The Charlie Kirk Show - February 17, 2021


Remembering An American Icon, Rush Limbaugh


Episode Stats


Length

59 minutes

Words per minute

149.57202

Word count

8,912

Sentence count

676

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Toxicity

4

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

R.I.P. to the King of Talk Radio, Rush Limbaugh, who passed away at the age of 70 after a battle with lung cancer. He was a great talk radio host and a great American hero.

Transcript

Transcripts from "The Charlie Kirk Show" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, today on the Charlie Kirk Show, we remember Rush Limbaugh.
00:00:03.000 Most of this podcast was recorded live on radio while the news itself was breaking.
00:00:10.000 And so, to be honest with you, I did the best I could to remember a friend and an American hero and patriot who passed away hours before the broadcast and was actually announced during our broadcast.
00:00:22.000 So I had very little prep time.
00:00:24.000 I did my best to navigate all that.
00:00:26.000 We played a lot of sound.
00:00:28.000 I make a point at the end of this episode that when I was in the White House and I was meeting with the president and I would be meeting with Jared Kushner, I'd be meeting with Kelly and Connolly, or I'd be meeting with people all throughout the White House.
00:00:38.000 Do you know what the number one topic of conversation was in the afternoon?
00:00:43.000 Hey, what did Rush say today?
00:00:45.000 Where was Rush on this issue?
00:00:47.000 What does Rush say about this?
00:00:49.000 I remember people in the White House calling me saying, hey, can you afford this to Rush?
00:00:54.000 He would be delivering the drumbeat of American public policy from a conservative perspective.
00:01:00.000 People created their schedules around the man.
00:01:02.000 He inspired people, myself included.
00:01:04.000 In this episode, you will see all throughout some tape, some clips, some remembrances as we look back and think and remember the great Rush Limbaugh.
00:01:17.000 If you want to support our program, it's charliekirk.com slash support.
00:01:20.000 And I say this, without Rush, there would be no podcast you're listening to right now.
00:01:25.000 We remember the biggest one, the guy that made all this possible.
00:01:28.000 Buckle up.
00:01:29.000 Here we go.
00:01:30.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
00:01:32.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
00:01:34.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.
00:01:37.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.
00:01:40.000 I want to thank Charlie.
00:01:41.000 He's an incredible guy.
00:01:42.000 His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:01:51.000 We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:02:00.000 That's why we are here.
00:02:03.000 I still get excited to get a package in the mail, don't you?
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00:03:02.000 We're going to get more into Joe Biden here, and I didn't want to say anything on air that isn't true or verified, but it seems to be many people are reporting that the king of talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, has died.
00:03:17.000 So the man that has inspired so many Americans, myself included, has passed away.
00:03:27.000 Rush Limbaugh is an American hero.
00:03:30.000 I actually got to know Rush.
00:03:33.000 I spent time with him.
00:03:35.000 We honored him in one of our events at Turning Point USA.
00:03:38.000 I'm going to have to get my thoughts here as I process this live on air.
00:03:42.000 Again, this is one of the parts of live radio, so you're going to have to bear with me as I get these messages.
00:03:49.000 I didn't want to say anything as I was trying to dissect Joe Biden saying whatever he was saying last night with this tragic news.
00:03:56.000 Rush Limbaugh changed America for the better.
00:04:00.000 Rush Limbaugh blazed a trail forward that has left many people, myself included, in his debt.
00:04:18.000 Rush Limbaugh invented the form of communication that we know as terrestrial radio in America.
00:04:31.000 There will never be another Rush Limbaugh.
00:04:34.000 And if you're just tuning in right now on radio, we have just received confirmation that Rush Limbaugh has passed away at age 70 after a very difficult battle with lung cancer.
00:04:50.000 He's a man who saw things before they happened.
00:04:54.000 He remained in good spirits despite everything that was thrown at him.
00:04:59.000 And I'm going to have a lot more to say about that as we continue to process this information.
00:05:06.000 Rush Limbaugh has passed away, and he has been fighting cancer for the last year that we know of.
00:05:12.000 Rush Limbaugh is one of the reasons I got into politics.
00:05:17.000 I was a junior in high school trying to figure out how to articulate my political beliefs.
00:05:25.000 And I would have my lunch from, I remember it precisely, 12.27 to 1.12 every day.
00:05:35.000 And so around my junior year in high school, I was able to drive back and forth to home and get lunch and come back.
00:05:42.000 And so I used to turn on a local radio station in Chicago, and Rush Limbaugh was on.
00:05:48.000 Now, I was getting involved in politics earlier than that.
00:05:51.000 And everyone told me in the middle or the center left that Rush Limbaugh was the worst thing ever.
00:05:56.000 I never actually listened to him myself.
00:05:59.000 So I started to listen to this guy, and he made so much sense.
00:06:02.000 He was funny.
00:06:03.000 He had wit.
00:06:04.000 He saw things before they happened.
00:06:05.000 He was always of good cheer.
00:06:06.000 He was, in a lot of ways, almost like the conservative fulcrum, like the center of gravity for all conservatism, where we could find our bearings whenever we are under assault by the far left.
00:06:18.000 He kept us in good spirits.
00:06:20.000 He was relentless.
00:06:23.000 He pioneered the idea of three hours of talk radio with no guests.
00:06:29.000 You have to understand that back in the 1990s, when Rush started, I think it was late 80s, early 90s, there were a lot of people worried that there was no way for the conservative movement to be distributed.
00:06:45.000 This was before podcasting.
00:06:47.000 This was before Fox News.
00:06:49.000 This was before any sort of Facebook, social media, Instagram.
00:06:55.000 And so all of a sudden, a man from Missouri, I think he got his start in Sacramento, starting a radio station in Sacramento, if my memory serves me correctly.
00:07:07.000 And he started to do things differently.
00:07:11.000 He started to make fun of the left.
00:07:13.000 He started to use rational arguments, and he did it almost uninterrupted, long form.
00:07:19.000 He took callers every once in a while.
00:07:21.000 And this guy caught on like wildfire with a name that you couldn't forget, Rush Limbaugh, the doctor of democracy.
00:07:31.000 And his style was provocative.
00:07:34.000 And I'll never forget sitting with my good friend Brent Bozell.
00:07:38.000 He told me a story about Rush Limbaugh.
00:07:40.000 And I'll tell you plenty of stories because now it's more important than ever that we share it because I can already see what the left is going to do.
00:07:48.000 I'm going to see article after article of the man who divided America, the man who brought us into the post-political face. 0.99
00:07:53.000 I'm just a bunch of garbage. 0.89
00:07:54.000 This is a decent man who basically saved the country from getting into the hands of the far left multiple times, and I'll prove it to you. 0.97
00:08:03.000 And so, Brent Bozell told me a story with Rush where Rush was going to do 60 Minutes in the early 90s when 60 Minutes was trying to attack this idea of conservative talk radio because conservatives were trying to find a way to distribute their information.
00:08:19.000 They couldn't do it on the mainstream networks.
00:08:21.000 They couldn't do it through newspaper or print.
00:08:25.000 And so, all there was left was terrestrial radio.
00:08:30.000 And Rush was dominating.
00:08:31.000 So, he came on 60 Minutes, and Brent Bozell gave him the advice: Rush, whatever you do, don't do this interview.
00:08:37.000 Rush did it anyway.
00:08:38.000 And Brent said they're going to make you look bad and all this.
00:08:41.000 Rush ended up running circles around these guys.
00:08:44.000 Ended up being published as one of the most embarrassing moments for 60 Minutes when Rush Limbaugh was in this moment of growth.
00:08:51.000 And he spread to over, I think, 800 radio stations across the country.
00:08:58.000 Rush Limbaugh was more than just a talk show host.
00:09:04.000 He was people's daily source of sanity and clarity.
00:09:09.000 He was people's ability to stay anchored to the truth of our country.
00:09:20.000 And so, this is very hard to talk about this in real time, but I'm going to spend the remainder of this program remembering Rush and his impact, playing his most amazing moments.
00:09:35.000 Because I knew Rush.
00:09:37.000 Rush was supportive of our efforts.
00:09:40.000 He was supportive of what we were doing.
00:09:43.000 I was interviewed once on the Rush Limbaugh monthly profile.
00:09:50.000 Had dinner with Rush.
00:09:51.000 Rush spoke at our Turning Point USA events twice.
00:09:55.000 In fact, one thing that I can be very proud of is that one of the last public speaking events that Rush Limbaugh ever did was at Turning Point USA when he introduced President Donald Trump at our event.
00:10:08.000 We're going to play tape from that.
00:10:12.000 Rush was a generous man.
00:10:14.000 He was a misunderstood man by everyone in the media.
00:10:16.000 And believe it or not, he was one of the most humble people I ever met in my life.
00:10:21.000 The exact opposite of what the activist media would tell you.
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00:10:51.000 You guys can get Giza dream seeds.
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00:10:56.000 If you want to support the good guys, support people with courage, I know a lot of you guys do.
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00:11:19.000 You see, before Rush Limbaugh, who by any measure is on the Mount Rushmore of American conservatives, he invented talk radio.
00:11:36.000 He wasn't just the best at it, he invented it.
00:11:39.000 I marveled year after year how Rush would be able to, for three hours a day, come up with original programming.
00:11:49.000 Almost no guests have ever been on the Rush Limbaugh program.
00:11:52.000 Very few.
00:11:53.000 Donald Trump, maybe Mike Pence, Ted Cruz went on once.
00:11:56.000 He was not a guest-driven show.
00:11:58.000 You were there to listen to Rush for good reason.
00:12:02.000 I will make the argument that Rush Limbaugh is the man who kept America free.
00:12:11.000 If it wasn't for Rush Limbaugh in the 1990s and early 2000s, I don't know who possibly would have been able to communicate to that many people the truth of what was happening in the country and the ripple effect after that.
00:12:26.000 Imagine reaching 15 million people a week intimately in their car with the correct message of what's happening in the country.
00:12:38.000 Rush was more than just someone who processed the news.
00:12:42.000 He became the news.
00:12:44.000 Rush Limbaugh was the news.
00:12:48.000 Show me another member of the media where people would design their entire daily schedule around what they had to say.
00:12:56.000 Show me another member of the media where people would call themselves, I'm a Rush baby.
00:13:03.000 That my political affiliation is marked with riding around in the car listening to the great Rush Limbaugh.
00:13:12.000 And every single person that is in politics today, from Donald Trump to Rand Paul to Sean Hannity to Mark Levin, everyone flows downstream from Rush Limbaugh.
00:13:24.000 Everyone.
00:13:26.000 Myself included.
00:13:28.000 So I grew up listening to Rush.
00:13:31.000 His courage, his wit, his charisma, his ability to just do a 15, 20-minute segment on what would just seem to be a small little article, the rustling of the papers, the sound bites, the callers that would call themselves ditto heads.
00:13:54.000 His ability to be able to make sense of the confusing nature, to predict things before they happened.
00:14:04.000 No one's even close.
00:14:06.000 And so I started to listen to him as a junior in high school.
00:14:10.000 He started to give me the courage and the conviction to speak up, to get involved, to do something.
00:14:16.000 That's really what helped inspire Turning Point USA.
00:14:21.000 I started to listen to his broadcasts every single day.
00:14:31.000 I wouldn't miss it.
00:14:36.000 And all throughout high school and in the early parts of Turning Point USA, no matter how crazy or chaotic things got in the country, I knew that at 11 o'clock Central, 12 o'clock Eastern, if I got in my car, I could turn on my radio and someone would make sense of that for me.
00:14:58.000 And he would do it in a way that was lighthearted in nature, factual and rational.
00:15:09.000 So then I started to grow Turning Point USA and spent more time in Palm Beach.
00:15:18.000 We had our student action summit there for five years at the Palm Beach Convention Center.
00:15:23.000 And so I knew very little about the geography of Florida.
00:15:26.000 I didn't know the difference between Palm Beach or Boca Grande to Naples to Sarasota to Miami.
00:15:34.000 And so as I was in Palm Beach, people started to say, hey, you know, Rush Limbaugh broadcasts from here.
00:15:43.000 I said, really?
00:15:44.000 I didn't know that.
00:15:44.000 Rush Limbaugh lives in Palm Beach.
00:15:47.000 And so, kind of the legend of Rush grew throughout 2015, 2016, and I kept listening to him, and I became a Rush Limbaugh application subscriber, where in the commercial breaks, he would play his old tapes of him mimicking Nancy Pelosi.
00:16:08.000 It was brilliant.
00:16:09.000 You could also listen to the old episodes of the Rush Limbaugh episode, Rush Limbaugh Show episode.
00:16:14.000 I mean, advertiser-free.
00:16:16.000 Came a subscriber to all the magazines, bought the t-shirts, the Paul Revere books, all of it.
00:16:24.000 And so I got a chance to meet Rush.
00:16:28.000 It was from a friend of mine, Byron Thomas.
00:16:32.000 Good man.
00:16:34.000 I don't think he ever wanted me to tell this story, but I think he'd be okay with me telling it today.
00:16:39.000 Byron called me up.
00:16:41.000 He says, Charlie, I know you love Rush.
00:16:45.000 Yes, I do, Byron.
00:16:47.000 I want you to meet Rush.
00:16:49.000 So you could get me to meet Rush.
00:16:51.000 So just so you know, Rush had cochlear implants, difficulty hearing.
00:17:02.000 And so Rush did not feel very comfortable in public spaces or public events.
00:17:10.000 And he kind of grew with a reputation of not necessarily being a recluse, but not someone that would go out on the town.
00:17:18.000 In fact, I remember driving once from Denver to Steamboat Springs, listening to the Rush Limbaugh program, and he was just describing how he lost his hearing.
00:17:30.000 It's a really fascinating story.
00:17:31.000 It happened almost basically overnight, and he almost never heard again.
00:17:35.000 In fact, the amazing thing that I never understood about Rush Limbaugh is how he was able to do all these voices without being able to hear their voice.
00:17:43.000 How was he able to mimic Barack Obama without being able to hear Barack Obama's voice?
00:17:49.000 So he had cochlear implants, and Byron says, Charlie, I want to take you to go meet him.
00:17:55.000 So we go met at a club in Palm Beach that many of you know of.
00:18:00.000 Not a nightclub, okay, it was a country club.
00:18:04.000 And I'll never forget we met at like 7 a.m. right before Rush went to go golf.
00:18:10.000 So Rush golfed every Saturday morning at this place.
00:18:14.000 And to my incredible surprise, Rush sat down and had breakfast with us.
00:18:23.000 So Rush, for breakfast, he very well could have ordered pancakes, French toast, waffles.
00:18:31.000 Maybe he wanted to go with an Egg McMuffin.
00:18:33.000 There's a whole plate of bacon because he said the grease and the fat makes him smarter.
00:18:33.000 Nope.
00:18:41.000 Direct quote.
00:18:42.000 So we had a great time.
00:18:44.000 And to my great surprise, Rush didn't want to leave after 10 minutes or 20 minutes.
00:18:47.000 And we got to know each other.
00:18:48.000 And I told him about Turning Point USA.
00:18:51.000 And I described to him the work we're doing.
00:18:53.000 And he listened intently.
00:18:56.000 Boy, this must have been back in 2016 or 2017.
00:18:59.000 My goodness.
00:19:01.000 Four or five years ago.
00:19:03.000 And God bless Byron.
00:19:04.000 I mean this, God bless Byron Thomas for giving me that opportunity to meet the man because he was like meeting a legend.
00:19:09.000 The story didn't stop there.
00:19:10.000 It got to email back and forth with Rush, got to be someone that would send him notes that I thought after some of his shows.
00:19:19.000 And he was always so communicative and responsive.
00:19:22.000 I mean, this is a guy that's talking to 15 million people a day.
00:19:25.000 And he would write back.
00:19:27.000 And thank goodness I still have all these emails from him of all of his thoughts and all the correspondence and all the back and forth.
00:19:34.000 By the way, he loved Apple gadgets, just so we're clear.
00:19:36.000 He loved Apple.
00:19:38.000 If Apple did not give him free stock, they missed out.
00:19:41.000 He did more free promotion for Apple than anyone else.
00:19:45.000 And so then I remember we had an event at Mar-a-Lago.
00:19:51.000 What year was that?
00:19:52.000 Was that 17?
00:19:53.000 I was 18?
00:19:55.000 And for those of you that follow me on social media, you'll be able to see some of the videos of this, of Rush, where I said, I want to give him the Lifetime Achievement Award.
00:20:06.000 And thank God, and I don't say that lightly, we did that.
00:20:11.000 And so we honored him with the Life Achievement Award.
00:20:13.000 And he does not go and accept many awards, by the way.
00:20:17.000 He does not do that.
00:20:19.000 So he came and he came to our event at Mar-a-Lago, spoke, gave him the award.
00:20:23.000 He was so gracious.
00:20:24.000 He made time to meet with his number one fan, the man who has impacted my life dramatically, a dear friend of mine, Tom Patrick.
00:20:32.000 Tom always wanted to meet Rush.
00:20:34.000 Tom told me, he says, Charlie, I need to go meet Rush.
00:20:37.000 Rush has, I feel like I'm listening to myself.
00:20:39.000 And so Rush was such a great sport about it.
00:20:41.000 And Rush, you know, didn't, he wasn't a fan of just sitting down with anyone.
00:20:46.000 It's just for obvious reasons here at that level.
00:20:48.000 Sat down with Tom for 40 minutes, did a personal favorite to me.
00:20:50.000 It was unbelievable.
00:20:51.000 I'll always remember that.
00:20:52.000 Then Rush gave this great speech, and we stayed in touch.
00:20:55.000 Rush did give me a new iPhone, by the way, that night.
00:20:57.000 I think it was like the iPhone 9 at the time.
00:21:00.000 He gave me a new iPhone.
00:21:02.000 We stayed in touch.
00:21:03.000 And then Rush featured me as one.
00:21:07.000 I think this was in, yeah, that's right.
00:21:09.000 That was in January of 2019, February 2019.
00:21:12.000 We had about a 45-minute taped interview conversation where Rush was asking questions, and I was the monthly newsletter interview for the Rush Limbaugh, whatever.
00:21:22.000 And so he was always just, and I need to go listen to it back, to be honest.
00:21:27.000 There's probably so much wisdom there.
00:21:28.000 He was a phenomenal mentor and friend throughout all of it.
00:21:32.000 And so then in December of 2019, we were hosting our Palm Beach Student Action Summit.
00:21:41.000 And we had just confirmed the president, President Trump.
00:21:46.000 And I thought to myself, who would be the perfect person to introduce him?
00:21:50.000 Because, you know, I could do it, but that's a fun thing.
00:21:53.000 But I wanted to say who could really make this special?
00:21:57.000 I said, you know what?
00:21:59.000 I think it would be pretty awesome to have the great Rush Limbaugh introduce the great Donald Trump.
00:22:05.000 Only happened once before, and that was at a campaign rally in Missouri where Rush came out for that.
00:22:10.000 And so through a lot of different emails and back and forth, Rush agreed to it and gave a great speech.
00:22:17.000 And I told him, I said, if you have exactly five minutes, I kid you not, with no phone, no clock.
00:22:22.000 He was like five minutes precise.
00:22:24.000 That probably comes after 30 years of radio.
00:22:26.000 You have like a built-in clock.
00:22:28.000 Introduced the president.
00:22:30.000 We had a lot of fun talking backstage all together.
00:22:33.000 And I think that was one of the last public appearances that Rush Limbaugh gave.
00:22:39.000 I know that he got the congressional, not the congressional, the presidential medal of freedom shortly after that.
00:22:47.000 And then we were all so saddened to hear his diagnosis.
00:22:50.000 And I haven't seen him since the virus and all of that.
00:22:55.000 And, man, he cared so much about his country.
00:23:01.000 He was a patriot.
00:23:03.000 He did not do it for the money.
00:23:05.000 He was very successful.
00:23:06.000 He didn't do it for the glory or the fame.
00:23:09.000 He did it for his country.
00:23:13.000 He did this because he knew more than anything else that his voice was going to be a firewall against tyranny.
00:23:23.000 And I want to dive deeper into that, of the impact that he made and the legacy that he leaves behind.
00:23:28.000 And then I want to play some of the best quotes and the best tape from Rush Limbaugh.
00:23:33.000 I also want to tell you what this means for you listening right now.
00:23:38.000 And I'll say it briefly, but I'll build it out more.
00:23:40.000 This means you need to step up.
00:23:42.000 Is a guy that was carrying a lot of water for the entire movement.
00:23:47.000 He's no longer here.
00:23:49.000 And of course, right on schedule, as we predicted, Huffington Post, Rush Limbaugh, bigoted king of talk radio, dies at 70.
00:23:57.000 That's how they remember Rush Limbaugh.
00:24:00.000 Trending on Twitter is rest in, can I say that word on talk radio?
00:24:05.000 I'm going to ask our team.
00:24:06.000 It's a four-letter word.
00:24:07.000 I'm going to ask my thanks, Andrew. 0.98
00:24:10.000 Rest in piss.
00:24:12.000 I could say it is what I've been told.
00:24:14.000 That's what they're trending on Twitter.
00:24:16.000 How they're talking about Rush is how they feel about you.
00:24:20.000 The hits keep coming, everybody.
00:24:23.000 So now it's time for a new generation and for people to step up.
00:24:26.000 It's time for action.
00:24:27.000 It's time to do more.
00:24:28.000 Rush had the movement on his shoulders for decades.
00:24:34.000 He's the one that took the arrows from the media.
00:24:35.000 He's the one that had to fend off media matters.
00:24:38.000 He's the one that had to endure attacks relentlessly.
00:24:43.000 So now it's up to us to fill that void.
00:24:46.000 And as a side note, Rush Limbaugh is what they call the bigoted king of talk radio.
00:24:51.000 Meanwhile, the Washington Post called Al Baghdadi an austere religious scholar.
00:24:56.000 The media wonder why people hate them and they don't trust them.
00:25:01.000 I know a lot of people are grieving, myself included.
00:25:04.000 And I could say this, though, with my relationship with Rush, I have a lot of sadness, but I have no regrets.
00:25:14.000 I really had an opportunity to spend time with him, learn from him, have him speak at our events.
00:25:22.000 He was so generous with his time, with his platform.
00:25:28.000 And after the fourth or fifth time I met with him and I sat down with him and I would give him a compliment, he almost had difficulty processing it.
00:25:39.000 And at first, I didn't really understand it.
00:25:41.000 I was like, what?
00:25:41.000 Was he hearing me okay?
00:25:42.000 But no, he was so legitimately humble without, I think, realizing how powerful his audience was at times that he stayed so in touch with the grassroots.
00:25:57.000 You want to talk about someone that has been right about almost every single prediction the last couple years.
00:26:03.000 Never underestimated Trump, always was critical of the Republican establishment.
00:26:11.000 He analyzed things perfectly because he was always in touch with the very same people that launched his radio career.
00:26:19.000 And I think he's from Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
00:26:22.000 Fun place.
00:26:25.000 But yes, he did get his career at Sacramento.
00:26:27.000 My memory was correct.
00:26:30.000 And so, what does that mean for all of us?
00:26:32.000 Boy, if you're listening right now, this is a call to action because that's what Rush would want.
00:26:38.000 Rush was very troubled about the current trajectory of the country.
00:26:42.000 He went out and defended President Trump every day.
00:26:46.000 He defended conservative values, but he was relentlessly optimistic about the future of America.
00:26:54.000 He believed our best days were ahead.
00:26:55.000 He was positive about what was to come.
00:26:59.000 And he put a lot of that on his shoulders.
00:27:02.000 And in the way that he went about his program, he was unlike any other radio host I ever listened to.
00:27:11.000 And that's not a slight at any of these other amazing legends.
00:27:14.000 Mark Levin, Sean Handy, they're amazing.
00:27:16.000 But Rush, more than anyone else, I felt like Rush was talking to me, not talking to a group of people.
00:27:23.000 I felt like Rush was having a one-on-one conversation with me.
00:27:27.000 His pauses, his inflections, his vocabulary, his diction, his humor, his humanity.
00:27:36.000 How many times did you hear Rush just shuffle together papers or say, which cut is this or what's going on here?
00:27:44.000 And you felt as if you were sitting right there in the studio with him and you were having a one-on-one conversation about the future of America.
00:27:51.000 You didn't feel as if he was broadcasting.
00:27:54.000 You felt like he was conversing.
00:27:58.000 And the country is in a very difficult moment right now.
00:28:04.000 We just lost one of our defenders.
00:28:06.000 We just lost someone with a distribution of 15 million people a day that he spoke to.
00:28:13.000 And so now in every single vertical in the church, in communities, in business, in politics, in communication, it's now time to step up, everybody.
00:28:26.000 We're now going to need 1,000 people to be as active as Rush to fill the void that he left.
00:28:37.000 In our fast-paced world, it's tough to make reading a priority.
00:28:40.000 At least it used to be.
00:28:42.000 Use what I use to digest big ideas quickly at thinker.org/slash Charlie, T-H-I-N-K-R.org.
00:28:49.000 They summarize the key ideas from new and noteworthy nonfiction, giving you access to an entire library of great books in bite-sized form.
00:28:56.000 Read or listen to hundreds of titles in a matter of minutes, from old classics like Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People, to the recent bestsellers like Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life.
00:29:06.000 When I'm going for walks or when I'm riding on the bike, I always pop open thinker.org, T-H-I-N-K-R.org, and I just try to learn something new every day.
00:29:15.000 That's something we talk about here a lot on this Charlie Kirk show.
00:29:18.000 So make sure you guys do it.
00:29:19.000 So if you want to challenge your preconceptions, expand your horizons, and become a better thinker, then go to thinker.org slash Charlie.
00:29:27.000 That's T-H-I-N-K-R.org to start a free trial today.
00:29:31.000 That's thinker.org, T-H-I-N-K-R.org slash Charlie.
00:29:37.000 I think people listen to the radio for three reasons.
00:29:39.000 Be entertained, to be entertained, and to be entertained.
00:29:42.000 And avid listeners were wildly entertained when they tuned into Rush Limbaugh, arguably the most influential talk show host in the history of radio.
00:29:50.000 You're next on the Rush Limbaugh program.
00:29:52.000 His daily program, heard by an estimated 20 million listeners each day and broadcast on more than 650 affiliates, made him one of the most well-known voices for grassroots conservatives.
00:30:05.000 So that was a news report.
00:30:08.000 20 million people a day that he influenced.
00:30:12.000 20 million people every single day.
00:30:16.000 The highest rated ever talk radio show in the history of the United States, airing on over 600 radio stations across the country, including some massive radio stations.
00:30:29.000 It started in 1988 and has never looked back.
00:30:34.000 And people were skeptical of whether or not people actually wanted to hear the conservative point of view over terrestrial radio.
00:30:42.000 Rush Limbaugh kept the Reagan Revolution, which is a grassroots, people-centered revolution, alive for decades.
00:30:50.000 When Obama swept into office in 2008 with a mandate and Democrats and House, Senate and the House coming alongside of it, it was Rush Limbaugh that was the number one thorn in the side of the Obama administration.
00:31:08.000 Daily Rush would go on warning against what Obama was going to do to the country using comedy, levity, lightheartedness.
00:31:19.000 Let's play the two cuts here of President Trump talking about Rush just a couple moments ago.
00:31:26.000 President Trump, are you with me?
00:31:28.000 I am, and it was a great honor to do so when we gave the Medal of Freedom.
00:31:34.000 It was something special.
00:31:35.000 It was an incredible night.
00:31:37.000 We gave it during the State of the Union address, and it was especially half the room.
00:31:43.000 Half the room went crazy, and the other half the room, they knew he should get it.
00:31:48.000 But it was special, and he was special.
00:31:52.000 Let's play the next clip.
00:31:55.000 Rush is irreplaceable, unique.
00:31:58.000 He had an audience that was massive.
00:32:01.000 And, you know, he could do something, Bill, and he would get up in the show and would just talk.
00:32:08.000 He wouldn't take phone calls where, you know, people would call in every two minutes and that's sort of easy to do.
00:32:14.000 He would just talk for two hours and three hours, just talk.
00:32:19.000 And that's not an easy thing to do.
00:32:23.000 And being able to do that uninterrupted put him as the leader of the conservative movement.
00:32:30.000 If Rush Limbaugh went after you, your political career could basically be over.
00:32:36.000 Mobilizing the American conservative grassroots in a way that no one has ever done before.
00:32:43.000 Keeping the voice alive.
00:32:46.000 And he was the man that kept America free.
00:32:50.000 Who else but Rush can say for 30 years he was able to keep a consistent message, a following, keep people engaged and dedicated around conservative values.
00:33:05.000 Not the Bush family.
00:33:08.000 A couple authors here and there.
00:33:11.000 But the daily drumbeat kept people over a course of almost a short lifetime, 30 years, engaged and interested in American politics.
00:33:24.000 The country is already reacting.
00:33:28.000 The left is celebrating and trending things on Twitter that are disgusting in nature.
00:33:37.000 And you could tell by the way the left reacts to Rush's passing at how big of a threat he was to them.
00:33:45.000 You could tell by how nasty and how mean that they are being right now and how effective he actually was.
00:33:54.000 Many of whom have never met Rush.
00:33:57.000 They only knew some caricature of what they were supposed to hate based on some television clip.
00:34:06.000 And despite many calls for his cancellations throughout years, he only grew in strength.
00:34:14.000 It seemed as if listening to him just a couple months ago, he was still in his absolute stride.
00:34:23.000 I want to play cut 43, Rush Limbaugh speaking at our Turning Point USA Student Action Summit.
00:34:32.000 Why is Make America Great so controversial?
00:34:34.000 Play cut 43.
00:34:35.000 Make America Great!
00:34:37.000 Why?
00:34:37.000 Why is Make America Great so controversial?
00:34:40.000 Stop and think a minute.
00:34:42.000 Who could oppose it?
00:34:43.000 Somebody comes along and says, I want to make America great again.
00:34:47.000 Why is that controversial?
00:34:50.000 Why in the world is that controversial?
00:34:53.000 And then somebody comes along and says, I think we ought to be America first again.
00:34:57.000 Why is that controversial?
00:34:59.000 Why do people oppose America first?
00:35:02.000 Why do people oppose making America great again?
00:35:04.000 I'll tell you why.
00:35:07.000 The people who think Make America Great Again is not good think that it is a throwback to 200 years ago America.
00:35:19.000 They think that it is code for taking America back to the days when it was manifestly unfair, racist, sexist, big, and homophobic.
00:35:26.000 It is not that.
00:35:28.000 Make America Great Again is let's get back and restore the principles of the founding.
00:35:32.000 America first is based on the solution and the submission that America is the solution to the world's problems.
00:35:39.000 It is not the problem.
00:35:41.000 The left in America, the left around the world thinks America is the problem, and we're not.
00:35:46.000 When America leads, when America triumphs, when America prospers, the world does greater than ever.
00:35:57.000 That was at our turning point USA Student Action Summit, where Rush was articulating very eloquently that when America succeeds, the world succeeds.
00:36:14.000 Who could possibly be against the phrase, make America great?
00:36:18.000 You could see in the way that he just did that description at our event exactly why the left needed to rise up against him in such awful ways.
00:36:33.000 Because as long as Rush Limbaugh was talking on radio, their totalitarian takeover was in jeopardy.
00:36:41.000 As long as Rush Limbaugh kept on broadcasting, he was adding transparency to their theft.
00:36:49.000 We talked about yesterday about a secret ballot that very well might have happened, which would have got Donald Trump indicted.
00:36:57.000 But the fact that there was a public ballot ensured that Donald Trump was acquitted because they didn't want to face their voters.
00:37:06.000 But do you know who else the Senate Republicans are afraid of?
00:37:10.000 When the Senate Republicans were thinking about selling America for a cheap price, and Senate Republicans were thinking about doing policies or voting for bills that might have been dangerous to our country, they whispered to each other, well, what if Rush does a segment on us?
00:37:31.000 And it made them stop for a minute.
00:37:33.000 He's a man who kept Republicans in check, kept the conservative grassroots engaged.
00:37:39.000 Let's go to Cut 46, Sean Hannity saying there would be no talk radio or even Fox News without Rush.
00:37:44.000 Cut 46.
00:37:46.000 There is no talk radio as we know it without Rush Limbaugh.
00:37:52.000 It just doesn't exist.
00:37:53.000 And I'd even make the argument in many ways, there's no Fox News or even some of these other opinionated cable networks.
00:38:04.000 And he literally did something that nobody at the time ever thought was possible.
00:38:11.000 And that's exactly right.
00:38:14.000 That without Rush and his contribution to the American conversation or the zeitgeist, you could say, the country would be in a much different place.
00:38:28.000 So why didn't Senate Republicans and the Gang of Eight pass amnesty back in 2014?
00:38:34.000 Or is it 2013?
00:38:36.000 It's because Rush Limbaugh did three hours of radio on it.
00:38:45.000 Senate Republicans and Congressional Republicans, in their most private moments, would confide and say, you know, it's one thing if they run a bunch of ads against us if we vote a certain way, but if Rush goes after us, that'll be the end of our political career.
00:39:02.000 He kept politicians in check.
00:39:06.000 Democrats couldn't stand how effective Rush Limbaugh was.
00:39:09.000 Mind you, all of this was created before social media, before that sort of distribution.
00:39:14.000 So you had to really earn your audience through terrestrial radio.
00:39:17.000 You had to keep your audience.
00:39:18.000 You had to persuade people to keep on tuning in again.
00:39:22.000 I mean, there was a lot of options on radio.
00:39:26.000 And he grew to mainstream stations all across the country using humor, using wit.
00:39:37.000 And the impact is absolutely incredible.
00:39:40.000 I'm going to get to another cut here.
00:39:42.000 Let's go to Cut 40, the State of the Union medal ceremony, Cut 40.
00:39:49.000 A longtime personal friend of President Trump's, there was this State of the Union first.
00:39:55.000 I am proud to announce tonight that you will be receiving our country's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
00:40:12.000 And that was when Rush Limbaugh received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
00:40:17.000 And so this is a wake-up call for a lot of us.
00:40:20.000 And we must mourn and grieve and remember that we must get back to action.
00:40:24.000 Rush Limbaugh bought us some time.
00:40:27.000 Without Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump would not have won the presidency in 2016.
00:40:32.000 Without Rush Limbaugh, you do not have Justice Kavanaugh.
00:40:34.000 You don't have Justice Gorsuch, you don't have Amy Coney Barrett.
00:40:36.000 You don't have Clarence Thomas, which happened right in the middle of Rush Limbaugh coming to fame in the radio, the radio world.
00:40:50.000 The model was completely and totally unproven.
00:40:53.000 You're trying to tell me one guy is going to talk uninterrupted and make his own jokes about the news of today and people are going to want to listen to that.
00:41:00.000 We can sell advertisers to that.
00:41:01.000 No, people want music.
00:41:03.000 People want maybe a daily rundown, a little bit of a funny show with a couple people here and there.
00:41:08.000 And then that's it.
00:41:11.000 Even liberals who now call themselves in the intellectual dark web, like Eric Weinstein or any of those people, they all follow in the footsteps of Rush.
00:41:28.000 Anyone who's in long-form podcasting follows in the footsteps of Rush.
00:41:33.000 Rush was podcasting before podcasting.
00:41:36.000 It was deliberate.
00:41:37.000 It was detailed.
00:41:38.000 It was long.
00:41:40.000 It had its own flavor, its own style, for a very specific purpose and for a reason.
00:41:48.000 Because Rush trusted the listeners enough that they wanted more than just political popcorn.
00:41:54.000 And if you listen to Rush and you really listen to him two years ago, three years ago, in the midst of Donald Trump under duress, and you look at the deep philosophy, the analysis, it's the best that was out there.
00:42:09.000 Seeing exactly what motivates the left, going a level deeper, asking the proper questions, analyzing the proper information correctly, bringing people to a higher level of engagement and expertise.
00:42:27.000 And so in the next segment, I want to explore what are the main lessons.
00:42:33.000 I also want to remember some of the best moments.
00:42:34.000 We have some great cuts here of Rush Limbaugh handling some liberal callers.
00:42:39.000 But what are the main lessons that we can take that we can apply to our own life and to the conservative movement right now?
00:42:46.000 All of you listening to my words right now are listening to these words because of Rush Limbaugh.
00:42:51.000 The man who pioneered this medium, who fought daily and valiantly for the country, for freedom, for conservative values.
00:43:04.000 I want to play some tape here.
00:43:07.000 Let's play cuts.
00:43:08.000 I want to first start with cut 49.
00:43:10.000 It's a longer cut.
00:43:11.000 Catherine Limbaugh announcing Rush Lumbaugh's death today on radio.
00:43:15.000 Cut 49.
00:43:18.000 From today on, there will be a tremendous void in our lives, and of course, on the radio.
00:43:27.000 Rush loved our miraculous country beyond measure.
00:43:33.000 An unwavering patriot.
00:43:36.000 He loved our United States military, our flag, our Constitution, our founding fathers.
00:43:47.000 He proudly fought and defended conservative values in a way that no one else can.
00:43:56.000 Rush often stood up and took arrows on his own because he knew it was the right thing to do.
00:44:05.000 Rush encouraged so many of us to think for ourselves, to learn, and to lead.
00:44:14.000 He often said it did not matter where you started or what you look like.
00:44:20.000 As Americans, we all have endless opportunities like nowhere else in the world.
00:44:28.000 Rush gave us hope that through hard work and determination, we can overcome the obstacles in our lives and be our best.
00:44:41.000 Many of you started small businesses or pursued personal dreams because Rush gave you the faith that you could.
00:44:52.000 He made the most complex issues simple to understand while making that level of genius look easy.
00:45:02.000 It most certainly was anything but easy.
00:45:07.000 Irreplaceable, remarkable talent.
00:45:16.000 On behalf of the Limbaugh family, I would personally like to thank each and every one of you who prayed for Rush and inspired him to keep going.
00:45:31.000 You rallied around Rush and lifted him up when he needed you the most.
00:45:39.000 I am certain, without a shadow of a doubt, if he could be here today, he would be.
00:45:46.000 He loved you, and he loved this radio program with every part of his being.
00:45:56.000 Amazing.
00:45:57.000 Catherine Limbaugh announcing the death of Rush Limbaugh, her husband.
00:46:06.000 Let's go to cut 48 of President Trump and what Rush told him right after the November 3rd election, Cut 48.
00:46:14.000 Harris, what did Rush Limbaugh tell you after the election of November 3rd?
00:46:20.000 What were those conversations like?
00:46:23.000 Well, Rush thought we won, and so do I, by the way.
00:46:27.000 I think we won substantially.
00:46:30.000 And Rush thought we won, and he thought it was over at 10 o'clock, 10.30, it was over.
00:46:36.000 And a lot of other people feel that way too, but Rush felt that way strongly.
00:46:40.000 And many people do.
00:46:42.000 Many professionals do.
00:46:44.000 And I don't think that could have happened to a Democrat.
00:46:49.000 You would have had riots going all over the place if that happened to a Democrat.
00:46:52.000 We don't have the same support at certain levels of the Republican system, but we have great people as Republicans.
00:47:02.000 And let's go to a little bit back in the Wayback Machine, Cut 47, Rush Limbaugh just going after a liberal caller.
00:47:09.000 This was Rush at his best, Cut 47.
00:47:12.000 Starting, you weren't as upset when Clinton was being investigated for Ben McGhazi incident.
00:47:19.000 You wanted a full investigation for that, didn't you?
00:47:23.000 Yeah, there's all kinds of evidence there that she'd been derelict in her duty.
00:47:28.000 Four people died in Benghazi.
00:47:32.000 Is this the best you've got to sit here and claim that I was interested in getting to the truth about Benghazi, where four Americans died because of the incompetence and laziness of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who was off the grid during the whole time.
00:47:48.000 We couldn't even find him.
00:47:49.000 And you think because I wanted to get to the bottom of that, I don't want to get to the reason there's no bottom here.
00:47:57.000 Fred, the problem with this is there is no bottom.
00:47:59.000 You just said the investigation just began, and you don't know that.
00:48:03.000 If we've been reading the media, this investigation has been going on since even before Trump was nominated.
00:48:10.000 Comey said today, this investigation has been going on since last July, Fred, old buddy Opal.
00:48:16.000 This is a hell of a long time to have no evidence whatsoever.
00:48:21.000 There's no bottom to get to here.
00:48:25.000 And I'm not scared, Fred.
00:48:27.000 I don't do scared.
00:48:29.000 I am pissed.
00:48:32.000 Amazing.
00:48:35.000 We're now, we're actually going to get some clip here of Rush and his final broadcast.
00:48:43.000 But before we do that, let's go to Cut 50 of President Trump calling into Rush's radio show to congratulate him on 30 years, Cut 50.
00:48:50.000 Rush, I just wanted to congratulate you on 30 years.
00:48:54.000 This is your favorite president, and I think you are fantastic.
00:48:58.000 And I heard about it, and today is the big day.
00:49:01.000 30 years.
00:49:02.000 I wanted to call personally and congratulate you.
00:49:05.000 I am floored.
00:49:08.000 I thought there was nothing anybody could do to surprise me today.
00:49:11.000 I've been preparing for anything.
00:49:13.000 Mr. President.
00:49:14.000 You're a very special man, Rush, and you have people that love you.
00:49:17.000 I'm one of them.
00:49:18.000 But you're a very, very special guy.
00:49:20.000 What you do for this country, people have no idea how important your voice is.
00:49:24.000 So I just wanted to personally make this one.
00:49:27.000 And I said, I'll even dial the number myself if I have to.
00:49:30.000 But I just want to congratulate you.
00:49:32.000 30 years in that tough business is incredible.
00:49:35.000 And you're stronger now than ever before.
00:49:38.000 Well, I thank you so much.
00:49:40.000 It's such a thrill to hear from you.
00:49:42.000 And so, man, will he be missed?
00:49:47.000 Let's go to Cut 42, President Rush Limbaugh speaking right before President Trump at our Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, Cut 42.
00:49:57.000 Folks, we're not in a standard political environment where the Democrats win and then the Republicans win.
00:50:05.000 We share power.
00:50:06.000 We trade power.
00:50:07.000 We are in a war.
00:50:10.000 We are in a war for the kind of country America is going to be.
00:50:14.000 There's always going to be an America.
00:50:16.000 But the war being waged now is aimed at overturning, overthrowing the principles of our founding.
00:50:25.000 That is what the left is attempting to do.
00:50:28.000 And now tape from Russia's last broadcast, which was two days before Christmas, December 23rd, 2020.
00:50:35.000 We want to take you back to the end of December.
00:50:37.000 This is December 23rd, 2020.
00:50:41.000 And this was part of Russia's final broadcast.
00:50:45.000 He would not know it then, but we all know it now. 0.51
00:50:48.000 Listen.
00:50:51.000 My point in all of this today is gratitude.
00:50:54.000 My point in everything today that I share with you about this is to say thanks and to tell everybody involved how much I love you from the bottom of a sizable and growing and still beating heart.
00:51:11.000 And there's room for much more.
00:51:14.000 All because I've learned what love really is during this.
00:51:23.000 You know, I have a philosophy.
00:51:24.000 There's good that happens in everything.
00:51:26.000 It may not reveal itself immediately.
00:51:28.000 And even in the most dire circumstances, if you just wait, if you just remain open to things, the good in it will reveal itself.
00:51:42.000 And that has happened to me as well.
00:51:45.000 The good in it will just reveal itself.
00:51:48.000 It's amazing.
00:51:50.000 It's last broadcast.
00:51:52.000 Let's go to Cut 51, Tucker Carlson, talking about the void left by Rush's death.
00:51:58.000 But before that, you think about what Rush just said in that clip, that he was filled with gratitude for his listeners, for the people that defended him, for the people that believed in him.
00:52:16.000 And little did he know that was going to be his last broadcast ever to the largest radio audience ever assembled in the history of talk radio.
00:52:24.000 Let's play Cut 51, Tucker Carlson.
00:52:27.000 I've outsourced its, you know, philosophical exposition, its explaining of their beliefs to Rush Limbaugh.
00:52:35.000 And I don't mean that as a criticism of anybody.
00:52:37.000 It's just true.
00:52:38.000 It's like you didn't have to explain what it meant to be a conservative when Rush Limbaugh was doing it better than you could.
00:52:45.000 And so now that he's gone, you have to sort of wonder, like, is there, and again, I'm not taxing anybody, but it's your question, is there any elected Republican in the Congress right now who could stand up in front of a microphone and tell you in 10 minutes why it is you vote Republican or why it is you're a conservative or what it is you believe or what America is about?
00:53:03.000 I mean, maybe there is.
00:53:04.000 I haven't seen that person and I know all of them.
00:53:07.000 So it does leave a real void because that's important.
00:53:12.000 I mean, you know, people have instincts, but they need words to make those instincts make sense, right?
00:53:21.000 You have to articulate something in order to really understand it.
00:53:24.000 And that was his job for the country.
00:53:28.000 Tucker, you mentioned going...
00:53:31.000 His job was to articulate people's natural instincts for half the country.
00:53:38.000 That is perfectly said.
00:53:40.000 And that's what he did every single day.
00:53:41.000 People had a feeling about things.
00:53:43.000 They saw something in the New York Times or they read something in the morning.
00:53:47.000 Millions of people lived this pattern.
00:53:51.000 They woke up, they got ready for work, they turned on the news, and they heard some liberal talking head say something they knew wasn't true.
00:53:59.000 It bothered them.
00:54:00.000 And their instinct said, I don't like that.
00:54:04.000 They got in the car and went to work, and it bothered them the whole day.
00:54:07.000 And they thought to themselves, at least the morning, and they said, there's something not right about what I heard there.
00:54:12.000 Then 11 o'clock rolled around Eastern and 11.30 and 11.45.
00:54:17.000 They looked up at their clock and they said, in 15 minutes, I'm going to see if someone can put words to my instincts.
00:54:23.000 They turned on that radio and Rush articulated exactly what their instincts were feeling.
00:54:30.000 He put words behind their deeply held beliefs.
00:54:36.000 And he took the arrows for all of us.
00:54:37.000 Winston Churchill, the man who saved Western civilization, said, quote, without courage, all other virtues lose their meaning.
00:54:46.000 Rush Limbaugh had courage.
00:54:48.000 Rush Limbaugh stood up every single day and said what so many other people were thinking.
00:54:54.000 Rush Lumbaugh was unafraid to articulate the politically incorrect issues of the day.
00:55:02.000 And so, when people were bombarded over the weekend with their liberal family or their relatives, people would start to get a little anxious.
00:55:11.000 And they just knew that on Monday at 12 o'clock Eastern, they could turn on that dial and that famous music would begin.
00:55:20.000 And the introduction would say, and now the Doctor of Democracy from Mission Command in sunny South Florida, Rush Limbaugh.
00:55:33.000 He'd always start with some grandiose introduction and get right into it.
00:55:42.000 And his lead was always can't miss radio, his first 15 minutes.
00:55:45.000 So, whatever Rush led with, it was talked about everywhere.
00:55:48.000 It spread.
00:55:51.000 Now, a lot of people listened to the show all the way through, but the lead itself was the most listened to part of radio probably in American history.
00:55:58.000 That's right when people got on their lunch breaks on the West Coast.
00:56:01.000 Some people were just getting to work and they'd wait in their car a little bit.
00:56:04.000 I knew one guy in Los Angeles who worked for a big corporation, and part of his negotiation was that he could get into work every day at 9:30.
00:56:18.000 It was part of his negotiation.
00:56:20.000 In fact, I was just texting with him earlier because he was such a big Rush Limbaugh fan.
00:56:25.000 He negotiated with his boss, and I don't think he told his wife, that he was going to have to start work 30 minutes later and stay after work 30 minutes later.
00:56:36.000 Why?
00:56:36.000 Because he needed his 30 minutes of rush before he got into work every day.
00:56:40.000 I know people that were run banks, and they had all their employees knew that you do not walk in and interrupt them between 12 or 3 any day.
00:56:51.000 You could have meetings before 12 or 3, but it's called rush time.
00:56:56.000 I know people, Tom Patrick and many others, have been able to recite chapter and verse of every single topic Rush Limbaugh went throughout the week.
00:57:04.000 He had such a mastery of words.
00:57:07.000 He painted pictures with his diction.
00:57:11.000 He understood the anxiety of a conservative American that was seeing their country be crumbled before them, that was being attacked by powerful liberal forces.
00:57:25.000 With Rush, you always felt like you were on offense.
00:57:29.000 With Rush, you always felt that no matter what was happening around you, he was the captain of the ship.
00:57:35.000 He was the head of this mission, and it was going to be okay.
00:57:40.000 Because he exuded confidence and clear solutions.
00:57:46.000 He looked at things very rationally.
00:57:48.000 And then the next segment, he would get into the appropriate amount of sarcasm and mockery that the left absolutely deserved.
00:57:56.000 And sometimes he pushed the boundaries a little bit too far.
00:57:59.000 But then you could still look away because it was all the while incredibly entertaining.
00:58:05.000 But then there were the moments when Rush got very serious.
00:58:11.000 He used humor as a way to communicate, as a way to make it easier to consume.
00:58:17.000 But then there were the moments when Rush got down to business.
00:58:22.000 When Brett Kavanaugh was under fire, that's all Rush talked about for three hours a day.
00:58:28.000 Christine Ballsey Ford is what he called it.
00:58:32.000 Went through all the documents, went through all the trials, asking the right questions. 0.86
00:58:37.000 And do you know who Senate staffers were listening to in between breaks?
00:58:41.000 They were putting in their headphones to see what was Rush saying.
00:58:46.000 When I would walk the White House to go visit Jared Kushner and to go see the people negotiating Middle East peace, do you know what they were saying at 2 o'clock Eastern in the White House?
00:58:57.000 Hey, what did Rush say today?
00:59:00.000 The White House was looking to Rush for guidance.
00:59:03.000 Rush was not looking to the White House for guidance.
00:59:06.000 That is a man that shaped public policy.
00:59:09.000 That is a man that shaped the daily interaction and behavior of millions of people.
00:59:15.000 A legend, a hero, and full of courage.
00:59:22.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.
00:59:23.000 If you want to get involved with Turning Point USA, the organization that Rush himself put his name behind, go to tpusa.com, email us your questions, freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:59:33.000 God bless you guys.
00:59:34.000 Speak to you, Shepherd.