Rush Limbaugh dismisses Trump's admissions on tape: “They’re trying to make this stuff up with the Woodward book and the panic and the COVID-19”
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From the September 10, 2020, edition of Premiere Radio Network's The Rush Limbaugh Show
RUSH LIMBAUGH (HOST): You know, I always like being able to come back during times of panic to tell people that there’s no reason to panic. There really isn’t any reason to panic, none, it's — just — I think it’s so obvious to more and more people what is going on. Every day now, it’s something new — every day, and it’s going to be this way all the way up until the election.
And none of it’s going to matter, none of it’s going to be true — very — a little of it’s going to be solidly true. There may be elements of truth in some of these scandals, but it’s just, it's just so transparently obvious what is happening here. They’ve got nothing on Donald Trump, and they are attempting to make it up even now. Like they tried to make up the Russia meddling scandal, they tried to make up the Ukraine business on impeachment, and they’re trying to make this stuff up with the Woodward book and the panic and the COVID-19.
It's just — and then, of course, The Atlantic story, supposedly calling the dead American heroes “suckers” and “losers.” That story’s fallen apart, nothing to it, ever.
Anyway, I love being able to come back and calm the waters. It’s one of the things that I do best, including make the complex understandable. Great to be with you, folks. I woke up again today, thanked God that that happened, and right here we are behind the Golden EIB Microphone.
The telephone number, excuse me just a sec here, the telephone number if you want to be on the program is 800-282-2882, and the email address, ElRushbo@eibnet.us.
The Bob Woodward book. Now, I know that many people, “Why would Trump even do it? Why would he give Bob Woodward so much time?” I’ll tell you why. There are a couple of primary reasons. Number one, Donald Trump thinks that this is what all serious presidents have done since Bob Woodward has been writing. They all sit for an interview. Trump sat for, whatever, 18 times — interviews, hours, whatever the number is.
The second reason is that Donald Trump believes that he can charm these people one on one. He’s never going to change in that belief. That’s what he thinks he’s capable of. He thinks that he can turn these people. He thinks — even now, my friends, I’ll guarantee you that he thinks that he can unify the country after he wins reelection.
He thinks that he has the ability to charm, he thinks that he has the ability to make people like him, eventually. He thinks that he can outlast them, and this is just the way he goes about life, he’s an ultimate optimist in this regard. And the fact that — but he also knows, while thinking and hoping that those things can come true, he also knows that if they lose — meaning if he wins — you think that we’ve been through Democrat Party hell the past four years?
You don’t know. We had somebody call last week, “Rush, what’s going to happen if the Democrats — if the Democrats lose? Is it going to be —”
It’s going to be bad, folks. It’s not going to be, “Well, we gave it our best shot, and we’re now out of ammo, and let’s go back and regroup for 2024.” It isn’t going to be that at all. It’s going to be ramped up beyond even what they’re doing today, to try to get rid of Trump and pronounce the 2020 election illegitimate. Just get ready for it. We’ll have more on this as the program unfolds.
But I have to tell you, this Trump fellow is a very, very clever guy. Stop and think of this — look at the foresight that Donald Trump had. He gives Bob Woodward 18 interviews, so that the Woodward book would come out just in time to knock that Atlantic magazine story off the front pages. What prescience. What an ability to predict the future.
I mean, here comes the Woodward book, and what does it do? It totally knocks off The Atlantic book, or story, about Trump calling dead soldiers “losers” and “suckers.” There was never anything to that story, even John Bolton said he was there, and said it didn’t happen. Nineteen people now have said they were there, and that it didn’t happen.
Folks, none of what they’ve alleged happened. This is the thing, starting with Trump-Russia collusion, and whatever story that you want to try to remember, from the day Trump was elected, then the day Trump was inaugurated, none of it has been true. Not even elements of it have been true. It has been one of the most gigantic collections of accrued falsehoods and lies. In fact, it may be unprecedented.
Now, think about the Woodward book, too. Here’s the first thing that I noticed, and by the time — I knew by the time I got here behind the microphone that everybody else would've mentioned this. So, Donald Trump tells Bob Woodward all of this supposedly damning stuff — that he knew it was bad, it was really bad, it was much worse than Trump wanted to admit, but he didn’t want to panic anybody.
That’s the big — that's it, that's what Woodward’s got. After all these conversations, that’s it. Why didn’t Woodward put that on page one of The Washington Post seven months ago when he got it? I mean, that is a newsworthy story, is it not? But what did he do? He sat on it, he buried it, he kept it for what?
Money. He kept it for his book, which is what journalists these days do. They embed with candidates, they embed with people they’re doing stories on, and they learn all kinds of big stuff. And then they hold it for their book, they hold it for the big payoff. And then when they release it, as their item to sell the book — why, it’s released as something monumentally huge, gigantically big. “This proves that Trump doesn’t care about people! He doesn’t care if people —”
Well, Bob Woodward, you had this seven months ago, and you sat on it. It can’t be that big. Woodward spoke to Trump 18 times, right? The worst that Woodward could come up with, was that Trump told him he didn’t want to cause a panic over the coronavirus.
We have said for years that Trump must be the cleanest person in Washington, meaning there isn’t any dirt. They’ve been trying to dig up dirt on Trump, they have overturned everything where dirt might be underneath. They haven’t found any. That’s the takeaway, folks. They haven’t found any dirt, they haven’t found any scandal, they haven’t found anything they’ve alleged that has happened. Stop and think of this.
You know what? I think most Americans are well aware of this, and I think most Americans are well tired of this. I don’t think these people in the media today, and the American left, have the slightest bit of empathy for how what they are doing is being seen, received, how it’s being read by the American people. It’s not, “Oh, my God, look at — look at what Trump did! Oh, gee, do you believe this? Why, Trump, Trump did —”
That’s not the reaction people have. The reaction people are having is, “You mean they’re trying something else? You mean they’re trying something new? You mean the media and the Democrats.”
Like this latest whistleblower. Why does this guy wait until now to come forward with his big whistleblowing news — something about Trump and Russia? Why are these people waiting? Why did Woodward wait? Why do all these people wait? Why do they wait until now? Because it’s getting closer and closer to the election, this stuff is supposed to move people's opinions when it comes to for whom they’re going to vote.
And I’m going to tell you, the Woodward book isn’t going to change a single vote. You think so, Mr. Snerdley? You think it might, sadly? You think it might, sadly, change votes against Trump? It might cause Trump to lose some votes? Oh — tell me why, tell me, why do you think this?
Right. OK. So, Mr. Snerdley believes there are a lot of people who think that Trump already botched COVID, didn’t do a very good job with it. Now they’ve learned that he knew it was bad, but he didn’t want to panic anybody, he didn’t want to tell anything how bad that it was. So it got worse with Trump not helping anybody.
I — we’ll see. I just — I think it’s too much, too late. A lot of people say the phrase is, “too little, too late.” It’s too much, too late. I think the American people have reached what I call their absorption level. There’s just — they’re worn out. All of these supposed rotten things that Trump has done that are going to get people killed, they're going to get people hurt, going to get the country damaged — none of it ever happens, none of it ever really proves out. None of it comes true.
But the point is that every day it’s something new. When’s the last time, ladies and gentlemen, you saw a good story? When’s the last time you saw a positive story about Donald Trump in the drive-by media? You haven’t. They haven’t done one.
Do you think the American people don’t notice this? Do you think the American people aren’t aware of what’s going on? I think they’re far more sophisticated and aware than what people want to acknowledge.
But I realize there’s a lot of people on our side, like Mr. Snerdley, who think this stuff is going to work because, in their minds, it has worked. It’s gotten rid of certain Republicans in the past, or it succeeded in damaging others. But I think Trump’s a different ball game, a different ball of —
Well, I am usually right about this stuff. But, again, remember I learned of this, distanced from it. I learned of this while I was away. I learned of this as a consumer learns of it, not as someone — because there was nothing I could do about it. I was not going to be on the radio the next day, when I learned about this. So all I could do was think about when I was going to be back, and I wasn’t sure. I mean, this is the first Thursday of treatment week that I’ve been able to get back in here. Last week was the first Friday of treatment week. And earlier this week, I didn’t know I was going to be back — you never know. So, I’m receiving this news as consumers receive it, and to me it was, “Bob Woodward? Here we go, typical.”
And at the end of the day, has any — Mr. Snerdley, I mean, search your memory here. Woodward has done books on George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush. He’s done books on, let’s see, Ronaldus Magnus [Ronald Reagan].
Can you remember any of these Woodward books that have done great damage, have ended presidencies, have destroyed the presidency of anybody Woodward has done a book on? No, you can’t.
Because do you know why? Because at the end of the day, there’s a pattern with Woodward books, and the pattern is the Woodward book comes out, and the worst part of it is the only thing anybody hears. And this case, Trump didn’t want to cause a panic — then after a while, people will read the whole book. You know what they’re going to find? They’re going to find Trump’s very reasonable. They’re going to find Trump was very open, very honest, and there’s not much scandal in this book at all. But it's going to take — that is the history of Woodward books, and they do not destroy their subject.
Woodward books have not destroyed the presidency of anybody Woodward’s written about yet. Books — now, I know I can hear you shouting, “Watergate,” and, “Nixon.” But in terms of actual books — somebody’s going to have to correct me if I’m wrong about this, but I don’t believe that I am.
You know, Woodward’s bombshell, it’s not even new news. Trump told reporters around the same time that he didn’t want to cause panic. I remember this like it was yesterday that he was — I remember during a lot of these coronavirus task force press conferences in the afternoon, Trump would be queried by the media. And his answer frequently was, “I’m trying to keep calm, I’m trying to keep order. I want the country to remain calm.” How many — this isn’t even news, the fact that he didn’t want to cause a panic isn’t news.
Woodward doesn’t even have a scoop here. If I assigned Cookie a project this afternoon, “Cookie, go out and find me some examples of Trump in March and April at the coronavirus task force, in answer to a media question, talking about how he wanted calm, he didn’t want to create panic,” we could find one. We could find numerous examples with a simple keyword search.
March 30th — I’ll give you one, myself. Trump told reporters, “The statements I made are because I want to keep the country calm. I don’t want panic in the country.”
Do we want a president that’s going to panic the country? Isn’t the president’s job to calm everybody? Do we want somebody that’s going to cause a panic? Is that what the scandal with the Woodward book is? “Trump should have caused a panic. He should've told everybody how rotten it is, he should have told everybody they’re going to die, he should have told everybody that they’re toast, he should have told everybody they’ve got no prayer, he should have told everybody, ‘We’re done!'”
Is that what he should have done? I thought presidents were supposed to dial it back. I thought presidents were supposed to provide leadership.