We Have to Activate, Not Persuade

RUSH: “Dear Mr. Limbaugh: I was thinking about what you said yesterday when you seemed to say that you have given up trying to persuade people.” I don’t recall saying specifically I had given up trying to persuade people. I remember I talked about it. Anyway, “I feel the same way, Mr. Limbaugh. It sometimes seems like it’s just a pointless exercise. But it struck me that just two years ago, Donald Trump won the presidency by doing just that, by persuading people. So maybe things aren’t as dire as they sometimes seem — and I’m not saying that you seem dire, Mr. Limbaugh. I’m just…”

I don’t remember specifically what I was talking about yesterday that this is reacting to, but there’s a good question in here. The point is that the evidence we can still persuade people is there because Trump won the presidency. Well, let me ask you a question to think about. Just how many people did Trump persuade versus how many people already thought everything Donald Trump was saying, it’s just he was the only one saying it? So rather than persuading people, he activated people. He brought people back from the electoral dead.

People who had stopped voting, people who had given up that things they believed in were ever gonna happen because there was no political representation of them. They’d been lied to by one candidate after another during campaigns. These candidates got elected — and, after that, they do nothing to implement their so-called promises. So here comes Trump, a totally different guy — he’s not a politician — and he identifies a bunch of things that a slew of Americans already thought and were already enraged about.

They were already worried about, scared about, angry about, whatever. So Trump brought ’em back to life. He activated ’em. He turned them out as voters. I don’t know how many people he persuaded. We can talk about it if you have a thought on that. By the way, don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying the persuasion is dead. It happens all the time here — one at a time, two at a time, three at a time. I remember what it was. My point was that the key to victory for us is not persuading.

Like there’s a story somebody sent me, “Rush, if we just change our language… If we just change our language to the Millennials, we might be able to get through to them, because it turns out that Millennials are actually capitalists but they don’t know it. (sputtering) They say they’re socialists!” Oh, okay. So if we just change our language, we can persuade them. Maybe a few. Pick off a few here or there. Somebody else sent me a poll “Rush! Rush! You gotta put this on your website. You gotta really get this out there: 85% of the American people do not think there should be a religious test for judicial nominees!”

I yawned. “What?” You think that’s gonna change any minds? Do you think that’s gonna stop the Democrats from opposing every Christian that’s nominated? Do you think that’s gonna stop the Democrats from opposing every Catholic that’s nominated? Do you think because you gotta a poll that shows 85% of the American people don’t think there should be a religious test, and then Trump nominates Amy Coney Barrett to be on the Supreme Court and the Democrats are gonna stand down because of public opinion?

The Democrats are doing what they’re doing in defiance of public opinion! The Democrats don’t care. The left doesn’t care about public opinion. That’s the whole point! You know, we… I guess what I’m trying to say here is that we have been waging these political battles with the same techniques, strategies, and so forth, for as long as I’ve been doing this show. And they are all focused on trying to persuade the left of something. The Republicans are trying to persuade the media that they’re not racists, that they’re not bigots.

A lot of conservatives are trying to persuade liberals in the media that we’re not what they say we are. The rest of us are trying to persuade others that conservatism is not hate filled and racist and all that, instead of just focusing on strategies to win! There are more ways to win than simply persuade a bunch of brain-dead people on the left who are not persuadable anyway. Now, you might think that’s a little contradictory.

“Wait a minute, Rush. How do you win without persuading?” One thing you do is what Trump did. You activate a whole lot of people out there who already think what you do, who are either afraid to say so or have gotten so frustrated, they no longer vote. I’m not saying dispatch with persuasion. But to me, persuasion — the way we have been trying it — is rooted in defensiveness. Our art of persuasion begins with accepting a premise that there’s something wrong with us and that the way to go is convince ’em that they’re wrong about that, and I hate that!

I hate the whole premise that we have to prove to a bunch of ignoramuses that we’re not what they think we are because the media’s lied about it, because we’ve been doing this. The Republicans have been doing it. How’s it working out for ’em? Elected Republicans have been doing it. All kinds of people have been doing it for I don’t know how long, and the fact that we’re still doing it is testament to me that it doesn’t work. Not in large enough numbers to win elections. It might help you in the neighborhood. It might help you in your local community. It might help you at work.

But in terms of amassing gazillions and gazillions of people to vote with you, it’s like picking peas. It just doesn’t happen in large enough numbers.

I gave up trying to persuade liberals a long time ago. They’re not interested in facts, logic, or reasoning.

When I first escaped the liberal mind control plantation, I wasted years arguing with libs about politics and culture. I don’t think I ever convinced a single one to join me outside the razor wire.

I’m probably a lot more persuasive now, but I no longer have the will or inclination to help them emancipate themselves.

“Like there’s a story somebody sent me, “Rush, if we just change our language… If we just change our language to the Millennials, we might be able to get through to them, ...”

A month or 2 ago Rush was saying we need to change our language and not call ourselves conservatives anymore. The backlash was so great he had to walk it back the next day. I guess he forgot about that.

How will amnesty for a wall, that will never get built, activate voters? 1986.
Mexico n central America rewarded with 10 biliion additional taxpayer dollars.. and voters get amnesty proposals and a 30 day paid vacay for federal workers.

It would make one question if PA and other surprise states would continue to support a liberal agenda on border security. I find it hard to believe they suddenly became limited government voters. They did not vote for syrian rapefugees or amnesty. Were hey were single issue voters?

Rush is in a unique position to lead people into activism. He’s talked for 30 years and built a gigantic audience while the country had slid further and further downhill. It’ time for Rush and Mark and Sean to DO REAL THINGS that push back against the libs. The ones on our side who really are active are small in number - Judicial Watch, Project Veritas, Campus Reform, Laura Loomer and I’m sure some others.

It’s time to stop the talking and start with the action, Rush. I’ll partner with you - just lead the way. WE need a thousand more lawyers actively pushing back. We need 10,000 who will call businesses and show up to make libs lives a little worse. We need 100,000 college students who will demand their rights to speak their minds.

There are dozens of effective things that could be done. And yeah, it’s expensive. But I, for one, would pay $20 a month to see actual pushback happening. How many people in the audience of Rush, Sean, Mark and others would do the same?

Show us you will ACT and I’ll bet a LOT of people would contribute - and a lot of them would attend demonstrations, make calls, send messages and report on absurd lib behavior on a local basis.

So come on Rush, Sean, Laura, Mark, Michelle, Ann and others - we don’t need another show or another book - we need you to organize and lead a conservative activist army against the libs and the republican squishes.

It’s very sad but some people can’t get it because they don’t understand basic truth.

2 Thessalonians 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie

2 Thessalonians 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.