RUSH: There’s two different things going on if we go by the headlines. First up is a story about the Illinois Republican congressman. His name is Adam Kinzinger, and he has been anti-Trump for practically as long as Trump has been, and the headline of this story: “A House Republican Launches Campaign to ‘Take Back Our Party.'” That would imply…

Well, let’s read a little more before we get to the implication.

“As the Republican Party wrestles with its identity in the wake of former President Trump, an Illinois Republican is out to prove there is a GOP voter base that wants to give up the division and conspiracy theories that he says have come to define the party.” Is that what “Trump cult” is? Is that…? It’s not even a cult. Yet they say it is. Is that what 75 million people think?

The 75 million people who voted for Trump, they’re just a bunch of conspiracy theorists? Is that all? It doesn’t seem to me that they are the story. The story is what’s happening on the other side. The story here is essentially how everything we thought was legitimate is rigged. We’ve been playing the game as though everything’s legitimate, and isn’t, and it’s rigged against us.

And that’s not a conspiracy theory.

But, anyway, the point Mr. Kinzinger, he says, “The biggest danger right now is that we’ve become a party that dabbles — not just dabbles — we traffic in conspiracies and we traffic in lies.’ … Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill was a wake-up call…” I don’t think… This is like the Trump-Russia collusion story, folks.

There’s nothing here, and yet they’re creating a whole brand-new favorite out of this. They’ve already done it, actually, and just as they convinced people that Trump colluded with Russia, so they have convinced people that Trump gave marching orders to the people that did what they did on January 6. We’re gonna come to find that it was not Trump supporters that did it.

Pipe bombed were planted the night before, before Trump even made a speech about this. But, anyway, Mr. Kinzinger says that he’s launching a movement to “take back” the party. Now, the next story has a different headline: “Former Bush Officials Leave GOP Over Failure to Disown Trump.” I got two stories on this, one from TheHill.com; the other from U.S. News & World Report.

“Dozens of members of former President George W. Bush’s administration are reportedly planning to leave the Republican Party following the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, citing the party’s ongoing embrace of Trump. Sources told Reuters that as many as 60 former officials would leave the party in the coming days, with at least one also citing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) promotion of conspiracy theories as a reason for their exit.

“‘If it continues to be the party of Trump, many of us are not going back,’ said Rosario Marin, a former U.S. Treasury official, told the news service. ‘Unless the Senate convicts him, and rids themselves of the Trump cancer, many of us will not be going back to vote for Republican leaders.'” So they’re gonna leave the party; Adam Kinzinger’s group is gonna try to take it back.

“Jimmy Gurule, a former Treasury undersecretary, added that the Republican Party as he knew it ‘no longer exists.’ ‘I’d call it the cult of Trump,’ he said. ‘The number (of defections) is growing every day,’ said Kristopher Purcell, a Bush White House communications staffer, according to Reuters.” So that’s TheHill.com story on this. Unless the Senate convicts…

Hasn’t it been learned that they don’t have the votes to convict? There will not be a conviction. They’re gonna go to the with this anyway, but there will not be a conviction, right? So these guys are saying, “Unless the Senate convicts him and rids themselves of the Trump cancer, many of us are not gonna go back.” So if there’s no conviction, they’re not gonna go back.

They’re not gonna go back. The Republican Party will never see them again. You know, there is Democrat-sponsored legislation right now — it’s pending — that would prevent any public building or artifact, even a bench, from being named after the 45th president. Even a bench! You know, I just put a bench in my backyard. I’m gonna go out there; I’m gonna put a plaque on it.

“Donald J. Trump Memorial Bench.”

See if somebody comes after me.

Actually, Kathryn put it out there. I would love to claim that. It’s a beautiful bench. We go sit over there, look at the ocean. But listen. This is… Folks, every one of these people knew. You keep coming back to this fact that everybody knew about this contrived effort to cover up the behavior of the people who were attempting to get rid of Donald Trump.

The more this goes on and the more American people learn, they’re going to learn… You know, people say, “Well, Rush, I mean if everything’s corrupt, how long is this gonna go?” You gotta understand something, folks — and don’t argue with me. We’re at a point here where it’s still safe to say the majority — a majority — of the American people still don’t quite know the truth of everything.

The reason I say that is important. It is because we haven’t reached threshold yet of public awareness and knowledge, which would create the pushback to this. I guarantee you, you just do a random man-on-the-street interview. Grab anybody you want, start talking to ’em about the Mueller investigation and you’ll find very few who will be able to tell you that it was bogus, that it was never legitimate.

You’ll find people, to this day, who still think that it was a worthwhile thing to do, that if the president of the United States had indeed stolen an election we needed to get to the bottom of it. That’s what you’ll hear people say. You will not hear most people say, “That was bogus! There was never any evidence.

“This thing was a total fraudulent investigation from the beginning.” We’re not there yet. You gotta remember whatever the percentage of the American people that only get their news from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Washington Post, New York Times don’t know anything. People that get their news here know the truth. People that get their news from Fox News, they know a lot of the truth.

But we’re not anywhere near the threshold of a significant percentage of the American population yet realizing, “Well, Rush, what about the 75 million who voted for Trump?” I know. Even if that 75 million you have a large number who think Trump beat the investigation. You’re not gonna find a majority of people who think the investigation was totally made up, bogus, and irrelevant.

You’re not gonna find that yet. That knowledge has not yet been disseminated widely enough in the American population. So if you’re wondering why hasn’t there been pushback on the fact that everything’s rigged, most people don’t yet know the extent of it, is the answer to that question. The other version of this story from U.S. News:

“Exclusive: Dozens of former Bush officials leave Republican Party, calling it ‘Trump cult.'” It’s basically a rehash of TheHill.com story, quoting different Bush administration officials. But they’re all leaving the party rather than trying to recapture the party. It doesn’t say where they’re gonna go.

“hey had hoped that a Trump defeat would lead party leaders to move on from the former president and denounce his baseless claims that the November presidential election was stolen.” Can I ask you another question? What is so hell-bent about that? So what, Trump thinks the election was stolen. So what?

Why is this something that everybody has to swear to — as though it is a religious requirement — that you can’t worship unless you acknowledge this? And the Democrats have put this out. The Biden administration, the media, they’re all saying, “You have got to admit it! You cannot say, you cannot deny, you cannot speculate that the 2020 election was not legitimate. You must swear that it was!”

Why?

Well, who does these kind of things? Communist organizations demand this. Socialist organizations demand fealty, in terms of mind thought. It’s communists that tell you how you must think in addition to how you must live and behave. But they don’t stop at that. How you must think. You are committing a crime against the state if you even allege or allude to the fact that this election was not legitimate.

So here come these former Bush officials. “hey had hoped that a Trump defeat would lead party leaders to move on from the former president and denounce his baseless claims that the November presidential election was stolen. But with most Republican lawmakers sticking to Trump, these officials say they no longer recognize the party they served.”

“Some have ended their membership, others are letting it lapse while a few are newly registered as independents, according to a dozen former Bush officials who spoke with Reuters,” and here’s Jimmy Gurule quoted again: “The Republican Party as I knew it no longer exists. I’d call it the cult of Trump.” So what? If Trump wants to think…

Why is it mandatory that Trump come out and say that he thinks Biden legitimately won? Why? “It’s ’cause it’s necessary for the peaceful transition of power.” No, it isn’t, because we’ve got that. We had a peaceful transition of power. Who’s in the White House? Biden. Did anybody try to stop him? No. “What about January 6?” As far as I know, Biden’s in the White House.

Who gave the inauguration speech? Biden. Who prevented people from showing up and hearing it? Biden. The Washington establishment made sure that there was no crowd at the Biden inauguration. Trump had nothing to do with any of that. Trump can’t determine who shows up and who doesn’t. It’s not his show. It’s Biden’s show.

When did Hillary Clinton swear that Trump’s election was legit? When was she said to have to do this? Hillary Clinton was allowed for four years to claim that Trump’s election was illegitimate. Stacey Abrams. Stacey Abrams, for four years, has run around calling herself the governor of Georgia. What is more cultlike than making somebody swear to something that isn’t true?

Hillary Clinton was not elected president, and yet she’s out there for four years maintaining she was, and her supporters believed that she was. I’m telling you, folks, there’s no cultlike behavior here from Donald Trump. This is eerie stuff. This is really strange and eerie stuff. Joe Biden was inaugurated, he gave his speech, he’s issuing executive orders.

He’s doing his best to wipe out every bit of evidence that Trump was ever president. What do you mean there’s cultlike Trump people preventing the peaceful transfer of power? There’s no such thing. We had a peaceful transfer of power, as evidenced by the fact that Biden’s in there and nobody tried to stop him.

And yet these people continue to claim that until Trump comes out and claims that Biden is the legitimate winner, that we’re not gonna have a complete, peaceful transfer of power. What a crock. What an absolute crock. Mind control, thought control, you name it. The stuff stops with these people.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay. Margaret, San Jose, California, I’m glad you waited. You’re next. Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Rush?

RUSH: Hey.

CALLER: Hey. Pleasure and honor to speak with you. I wanted to let you know that I sent your name to Lourdes, France, with Order of Malta for your healing. I wanted to say to you you’re scaring me and you’re confusing me because last week, several people called in and said that we’ve lost our republic.

And then you answered, “Well, I hope you haven’t lost hope.” But you continually say every day and drill into our heads that everything is rigged, that they’re gonna make — Democrats are gonna make — certain that they never gonna lose again, they’re gonna pack the courts, they’re gonna get statehood.

RUSH: I said they’re gonna try. We haven’t… I just said — and I’m glad you called. I just said we haven’t reached anywhere near the threshold of public opinion being informed on this. Most Americans simply… (sigh) Would you say that half the American people access the news via ABC, CBS, NBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post?

CALLER: (silence)

RUSH: The answer is “yes.”

CALLER: Oh.

RUSH: If they do, it means they don’t listen to this program. It means they do not know the extent to which the game is rigged against them. They’re gonna find out at some point. They don’t know yet. We haven’t reached the threshold.

CALLER: What kind of power do we have? They have the media. They have the corrupt federal agencies. They have the corrupt Republicans and weak Republicans.

RUSH: Why are they so afraid of Donald Trump being born again from the ashes? Why are they so afraid? They don’t think they’ve won this yet.

CALLER: But they cheated him the first time. They’re gonna do it again. He hasn’t got a prayer to try and run again 2024.

RUSH: I don’t think… Well, I don’t know what they’re gonna succeed in doing with Trump. But I refuse to say these peoples’ days of losing are over. That’s not true. They’re gonna lose and they’re gonna lose big down the road. This is not what the American people want, and they’re gonna find out.

CALLER: So you think the people have power to do something even though —

RUSH: Yes. It’s called informing everybody. I do think that power exists. Absolutely.

CALLER: Okay. Well, I needed hope. I need some hope here, because I’m feeling like there is no hope.

RUSH: Well, you also need truth. You need reality, which is what we deal with here.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, ladies and gentlemen, stick with me on this. We had news today about how thousands of Americans who work at the Keystone pipeline had no idea what was coming. They had no idea Biden was gonna shut it down. Yet we had all this talk of the Green New Deal during the campaign, and all this talk of the Green New Deal mentioned what was gonna happen to oil and gas.

It mentioned — proudly, happily — what was gonna happen to coal. And yet the Democrat Party still voted for these people. Unionized workers still voted for these people. What does it tell you? It tells you they don’t know what the hell they’re voting for. They’re voting for somebody with a D next to their name. That’s all that mattered!

They had been convinced that Trump was a bad guy, that Trump was this and that; he had to go. Well, guess what they’re gonna found out find out? They’re gonna find out Trump was protecting them. They’re gonna find out Trump was reason they had a job at the Keystone XL. They’re gonna find out that just like in West Virginia and other places, that Trump is the reason they had jobs in the coal industry.

Most of them already know, in fact. Keystone XL is a different thing. They’re gonna find out in Portland and in Seattle that it was the Democrat governors there that perpetuated that mess, not Trump. The media blamed Trump for nine months for all the civil unrest in Democrat cities and states. So these Keystone XL pipeline workers, now John Kerry’s out there telling them, “Well, you’re gonna have even more options.

“You should go out and sell solar panels.” You think that’s what they want? They are acting exactly as what you would expect people who didn’t know what was coming to act. I’ll guarantee you, a bunch of people that work at the Keystone pipeline voted for Biden. Just guarantee you. A lot of people are union people, you vote for the Democrat, guarantee you.

They’re not gonna be happy with this — and there will be pushback. The more John Kerry and these guys keep talking about their future of selling solar panels, there’s gonna be a pushback at some point. We’re just not there yet. You think we are because you listen to this program and think everybody listens to this program, but everybody doesn’t.

The vast majority of Americans still watch ABC, CBS, NBC, and read the New York Times and the Washington Post — and that’s the competition. And we know that they lie. We know that they’re fake news. We know they’re making it up and we know that people that read them and watch them treat them as gospel. They’re the Bible. Do you remember last weekend…? We had the audio sound bite of this.

George Stephanopoulos tried two or three times to force Rand Paul, senator from Kentucky, to admit on TV that the election was legitimate. “Come on! Just say it, Senator! Just say it.” Like it was the most important thing in the world that he had to say. Stephanopoulos was screaming at Senator Paul, “Say it! Why can’t you say it? The election of Biden was totally legitimate!”

I said, “This is weird. What does it matter? George, your guy is in the White House. What the hell does it matter what Senator Paul thinks?” Senator Paul, by the way, never said it. He refused to give Stephanopoulos what he wanted. But this is the thing. When the left cannot win an argument and they know that they’re wrong, they scream at you to just agree with them, and that’s what was happening the Sunday show.

This Week with George Stephanopoulos. “Just say it! Why can’t you say it?” What difference does it make, George?” But it mattered, it mattered that Rand Paul say it because Stephanopoulos knows it isn’t the fact that he thinks it is. And this is how you win it, by forcing your opposition to admit it. Forcing. Thankfully, he didn’t. End of Transcript,