Citation From the April 13, 2020, edition of Premiere Networks’ The Rush Limbaugh Show

RUSH LIMBAUGH (HOST): To this day they continue to smear Donald Trump by saying he wasn’t prepared for coronavirus — when he was, and was the first — it was Fauci and others, as you will hear in a moment, who in January, February, March, were assuring everybody there was nothing to fear.

This effort to prepare — to portray Trump as unprepared, is as bogus as the Steele dossier. It’s as bogus as the phone call to Ukraine’s president. It’s as bogus as anything involving Stormy Daniels, the Trump-Russia collusion bogus hoax — which is a silent coup.

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The reason I’m talking about this is that it hasn’t stopped. It hasn’t stopped. They are continuing the effort to get rid of Donald Trump. And, folks, I’m here to tell you that those advocating — many, not all — many of the people advocating this ongoing economic shutdown, are doing it in hopes it’ll damage President Trump. There is no question about it.

This is so unsustainable, it is so unnecessary to this extent. But the real key is whenever anybody brings up any idea — any strategy, any plan to reopen — they universally reject it all. If you see anybody universally reject the concept of reopening, then I’m telling you they’re telegraphing their politics.

I’ll tell you something else that’s going on here. The American left is looking at this shutdown, and they’re saying, “You know what? This is great. This is a forerunner to the Green New Deal.” They are saying, “We are proving that we can shut down this economy, clean air, stop pollution, stop CO2s, eliminate the use of fossil fuels, and still — by virtue of government spending, i.e., socialism, keep people fed without them having to go to work!”

They are saying that this is exactly what needs to happen to save the planet and that we are in the midst of proving that it can be done, and the proof is that we can get people fed and we can keep them secure and safe in their homes not doing anything — and we can fine them for going to church now. In Michigan, you can’t even go see a friend without being fined. In Michigan, you can’t go to your vacation home. The governor there is out of control.

They’re pointing out that this is a golden opportunity to save the planet and sure enough, reading my tech blogs over the weekend, there already maps, charts, and graphs demonstrating how clean -- much cleaner the air is in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey since the shutdown. The left is on the march. They have many objectives. All of their objectives are tied, most of them. I can’t say all.

Many of their objectives are tied to this shutdown continuing. At the top of the objective list is getting rid of Donald Trump. Now, the next opportunity they think is gonna be the election in November. I don’t think they seriously believe that they can start brand-new impeachment hearings, and Pelosi says she’s not bringing Congress back ’til the end of May. So there’s no way they’re gonna be able to mount new investigations and new hearings, new witnesses.

They don’t have enough time. So the election is it. That’s what they’re targeting. That’s when they get rid of Trump, and that’s what they’re trying to do in maintaining the economic shutdown, which is not sustainable folks. This simply cannot go on. And it’s time to start paying attention — anytime you see it — to people advocating for it going on. Let me share with you some headlines that are indicative of what’s coming here.

New York Times: “He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus.” They go on and detail Trump’s travel ban, how he got fooled at every turn, how he wasn’t paying attention, how he didn’t care because he doesn’t care about people, how his instincts are bad, how he listened to the advice of the wrong people.

They have anonymous sources in this story. They don’t have any evidence in this story. They’re misrepresenting the Peter Navarro memo supposedly warning Trump of massive amounts of death, that Trump ignored and didn’t pay any attention to because Trump is incompetent. We’ve got audio sound bites to back this up, as you will hear. But there’s a counter to all of this that’s mounting.

There is a massive effort underway to reject the left-wing political claims, and they are taking place under the guise of being public service-oriented and health-related. The New York Times wants you to think that their only concern here is public health and that Trump endangered it and risked it. They have no desire for you to understand that this is a political objective.

From a website called Tech Startups, “Did Public Health Officials Mislead Us?” Pull quote: “Coronavirus is not a major threat for the people in United States, and this is not something the citizens should be worried about.” Who said that? You think it’s a pull quote from the Tech Startups? Let me read to you again: “Coronavirus is not a major threat for the people in United States, and this is not something the citizens should be worried about.”

Who said that?

Answer: Dr. Fauci on January 21st, right in the middle of when the New York Times says that Trump was unprepared, that Trump was asleep at the wheel, Trump wasn’t paying attention, Trump doesn’t care about people. That was not the only time Dr. Fauci. By the way, folks, when it comes to his health credentials and qualifications, no objection from me to Dr. Fauci. I have no intention of attempting to discredit Dr. Fauci in his area of expertise.

But I’m sorry. Whether we reopen schools or have elections or reopen the economy, I don’t think Dr. Fauci should be turned to as the decision-maker. The fact that the media goes to Dr. Fauci for the answer to these questions is also a political indication of the objective at hand. “Coronavirus is not a major threat for the people in the United States, and this is not something the citizens should be worried about,” said Dr. Fauci on January 21st.

He was asked about how deadly the virus is and if Americans should be worried. That was not the only time Dr. Fauci made such a misleading statement. In an audio from January 26, five days later, Dr. Fauci assured Americans that the coronavirus is nothing to worry about. "The American people should not be worried or frightened by this. It’s a very, very low risk to the United States," Dr. Fauci said on The CATS Roundtable hosted by John Catsimatidis.

That’s a grocery store magnate in New York. Dr. Fauci added: "It isn’t something that the American public needs to worry about or be frightened about." Notwithstanding what Dr. Fauci had said, Trump issued a travel ban five days later.” Now, how does Dr. Fauci get away with this?

If you want to talk about promoting unpreparedness, how does Dr. Fauci get away with not being held accountable for the things he said — and he’s not alone. Other people were saying similar things back then, many of them Democrats in New York and in California. Why does only President Trump face any accountability, and why is it that President Trump’s the only guy said to be unprepared here? Because this a political hit job taking place right before our very eyes.