40 incumbent House Republicans chose not to run in 2018 immediately creating 40 open seats. “Lost in all of this was the 40 to 45 Republican congressional retirements. Forty sitting Republicans retired. I started asking Republicans why."…GOP E has long been scared to death of Washington DC press corps, so likely believed “blue wave” media mantra:
11/7/18, “Retiring RINOS Bought the Drive-By Media’s Blue Wave Scam,” Rush Limbaugh
“The most House seats ever lost by a president’s party in power was Obama in 2010. He lost 63. Next was Bill Clinton in 1994. He lost 52. In 1958, Eisenhower lost 48, as did Ford and Nixon in 1974. They lost 48. Lyndon Johnson in ’66, lost 47. Harry Truman in ’46 lost 45 seats. George W. Bush in 2006 lost 30. In 1950, Harry Truman lost 29. Reagan, in ’82, lost 26 seats, and in 2016 Trump is at 26 or 27--and those are New York Times records….
So it was not a blue wave, especially when you go over to the Senate. Now, the big difference in the Senate is that the people that Trump campaigned for won. Nine out of 11 people. And the way to look at this is… To me, I think this is crucial going forward, as you look at 2020….
He admitted–you just heard him–he focused on the Senate. It was not possible to do rallies for House seats. And, frankly, most sitting presidents do not get involved in House races. Obama even stated that’s so beneath the presidency to go out in these little districts here and there. I’m not gonna mess with it. And there’s too many of ’em. You can’t.”…
[Trump did hold at least one rally just for a congressman as in the case of Kentucky’s incumbent Andy Barr on 10/13/18 whose re-election was rated a toss-up. Barr was re-elected on Nov. 6 by a 51 to 47.8 margin. Re: Trump rally for Barr, 10/13/18: “Barr’s race is one of the most closely watched House races in the country. Although he represents a district which voted for Mr. Trump by 15 points in 2016, [Democrat candidate] McGrath is an unusually formidable Democratic challenger. A former fighter pilot and first-time candidate, McGrath has garnered local and national attention....The CBS News Battleground Tracker rates this race as “Edge Republican.”"...The race was rated a toss-up by three other race raters.]
(continuing): “So where he could he tried to combine a House race with a Senate race and the candidates and so forth. But nine out of 11. In the Senate now, gone are a bunch of Republicans who hate Trump, like Corker and like Flake and Senator McCain, they’re gone. And they have been replaced by senators that are Trumpists, if you will, senators who owe Trump their election victory.
So the Republican Senate is gonna be a much more solid Senate. If he wins all of the seats that are still outstanding, like Arizona and Florida where there might be a recount, he could have enough of a Republican Senate to not have to worry about Murkowski and Susan Collins, say, on judicial appointments. And of course the Senate’s role in judicial appointments and other appointments, such as cabinet appointments, is huge.
Many Republicans in the House lost because they tried to run away from Trump. And he called ’em out by name today.
By the same token, he named those that he campaigned for and pointed out how they were victorious. So it is Donald Trump’s Republican Party. And more and more Republicans are gonna see this. It’s undeniable what happened last night and why whoever lost, lost. This takes me to what I think is a very, very crucial thing that happened way back in December 2017,and that is when the Drive-By Media and the Democrats started this incessant chatter about a blue wave.
Lost in all of this was the 40 to 45 Republican congressional retirements. Forty sitting Republicans retired. I started asking Republicans why. And what I was told, “Well, you know, many of them are committee chairmen and they’re term limited out and they don’t want to hang around going back as regular members.” Well, maybe….
One of the things I think that convinced these Republicans that there was gonna be this massive Trump wipeout was all this incessant chatter about the blue wave brought on by the media.
And I think these Republicans, these moderate RINO Never Trumper Republicans bought in to a gigantic scam that the media and the Democrats ran on this blue wave business. They bought it hook, line, and sinker. They thought there’s no chance, Trump is hated and despised, we’re getting out. And so they did.
And when you lose 45 incumbents, don’t care who they are, because 98% of incumbents win reelection in the House, 98%.
When 40 to 45 of your sitting Republicans get out of there, that presents another challenge, because those are open seats, become brand-new candidates on both sides. Incumbency is lost as a benefit.
It is a big deal that the Republicans who won yesterday know they did because of President Trump. That is big in solidifying things moving forward….
When you lose 45 incumbents, that is a monumental thing to overcome because of the tendency of incumbents in the House to get reelected. In fact, that stat has been one of the many complaints about politics in Washington and how tough it is for outsiders to get in because the powers of incumbency with fundraising and special interest backing is so crucial and hard to overcome.
Well, back in December of 2017, we had the first generic ballot poll which showed the Democrats with a 13-point margin. The media started hyping it, they started talking about it with polling data, without polling data. And a bunch of Republicans — you have to go back, 2017, throughout that year there were a lot of Republicans who hated Donald Trump and did not want to acknowledge that he was president, just like a bunch of Democrats.
Some of them were Never Trumpers. Some of them were RINOs. But many of them were scared to death of what Republicans have been scared to death of for years and that’s the Washington press corps. And so these guys started talking about this massive blue wave that was coming, and they associated it with the fact that Trump’s election was stolen, the Russians stole the election.
That first year, 2017, the intensity of this stuff, you know, we forget it because memories are replaced by reality at the moment. But it was intense! You had Republican leadership in the House not supportive of Trump. You had Republicans not helping Trump with anything. Repeal and replace Obamacare was not happening because a bunch of Republicans believed this garbage that Trump had stolen the election; so they thought he was not gonna be around long. They thought he was gonna be impeached or indicted or something. And this was all created by the media. And we started keeping track of this. To illustrate, I have here a [blue wave montage] sound bite…
This sound bite is a montage of how the Democrats in the media had been predicting this blue wave all year [beginning in Dec. 2017] to the point that I believe it forced a bunch of Republicans in the House to retire. I don’t believe that just the fact that they were losing their committee chairmanships meant they were leaving. That was the excuse I was given by other Republicans.
I think they bought it. I think they believed that everybody hated Trump, that Trump’s election was the result of a fraud. I believe they thought Trump was a goner and that they were a goner….They were getting out in advance to escape the bloodbath, to escape a humiliating loss.
And here is some of the audio sound bite [65 clips] support to prove my point.
FREDO [Chris] CUOMO: (music) Are the Democrats going to ride a blue wave into power?
CHARLIE COOK: We’re standing on a beach looking out at the ocean and we’re seeing what looks like a really, really, really big wave!
JOSH KRAUSHAAR: Is this going to be a Democratic wave, or a Democratic tsunami?
RICH LOWRY: This wave that’s building —
RUSH: Stop the tape! This starts in December of 2017, by the way. This montage covers 2017, December, all the way to the present.
JON SCOTT: … a blue wave.
DAVID GERGEN: There’s a wave out there!
BRIANNA KEILAR: Are we going to see a wave?
MOLLY HOOPER: … a wave election.
JAKE TAPPER: …a blue wave?
GIGI STONE WOODS: … a blue wave.
JOHN HARWOOD: … a Democratic wave.
ROBERT TRAYNHAM: It’s gonna be a Democratic wave!
JIM SCIUTTO: … an anti-Trump wave!
DAVID CHALIAN: There is a wave coming!
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN: … a tidal wave coming!
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: … a Democratic wave coming.
CHARLES PAYNE: This could be a wave.
JESSICA TARLOV: Everyone is expecting a wave.
JULIE BANDERAS: … a blue wave?
DOUG SCHOEN: … likely that the Democrats have the blue wave.
MERIKA COLEMAN: This blue wave that has gone across this country…
DOUG BRINKLEY: It’s like a battle cry: A blue wave in November!
RON BROWNSTEIN: … heading toward a powerful wave.
JOY REID: … a coming blue wave!
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: A blue wave…
HENA DOBA: … the start of a blue wave!
SANDRA SMITH: All the talk of this blue wave…
KASIE HUNT: This blue wave…
JOHN KING: … a big blue wave.
DON LEMON: … a blue wave in the midterms.
BILL HEMMER: The blue wave is happening.
ERICA HILL: We hear so much about this blue wave.
ERIC HOLDER: It’s gonna to be a blue wave.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: … a so-called blue wave.
EVAN MCMULLIN: Call it a blue wave or call it whatever kind of wave you want.
VAN JONES: … praying for a blue wave.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: … predicting a blue wave.
DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN: Of course, a blue wave…
MARGARET BRENNAN: … banking on a blue wave.
JOHN VAUSE: Are we looking at that blue wave?
AB STODDARD: … predicting a blue wave.
SAHIL KAPUR: One of the phenomenons [sic] of the blue wave…
DAVE BRIGGS: … a blue wave, and all the energy on the left.
ALAYNA TREENE: It’s going to be a blue wave…
LISA MASCARO: … expecting a blue wave.
DANA PERINO: … this huge blue wave.
JILLIAN MELE: This blue wave the Democrats have been talking about…
JUAN WILLIAMS: The blue wave sweeps the Democrats back into power…
PETER ALEXANDER: … the potential for a Democratic blue wave.
ZERLINA MAXWELL: The blue wave is really just going to be a wave of women.
AL SHARPTON: We’re talking about the, uh, blue wave.
JIM ACOSTA: (outdoor noise) … a blue wave this fall.
JOHN HEILEMANN: You see this blue wave coming.
CHRISTINA GREER: A blue wave, a blue tsunami, a blue river!
HOWARD FINEMAN: … the blue wave.
EUGENE ROBINSON: Democrats are going to have a blue wave.
KATY TUR: Democrats expect a blue wave!
HEIDI PRZYBYLA: This coming blue wave…
BEN RHODES: … that blue wave that is building.
JOHN BERMAN: …blue wave in November.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: … a blue wave in November.
JOY BEHAR: Some of the Republican base, I understand, thinks that this so-called Democratic wave is fake news. Isn’t that good?
CHUCK SCHUMER: We shall see.
JOHN AVLON: It could be a tsunami wave election.
CHUCK TODD: A wave is building! The question is, just how big?
RUSH: All year. Folks, that’s just a small, two-minute microcosm of what was a theme all year starting in December 2017. Now, you couple that with the belief by way too many Republicans that Trump had stolen the election. They believed this crap about the collusion with Russia. They believed the media that everybody hated Trump, that this was somehow a great mistake and everybody regretted it. Nobody… They thought that there was a massive, end-of-the-party election coming, and so they retired. They got out.
I have no doubt that this was a fundamental element of Republican attitude for most of this entire election year. I have no doubt that this affected Republican–and particularly Republican leadership’s–ability to work with Trump on legislation such as the wall….No reason to do any of the Trump agenda. Now, the Democrats won the House last night with a 27-seat gain.
That’s nowhere near a blue wave–and they lost big in the Senate. They lost huge in the Senate. What happened in the Senate last night is bigger than anybody knows right now because the Republicans that did retire and are gone were anti-Trump Republicans: Corker, Flake, McCain. They’re gone. They’re replaced by people who owe their futures to Donald Trump.
..........
Every Republican who retired is now realizing they could have won. If they had hung in there, they could have won, they could have still been in power, and they could have still been a part of something really big, because the
Republican Party now knows that Donald Trump can get them reelected.
And the people in the Republican Party that ran against Trump—
like Mia Love and Barbara Comstock out there making a big point that
they were not Trump, they didn’t approve of Trump, they didn’t like
Trump’s tweets, whatever — they went down to defeat.
Every senator who voted against Kavanaugh, of the elections that have been called, lost. Every Democrat who voted for Kavanaugh? There was one; that was Manchin. He won. It was a huge, huge factor. Now, the Democrats won the House, but it was not a blue wave. It was never going to be a blue wave. A blue wave would have been over 63 seats, like Obama lost. Oh, by the way, every candidate Obama campaigned for [in the midterms] went down the tubes….
So much of the inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom–who’s loved and who’s adored and who’s respected–is wrong. Obama still doesn’t have any coattails….
So now Donald Trump could appoint any judge that he wants and get ’em confirmed. He could put whoever he wants in his cabinet and get ’em confirmed. If he wants to get a different attorney general in there, he can do it now….
We have another little montage here of the Drive-Bys admitting last night [11/6] that it wasn’t a blue wave.
JAKE TAPPER: Democrats did hope for a big blue wave. That is not happening.
BRIT HUME: There’s no (pause) blue wave.
JOHN KING: Is it a blue wave? What do you want to call it?
VAN JONES: It may not be a blue wave. It’s a rainbow wave!
DAN SENOR: It’s not a wave! It’s not a wave!
HALLIE JACKSON: It’s not going to be that blue wave landslide.
JAMES CARVILLE: It’s not going to be a wave.
GAYLE KING: … this blue wave that clearly does not seem to be materializing.
JUDY WOODRUFF: I don’t know whether we want to call it a wave, but it’s a (pause) blue, uh, move? A blue —
DAVID BROOKS: Ripple.
CHUCK TODD: You can’t call it a wave if you don’t have a big statewide win anywhere! How do you call it a wave if you don’t win Florida? How do you call it a wave if you don’t win Missouri?
RUSH: How do you call it a wave when you don’t win Ohio? Here’s one more: Dan Senor, who is one of Paul Ryan’s big butt, uh, friends.
NORAH O’DONNELL: Those House Republicans that retired and left a lot of open seats, including Speaker Paul Ryan —
DAN SENOR: Yeah.
NORAH O’DONNELL: — said, “I don’t want to be around when Democrats are in charge” —
DAN SENOR: Yesss.
NORAH O’DONNELL: — and he called that all the way back in January.
DAN SENOR: And he feels the same way today.
RUSH: Yeah, he called it! He has this big smile. “Yeah, he called it: ‘I don’t want to be around when Democrats are in charge,’ says Paul Ryan.” And Dan Senor says, “And he feels the same way today.” Thank you very much, Republicans. Thank you very much….
He said it all the way back in January! Why? What was there in January that indicated Democrats are gonna be in charge? The blue wave.This incessant, never ending, excited drumbeat coming from left-wing America, left-wing media that was gonna be a big blue wave.
“I don’t want to be here when the Democrats are in charge.” Well, what good is anybody–you know, Democrats are the opposition–are we just gonna cede everything to them? Are we just gonna give up? We’re not even gonna try to oppose them?”…
Rush Limbaugh “Related links”
Every senator who voted against Kavanaugh, of the elections that have been called, lost. Every Democrat who voted for Kavanaugh? There was one; that was Manchin. He won. It was a huge, huge factor. Now, the Democrats won the House, but it was not a blue wave. It was never going to be a blue wave. A blue wave would have been over 63 seats, like Obama lost. Oh, by the way, every candidate Obama campaigned for [in the midterms] went down the tubes….
So much of the inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom–who’s loved and who’s adored and who’s respected–is wrong. Obama still doesn’t have any coattails….
So now Donald Trump could appoint any judge that he wants and get ’em confirmed. He could put whoever he wants in his cabinet and get ’em confirmed. If he wants to get a different attorney general in there, he can do it now….
We have another little montage here of the Drive-Bys admitting last night [11/6] that it wasn’t a blue wave.
JAKE TAPPER: Democrats did hope for a big blue wave. That is not happening.
BRIT HUME: There’s no (pause) blue wave.
JOHN KING: Is it a blue wave? What do you want to call it?
VAN JONES: It may not be a blue wave. It’s a rainbow wave!
DAN SENOR: It’s not a wave! It’s not a wave!
HALLIE JACKSON: It’s not going to be that blue wave landslide.
JAMES CARVILLE: It’s not going to be a wave.
GAYLE KING: … this blue wave that clearly does not seem to be materializing.
JUDY WOODRUFF: I don’t know whether we want to call it a wave, but it’s a (pause) blue, uh, move? A blue —
DAVID BROOKS: Ripple.
CHUCK TODD: You can’t call it a wave if you don’t have a big statewide win anywhere! How do you call it a wave if you don’t win Florida? How do you call it a wave if you don’t win Missouri?
RUSH: How do you call it a wave when you don’t win Ohio? Here’s one more: Dan Senor, who is one of Paul Ryan’s big butt, uh, friends.
NORAH O’DONNELL: Those House Republicans that retired and left a lot of open seats, including Speaker Paul Ryan —
DAN SENOR: Yeah.
NORAH O’DONNELL: — said, “I don’t want to be around when Democrats are in charge” —
DAN SENOR: Yesss.
NORAH O’DONNELL: — and he called that all the way back in January.
DAN SENOR: And he feels the same way today.
RUSH: Yeah, he called it! He has this big smile. “Yeah, he called it: ‘I don’t want to be around when Democrats are in charge,’ says Paul Ryan.” And Dan Senor says, “And he feels the same way today.” Thank you very much, Republicans. Thank you very much….
He said it all the way back in January! Why? What was there in January that indicated Democrats are gonna be in charge? The blue wave.This incessant, never ending, excited drumbeat coming from left-wing America, left-wing media that was gonna be a big blue wave.
“I don’t want to be here when the Democrats are in charge.” Well, what good is anybody–you know, Democrats are the opposition–are we just gonna cede everything to them? Are we just gonna give up? We’re not even gonna try to oppose them?”…
Rush Limbaugh “Related links”
- Breitbart: Donald Trump Calls for Unity, Bipartisanship During Post-Midterm Press Conference
- ABC: Election by the Numbers: 113 Million Voter Turnout, 33 Flipped Seats So Far, 110 Female Winners, $5.2 Billion Spent
- Mediaite: Trump is Reportedly Already ‘Really Angry’ With Paul Ryan Over Midterms
- Daily Caller: Here Are All The Seats Republicans Gave Up On, Boosting Democrats Into Power
Added: More from Rush Limbaugh on Trump and the midterms:
11/7/18, “Donald Trump Is Crucial to Republican Victory,“ Rush Limbaugh
“RUSH: I cannot emphasize how important something is here….The Republicans who fell for this blue wave crap and announced their retirements or resignations are the primary reason I think the House was lost. That’s just a lot of incumbency that you lose, practically automatically reelected. At least a decent portion of them would have been.
But the real important thing is the belief that Donald Trump is a
drag on the Republican Party, that so many of these Republicans have
been running around harboring for all these two years, what happened yesterday was made crystal clear. Donald Trump is crucial to Republican victory.
Nine out of 11 Republicans that Trump focused on and stumped for won, including Josh Hawley in Missouri, including in Indiana. Donald Trump did not hurt Republicans. Donald Trump saved Republicans. And every other Republican who has believed that Trump is an albatross has got to reexamine this. And they’ve got to conclude the right thing about it.
Meanwhile, the Democrats, how are they gonna respond to this? The worst thing in the world for them is to realize that Trump is a net plus. Official Washington has believed for two years that Trump is the ruination of the Republican Party. It’s quite the opposite.”
Rush Limbaugh “Related Links:”
Nine out of 11 Republicans that Trump focused on and stumped for won, including Josh Hawley in Missouri, including in Indiana. Donald Trump did not hurt Republicans. Donald Trump saved Republicans. And every other Republican who has believed that Trump is an albatross has got to reexamine this. And they’ve got to conclude the right thing about it.
Meanwhile, the Democrats, how are they gonna respond to this? The worst thing in the world for them is to realize that Trump is a net plus. Official Washington has believed for two years that Trump is the ruination of the Republican Party. It’s quite the opposite.”
Rush Limbaugh “Related Links:”
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