Thursday on his syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh speculated on how big the Republican National Convention will be this July in Cleveland, OH now that Donald Trump’s is the party’s presumptive nominee.
According to Limbaugh, Trump will likely go out of his way to put on “one of the biggest extravaganzas” and that it will be difficult for Democrats to measure up against that at their convention in Philadelphia later in the summer, adding that it may take them bringing out “Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky and a bed to come close” to the GOP convention.
Transcript as follows (courtesy RushLimbaugh.com):
I can’t remember if I mentioned this on the program last week or if I was talking to some people over the weekend about this. The Republican convention came up and what it was gonna be, and I told everybody — I think it was on the golf course. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this here yet. If I have, forgive me. It might be somewhat redundant, but not much.
I was telling these guys, there are still a lot of people I know, I know some moderate Republican guys, I know some Republican guys that, “Get rid of the social issues crowd.” They’re good guys, their wives nag ’em about it and stuff. They just as soon not to have deal with it. And they were worried about, “My gosh, what’s this convention –” I said, “You guys haven’t seen anything yet.” The thing that nobody is expecting, Trump is going to put together a show like nobody has ever seen at a Republican convention. Instinctively he’s gonna put together a show.
He’s gonna take advantage. He knows that because it’s his convention, that the media is gonna be forced to cover it much more than they otherwise would, and it’s gonna be one of the biggest extravaganzas, and it’s gonna present a different picture of what the Republican Party usually presents to people. Usual Republican conventions all take place on the defense.
A usual Republican convention is designed to show the audience that they are not what the media says about them, that they’re not what Democrats say about them. And Trump doesn’t have an ounce of that in his being. He has no shame about who he is. He doesn’t feel like he’s gotta prove himself to anybody. He doesn’t feel he’s gotta answer critics all day long. It’s gonna be a show. It’s gonna be an extravaganza, total offense, if you want to look at it that way. And it’s gonna blow the roof.
It’s gonna be unlike any convention that anybody’s ever seen the Republican Party put on. And the reason I bring this up is because somebody’s done a story about this. Politico: “Donald Trump’s Gold-Plated Convention – The celebrity billionaire is revamping everything about the GOP’s dog-and-pony show.” Now, to give you an idea of what I’m talking about, I want you to listen to the way Politico writes about the Republican Party here.
“Donald Trump has shoved just about every tradition in modern presidential politics out the window, and now he’s preparing to trash one more — the dog and pony show known as the Republican National Convention.” Have you ever heard the Democrat convention referred to by anybody in the media as a dog and pony show? Obviously not. Even by Politico’s standards this is a bizarre open. They are angry that Trump is going to trash the GOP’s usual dog and pony show. Maybe they don’t realize that dog and pony is a contemptuous expression. Of course they do.
And you compare, what do you think the Democrat convention’s gonna be with Hillary Clinton? They’re gonna have to give Crazy Bernie some space. If they don’t, there’s gonna be a riot. There may be a riot anyway at that convention, which will be its own attraction, by the way, one they don’t want.
But Politico says: “From speaking slots to prime-time moments reserved for himself, the television celebrity and Manhattan billionaire is dealing directly in the details of his coronation as Republican nominee to maximize the drama and spectacle of the party’s four-night convention.”
How scandalous. Could you believe this, the nominee is gonna be in charge of his own convention? Why, whoever let that happen? And Trump plans to create news events, too. Really? At a Republican convention? The Politico is angry that Donald Trump is gonna create news events? Listen to this paragraph.
“Trump plans to create news events too, not just line up speeches by up-and-coming members of the GOP. He’s toying with unveiling a running mate at the convention rather than before. He’s even considering whether to announce his would-be Cabinet. ‘Announcing the vice-presidential nominee before the convention is like announcing the winner of Celebrity Apprentice before the final show is on the air,’ one Trump campaign source said.”
Do you think one of Trump’s sources actually said that? That could be one of these manufactured things. I doubt that a Trump aide compared announcing his VP to announcing the winner of Celebrity Apprentice. But I guess it’s possible.
“Whereas the vice-presidential nominee traditionally speaks on the third night of the convention and the presidential nominee takes the stage on the fourth and final night, Trump is considering a scenario that puts him on stage, delivering remarks, on all four nights, reaching millions of potential voters and driving ratings, according to one source.”
And then Politico reluctantly admits the convention will be the ultimate draw for the TV networks. And they hate that. Hillary Clinton all four nights of the Democrat convention would be a snoozer. Hillary Clinton all four nights the Democrat convention would drive audience away. I remember I was in San Francisco for the Democrat Convention in 1984. Oh, what a miserable place. Not San Francisco. The convention. That was where Mario “The Pious” gave his great speech about the poor and the downtrodden. He was contrasting what he thought the real America was compared to Reagan’s shining city on a hill, and he basically described a country that was nothing more than a homeless camp.
And then the Reverend Jackson also gave a stem-winder, and they were just in tears. It was totally devoted to misery and suffering. And there was Tip O’Neill, you know, the Speaker of the House is traditionally the chairman of the convention of both parties. And so Tip O’Neill was up there in the skybox at the convention, and he had the grand suite at the Fairmont hotel, and then Tip O’Neill goes to the stage and starts talking about the upcoming Republican convention, where they’re gonna be arriving in limousines and mink coats drinking champagne, which is exactly what the Democrats were doing at their convention.
Well, anyway, on the night that Walter F. Mondale was nominated, they had a camera in the Mondale hotel suite, and the entire Mondale family looked squeezed on a giant sofa in there. And when the convention officially nominated Mondale, he looked at his wife, or one of his daughters, it might have been Eleanor, who, by the way, is a frequent visitor to the Bill Clinton White House, and he said, “Let’s go over there, let’s go over to the hall,” and the family went (sigh). Because it was tough. To go it means traffic nightmares.
So Mondale broke tradition and went to the convention the night he was nominated. In tradition the nominee doesn’t show up ’til the fourth night. That’s always been true. So The Politico writing here that Trump’s gonna be part of this thing every night in prime time. Folks, I’m telling you, you have no idea what this gonna be. I don’t know, either. I’m just telling you, intelligence guided by experience, this is going to be an over-the-top combination of things. It’s gonna have all the elements of a political convention, but it’s gonna have obviously a lot more.
Trump is gonna try to win every state. Trump is gonna go for a 50 state landslide. He’s not gonna be constrained into thinking you can’t win here, can’t win there because of the electoral map. And he’s gonna use this convention as one of the many elements of his reach out, but it’s gonna be — I don’t know how many celebrities. I’m thinking — (interruption) No. No. No, no. I, no, no, no, no, no, no. Won’t ask me. You don’t need media people at these things. But I don’t think he should overload it with celebrity types. Not many of those that are Republican. If he could talk the ones who are into showing up, I mean, the Republican Hollywood celebrity, they’re popular people.
But I don’t mean it’s gonna be a barn burner in ways people describe these things as big time celebrity, A-list red carpet kind of stuff. I mean it’s going to be entertainment. The content is going to be an entertaining show built around the purpose of nominating Trump. This is a huge deal. Think of it personally for him, what this is in terms of a life achievement. It’s a huge deal. And it’s gonna be all that much huger with him behind it. Nobody has any idea what’s coming. I don’t know a thing. I’m just predicting here. The media know, too, and they’re worried silly about it because they know that there’s nothing on the Democrat side that can compete with it.
They’d have to bring out Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky and a bed to come close to what the Republican convention is gonna draw. And there’s no way they would do that. Maybe not a bed; maybe just a bathroom with the door closed. You know, recreate it. Of course, it would never happen. What are you laughing at? I’m just trying to give you a point of comparison here of how the Democrats don’t have — and they are considered the party close to all these A-list Hollywood celebrity beboppers and partiers and so forth.
I mean, how much of Leo DiCaprio preaching about the environment do you want to watch? Even if he does have a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand? Sorry, that’s snoozerville. Plus, with Hillary Clinton being the final attraction, the big star of the show, night four, Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech (screeching), “And I don’t –” Please. So it’s gonna be big.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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