Remembering A Legend

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, thanks Scott Shannon, and thanks to all of you.

(00:02):
Thanks for being with us eight hundred and nine four one.
Shawn of you want to be a part of this program.
Scott Shannon sent me a couple of notes speaking of him,
the great broadcasting genius that he is, talking about the
saddest news of the day, the loss of our dear friend,

(00:22):
you know, as as our friend Jim Gray say, greatest
of all time, Rush Limbaugh losing his battle with cancer.
And you know, here's a guy, Scott Shannon, and he
loves radio. He's such a good guy. He to this
day just an amazing voice himself and creating Morning Zoo Radio,

(00:45):
taking things to another level. And he actually just said
something so deep and so profound that it just struck me.
Not only did he say it's a sad day for America,
he says he changed everything in so many different ways.
We have a lot to talk about as it relates
to Rush. I have my own, my own side of things.

(01:10):
I've been close with his family, and let me start
by saying I know that his wife Katherine was the
love of his life. She gave an incredible tribute to him.
And I'm going to play it at the start of
Russia's show today. I know Russia's family. I haven't had

(01:31):
a contract in radio and TV that wasn't done by
a good friend of this program, David Limbaugh. I know
how devastated his whole family is today and his beautiful
wife Lisa and their wonderful kids. I know that Russia's
team James Golden boasts Nerdly as Rush called him, Kathleen

(01:52):
cookie Is as Rush called him, Mike Maimon It's just
a loss. It's a very deep, profound, irreplaceable icon broadcasting icon.
He You know, my friend Neil Boortz always said he
was the Babe Ruth of our industry, and he's right,

(02:15):
but I'd add to it a little bit and Babe
Ruth Lou Garrick, Hank Aaron and Derek Jeter of our industry,
and he had he transformed radio. And I'll go through
this story through as the program goes through this afternoon.

(02:35):
And he transformed singlehandedly, saved AM radio singlehandedly. Then then
then he went on to save FM radio as broadcasting
and podcasting and new media came on the scene, and
no one else would have ever been capable of doing
any of this all of us that are broadcasters in

(03:00):
talk radio. And I would even argue Rush Limbaugh paved
the way for Fox News and even these liberal networks
that give strong opinion. There's no talk radio as we
know it, but for him, single handedly paving the way,

(03:21):
taking this slings and the arrows and every shot, and
it made it easier for every single one of us
that followed after him, and just nobody could match it,
and we're all blessed because of it. It was very
simple in some ways, deep and profound in so many others.

(03:43):
The simple is God, faith, family, country, And for what
almost thirty three years now, since nineteen eighty eight, that
has been Rush Limbaugh. We're gonna play President Trump. He
had comments on this earlier today. The great one Mark

(04:05):
Levin also close friends with the family and with Rush,
and I just want all of Russia's family to know
his wife, Katherine. I want James Golden, I want Cookie
Kathleen and her husband and all these wonderful Mike Mamon.
I can't mention everybody, Dawn and all the whole team

(04:27):
over there. You know that we love you all. You're
all in our prayers today. We know you're all suffering
I'll say this before I play Catherine's statement. I've seen
too much cancer in my life. Both my parents died
from it. Well, my mom not so much, but she
had stage four breast cancer at one point in her

(04:47):
life double mess stectomy, keemote therapy, lost their hair in radiation.
She survived that, but never really fully recovered enough and
died pretty young. And my dad to pancreatic cancer. And
I know many people my family was a medicine A
lot of my family, my sisters, nurses, etc. So I
knew more than I wanted to know. And they half

(05:11):
kill you. Although treatments are getting better by the way,
leukemia is now almost always curable. And Rush help raised
a ton of money for the Leukemia Society, millions and millions,
and donated millions and millions himself. And the thing that
I would want more that if you take only one
thing away besides his love of God, family and this country,

(05:34):
and his deep faith. And he had a deep faith.
I know that for a fact. If you take one
thing away is okay, You're pretty much given about a
year ago. Ah, you maybe have six months to live.
We'll try and make it so you can live as
long as possible. Okay, most of you. I'm sure I've

(05:56):
seen the movie The bucket List, Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson.
It's a great movie. I don't know how many people
have a bucket list. I don't really have a bucket list,
but Russia's bucket list. His chose, his choice was to
get through this next treatment, hope for the best, but

(06:18):
get back on the air because he wanted to be
with all of us. He wanted to be with all
of you and all of the people that listened to him,
and that was his great passion. That was his great love.
You were his great love, on top of his family

(06:39):
and his wonderful wife and family. That was all of you,
his wife Catherine, and you know when he gave the
announcement saying that I want to play this part first,
that he now understood how Luke Garrick felt it one point,

(07:01):
it's an amazing comment from somebody, you know, Blue Garrick
said in his speech. Many told me I got a
tough break. No, I feel like the luckiest man in
the world. That's what Rush said. The day that lou
Garrick announced that he had his disease that was forcing

(07:23):
him to retire, from Major League Baseball. He said to
the sold out Yankee Stadium today, I feel like the
luckiest man on the face of the earth. And I
didn't understand that. I mean, here's a guy who had
just been diagnosed with the most terminal of terminal diseases,

(07:47):
and I said, this can't be Rik, You can't really
think he's the luckiest guy in the world. This is
just something to be saying because it will play well,
it'll don't. I don't mean to be insulting, lou Garrick,
don't misunderstand. I'm just thinking that, how in the world,
if you're being honest, can you feel like you're the
luckiest man on the face of the earth. Well, when
I got my diagnosis, and when I began to receive

(08:15):
all of the outpouring of love and affection from everywhere
in my life, from so many of you in so
many ways, and from my family who man, they have

(08:35):
supported me my entire career, even during times it would
have been understandable and easy for them to say, rush who,
we don't know this guy, But that never happened. I mean,
I've been totally supported by virtually everybody in my family.
I've been propped up. I have been defended. I've been

(08:56):
made to look better than I am. My my lovely
wife Catherine has done so much in that regard. She
has done so much with Rush limbaud dot Com and
with the charitable efforts that we have engaged in, and
all of it has been to my benefit. All of

(09:18):
it has been for the h and yours. It's the
benefit of people who are the recipients of our efforts.
So many people have put me first in all of this.
I understand now what Luke Garrick meant, because I certainly

(09:39):
feel like that. I feel extremely fortunate and lucky. Rush
wanted to be with all of you. Here's the love
of his life, Katherine making the announcement at the start
of a show today. Hello, everyone, I know that I

(10:00):
am most certainly not the Limbaugh that you tuned in
to listen to to day. I like you very much
wish Rush was behind this golden microphone right now, welcoming
you to another exceptional three hours of broadcasting. For over
thirty two years, Rush has cherished you his loyal audience

(10:24):
and always look forward to every single show. It is
with profound sadness I must share with you directly that
our beloved Rush, my wonderful husband, passed away this morning
due to complications from lung cancer. As so many of

(10:50):
you know, losing a loved one is terribly difficult, even
more so when that loved one is larger than life.
Rush will forever be the greatest of all time. Rush
was an extraordinary man, a gentle giant, brilliant, quick witted,

(11:17):
genuinely kind, extremely generous, passionate, courageous, and the hardest working
person I know. Despite being one of the most recognized
powerful people in the world, Rush never let the success

(11:39):
change his core or beliefs. He was polite and respectful
to everyone he met, even most recently when he was
not feeling well in the hospital. He was so appreciative
to every single doctor and custodian and first responder. He

(12:06):
never wanted to put anyone out and always thank them
profusely for their help. From today on, there will be
a tremendous void in our lives and of course on
the radio. Rush loved our miraculous country beyond measure. An

(12:31):
unwavering patriot, he loved our United States military, our flag,
our Constitution, our founding fathers. He proudly fought and defended
conservative values in a way that no one else can.

(12:54):
Rush often stood up and took arrows on his own
because he knew it was the right thing to do.
Rush encouraged so many of us to think for ourselves,
to learn, and to lead. He often said, it did
not matter where you started or what you look like.

(13:18):
As Americans, we all have endless opportunities like nowhere else
in the world. Rush gave us hope that through hard
work and determination, we can overcome the obstacles in our
lives and be our best. Many of you started small

(13:40):
businesses or pursued personal dreams because Rush gave you the
faith that you could. He made the most complex issues
simple to understand, while making that level of genius look easy.
It most certainly was anything but easy, irreplaceable, remarkable talent

(14:12):
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. You rallied
around Rush and lifted him up when he needed you
the most. I am certain, without a shadow of a doubt,

(14:38):
if he could be here to day he would be.
He loved you, and he loved this radio program with
every part of his being. Instead, we know our Rush
is in heaven encouraging us in the same way he

(15:00):
always did on earth. Russia's love for our country and
belief that our best days are ahead live on eternally
in Russia's honor. May we all continue Russia's mission in

(15:22):
our individual lives and communities. I know all of you
listening are terribly sad. We all are. I'm terribly sorry
to have to deliver this news to you. God bless

(15:45):
you Rush, and God bless our country. I know many
of you have a lot to say. Well, We're gonna
definitely put some time away for a lot of your
calls today in a sad It's a tragedy, irreplaceable the
loss of Rush, Lambaugh announced on his program earlier today.
You know, how do you how do you put into

(16:09):
words one guy that literally there was there would be
no talk radio as we know it if not for Rush.
When he started a syndication, they said it couldn't be done.
In the daytime, there were less than two hundred talk
radio stations. Now there's thousands. He ended up literally saving

(16:32):
AM radio and then later FM radio. He's also defined
conservatism in a way that. Kaylee mckinatie tweeted out, you know,
I'm a Rush baby. She's younger, but listening to Rush
had an impact that that motivated her to get into

(16:53):
the field of politics and fight for the beliefs we
all have. We've got a lot to say on the
other side. President on Rush, Mark Levin on Rush. All
coming up, All right, twenty five to the top of
the hour. I'll get back to um. We're going to
do the whole show. We have the President joining us
on the issue. He'll be on TV tonight also. Mark

(17:13):
Levin's going to join us. The passing of Russ Lumbaugh today,
and I want everybody to know one thing is that
he would want us. And I can tell you this
with a certainty because he is irreplaceable. Catherine, his wonderful wife,
is right. He would want all of us, those of

(17:34):
us that learned from him and went through all these
all these different periods in this history, and him leading
and defining conservatism on a mass scale and influencing generations
of Americans, including myself, love this country, led this movement,

(17:59):
and would want all of us to stay in this battle,
and in this fight, no nobody will ever be able
to replace him, but we can all do our part.
It's important. I have a lot that I really want
to say, and I would I don't want this to

(18:19):
also be There was such a funny side of Rush
and a humorous side to him, mischievous side of him,
and it was just hilarious to those of us that
knew him when he was very tongue in cheek. And
in the early years, you'd always say broadcasting high on
top the EIB building in Midtown Manhattan, and there'd be

(18:44):
people visiting Manhattan and asking questions, well, where's the EIB building.
All the secret was there wasn't really an EIB building
except the one that he worked in, and it made
it the EIB network, and that all those stories are
true and and and Rush loved that part of it.

(19:05):
It drove the left insane. Even a statement, when you
really think about it, is extraordinarily humble with talent on
loan from God. What is he saying, Yeah, any talent
I have came from God, actually praising God in the
talent saying I'm not responsible for the talent I have
on the radio, it's God. And that would you know?

(19:28):
It's like alka Seltzer and water liberals would just melt
and and that was part of him forging this path
that every one of us in talk radio and me personally,
and and even Fox News in so many ways as
a result of this massive movement and growth of opinion

(19:53):
that will shut, shut down and shut out of all
mainstream outlets to take you know, two hundred news talk
radio stations in the country at the time of his
syndication in nineteen eighty eight. Now there's thousands of them
over I think over four thousand. Talk radio is the
number one format in all of radio. Single Handedly, Rush

(20:16):
Limbaugh save the AM band because people are who's this guy.
I remember where I first heard of Rush. I was
in a radio studio in a college station and some guys,
you gotta listen to this guy. He's he's irreverent, he's funny,
he's smart, and he was all of that. And you

(20:39):
know it was it was his passion and to go
back to in the midst of all of this treatment
and all of this pain that is associated. We all
know people that have had cancer. We all know that
people they have kill you to try and save you
or to extend your life. And when he gave the

(21:02):
announcement little over a year ago that he had advanced
stage four lung cancer. Well, you know, I don't usually
trust doctor Google, but you don't have to read much
to figure out where this is likely headed. And at
that point it was sad, but he wanted to be

(21:22):
And I want all of you to take this to heart,
those that love Rush as we do on this program,
and I want you to just take it and understand
he was. He didn't have the bucket list. He had
the I want to be with my listeners list, and
I want to fight to the day I die for
this country I love and keep this great movement that

(21:45):
has impacted generations alive. And I know what he would want.
He would want all of us to stay in his
life's work. And we've all we're all better because of him,
we all know more because of him, because you're certainly

(22:05):
not getting it from any broadcast channels or the New
York Times or Washington Post or these fake news channels.
You're not getting it. And he was the leader of
that movement, and he has personally impacted all of us
that are broadcasters. I talked to many of my friends
in broadcasting today. Every one of them is devastated. Mark

(22:28):
and I have been on the phone all day. Mark
will join us at the top of the next hour.
That side of him that was humorous, mischievous. I mean
it just it's amazing, you know. Mary Matlin said, I
said this on Fox today when they called me and
asked for my comments. Mary Matlin had said, after the

(22:51):
Clinton years, I don't know how we would have survived
without Rush. But he was there for the r at
the end of the Reagan's term. He was there for
Bush forty one, there for the Clinton years, there for
the Bush forty three years, there for the Obama years,
he was there for the Trump years, and fought like
hell to get Donald Trump reelected. It was his passion

(23:13):
and the audience you were his passion. There is no
talk radio as we know it but for Rush. Limbaugh
and I would argue, there's probably not Fox News as
we know it, or any of a lot of programming.
I want to play Rush reacting. And there's a little
story behind this, and I know that some people are

(23:39):
I think that Matt Drudge has gone a little changed
his political views. Putting that aside, Matt loved Rush, loved him.
That's a fact, and when Russia announced that he had
lung cancer. I got a call from Matt and he

(23:59):
brought up the idea of the Medal of Freedom. It
was not my idea, and he had talked to other
people at the White House about it, and I did
talk to the President about it. It's obviously his decision
is not mine. And the President immediately said yes. And
I didn't know when it was going to happen. And

(24:21):
I got a call earlier that day and I was
told it was happening at the State of the Union
and that Milani was going to put it on him.
I couldn't have been happier for this great American. Here's
his reaction. Yes, how do you feel about getting them? President? Medal?

(24:42):
A great feeling getting Oh, oh, I didn't know you're TMC. Yes,
you're harving. Oh how do I feel about getting the medal? Yes,
I'm I'm in a state of disbelief. I'm honored as
I can be by it. Okay, everybody loved to see
you're doing well and everything like that. Man, well, thank you,

(25:02):
thank you. I am doing great. I'm doing who could
not be doing great at a night like this? This
is just everything you thought, Oh, I didn't think that's
the thing. I think this is still in a state
of disbelief about it, man, But I'm accepting it. I'll
take it. But there was a lot of great people
who received that on and match. Thank you everything you're doing.

(25:25):
Appreciate it, Thank you very much. I appreciate it all right.
And it was I think it was probably the most
special night in his life. And for all those that
helped make that happen, I'm very appreciative. Um. So I
come to New York. Let me tell you a little

(25:46):
bit of my story. And I got hired by Fox
when and went on the air when a debut in
nineteen ninety six in October, and I got a provision
because I'd been local radio in Atlanta at the time,
and I got a provision that I could do radio
as well as television. And that was part of my deal.

(26:08):
And we started October six or seventh, I think, nineteen
ninety six on Fox. I've been there the whole time,
believe it or not. And anyway, so and then I
started after TV. Every night I go over to where
the EIB building and I do the eleven to two
shift talk radio. I loved late night radio so much fun.

(26:31):
It was different than your daytime slot. And then eventually
I got the afternoon slot. And then one day I
got the call, would you want to fill in for Rush?
And I'm like, okay, twenty one million listeners, six hundred
plus stations, little nerve racking, and Linda's making me play this.
But there are some fun stories that I'm going to

(26:52):
share here, and one of them is so here I
am in the middle filling in for Rush for the
first time opening monologue of the show and Russia's mic
really is a golden eib mic and boom fell down.
Say that he lied is not gonna happen. He's not
going to concede that he lied to the grand jury
because he did not. Is this Is this more of

(27:14):
the arrogance? Now my face was on the desk as
I'm now sweating profusely, having you know, a near panic attack.
I go ahead. I can see Linda laughing and smiling.
But what made it funny is when Rush got back
from his vacation or his day off. I don't remember
how long he was out. He goes and I used

(27:36):
to try it like I do my Markle event. Thank me, God,
bless us. I do Sean Hannity dented the golden EIB microphone.
I'm like, man, it was you know, it was just
Rush having fun. He had fun, but he also and
he had fun, and he loved what he did, and

(27:58):
he and he taught us all thinks, made us, made
us all smarter, thinking better, learning more. When I did
that late night show one night, Rush's lines would ring
all day long. In other words, people would be calling
into his talk show. Well, his calls would show up

(28:18):
on the same bank as the phone calls of the
station I'm on. And one night I just I just
thought it'd be funny, then fun and I started like
I did a whole hour and saying, you know, I
like that. I was Rush. And then people would call
in and I say, you're on the EIB network Click

(28:39):
Rush Mega did us? I thought it was funny. Kit
Carson yelled at me the last at the end. He
was a great friend. He wasn't really mad. And when
I told Rush the story, he goes, oh, that's such,
That's something I would so do, And he was happy
that I got. He helped my career in ways I

(29:00):
can't even measure. I'm extraordinarily grateful and humbled, an appreciative
of everybody in my life that has helped my career.
I stay in touch with every boss. I have bill
done of it in Huntsville, Slugo down in Atlanta, Eric Sidell,
Phil Boyce. I haven't talked to him in a while.

(29:22):
We need to talk soon. The President. I want to
play this little segment here of the President and Rush
where they mentioned me, because the President never understood, well,
you want to beat Rush, right, I mean, nobody beats Rush.
What are you talking about? He's done everything for all
of us. And here's that how that came up. You know,
people don't realize what a great achievement thirty years is

(29:44):
and that cutthroat business that you happen to be in.
You know, you might not find that because you're so
good at what you do, but there's a cutthroat business
and for you to do this for thirty years is
truly an amazing accomplishment. And there's no voice like it.
Then your even your friend had he agrees with that.
He said, there's nobody like this man. So I said, no, gee,

(30:04):
I guess I thought you too would be competitive. He said, nope,
he's the dean the Dean guest hosted. He guest hosted
for me when we first started. He's great, and he's
a big he's a tremendous fan of yours. That they
all are, everybody is. So I just want to congratulate
you thirty years and just do it for another thirty
years after that. You can take it easy, Okay, I

(30:26):
will do that. Just stay around as long as you do. Okay,
you have a deal. I'm very grateful to Rush for
all he's done for this country, all he's done for
all of us in broadcasting, all of us, and he's
an icon of all icons here and this is a

(30:48):
better country because of his voice. And it'll be sorely missed. Now.
My faith tells me God welcomes us, and there's a
life beyond this life. I believe that with all of
my heart, our creator welcomes us. And I know he
was a believer. And God speed, Rush Lambaugh, and thank

(31:12):
you for all you've done for this country, for this industry,
for me personally. And you're missed and loved by millions.
Remembering the great legacy of Russ Lambaugh passed away early
this morning. Mark Leavin will join us so play the
President's comments. Both will join us live on Hannity tonight
at nine. Hey, I want to remind you you got

(31:34):
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You'll save an additional twenty five percent, remembering Rush. We'll
have time for your calls today. We'll have the President
speaking earlier. Mark Levin will join us next, the great One,

(32:43):
and much much more. Also, more of our tribute to Rush.
On this sad day we lost in American icon. We'll continue.
We don't realize what a great achievement thirty years is
and that cutthroat business that you happen to be in.
You know, you might not find that because you so
good at what you do, but there's a cutthroat business

(33:05):
truly an amazing accomplishment. And there's no voice like it
then you. Even your friend Hannity agrees with that. He said,
there's nobody like this man. So I said, no, gee,
I guess I thought you two would be competitive. He said, nope,
he's the dean. Where I told you the dean, A
guest tosted. He guest toasted for me when we first started.

(33:26):
He's great, and he's a big he's a tremendous fan
of years that they all are. Everybody is. So I
just want to congratulate you thirty years of and just
do it for another thirty years after that, you can
take it easy. Okay, I will do that. Just then,
I'm stay around as long as you do. Okay, you
have a deal our two Sean Hannity Show eight hundred
and nine for one Sean. We will get to your

(33:47):
calls and we'll also be having our tribute to Rush
the President's comments from earlier and the President by the way,
we'll be on Hannity tonight. Mark Levin will be on
Hannity And speaking of the great one Mark Levin, he
joins us. Now I'm going to be joining him on
his shows in the next days too. Just you know, Mark, Um,

(34:10):
we lost a defining voice for now over thirty years
of the movement. We love you know, heartmind, body, and soul.
And we've had the honor both of us of benefiting
from the path that he forged for all of us

(34:31):
in broadcasting single handedly, and have been the beneficiaries of
all the slings and arrows this guy has taken. And
I know you had a very special relationship with him,
and he, you know, early on was calling you Flee Levine,
which used to crack us both up. And we both

(34:52):
loved this man and appreciated him and understood him, and uh,
this is a this is a loss you can't replaced, Babe,
Ruth Lou Garrig, Mickey Mantle, all in one. You know,
it's really quite devastating, isn't it. I think back all

(35:14):
the memories I had with this man over twenty five years,
about of personal and confidential things, and that I can
I'm not going to discuss, not that there's anything wrong
with them, but it's personal. And having been to his
house and how he treated with such grace, and how

(35:35):
he was always you know, Seannie would ask me about
my kids and later it had asked me about my grandkids.
He's always curious, wasn't it. And he was very humble man.
He was nothing like the Left tried to portray him.
And from a more public or legacy perspective, I guess

(36:00):
you think of Reagan, you think of Buckley, you think
of Milton Friedman, and Rush is in that genre. And
he had an enormous capacity to communicate. And you know,
you substitute hosted form. I substitute hosted form really against

(36:23):
my own will. He said, no, no, no no, astutely you
can do this, and I don't know what I'm doing.
No, no no, don't worry about He threw you in the
water and you had to swim. By the way. There's
a lot of stories about forcing Mark to do radio
and TV, but we won't go there. But I know,
I remember, I'm laughing because it was very funny, and
that's exactly what he did. He threw your right in
the water, and he did it for your own goods.

(36:46):
He gave me a lot of good advice. He gave
us both a lot of good advice. I remember saying
to him one Sean, Rush, there's you, then there's Hannity.
What am I going to say when you guys are done?
And he said, I'll tell you what you're going to say.
You're going to say what Mark thinks. Because nobody's heard
what Mark has to say yet. I have never forgotten

(37:08):
that that's what he said. But all radio asside, it's
just the the humanity of the man, the compassion of
the man. He so loved his audience, He so loved radio,
really incredibly. His beautiful wonderful wife who were both at
his wedding, you know that was only ten and a

(37:28):
half years ago, and his wonderful brother David and his
family and so forth. This is a close family. It's
a big family, and it's a family. A lot of
them are lawyers, not all of them, and a lot
of them are really outstanding lawyers. And you know, Ell
in his life Russia would have told you he was

(37:49):
fired from this job, that job, another job. Some people
wondered if he ever accomplished anything, and then look what
he accomplished. I don't think even the dire situation we're
in today, I think we would have been here much
faster without Rush. And we're gonna have to fight on
without Rush, and he's gonna want us to fight on

(38:10):
and fight on the heart. But everybody listening should know
how he adored them, how he adored his audience. And
you know he used to always say, be respectful to
your audience. Your audience is number one when you're under attack,
as your audience who will defend you. It's your audience
that we'll stand behind you. There's no more on loyal

(38:32):
audience for the audience Rush had and has. And it's
very important that we carry on his battle for freedom
and for the Constitution now more than ever. I know
that's what he would want. But I also want everybody
to know that the Rush you heard on the radio.
Was the fantastic kind of renaissance man. He was extremely

(38:56):
well read. He had a huge library. He was reading
all the time. I mean heavy books too. And Sean,
I had a book come out called Rescuing Sprite. You
remember that book. I remember it well. And that was
my second book ever, and I wrote it and I

(39:16):
sent it to him and he always wanted to see
the books. And he said, absolutely, you come on the show.
I want to talk to you about this for a
full hour. You come on the you come down here
to Florida. We'll do this in person. We'll have the
ditto camp. I said, Rush, you want to talk about
Rescuing Sprite. He said yes. I want the American people

(39:37):
to know who you are and what a human being
you are. I want you to talk about your dogs
on my show. That's the way he was. And I
can tell a story behind the scenes. You might kill me,
but I'll start it. If you want me to stop,
I'll stop. Go ahead in that book because I know

(39:58):
I read it and I remember crying reading it. You
tell the story when you had a heart attack, right,
and I mean you get I had a heart attack. Yeah,
And you also my best friend and he best friend.

(40:21):
You were very upset. I remember you're always checking up
on me. Was so did he. And then it got complicated.
One of the grass failed and still having chest pains,
and and so my doctors wanted me to go to
the Cleveland Clinic, the best hard place, and back then
I just couldn't afford the flight and all the rest

(40:43):
of it. And so I told him, I don't think
I'm going to go. It's kind of expensive. Definitely, yes, sir,
you're going to go. At whatever it costs, I will
cover it. Just go. You've got to survive. You've got
to take care of yourself. Go. He got to do
the nice things. I'm was the one telling you to
stop eating ordering McDonald's when you would pull up to

(41:05):
the McDonald's. But I but the story was a little
more complicated than that, and I want people to understand
the details of this. And when you pulled into you
drove yourself to the hospital, and you knew you were
in trouble, and you're you described the seating, I mean,

(41:25):
you're you're literally you feel like I'm a Volkswagen on
your chest. Some stranger sees what's going on, comes right
over and says, let me park the car for you,
runs inside, gets the hospital staff to run out to
the parking lot to help you. And you had had
a number of failed stints. I mean, things weren't working,

(41:48):
and it was touch and go at that moment, and
he stepped down. He stepped in and said, we're doing
it my way now, and that's listening to your doctor's way.
We're not going to let money get in the way.
But it's not just your story. He did it for strangers.
He did it for people. Yeah, all the time. I
do want to say, I do want to add to this.

(42:09):
Turns out that all that fifteen hundred dollars have been
paid by insurance and me and so forth. So I
come home and we're all done. And he said, I
don't think I've ever said And he says, okay, what
do I owe you? I said, don't owe me anything.
They paid everything, but fifteen hundred. I took care of
that athlete. I should pay the fifteen hundred. I said, no,

(42:31):
it's not a big deal. I got that. I can
handle it. And anyway, it's it's hard to know. You
wake up in the morning. RUSSI lymb was not there anymore.
It's just very, very difficult. I could tell the last
several weeks, I would send him a short email and

(42:52):
he wasn't able to answer, and so I stopped. I
could tell it was it was getting dire. Could tell
from David, his brother was getting dire. David his brother
who works with us, but he's like a brother of
us too. He couldn't be a better brother to Russian lumball.
Catherine couldn't be a better wife. And I just I

(43:14):
think the audience needs to know that Rush lived for
his family, friends and his audience. And even at the end,
he struggled to get through these treatments because he wanted
to go on the air, He wanted to go in
the air, he wanted to talk to He fought for
the country right to the bitter end, right to the
bitter end. And he's a more loyal human being you'll

(43:35):
never find. And you said it, and I just want
to reiterate him. All the attacks on Rush just constant, unremitting,
unrelenting attacks on Rush utterly undeserved because they tried to
take him out and he was targeted. He was the
big guy. You and I, even though we get attacked,

(43:56):
nothing like that because he took the attacks for us.
I guess that'll change, but that's what happened. And he
had very broad shoulders. Even one staff might screw up
now and then he took the responsibility for that. He
was a gregarious but he was relatively quiet. He was

(44:16):
very fun you know, a bit of a trickster, and
always very gracious to everybody, always very very gracious. He
was a real renaissance man. And history will remember him well.
I hope they remember anything about any of us. I
think they'll remember him very very well. Even his later
books where he's trying to reach out to children, he

(44:38):
and Catherine trying to make sure they understand what a
magnificent country this is, and Paul Revere and others, and
the horse Liberty. He was trying to figure out ways
to save the republic. He understood it was a battle
over the culture, and you know, we've lost a leader.

(45:00):
He's lost a leader. So uh, you know, it takes
time to digest this really as a friend, it just
takes a lot of time. Anyway. That's that's about it.
You know, you said something that I it's said earlier
in the program, and I think it needs to be
restated he was where he was. I know, I'm unfortunately.

(45:23):
My sisters all became nurses and I knew more about
medicine than you could ever imagine, and had too many
friends that have had serious cancer scare some survived, some didn't.
Both my parents had it. And you know, you watch
these treatments and they have kill you to try and
save you or extend your life, and they, it seems

(45:45):
like they did, extended his life quite successfully. And he
didn't have to expend the energy during this treatment time
on the air. He could have just looked at his
diagnosis and it was dire from the beginning. We all
knew that, and he made a decision to take the

(46:10):
treatment and fight like hell because where he wanted to
be with his audience. Every day you get the final
thirty seconds, Well, Rustam will always be with us. The
things that he did and said, he was a trailblazer,

(46:32):
and I just want to tell, particularly young people out there,
you can follow his example. Love your country, love your family,
love your faith, be outspoken, be supportive of those who
are patriotic, are military, are police officers. And he would

(46:56):
be filled if he knew there were a thousand or
two thousand little Russia Limballs behind him, all wanting to
do something spectacular for their country. This is a man,
Russia Limbaugh, who I don't think I ever imagined that
he would become as big and popular as he did,
but he wanted to make sure that the message cut

(47:18):
out to as many people as possible. He was a
trailblazer in broadcasting, he was a trailblazer in thinking. He
was a trailblazer in activism. And you know, one of
those come along once in a lifetime. But I'm just
hoping young people will aspire to do the sorts of
things that Russia Limball did. And we're going to be

(47:40):
defending him and all the great things he did, I'm
sure Sean for the days and weeks ahead. And it's
an honor to defend the honor and the graciousness of
our dear friend Mark. I couldn't say it any better.
You'll join us more with more on this on TV tonight.
We'll see then the president also President Trump. All right,

(48:02):
glad you with us. A sad day for all of
us and broadcasting and all of us in talk radio
and losing Rush Limbaugh lost his battle with lung cancer
as I know everybody knows now I you know, we
live in this information age. I don't think I ever
got information faster than I got today. And a lot

(48:22):
of really, really kind notes from people knowing knowing that
I was, how fond of Rush I was, and my
closeness to his family for over thirty years now, and uh,
the Actually the President's going to be calling into Hannity
tonight nine Eastern. We'll talk about this and he'll join us.

(48:45):
He called into Harris Faulkner and Bill Hammer was on
the air with Harris earlier. Just it happened to be
right after I was on. They had called me to
comment about his passing. And I want to play the
President's I'm gonna play him in full. I don't want
to edit it. I want you to hear it. If
you think back in Russia's life and career. I remember

(49:08):
the media had made such a big deal when he
was in George Herbert Walker Bush's box at the Republican
National Convention one night, but his impact starting with his
syndicated program with the presidency of Ronald Reagan, and then
he was there through Bush forty one and all the
Clinton years. As Mary Matlin said, how would we have

(49:28):
survived them without Russia every day leading the way. But
here's the president commenting earlier today, former President Trump on
Russia's passing. When we gave the Medal of Freedom, it
was something special. It was an incredible night, and we
gave it during the State of the Union address, and
it was especially half the room. Half the room went crazy.

(49:51):
At the other half the room they knew he should
get it. But it was special and he was special.
Mister President, you know, thank you for joining us. What
was the last time you spoke with Rush Limbaugh? Three
or four days ago? I'd call him just to find out.
You know, his fight was very, very courageous, and he
was very, very sick, and you know, from diagnosis on

(50:14):
it was just something that was not going to be beaten.
But you wouldn't know it. And he is married to
an incredible woman, Catherine, who really every time I spoke
to him, he would tell me how great she was.
She took such great care. He was very brave. I mean, he,
in theory could have been gone four months ago. Really,
he just he was fighting till the very end. He

(50:36):
was a fighter. You were a great general while you
were in the White House. How did you view how
he either carried on your message or I chose to
agree or disagree with the policies you had as commander
in chief. Well, first of all, you know, you just
had sewn on Johan Hannity. He was incredible, and Sean
would say, there is nobody like Rush. Sean was the

(51:00):
to say that. He I used to say, well, what
do you think someday and he'd say, He's irreplaceable. Russia
is irreplaceable. Unique. He had an audience that was massive,
and you know, he could do something Bill and he would.
He would get up in the show and would just talk.
He wouldn't take phone calls where you know, people would

(51:21):
call in every two minutes and that's sort of easy
to do. He would just talk for two hours and
three hours, just talk, and that's not an easy thing
to do. And I want to ask him, I said,
you study for the show, and he said, actually I
studied very hard, which which a little bit Harris had
a little bit surprised me. But he was a fantastic man,

(51:42):
a fantastic talent, and people, whether they loved him or not,
they respected him. They really did. President Trump. I have
always wondered just seeing the look of surprise on Russia's face,
what he knew about that moment and what you learned
that he was going through in that moment after he
is succumbed to tears, and I was curious, what did

(52:03):
he know was coming? So I did tell him beforehand
because we didn't have the really the power of not
doing it. You know, Rush was very sick at the time.
He was at a hospital in Boston, and I didn't
want to do the surprise thing. I wish, I wish
I could have done that, but we really didn't have

(52:25):
that that that power of doing it. Because he had
it was a very difficult thing for him to come
into Washington from where he was, and he did it,
and there was questions as to whether or not he
was just a very brave guy. He's amazing and he
came in and it was, as he told me, it
was the greatest honor of his life. And everybody in

(52:46):
the room, you know, you're talking about the Republicans and
the DEMOCRATY had half of that room went crazy. You
remember the evening, well, I'm sure it's a very unique
moment in our country's history. In a sense because of
who rushes, but what just absolutely crazy. The other half
sat totally dead, silent, But one hundred percent of that
room respected Rush. It was a unique guy, and he

(53:11):
became a friend of mine. You know, I didn't know
Rush at all. I had essentially never met Rush. And
then when we came down the escalator, he liked my
rather controversial speech. I made that speech that was a
little bit on the controversial side, and he loved it.
And he was without ever having met him or talked
to him, or you know, had lunch with him and
asked him. He was with me right from the beginning,

(53:33):
and he liked what I said, and he agreed with
what I said, and he was just a great gentleman,
great great man, mister President. That is such fascinating detail
that you're giving, mister President, about how you didn't really
know him all that. Well, yeah, he became someone who
carried your message. You know, I'm curious to know what

(53:55):
you wanted him to know. And maybe you got to
tell him in the last three or four days that
she spoke about the difference that he made for you. Well,
I think he did. And I've heard as many as
thirty nine million people, you know, that's an audience that
you don't hear about anymore. And I heard thirty nine
million people. And I don't know if you remember, maybe
three or four months ago I did his show and

(54:17):
I heard they had a tremendous audience. And it lasted
for like a long time. The interview was like an
hour and it just went right through, and it was
his questions were fascinating. I think the show was fascinating.
He had a way of he had an insight that
few people have, just a few people have, even really

(54:38):
good ones, really pros in your business. And by the way,
you two are some great combination you and build together, Harris,
that's a great combination that does incredibly well. And we
thank you for it. We really thank you both for it.
But he was a very unique guy and he had
tremendous insight. He got it, He really got it. He
was very street smart in a sense, and a lot

(55:01):
of people would know, but he was very, very speaceable.
He really got it. Mister President. We probably have a
hundred questions for you, but so many of them are
not appropriate for this venue. So we'll keep it on
this topic for now, and we'll appreciate your time today.
Perhaps that street smarts came from growing up in the
Midwest Cape Girardo and Missouri along the Mississippi River. Later

(55:23):
he went on to work for the Kansas City Royals
and the Pittsburgh Pirates before he turned to his attention
full time to radio in Sacramento, California. But you just
said something a moment ago, and Harris picked up on it.
Just tell us more about how you two got to
know each other. I'm thinking of twenty fifteen, the summer
seventeen candidates on a stage in Cleveland. At what point

(55:45):
did he conceive that you were the guy? And how
did that come about? Well, I got a call from
a friend of mine who was a big Rush fan,
and he said, Rush loves you. I said, now, I
don't see that. You know, I hadn't heard. I'm not
able to listen to the radio during the afternoon too much.
You're on the trail and you're making speeches or doing

(56:05):
whatever you're doing. I was actually making speeches and running
a business. I was doing both of them simultaneously, right,
And he just told me that, And then all of
a sudden I started getting little transcript stuff. I would
try to listen everyone out. He was there right from
the beginning, and it was incredible. And then I guess
I called him just to thank him, and we developed

(56:27):
just some very good friendship. We played golf together a
little bit. He was a very strong guy, physically, very strong,
hit the ball a long way, he was. I guess
the reason I asked that question. You think about about
five years ago. You don't strike me as his kind
of guy back then. What changed? Well, I don't know.

(56:49):
You know, you never know about people. I like some
people that nobody would think I like, and I dislike
some people that everybody would say, Oh, that's that's a natural.
We know, we all know about that, right And you
never know who you like and who you don't like,
or you know where it all ends up. But right
from the beginning he was so great. And you know,
and I have a very beautiful weakness. I always seem

(57:12):
to like people that like me. Okay, you know, it's
much easier when they don't like me. I cannot go
for them so much, so call they're called that a weekness.
But but that's the way. That's but Russia, we're so
gracious and so great, so that over a period of
time I got to know. And he loved his country.
He loved the country. He loved his wife and his family,

(57:33):
and he loved his fans, his audience, which was I
think maybe the biggest ever. There's never been anything like it.
You know, when Sean says irreplaceable, he really means it too.
He's irreplaceable. You know, I'm curious, mister president, what did
you talk about with Russia? Limbaugh if you had the
opportunity before he was too ill to do so, about

(57:54):
what might be next for you? He seemed and I
know because I've I've talked with him. He is a
man and a vision but he also likes the art
of what is coming next that you can't predict. True,
But did you talk about that? Yeah? He was truly
a man of the future. He loved this country so much.
He loved the people of this country so much. He

(58:15):
was so happy with what we did. We rebuilt the military,
you know, all things that he liked. We cut taxes
that we cut regulations, which maybe is even more important
at the tax cuts. Frankly, that's why we built that
foundation that can propel us if it's not messed up.
But Rush was just somebody that he loved talking about
the country in the future. He was very much a

(58:37):
future person, and he was very proud of the country.
He was very disappointed by certain things that happened in
the country and that you know, just have been happening
in the country, very very disappointed, but he thinks that
it'll all work out. It'll all work out very well.
He was just something special and he would express it
very well in the show. I mean he was He

(58:57):
was very open. I think that's why you show did
so well. Was very open to his listeners, to his fans,
of which there were record numbers. Did he say to
you what role he would like to see you play next? Well,
we didn't talk too much about that. I didn't want
to talk about that too much either, because I was

(59:19):
disappointed by voter tabulation. I think it's disgraceful what happened.
We were like a third world country on election night
with the closing down of the centers and all of
the things that happened late in the evening. And he
was furious at it, and many people are furious. You
don't know how angry this country is. And people were furious,
but he was somebody at the same time, you know,

(59:42):
he thinks about the past, but he projects out to
the future. That was rush. I mean, he wants to
learn from the past and get things fixed. But he
was he was somebody that really felt that was a
very important victory for us. We should have we should
have had it. That we did have it. But he
was somebody that felt that was a very important election.

(01:00:05):
And I did too. I mean I could too. You
see what's happening now and so, you know, but maybe
more than anything else, we just became very friendly. And
he could talk about any subject, whether it's politics or sports.
As you know, met for sure his sports career. I mean,
he loved sports. He loved any sport, it didn't matter
any sport. He could talk about any sport. He was

(01:00:27):
a conversationalist. He was a brilliant guy. Didn't get enough
credit for that. Totally brilliant. And he was a conversationalist.
And he was unique. He was unique. He had a way.
Maybe it was the voice. You know, you never know,
why does somebody have more viewers? Why why do you
have more viewers than other people that compete against you
two You never know, you know, it's something, it's something,

(01:00:48):
there's something in the air. There's the voice, or the
or the brain power, whatever it is. He had something
very special in a political sense, mister President, either during
the primary fight of two thousand and sixteen leading up
to the election or the four years you were in
the White House, did you feel a political need to
go to Rush Limbaugh knowing that he is you know,

(01:01:09):
he is a kingmaker in so many conservative circles. Did
you ever get that sense that Limbaugh could help you
on set issue? Well, because it happened so early, Bill,
you know his support. You know, it wasn't like, wow,
let's now start to get people on board, says. You know.
When I ran, a lot of people didn't think I
would win because I had never done it before. They
said you needed experience, and you needed all of those things.

(01:01:32):
And I understand that. But Rush felt very early that
you know we're going to win. He felt from the
escalator ride down. I mean, I think, before the speech,
if you want another trip, But no, I never had
to think about it because he was there so early.
The only thing I did do is I got to
know him, and I got to know him because he
was so gracious. He was so good to me, so gracious,

(01:01:52):
and he loved Catherine. He was. He was telling me
so many I mean, story after story, how she put up.
You know, it's a very tough period. This period was
he was going through hell, and he said that this
was he was married. He told me he was married
to an angel and the help and the devotion. And
I could see it too. I could see it. You

(01:02:13):
could see it when I gave him the award. Hell
proud he was. He was just, you know, something incredible.
But he really loved his family, He loved Catherine. He
was a great man and he deserves it. All Right.
That was the President commenting on Rush Limbaut and Fox
News earlier today. We'll get to your calls coming up
in the next half hour. The President will also be
on Hannity tonight nine Eastern. The great one Mark Levin

(01:02:36):
will be there and a tribute show to Rush. I mean, Babe,
Ruth Hank, Aaron Mickey Mantel, Lou garrigum As, Jim Gray,
my sports friend says, just the goat the greatest of
all time in this industry. We all benefited from the

(01:02:57):
path that he forged. All Right, News Round Up and
Formation Overload hour. Thank you, Scott Shannon Scott Shannon writing
me earlier today. You know we had talked about Rush
so many times, Scott and I. Scott is is just
you know, see wrote me, It's just a sad day
for America. He wrote me, goes he changed everything in

(01:03:19):
so many different ways. And that's how we're going to
spend this half hour in this special tribute that all
my team has put together to Rush. In the final
half hour, we'll get to your calls. We'll have a
full show tonight. Rush will honor Rush. The President will
be calling in a former President Trump or President in
the exile, Donald Trump, Mark Levin, and others. But here's

(01:03:41):
our tribute to Rush. Been with the charitable efforts that
we have engaged in, and all of it has been
to my benefit. All of it has been for the
h and yours. It's the benefit of people who are
the recipients of our efforts. So many people have put

(01:04:01):
me first in all of this, and I understand now
what lou Garrick meant, because I certainly feel like that.
I feel extremely fortunate and lucky. I said, well, what
are you best at? And I said, probably being on
the radio. Well there's your answer. Do what you're best
at and you'll at least be happy regardless how well

(01:04:25):
you do it. So I decided to give radio one
more chance. I'm sure you've all felt like you aren't
going to ever amount to anything, even though you knew
you were capable of it. I felt that way. The
only difference between you and me is that I'm up
here and you're out there. And the only reason I'm
up here is because you're out there. You have rejuvenated

(01:04:46):
my life, and you have made me something I never
even thought I could be. And I have just one
thing to say to you, A sincere and heartfelt thank you.
What a Hilary had one in twenty sixteen. Stop and
think of that. There wouldn't be a roaring economy EI.
There wouldn't have been any tax cuts, There wouldn't have
been any rollback of regulations. There wouldn't have been any

(01:05:07):
squaring of the deal with NATO. There wouldn't have been
any read on trade deals. The Obama administration told American people,
get used to it. There's a new American economy and
its flat line or in decline. America's passed. We didn't
really deserve that. America was founded by a white patriarchy
set itself up for itself. People discriminated against. But those

(01:05:28):
days are over, so now days behind us. They wouldn't
deserve those anyway. We don't deserve to be a superpower.
So we had a flat line economy. We were told
Obama's out there in Indiana telling these people their jobs
are never coming back. And somebody in the orders mister
Trump says he can bring up Obama says, what's he
going to do? Wave the magic won't. Look what happened,

(01:05:50):
We got the jobs back. It can be done. They
don't even want to make America great. They resent the
whole idea of America becoming great. They resent the idea
of America as a superpower run in the world for good.
We're a good guy, Rush. I just wanted to congratulate
you on thirty years. This is your favorite president and
I think you are fantastic and I heard about it,

(01:06:13):
and today is the big day thirty years. I wanted
to call personally and congratulate you. I am florid. I
thought there was nothing anybody could do to surprise me today.
I've been preparing for anything. Mister President, A very special man, Rush,
and you have people that love you. I'm one of them,
but you're a very very special guy. Would you do

(01:06:33):
for this country? People have no idea how important your
voice is. So I just wanted to personally make this
one and I said, I'll even dial the number myself
if I have to. But I just want to congratulate you.
Thirty years and that tough business is incredible and you're
stronger now than ever before. Well, I thank you so much.
It's such a thrill to hear from you. You know,

(01:06:55):
people don't realize what a great achievement thirty years is
and that cutthroat business that you happen to be, and
you know you might not find that because you're so
good at what you do, but as a cutthroat business,
truly an amazing accomplishment. And there's no voice like it
then you. Even your friend Hannity agrees with that. He said,
there's nobody like this man. So I said, no, gee,

(01:07:18):
I guess I thought you two would be competitive. He said, nope,
he's the Dean. No where I told you. The Dean
was a guest hosted. He guest hosted for me when
we first started. No he's great, and he's a big
he's a tremendous fan of yours. That they all are,
everybody is. So I just want to congratulate you thirty
years of and just do it for another thirty years
after that. You can take it easy, Okay, I will

(01:07:40):
do that. Just stay around as long as you do. Okay,
you have a deal. Today, Americans had few options for
political commentary. The news of the day. Journalism was decidedly
one sided. Network news along with the print media, they
were the kings of all information in America. That all

(01:08:01):
changed thirty years ago this day, nineteen eighty eight, it
changed forever. A man from a small town called Cape Gerardo, Missouri,
kicked off a brand new national radio program. It gave
a voice to the millions of conservative in this country
that have been ignored, impugned, their values diminished for so long.

(01:08:21):
In doing so, he started what would now become a
new media revolution in this country, one that radically would
permanently alter the media landscape in America and by the way,
paved the way for people like me, the great one,
Mark Levin, Laura Ingram, and so many others. Well, tonight,
we're celebrating thirty years of the Rush Limbaugh Show, the

(01:08:42):
pioneer of conservative talk radio. That's Tonight's many monolog thirty
years ago today, August first, nineteen eighty eight, the Rush
Limbaugh Show kicked off nationally on fifty six radio stations
around the country. The show was radically different from anything
else on the airwaves at the time. Now, for decades,

(01:09:03):
all Americans look, we were force fed. We got our information, commentary,
news from the decidedly one sided, left wing leaning traditional
mainstream media, but with a very clear, funny, fun refreshing,
informative conservative perspective. Or Rush filled what was a desperately
needed void in the country, and he gave voice two

(01:09:25):
millions of US now Russia, Syndicated nationally on more than
six hundred of America's best radio stations, heard by more
than twenty seven million people every week. And as it
turns out, well, time flies when you're kind of like
spearheading an entired movement and an entire new genre of media.
Take a look, I said, Well, what are you best at?

(01:09:47):
I said, probably being on the radio. Well there's your answer.
Do what you're best at, and you'll at least be happy,
regardless how well you do it, so I decided to
give radio one more chance. I'm sure you've all felt
like you aren't going to ever amount to anything, even
though you knew you were capable of it it. I felt
that way. The only difference between you and me is

(01:10:08):
that I'm up here and you're out there. And the
only reason I'm up here is because you're out there.
You have rejuvenated my life and you have made me
something I never even thought I could be. And I
have just one thing to say to you, a sincere
and heartfelt thank you. And media was forever changed. Here's

(01:10:28):
the question I want to throw out tonight. What would
America be like without Rush? Without talk radio? But without
Rush on the air for the last thirty years, without
a doubt, he has now had a massive impact decade
after decade, year in and year out. The Doctor Democracy

(01:10:49):
is the single most influential voice in the early nineties,
holding the corrupt Clinton's accountable, playing a vital role in
the historic Republican midterm surgeons new king Ridge come into
power nineteen ninety four. Now he pushed for America's tough
response after three thousand of our fellow Americans were slaughtered
on nine to eleven two thousand and one, he was

(01:11:11):
a leading voice for the Tea Party movement. In twenty ten,
he was one of the only people that were warning
against Obama's radical left wing ideology an agenda, rightly predicting
that those policies would fail. And recently he has been
a steadfast, powerful voice for what is the working Trump agenda,
the conservative agenda. And you see the dividends every day.

(01:11:35):
Take a look. Donald Trump is like anybody else would be.
He won the presidency. He won the presidency against all odds.
He resents deeply this idea that anybody helped him, particularly
the Russians. You people in the media are nuts if
you think Donald Trump is going to go along with this,
that's not who he is, or Republicans and Democrats, but

(01:11:55):
it's basically people who are pro government, pro washings and
new things government. Washington's the center of the world. They'll
they'll give occasional mentions of these things that you mentioned,
these policies to placate voters. But going back to an
original question you had here, they don't want Trump to succeed.

(01:12:16):
On today, the thirtieth anniversary of a syndication, Well, I
got a call from a pretty special surprise guest. Let's
listen it. Rush. I just wanted to congratulate you on
thirty years. This is your favorite president and I think
you are fantastic and I heard about it and today
is the big day, thirty years. I wanted to call
personally and congratulate you. I am florid. I thought there

(01:12:41):
was nothing anybody could do to surprise me today. I've
been preparing for anything. Mister President, A very special man, Rush,
and you have people that love you. I'm one of them.
But you're a very very special guy. Would you do
for this country? People have no idea how important your
voice is. So I just wanted to personally make this one.
And I said, I'll even dial the number myself if

(01:13:02):
I have to. But I just want to congratulate you
thirty years and that tough business is incredible and you're
stronger now than ever before. Well, I thank you so much.
It's such a thrill to hear from you. My friend
Neil Boort's also a talk shows once we're fer to
Russia is the Babe Ruth of talk radio. He was right,
and Ris called with Rushi today. The President also brought

(01:13:24):
up how often I call him the Dean of talk radio.
What's this? You know, people don't realize what a great
achievement thirty years is and that cutthroat business that you
happen to be in. You know, you might not find
that because you're so good at what you do. But
there's a cutthroat business and for you to do this
for thirty years is truly an amazing accomplishment and there's

(01:13:45):
no voice like it. And you. Even your friend Hannity
agrees with that. He said, there's nobody like this man.
So I said, no, gee, I guess I thought you
two would be competitive. He said, nope, he's the Dean
where I told you the Dean was a guest toast
that he guess tasted for me when we first started. No,
he's great, and he's a big he's a tremendous fan
of yours. That they all are. Everybody is. So I

(01:14:08):
just want to congratulate you thirty years and just do
it for another thirty years after that. You can take
it easy, Okay, I will do that. Just I'll stay
around as long as you do. Okay, you have a deal.
That's a pretty good deal. But you know what, it
is a competitive business. But people like myself, the great one,
Mark Levin, Laura Ingram, and most people that work and

(01:14:29):
talk radio. We all understand that he forged a path
for all of us. Here's the big question, though, I personally,
you think back in the last thirty years, think about
America today without Russia's voice, that booming conservative voice for
thirty years, his unwavering commitment to conservative ideology, philosophy. Frankly,

(01:14:53):
his wonderful, warm sense of humor is outrages humor, his
steadfast love of country. He's literally given the country insightful
commentary decade after decade, and it has changed the media
landscape in this country forever. As he led the way
forging a path, like earlier pioneers like Jerry Williams and

(01:15:14):
Barry Farber, Bob Grant, all these guys, some outrageous, controversial,
some knot, we get to do what we do today
because he single handedly opened up a whole new marketplace.
He had the courage of his convictions. He paved the
way for a new media and a political revolution. And
the fact, for example, you're watching me right now is
in part because of these great pioneers courageously forging that path.

(01:15:40):
He had the audacity to stand up versus the status quo.
He took a lot of heat. He stood for honest, conservative,
great American values. They have tried again and again to
take him down, and they take it just like they
try to take Mark Laura Me down whenever they can.
But here we are, We're blessed, and we're better off
as a country. The media has some diversity because of

(01:16:03):
his life's work, So Russia on behalf of me, Mark Laura,
Conservatives everywhere, millions of us, thank you. Hey, Look, before
we wrap up today, I have to take just a
brief moment here to extend sincere thanks to Sean Hannity.
I was, I was told you're gonna want to watch
Sean's monologue tonight. Got a note from somebody working on

(01:16:26):
the staff, You're gonna want to watch this tonight. So
I turned it and I was floored. I was, did
you all see it last night? I honestly, it was
so strange. I've I've never I don't want to make
too big, but I've never had any well, I've never
had all that stuff ever said about me or this program,

(01:16:51):
and it just was over the top, exceptionally well done.
I was while I was dabbing at my eyes when
this was going on, because it was so heartfelt the
way Sean spoke of this program and of me and
our friendship, and I will always remember it. It was well,

(01:17:13):
I don't know house to say it was. It was
unlike anything that has ever been said in ways of
describing this program and me, And when you're not accustomed.
I imagine that people on the left are accustomed to
that kind of treatment all the time and it becomes
something that they expected don't appreciate it. But man, for me,

(01:17:34):
people on our side day, I'll never get anything like that,
and I just have to And I sent Sean a
note privately thank them, but I wanted to acknowledge it
here on the program of day too, because it was
just it was just great and deeply meaningful. All I

(01:17:55):
will take a quick break, final half hour your calls.
When did you first hear your thoughts on? Is passing? Next?
All right? Twenty five to the top of the hour,
eight hundred and nine four one, Sean, if you want
to be a part of the program, you know, I
purposely stayed off social media. I always do. I don't
have email anymore, and I just asked my team, my

(01:18:17):
staff here. UM, let me guess the media is vicious
as always, and the answer was yes. And this is
just this is who they are. At the end of
the day, we know who Rush is. They don't define
Rush Limbaugh's career. They don't need They never understood conservatism ever,

(01:18:44):
they don't want to. All they know is smear, lie, slander, besmirchment, attack, attack, attack, attack, attack.
And we know the real Rush Limbaugh, the pay treat
a person that loved God, family and country. Why did

(01:19:05):
so many millions, tens of millions of Americans if you
add over the generations that grew up and then became
prominent conservatives in part, in large part, in many cases,
because of Rush. So I'm ignoring that noise. I want
to take a lot of your calls, UM, I know

(01:19:26):
how so many of you feel about today, and I
just wanted to give you all a chance to talk
about this incredible, most talented, greatest of all time broadcasting legend.
We're going to start with our dear friend Don and
Lake Ronkonkoma, who I know love Rush all these years

(01:19:48):
and we've been friends for many years too, very much so.
I had been to a couple of his fundraisers in
the city you've been doing. When I heard his what
Catherine's boys come over the radio and announce his passing,
I was numb and I'm still numb, and I'm gonna
be number over a while, you know, but I will
miss his strength and his optimism, Sean, his driving to

(01:20:09):
keep pushing forward. I remember in October eighth, on two
thousand and one, he announced he was going deaf. Didn't
stop him. He pushed forward. He had addiction to painkillers,
didn't stop him. He beat it. He took a time
off the radio, he beat it, and he pushed forward.
You know how many the many times at the Left

(01:20:29):
tried to go up to his advertisers, having kicked off
the radio his whole career. Ye tried to do that
his entire career. They've tried to silence him and they failed. Yep.
And then he had to love Uh Dance Bake Sale
during the nineties. That to see that thing grow and

(01:20:50):
grow and grow, and that his charities. He was the
biggest staunch the supporter of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. This morning,
I was moving to shirts around my class. I found
this Betsy Raw shirt that I had bought also his
Green Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, his Towers Tunnels of Towers Foundation,

(01:21:12):
all these things. I'll just say, Rush Limbaugh, you know,
and I'm listen. I know for a fact he's donated
millions and millions of dollars. Yeah, I know of individual
cases of his his incredible generosity. Yeah, Um, I know,
the same guy you're describing, um Don And you know

(01:21:37):
it's um You know, you just don't get the great
talent that just comes along every day. Yeah. It was
so heartfelt, it was so from the heart. He was
just you had to tune in to hear what Rush
had to say. He was talking of both snardly today
and I said, I don't when he went when he
lost his hearing, and we all have hearing on radio

(01:22:00):
if you've been at it any length of time, but
when he went completely deaf, Yeah, and how he was
able I could tell you right now I would not
be able to accomplish that. It is all at his
task impossible as a broadcaster, hearing is instrumental, and and
he did it. Um yeah, Well, I was in his

(01:22:24):
presence in New York when he demonstrated how that Cochley
implant work. It was just an amazing, amazing medical breakthrough
for him and for us well, and and and it
worked for him and he and you know what, Like
I've often said this, nobody gets through this life without
facing challenges, difficulties, problems. You know, we're all gonna get hit.

(01:22:48):
Nothing's gonna nothing's gonna hit as hard as life itself,
as Rocky says to his son, right, but it ain't
a matter of how hard you can get that you
get hit. It's a matter of how hard you can
get hit and keep moving forward and keep moving forward.
And we owe it to Rush. This was his life's work.
We will do will never match his talent, will never

(01:23:10):
match his voice. It'll forever be sorely missed. And but
we'll do our best because that's what he'd want us
to do. He didn't he didn't have to stay on
the radio for the last year. That's where he wanted
to be. He wanted to be with us, He wanted
to be with his incredible audience, all all many in

(01:23:34):
this audience, the people that really make the country great.
I guess he could have, you know, flown off to Europe,
other countries, had a bucket list. No, his bucket list
was what he did every day and that's where he
chose to be. And if he could have been there today,
he would have been there, and he wanted to be there.

(01:23:55):
I'm sure in these these final weeks as he was
struggled and I was getting nervous because he had been
off the air for a while. Don thank you, my friend,
Thanks for sharing all that. Appreciate it. M J Florida,
thank you for checking in. Hey, well simplify Sean. I
thought of you immediately, you and Mark the great one immediately,

(01:24:16):
and I happen to catch you earlier on the television
and it's the three of you, such great, big men,
but with such powerful, wonderful voices, but the softest and
kindest hearts. And you say your step noticed on media,
social media. I don't have social media, but for the
left to become unhinged and you know, awful and terrible,

(01:24:39):
it just shows what a great and wonderful person Rush
was and what a huge difference he made because he
was so funny and so humorous. It killed them, It
killed him them, and he will just always be remembered.
And I just I have a straight cat outside and
I didn't have a name for him, and I just
named them l R L. Little Rush Limbaugh and that's

(01:25:03):
the name of my cat because I was such a big,
tough man like Rush had such a heart for cats
and his little you know, pumpkin who passed away. And
your other guests Don mentioned about the United States Marine
Corps and law enforcement. You know, those are the two
big things in my life, Marine Corps and law enforcement
and everything. And just the giving that he did and

(01:25:24):
the quiet giving and most people aren't very quiet about giving,
but such a quiet giver, but allowed force to be
reckoned with and he will just be so missed. And
it was so wonderful hearing your voice and Mark Levin's
voice and others today and just you know, just keep
up the good fight. And you you know what, Sean,

(01:25:44):
you are such a bold and tough guy. You don't
take any crap. But one thing is when you were
when you speak about Rush and even Mark, you're so humble.
And people say, Sean hannay humble when it comes to
admiring greatness and knowing that where you got, you know,
your start, and how you just gave him compliments and stuff.
That is so humble of you, Sean, And I just

(01:26:05):
thank you, and I know there's for continuing on the site,
Am jay I am. I am truly grateful. You know,
That's how I feel all of us in this industry.
Ohe him adet of gratitude, all of us. And you know,
I remember scared to death filling in for him. I

(01:26:25):
was talking about it earlier, the first time I filled
in for him, and then the golden EIB microphone dropped.
That was not the best moment of my life, because
it really is gold and your Alec Baldwin moment. It was.
It was it was rough. Literally the microphone fell off
to stand and I'm like, I have my head down
on the desk trying to finish the opening monologue. I'm

(01:26:46):
sweating profusely, about to have a fold on panic attack,
and Rush in in just rush fashion, comes back from
the day off of vacation. I don't remember exactly when,
and it goes Sean Hannity dented the golden the IB
mic and I'm like, oh, I'm doomed. I am so doomed. No,

(01:27:11):
you know, but it was it was just rush. It
was his humor, I mean, and multiple layers of it,
and it's it was so funny you know, people would
come to New York he would tell this story and
they'd be, you know, looking for the EIB building in
Midtown Manhattan. And you know, MJ, there never was an

(01:27:33):
EIB building in Midtown Manhattan. The building was whatever building
he was broadcasting from, which I think at the time
was Twopenn Plaza, where where where I had worked for
many years myself, and and and I remember when I
would fill in form MJ. And I just and it
was such an opportunity that he gave me. And he
was generous about everything, and because and I loved all

(01:27:57):
the people that would fill in from Walter Williams, Jim
back in the early days, Tony Snow filled in for him. Um,
I all the great I don't want to miss some
people's names here. I'll forget some. And there's so many
good ones, Mark Belling recently and others. And I'm not
I'm not purposely excluding anybody. But I always knew when
there was a fill in, and I wanted to listen
to me, where's Rush? Why is he on vacation? Um?

(01:28:21):
And I knew when I would fill in that the
audience was gone, Where's Rush. I don't want I want
to hear him, and so I always took it as
a huge responsibility and just to just not to chase
everybody away in the meantime. But you know, God bless him.
I mean, you know, I believe in an afterlife. I

(01:28:45):
believe in a heavenly Father. I believe in heaven, and
I believe that's where Rush is. I know he was
a strong Christian, and I know his faith got stronger
later in his life, and he was even talking about
it on the air. And you know, none of us
are going to live forever. And and he lived his
life to the fullest, and he lived it the way

(01:29:08):
he wanted to live it. And and when he got
this diagnosis, he stayed where he wanted to be on
the air with us, and we're blessed because of it.
Absolutely retired, but he stayed in there for us, stayed
in it. And let me tell you, those chemo treatments

(01:29:28):
knock you on your ass, and then some they have
kill you to try and save you. And and they
were able to keep him alive longer than he than
than the original diagnosis. That part he's already disclosed. That's
all true. Um, thank you, MJ. Don and IOWA Hey,
Don how are you. Hi? Hi Sean, thank you for

(01:29:50):
taking my call. Thank you for calling now. It's kind
of tough. I've been listening to you since you were
a guest host on the on the Rush Limball Show.
I've been listening to Rush since I don't know, eighty
nine ninety when I didn't even like him because he
was boastful and braggadocious and loud and in your faith.

(01:30:11):
And it turned out that he was just always sure
of what he was saying, and you know, confidences from
the Latin. That's a good point, you know, with deity,
but go ahead, No, when I heard his wife come
on the radio, my eyes immediately welled up because, you know,

(01:30:31):
it was just so tough and simplified to m J
yourself and to Catherine and Rush because you know, always
faithful and it's just so important. I started listening to
Sean Hannity because of Rush, watching Hannity and Combs because
of Rush. And uh, I'll tell you it's it's it's

(01:30:53):
gonna be tough without Rush. You you're gonna carry on
and you're gonna do a great job. But it's not
you know, Look, he's irreplaceable. Nobody can replace him. He
can't replace Babe Ruth Lou Garrig and Mickey Mantle and
Derek Jeter. You just can't. But we'll all well, you know,
but I know, I know this. I know he'd want

(01:31:15):
us to fight for everything he fought for in his life,
and that is this great country and the cause of
liberty and the cause of freedom. It was his passion.
This country was his passion, and he was he was
always optimistic about our future, and we recently had some
discussions about it. But Don and Iowa, God, bless you,

(01:31:36):
my friend. Thank you so much for listening to us
and being with us every day. We all have, you know,
a lot of work to do, all of us combined.
We've got a big void here. Eight hundred and nine
for one, Shawn our number. The President Mark Levin on
Hannity tonight, been with the charitable efforts that we have
engaged in, and all of it has been to my benefit.

(01:31:58):
All of it has been or yours. It's the benefit
of people who are the recipients of our efforts. So
many people have put me first in all of this.
I understand now what Luke Garrick meant, because I certainly

(01:32:19):
feel like that I feel extremely fortunate and lucky. All right,
that's going to wrap things up for today. I believe
in our afterlife. I believe that we're created by one God,
and one of his good and faithful servants has returned home.

(01:32:39):
Rush godspeed. Will miss you always, never forget you, appreciate
all you've done for us. Former President Trump. Mark Levin
tonight at nine Hannity, Fox News Channel, and to all
of his audience, our love prayers are with you always
as well. We'll see you tonight

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