brokerage company in the world. “He wants the best for his properties, he wants a competitive price. But he treats everyone with respect.”

The conventional wisdom that Trump is a carnival act will be proven wrong once again when he moves into the White House. Donald already has a winter White House — Mar-a-Lago — picked out.

Ronald Kessler is the author of “The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents.”

BREAKING SCANDAL: Katie Couric Documentary Deceptively Edited Interview with Pro-Gun Activists

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Washington Free Beacon

Audio Shows Katie Couric Documentary Deceptively Edited Interview with Pro-Gun Activists

Film's director: 'I never intended to make anyone look bad' (Updated)

      

BY: Stephen Gutowski
May 25, 2016 12:10 pm

The makers of a new Katie Couric documentary on gun violence deceptively edited an interview between Couric and a group of gun rights activists in an apparent attempt to embarrass the activists, an audio recording of the full interview shows.

At the 21:48 mark of Under the Gun a scene of Katie Couric interviewing members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun rights organization, is shown.

Couric can be heard in the interview asking activists from the group, “If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from purchasing a gun?”

The documentary then shows the activists sitting silently for nine awkward seconds, unable to provide an answer. It then cuts to the next scene. The moment can be watched here:

However, raw audio of the interview between Katie Couric and the activists provided to the Washington Free Beacon shows the scene was deceptively edited. Instead of silence, Couric’s question is met immediately with answers from the activists. A back and forth between a number of the league’s members and Couric over the issue of background checks proceeds for more than four minutes after the original question is asked.

1.

Under the Gun bills itself as a documentary that “examines the events and people who have kept the gun debate fierce and the progress slow, even as gun deaths and mass shootings continue to increase.”

It follows a number of gun violence victims and those who have lost family members to gun violence as they advocate for stricter gun control laws. The 1 hour and 45 minute film was executive produced and narrated by Katie Couric.

Under the Gun has been labeled “dishonest politicking in the guise of media coverage,” “loose with the facts,” and “a full-length assault on guns and the Second Amendment” by those in the gun community since its debut on May 15.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League labeled the deceptively edited segment featured in the film “unbelievable and extremely unprofessional.” Philip Van Cleave, the organization’s president, said the editing was done deliberately to make it appear that league members didn’t have a response to Couric’s question.

“Katie Couric asked a key question during an interview of some members of our organization,” he said. “She then intentionally removed their answers and spliced in nine seconds of some prior video of our members sitting quietly and not responding. Viewers are left with the misunderstanding that the members had no answer to her question.”

Nora Ryan, the chief of staff for EPIX, the cable channel that is airing the documentary, told the Free Beacon in an email, “Under the Gun is a critically-acclaimed documentary that looks at the polarizing and politicized issue of gun violence, a subject that elicits strong reactions from people on both sides. EPIX stands behind Katie Couric, director Stephanie Soechtig, and their creative and editorial judgment. We encourage people to watch the film and decide for themselves.”

Requests for comment from Couric and the film’s director, Stephanie Soechtig, have not been returned, though they did speak to The Washington Post.

UPDATE 2:25 P.M.: This post has been updated with comment from a spokesperson for EPIX.

UPDATE 5:09 P.M.: The Washington Post‘s Erik Wemple tweeted a statement from Under the Gun’s director Stephanie Soechtig.

UPDATE 5:36 P.M.: The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple also tweeted a statement from Katie Couric.

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GOP Nominee Donald Trump: Republican Party Now ‘A Worker’s Party’

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by KATIE MCHUGH26 May 20164,612

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Presumptive Republican nominee and real estate billionaire Donald Trump declared Thursday that the GOP will become the party of the working class, a remarkable stance in an era of mass Third World immigration encouraged by international corporations seeking to boost profits.

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“Five, ten years from now — different party. You’re going to have a worker’s party,” Trump told Bloomberg News. “A party of people that haven’t had a real wage increase in 18 years, that are angry.”

“What I want to do, I think cutting Social Security is a big mistake for the Republican Party. And I know it’s a big part of the budget. Cutting it the wrong way is a big mistake, and even cutting it [at all],” Trump said.

The billionaire businessman said that while he was unaware of the GOP-backed Gang of Eight deal and subsequent immigration bills, which would triple immigration from the Third World to satisfy business interests, he backed border security: “When I made my speech at Trump Tower, the June 16 speech, I didn’t know about the Gang of Eight… I just knew instinctively that our borders are a mess.”

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The long lines at airports are a problem for Hillary Clinton

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Transportation Security Administration administrator Peter Neffenger says an increase in passenger numbers is one reason for long lines at airport security checkpoints. (Reuters)

The long security lines at U.S. airportsare another problem for Hillary Clinton. A lot of Americans interact with the Transportation Security Administration, and they expect that agency to function properly. And when there is a problem, they want it fixed. Does anyone think of Clinton as a problem-solver? Answer: No. Can anyone think of a problem she has ever solved?

As I have written before, the Democrats are identified as a party that agitates for interest groups and social causes. They impose their will through regulations and via the courts. The Obama era has left the Democrats without any claim to managerial expertise or problem-solving skills, and Clinton will pay a price for that in November.

The current problems at the TSA are a perfect example. When Americans are standing in lines at our nation’s airports and fuming about incompetence in government, they don’t want to hear excuses about a lack of government resources. Who do you think is more likely to shake things up with the bureaucrats at the Department of Homeland Security and actually get the TSA working, President Hillary Clinton or President Donald Trump? It’s no contest.

If Trump were to show up at an American airport and face those waiting in a long security line, he would probably be welcomed and he would instantly be recognized as someone who would make changes. If Clinton were to show up, I think she would be greeted as an agent of the status quo, and the crowd reaction would be, to put it mildly, more subdued. Not one person who is outraged and disgusted while standing in a security line and missing their flight could care less about Trump’s taxes or how he may or may not have treated a girlfriend decades ago. They want somebody who can make basic government functions work.  Let’s face it, the people who rolled out the Obamacare website are the same people who can’t figure out how to match the number of TSA security screeners with airport traffic.

Honestly, do you think the White House has spent more time in the past 90 days managing its school bathroom mandate for transgender students or trying figuring out how to make TSA security lines work with adequate efficiency this travel season? The answer is obvious.

Denial is rampant in this administration. Its approach to management is to deny problems exist and to shift focus to one left-wing cause or another. I have no doubt the TSA strategy will be to shift blame, whine about funding shortages and deny that things are as bad as they are. I suspect after a congressional probe, we will actually find that much of the TSA problems in the summer of 2016 were made worse by the Obama administration’s obsession with regulations, grievances and union rules that took precedence over efficiency, customer service and getting a job done.

Again, this is what our government has become under the Democrats: All lecturing and no management. This is what has fueled much of the Trump movement, and it is another reason Hillary Clinton is such a poor fit for the country in 2016. We don’t need a third Obama term. Remember that the next time you are stuck in a security line at an airport.

COMMENTS

My Advice for Trump: Don't Change

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May 26, 2016

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  Well, I guess it's all but official now.  Trump has reached the magic number to clinch the nomination of the Republican Party.  Of course, the magic number, 1,237, and Trump is now at 1,238.  Now, according to the AP, which apparently does not see the irony in this, the AP report says that Trump got past the magic number with the support of, one, a female delegate -- and women supposedly hate Trump. And, number two, the delegate that actually put Trump over the top is an unbound delegate from Colorado, which wasn't supposed to happen because Cruz scooped up all the delegates in Colorado. 

That wasn't supposed happen, neither of these, women hate Trump, Colorado went for Cruz, and yet a woman and an unbound Colorado delegate put Trump over the top. AP making it official.  Unofficial here, it's not official 'til the first ballot, convention of course, but there you go, 1,238 delegates and it's just gonna keep climbing. 

Greetings, my friends, El Rushbo behind the Golden EIB Microphone here at the distinguished, the prestigious Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies. 

So there's all kinds of stuff out there today.  So we have Obama in Japan saying that Trump is rattling foreign leaders because they're afraid his policies might not be thought through.  Frankly, I am ready for foreign leaders to be a little rattled by what's happening in this country -- as opposed to what they have become accustomed to and what they have come to expect out of this country, which is a blank check. 

I think it's about time foreign countries -- by the way, if you hear some squeaking, I got some new shoes, and I'm telling you, these things make noise when I -- you hear that?  That's my shoes.  Leather being broken in.  So there's nothing wrong here.  Look, it's loud.  If I can hear it, it's loud.  You know, I go walking through the halls here and at first, "What in the world?" Thought I'm about to fall through the floor here and then I figured out it was the new shoes.  Great, great shoes, by the way, best shoes, Trump shoes, brand-new leather. (laughing) Just kidding.  They're Tommy Bahamas. 

That's not the only one.  Obama in Japan saying that world leaders are rattled.  And there's another story, same premise, only about global warming, that Trump doesn't seem to be aligned in a right way on global warming.  They're very, very, very concerned out there.  I even read this on my tech blogs.  They're very, very concerned.  They're laughing at Trump.  They're mocking Trump 'cause Trump thinks that global warming is a hoax sponsored by the ChiComs to impede our economic growth.  It is a hoax.  It is a leftist hoax and it may indeed involve the ChiComs, but Trump's instincts on this are correct. 

But grab sound bite 23.  Paul Ryan.  This is from his weekly press conference this morning, and it's only at the top of the sound bite roster here because of the AP story, Trump reaching the magic number to clinch the nomination, 1,238.  So this is Ryan, the Speaker of the House, weekly press briefing, and during the Q&A, Luke Russert, the NBC congressional correspondent, said, "Speaker Ryan, I wondered how the phone call went with Mr. Trump last night.  We heard from your team that it was good.  Is there anything more you can share?"

RYAN:  It was a productive phone call.  Like I said, we've had these conversations, our staffs have been meeting.  We had a very good and very productive phone call.  So I'll leave it at that.  What I'm most concerned about is making sure that we actually have real party unity, not pretend party unity, real party unity because we need to win this election in the fall.

RUSH:  I guess he's still waiting for real party unity before endorsing Trump.  Let me just tell you Trumpsters something.  Trump is making this tougher on Ryan than it needs to be.  When he went after Susana Martinez, Ryan has no choice but to be protective of her.  I mean, she's chairman of Republican governors.  You can frown in there at me all you want and I don't care whether what Trump said about her was true or not.  I was asking myself, why in the world, the timing of this, when Trump himself states that he's attempting to unify the party. 

By going after Susana Martinez, Trump gave Ryan a reason to hold off a couple more days or week or whatever.  I mean, Ryan can't come out and endorse Trump the day after he dumps on a Republican governor.  You just can't do it, no matter who's right or wrong. No matter what Trump said about her, right or wrong, it doesn't matter, just the optics.  You understand that, right?  I know she dumped on him first.

By the way, there's a story here that hasn't gotten a lot of attention.  I think it's big, and I think it's important, and I think it is, for those of you who are deeply invested in Donald Trump, it's crucially important, and it's very, very comforting.  It's the story about how he fired Rick Wiley.  But a lot of people, "What's the big deal about that, Rush?" 

Well, I'll tell you why it's a big deal.  It's a big deal for what it stands for and what it represents.  You know, Rick Wiley is an establishment guy.  Manafort hired him. He was also an establishment guy. He ran Scott Walker's campaign in Wisconsin.  So he's got establishment bona fides, and Manafort brought this guy in, and they were going to try to, I don't know, overthrow, they were gonna try to take control of campaign from Trump's team that he's had throughout the primaries, led by Lewandowski and whoever else is in that mix. 

Now, you might remember, it was either last week or the week before that I issued a warning of sorts that one of the pitfalls Donald Trump is going to face as the weeks and days go by and as he gets closer to and then surpasses the number of delegates -- this is human nature; it happens in many businesses; it has happened to me. One of the reasons I am fully aware of this is because of personal experience with it -- the effort to change Trump is going to be intense from within his own campaign. It'll be well intentioned, but it'll be wrong. 

There are people who tell Trump, "You've gotta change, now. You have won the nomination.  It's not the primaries.  It's the general.  You have to change."  And what that means is: "You have to tone it down! You have to dial it back.  You have to become more presidential."  Whatever the advice is, it will consist of people thinking that Trump now has to grow in stature, in office, and drop whatever it is that worked during the primaries because they're over now, and we're on to the general, and it's not a whole slate of opponents. It's one opponent, and there's all kinds of money involved now. 

And the biggest mistake Trump could make would be to take any of that advice.  The biggest mistake Trump could make would be to listen to anybody who tells him it's time to change.  Now, some of the advice is intended to sabotage, even people supposedly in your own circle.  Folks, there's envy and there's jealousy within every organization, and in something like Trump's -- which is red hot. It is the focus of attention in the modern world today, and everybody involved wants the light to shine on them, too.  It's human nature. 

There are people in that organization, in every organization, particularly those that are humming and are hot and have a lot of attention focused on them. There are people within those organizations who want attention themselves.  They want to be credited as the advisor, as the confidant, as the guy who has Trump's ear, as the guy who's making Trump be Trump.  They're everywhere. Some of them are well-intentioned; some of them are just attention starved. 

Others are saboteurs.  And the fact that Trump... This is not about Wiley.  I don't even know him.  What I'm about to say here is not intended personally about Rick Wiley.  I don't know him.  I'm speaking to you, really, using my own experiences, which are overwhelming in number.  Let me just... Folks, let me put it to you this way to set this up.  I have been doing this radio program... If you count the 3-1/2 years that I did in Sacramento before I went national 1988, I've been doing this program over 30 years. 

And along the way there were consultants at radio stations where I worked.  Some of these consultants had never, ever been behind a microphone.  Some of these consultants had never, ever run a radio station.  In the 30 years that I've been doing this program, I have had two people not try to change me.  Everybody else that I've worked with in management or consultants, tried to get me to change.  Some of them even threatened to fire me if I didn't change. 

And what I mean by that is, "You can't do a show without guests.  If you don't start getting guests in here -- 'cause nobody listens to talk show without guests -- you're not gonna last."  Ratings would come in, my ratings would be higher than anybody else's on the station, and people would come to me, "This isn't gonna last.  You'd better start getting guests," or, "You'd better stop playing all that music or whatever you're doing! It's not talk radio, what you're doing. You can't do it that way."  All the ex... Only two people. 

If I had been... What's the word? If I had been forced to take the advice of I-can't-tell-you-how-many consultants -- I'm talking, 10, 12 -- I wouldn't be here today.  My program would have been a failure, "Because you just can't do it that way."  I said, "When have you ever done it?"  "Well, I have a track record! I've consulted stations here and there."  "Yeah, how are they doing?"  "Well, nobody does it like you."  "Precisely! It's what I'm trying to achieve here."  It got knock-down, drag-out at times. 

Some of these consultants even today are quoted in magazine articles about how, "You know what? This Limbaugh thing is a fad! It isn't gonna last. It isn't gonna last. He's not gonna last! He isn't gonna last." Even 28 years later, they're out there saying, "It isn't gonna last!" They're out there saying, "It's over," doom and gloom. So my point is... These are not my friends.  I don't have consultants.  I have never had a consultant.  Since this show started live, there has never been a consultant.  I'm talking about when I worked at radio stations that had hired consultants. 

Trump is facing the same thing.  Everybody who is a powerful personality, who is generating a lot of heat, who is winning at what he's doing and Trump's doing all of that by a multiple factor of 10, Trump just owns it right now.  And there are people that don't like that.  There are people that want to be part of it.  There are people who want you to think they are responsible for it.  There are all kinds of people surrounding Trump right now, and I'm guarantee you that he's being advised by...  I don't know who they are, but I will guarantee you he's being advised to change. 

He's being advised... He's being told by some people, "You can't do it this way! You can't keep doing it the way you're doing it. You've got to change. You've got to become more president. You've got to do," whatever.  He's got people on his staff telling him to ignore that, too.  Don't... He's got all kinds there.  The point is, he ought not listen to anybody except the people he goes to to ask questions.  But if somebody comes in and starts giving him advice, let it go in one ear and out the other.

Depending on who the person is, be respectful.  But Trump's instincts are just fine, and he had better continue to trust them.  He had better not start doubting them.  He'd better not let other people make him doubt them.  Not to say he's not gonna make mistakes.  Not to say he's not gonna wish he could take something back.  But the point is, the only stuff that would be fatal to Donald Trump is if for some reason people in his campaign started listening to the media, started listening to critics.

Or some of the people within the campaign got scared, "Oh, my God, I don't think Trump can keep this up! You can't keep talking this way. He's not gonna win," and tries to change him.  He's got to have a steel spine.  I think he does.  I think he loves himself enough to remain who he is, and that was my advice last week.  Whoever he is, is what's gotten him where he is.  He's got to stay who he is.  He must not let anybody, well-intentioned or otherwise, talk him out of being who he is. 

Don't put a teleprompter up there unless it's an official policy speech to some group of people where even the slightest mistake cannot occur.  Otherwise, leave the teleprompter.  I'll give you a classic example: Last night in Anaheim or yesterday in Anaheim.  By the way, kudos. They waited 'til after this program was over to start the rally in Anaheim.  Did you notice that?  And even it was late at that.  Because it was late, the organizers of the event -- the people that Trump had hired to put on the event wherever it was, the convention center -- went to Trump.

And they said, "Look, sir, we're running behind and we're gonna have to scrub the National Anthem.  We just don't have to time, we're so far behind schedule."  Trump said, "What do you mean? We're not canceling the National Anthem," and he called the singer up on the stage right then and right there and made her sing the National Anthem right after he'd been told they had to cancel it. He took a step or two away, gave her the stage, gave her the microphone, put his hand over his heart, and mouthed the words as she was singing. 

It was a great rendition.  That act is worth more votes and more loyalty and deepens the bond of connection.  You know, stop and I think of it. Something you and I would think is as innocuous as the National Anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner can mean something to Donald Trump. Because there are people in this country who don't like it.  Democrats, leftists, anti-Americans, what have you.  Something as simple as what is considered to be noncontroversial, tradition -- the singing of the National Anthem -- can become provocative.

Because there's some who don't like it. But whatever. Trump instinctively knew not to have the National Anthem ripped.  He didn't want it canceled, and he took care of it.  A lot of people would have listened to the organizers. A lot of others would say, "Okay, okay, okay."  He's got to continue this.  The pressure to change, the pressure from all these so-called know-it-all consultants who've never done what he's doing -- in business or in politics -- who have never done what he's doing, will be trying to tell him.

So the fact that he got rid of this guy... I don't know Rick Wiley.  It's not a comment about him. But the fact that Trump got rid of the guy, to me, is a good sign that he's holding on to his identity and is confident in who he is and has realized he doesn't need the kind of advice if it's, "Mr. Trump, you have to change. Mr. Trump, you can't keep doing this."  "Oh, yeah?  Fine.  Well, find another candidate.  You're gone."  

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  No, no.  Folks, my point is simply: I've been there.  I have been where Trump is, and I know what kind of things are happening.  I know the efforts to change him.  I know the fear.  As I say, some of it's well-intentioned.  Others are saboteurs and so forth.  It's why I can relate to so much of what's happening with Trump and his campaign. It's precisely because I've been there.  I just... I've not spent any time telling you about this stuff.  It's all inside baseball.  I mean, I'm not gonna come here every day and explain, "Guess what happened to me when the show...

"I had a meeting and they told me..." I'm not bother you with it.  But just trust me.  For the first couple years of this program, you would not believe.  I mean, and these guys were all out there telling me, "You can't do it the way you do!  You're gonna fail.  I don't want you on my station.  You better change! You want to be big in Latrobe or you want to be big in New York?"  I heard that twice at WABC.  Those guys that told me that are not working, and yet they're quoted in every story about how I'm about to end. 

So I know what's happening with Trump in the campaign.  I know the kind of people that are out there trying to sabotage it and also trying to nose in on it and to get some of the attention for themselves.  There are all kinds of personalities out there. In every organization that's somewhat large, you're gonna have a mix of those people.  Now, the real backstory, what happened with Rick Wiley happens to be in Politico, but I don't think they realize their own lead here.  

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: ere's what happened with this Rick Wiley story. It's in The Politico.  I'm gonna read The Politico verbiage first, and then I'm gonna translate it for you.  "On Thursday, word leaked back to Trump. He phoned Giorno, concerned, sources said. 'Tell me what’s wrong?' Trump asked her, according to one person familiar with the call. 'Karen unloaded on Wiley,' the source said. 'Mr. Trump is loyal. He believed her. … Rick picked a fight with the wrong person.' At that point, Trump ordered Wiley to stay away from Giorno and to neither call nor email her. 'Donald is loyal. And she’s loyal,' a source said."

Let me translate this for you.  Rick Wiley -- and I'm just picking this up from Politico -- tried a power play, and these are common in these organizations.  So much of this stuff, I feel like I'm reliving it in a sense, when I hear about these things.  This guy, Wiley, tried a power play, on Trump's female manager, Karen Giorno.  She's the Florida campaign chairwoman.  And Wiley, an associate of Paul Manafort's, who Trump had hired, attempted a power play to get her out and to take over her job as he was attempting to amass power within the Trump organization. And Trump, when hearing about this, sided with the woman, in no uncertain terms, and so Rick Wiley is out. 

Trump did not care about gender.  He only cared about competence and loyalty.  But in this story, so far, no reporters have mentioned that the reason Rick Wiley was let go was because Trump is remaining loyal to and standing by his Florida female campaign manager over the guy.  So we have a female delegate and a delegate from Colorado who are the two that put Trump over the top.  We have Trump siding with his female campaign manager in Florida, Karen Giorno, and Rick Wiley, the relatively new hire brought in by Manafort, is gone. 

The irony is totally lost on the press because the press has this narrative that Trump hate's women and women hate Trump.  You know, one of the silliest narratives that's out there is Donald Trump hates women.  Donald Trump loves women.  He happens to really like beautiful women.  That's being portrayed as kooky and abnormal and strange and weird and something we must investigate.  But it is the most natural thing since God created Adam and Eve, that a man is attracted to women he finds attractive, and all men have different definitions of attractive.  That is manifestly obvious.  There's nothing unnatural about it. 

What is unnatural, what makes no sense whatsoever -- ladies in this audience, when you hear all these news reports about how Trump hates women, stop and think what kind of sense that has. They've said that about every conservative in the context of feminism.  "Well, he's anti-female."  No.  There's no anti-female.  Anti-liberal, maybe, anti-feminist ideology.  Trump doesn't hate women.  That's one of the stupidest allegations I've ever heard. 

I know it works.  There are a lot of women, we had one call yesterday not particularly crazy about Trump because of what she thinks Trump thinks of women.  But he loves them.  He loves being around them; he loves being surrounded by them.  He stands by them.  He hires them.  He pays them as much or more as he pays the men.  A woman was in charge of getting Trump Tower built.  That's his home, in addition to his building.  He stood by this woman, Karen Giorno, who is his Florida campaign manager, over this so-called highly touted professional and also, must be stated, GOP Establishment consultant type guy. 

And yet after today it's still gonna be out there that Trump hates women.  It's one of the silliest things.  Not just about Trump.  They say it about every conservative. They say it about every Republican.  Anti-female, anti-gay, anti-this.  If you ever stop to think about it, it literally makes no sense.  You're gonna hate half the population?  It's absurd.  But particularly in Trump's case.  It's just the exact opposite. 

Now, grab audio sound bite 15, maybe through 20 here.  Let me illustrate Trump being who he is.  Whether you like it or not, whether people on his staff, "Oh, oh," when they shudder when he says, "We gotta get him to change. We gotta get him to tone down. Oh, my God, he's gotta become more presidential."  As long Trump stays who he is.  I mean, what's the old phrase, "You dance with who brung you."  I mean, he's where he is for a specific set of reasons, and it's not because of any consultant advice he got.  It's not because of any polling or focus groups that he did. 

Donald Trump is following his instincts, and he has a deeper bond and connection with his voters than any candidate in this race, including Bernie.  And it's self-evident why.  And, by the way, that threatens traditionalists, too.  "Well, we've gotta bust that up. We can't have that deep a connection, it's not healthy.  We'll call it a cult, that's what we'll do, we'll call Trump's supporters a cult," as the attempt to impugn them ratchets up. 

But it's not a cult at all.  Trump supporters are there for specific reasons, specific, substantive reasons.  And that's why every effort that's been made to separate Trump from his supporters has bombed.  'Cause the people trying to separate Trump from his supporters don't even know why the bond exists.  They probably never experienced one themselves. 

So this is late yesterday in Anaheim at the campaign event, and here's Trump speaking about Kristol, Bill Kristol.  I've been waiting for him to get around -- you know, Kristol is the face of this highly touted effort in establishment circles to come up with a third party candidate, because Trump is so unacceptable, Trump is just, yuk, ew, we can't be associated with that. Even if we lose we've gotta find a third party.  And Kristol is noted as leading that movement.

TRUMP:  I just happened to see this guy in one of the shows the other day.  Bill Kristol, he's got some magazine, I don't even know what the hell it is, and he's saying "oh, we're looking for another candidate.  We're looking.  We're looking."  He's sweating, he's sweating.  "We're still looking for a third-party candidate."  He's been doing this for like nine months.  He can't find anybody.  What a loser.  What a loser.

RUSH:  Now, people inside the Trump campaign shudder, "Oh no, he didn't say that, not about Bill Kristol, we gotta walk it back, we gotta walk it back, we gotta get Mr. Trump to walk it back."  No, you don't.  That's who he is.  He's got to remain who he is.  However far it takes him.  If he starts abandoning who he is, if he tries to become somebody he's not, that's how he breaks the bond with his own supporters.  Only he can do it.  If he starts taking advice to tone it down or to take it in a different direction -- (interruption) no, no, no.  I'm not saying that there isn't room for improvement. 

The point is his instincts have guided him this far, and we're in a business where people don't trust instincts.  They trust consultants.  They trust research.  They trust focus groups.  They trust polls.  They trust everything but their own brains.  Trump is relying on his own brain and his own heart.  What do you think Bill Buckley meant when he said, "I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than the faculty at Harvard"?  It's exactly what he meant.  And then, as you know, one of the names Bill Kristol continues to tout as this potential third-party candidate savior is Mitt Romney.

TRUMP:  Poor Mitt Romney.  Poor Mitt.  I have a store that's worth more money than he is.  I helped him.  I raised for him.  I endorsed him.  He wanted my endorsement -- he begged for my endorsement -- and now all he does is bad mouth.  I understand losers.  You can make a lot of money with losers.  I said, "Mitt cannot run.  He choked like a dog.  He's a choker.  Once a choker, always a choker."  So now, as retribution, "Donald Trump shouldn't run, blah, blah, blah," and he walks like a penguin onto the stage.  You ever seen?

CROWD: (laughter)

TRUMP Like a penguin!

RUSH:  "He walks like a penguin," and the people in the Trump camp say, "Oh, no, he didn't! Gotta back it off. We gotta back it off! Get back to the issues, Donald. Please talk about the wall. Please talk about the Mexicans. Please talk the Muslims. Please talk foreign policy. Don't say Romney walks like a penguin! Oh, no."  And Donald Trump is gonna keep doing what he does. Did you hear the crowd? The crowd doesn't want Mitt Romney to be president.  They don't want Bill Kristol choosing the president, and that's all you need to know.  Here's Kristol. This is yesterday, Bloomberg Politics website, Masters in Politics blog. Betsy Fischer Martin, I guess, is the cohost here, and she said, "How's it going in terms of finding that third-party candidate to run out there against Trump?"

KRISTOL:  I think the leading possibility -- the real maybe the last chance here -- is with Mitt Romney, who has said "no," but I think is thinking seriously about it.  I think he thinks that maybe he is the right person to do it.  I think we might have a shot at Mitt Romney doing it.

RUSH:  "Might have you a shot at Mitt Romney, third-party candidate, to upset Donald Trump campaign." The GOP Establishment still hasn't given up, folks.  

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  Here's that National Anthem bit at the Anaheim. What would...? I guess the Anaheim convention center is where Trump did the rally yesterday afternoon after this program.  This is when the organizer said, "Mr. Trump, we're running so far behind, we just don't have time National Anthem.  We're gonna have to cancel the National Anthem."

TRUMP:  I got here, and they all said, "We have a great crowd. We don't have time for the National Anthem."  I said, "Yes, we do."

CROWD: (cheers)

TRUMP: We have time for the National Anthem, right?  And we have a young lady that is going to sing it.  I said, "What are you doing?" She said, "Well, I was supposed to sing but they had time because of the television cameras. They couldn't do it." I said, "Guess what?  We're gonna do the National Anthem." Okay?  So Sherry Wilkins, come up.  Sherry, come on.

CROWD: U! S! A! U! S! A!

RUSH:  Now, I don't know if that's unique.  I mean, I don't know if you had any other candidate who would have reacted the same way.  You might have.  But the point is there are candidates who would have agreed to cancel the National Anthem and nothing would have been said about it. Just do the event. There's no anthem. Nobody would have said anything about it.  But Trump... "Life is show prep" has been my phrase. "Life is show prep."  And apparently be careful what you say to Trump, 'cause he's gonna use it. He's gonna use it and he's gonna turn it to his advantage if he can.  

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TRUMP ENERGIZED IN BISMARCK; CELEBRATES CLINCH

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More than 7,000 attend Trump speech

bismarcktribune.com

Republican Party presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump electrified a crowd of more than 7,000 this afternoon in the Bismarck Event Center delivering his first major address on energy policy at the conclusion of this year’s Williston Basin Petroleum Conference.

Trump, whose support from North Dakota national convention delegates put him over the top for securing the party’s nomination earlier in the day, told the crowd he’d eliminate regulation he says is killing the fossil fuel industry as well as be favorable to additional pipeline projects and exports of American oil.

Thunderous applause greeted Trump’s declaration that in his administration there’d be an “America-first energy plan.”

“We will accomplish a complete American energy independence,” Trump said. “We’re going to turn everything around. We are going to make it right.”

He thanked the North Dakota delegates for putting him over the top.

“I will always remember that,” Trump said.

For those hoping to witness a dose of the sharp rhetoric that’s been a staple of his unconventional and eyebrow-raising campaign, he didn’t disappoint.

Trump vowed to reverse the energy policy of President Barack Obama’s administration, which he said has been devastating to industry and inflicted pain on states such as North Dakota that rely heavily on the energy sector.

“If President Obama wanted to weaken America, he couldn’t have done a better job,” Trump said.

Among the policies he’d push to undo is the Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions rules targeting coal-fired power plants. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year voted 5-4 to halt implementation of the rules governing new and existing power plants for now.

“How stupid is that?” Trump said of the emissions rules.

He also slammed the Environment Protection Agency’s Waters of the United State rule, which he said would cause significant damage to American energy production and kill jobs.

Trump had the crowd in the palm of his hand, a sea of people dotted with Trump hats and shirts with his campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” He drew wave after wave of raucous applause when outlining how optimistic he is at the prospect of North Dakota and the country’s energy future.

“You’re at the forefront of a new energy revolution,” said Trump, adding that the country has unlocked energy reserves previously unimaginable with new technologies, such as hydraulic fracturing. “We’re loaded. We had no idea how rich we are.”

The first 100 days of a potential Trump administration also riled up the crowd: He said he’d rescind executive orders by Obama that he believes are job killers as well as work to eliminate the emissions and water rules.

When considering any federal regulations, Trump said his litmus test would be simple.

“Is this regulation good for the American worker?” Trump said.

Those who heard Trump speak gave his speech an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

“I think from what we see on TV he had a much more detailed presentation. He was really well-informed on the issues,” Whitney Bell, of New Town, said.

Bell said the crowd was fantastic and responded well to Trump's message, which he reiterated was more detailed than mere sound-bites.

Jason Bohrer, president of the Lignite Energy Council, said he was impressed with Trump’s focus on deregulation.

“I heard what I wanted to hear and more. Trump is a different kind of politician; he communicates in a way that a lot of other people don’t,” Bohrer said.

North Dakota Petroleum Council President Ron Ness said he was thrilled by how the speech went as well as the overwhelming reaction from the crowd.

“I’ve been to a lot of Class B state championships in this building; this was equal to that,” Ness said. “The energy just rolled in.”

Ness said his America-first message resonated with people and he expects it to become a staple of his campaign.

“That speech was loaded with specifics. He backed that up with a lot of numbers. I didn’t hear anything that isn’t achievable,” Ness said.

Trump tapped Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., earlier this month to help in providing him with energy policy advice. Cramer wrote a white paper on energy policy relating to federal regulations, the importance of the fossil fuel industry and other topics, which hasn’t yet been released.

Cramer was one of the first members of Congress to openly endorse Trump prior to his last opponents dropping out of the race.

North Dakota Republican Party chairman Kelly Armstrong said he heard what he needed to hear from Trump on eliminating government regulations, reducing taxes and protecting the energy industry. As chairman, Armstrong is one of North Dakota’s 28 delegates to the national Republican Party convention July 18-21 in Cleveland.

“Tremendously good for the people of North Dakota,” Armstrong said of Trump’s positions.

Rep. Rick Becker, R-Bismarck, said he didn’t hear much of anything new in Trump’s speech but will be taking time to learn more on him prior to attending the national convention.

“He’s emphasizing some really good points,” Becker said.

Becker was a staunch supporter of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz before he ended his campaign.

“I’m still, I say, undecided,” Becker said.

On the Democratic Party side, a hard-fought delegate battle is hitting the final torrid stretch between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The Associated Press delegate count gives Clinton a 1,769 to 1,497 lead over Sanders as of Thursday. When superdelegates are factored in Clinton’s lead grows to 2,309 to 1,539; a total of 2,383 delegates are needed to secure the party’s nomination although a contested national party convention is expected.

The Democrats have six remaining states with delegates up for grabs June 7 including North Dakota. Sanders made multiple stops in the state earlier this month including Bismarck. Clinton’s husband, former president Bill Clinton, has also visited the state as well as other supporters of her campaign.

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