Rush said yesterday on his show that Trump is definitely not a conservative and that he’s never called him one, and that in this election conservatism died when Rubio and Cruz lost in the primary:

RUSH: You know, as I said yesterday — and I guess it enraged many — there’s politics and there’s ideology, and I guess what enraged people was, “Who the hell…? What? Politics is ideology, you doofus!” I imagine some people said that. Well, not this year. Can somebody point to me the conservative on the ballot? “What do you mean, Rush? Are you admitting Trump’s not a conservative?”

(snorts) Damn right I am! Folks, when did I ever say that he was? Look, I don’t know how to tell you this. Conservatism lost, in the primary, if that’s how you want to look at it. We had Cruz; we had Rubio. By the way, I’m the guy… I got in trouble for this, too. You remember when the conservative movement was disavowing Marco Rubio early on in the primaries? The same conservatives, many of the same who are now and have been trying to disavow Trump.

They wanted to throw Rubio overboard because of his Gang of Eight heresy. And I remember, I’d had my fill of it, and I remember saying on this program… I came to his defense. I said, “I’m getting sick and tired of hearing how Marco Rubio is not a conservative. He is. All you have to do is listen to him,” and I got grief for that, too. It really is… I made the point yesterday that at election time the left, no matter how much they hate each other, they hate us more, and they unify.

They come together when it’s time to win. When it’s time to beat us, they come together. We haven’t figured that out, and I don’t know. A lot of people say, “Well, yeah, Rush, that’s because we got a lot of highly principled people who are not gonna sell out the just for the sake of winning.” Okay. To each his own. But I don’t know what… What do you want to do? Trump and his daughter propose this thing, it had conservative elements in it like the savings account option.

I was not surprised by caller reaction to it. “Hey, Rush, if the federal government’s passing out money, it’s about time those of us who’ve been paying for it for 20 years got some of it back!” What are you gonna do? Tell ’em, “You’re wrong. You’re betraying conservatism! I think you should die!” (choking back laughter) What are you gonna tell ’em? Is that their… (laughing) Is that what they want me to say?

Rush also addressed the “eternal question” he’s been getting from people who don’t like Trump and wonder when all this will end:

Well, look, it’s the eternal question. We had a guy earlier, “When is this going to stop?” It’s gonna stop when you nominate a conservative. It’s gonna stop when there’s a conservative that can win elections. That’s when it’s gonna stop. But it isn’t gonna stop then because when that happens, you better be prepared for more hate and more opposition than you’ve ever seen. If a conservative was elected president — and I wish it would happen.

I’ve wished it would happen for 25 years. You know what the left and the media would mobilize to do to deny this conservative? That’s why whoever the eventual conservative winner is had better be charismatic, had better be loved, had better be able to directly communicate with the American people — and I’m not saying being Ronald Reagan Jr., anything of the sort. I’m saying what it’s gonna take.

Because the degree of opposition is… Even what we’ve seen now, we haven’t seen anything. But the establishment’s gonna come together to protect themselves regardless of ideology. I wish conservatism was on the ballot.

I think this is the beef many people have with Rush, that he never stuck his neck out and fought for conservatives in the primary. He always played it down the middle, just analyzing the news, which much of it was about Trump. It came off as justifying the totality of Trump when many thought much of what Trump said and did should have been condemned.

I’m not blaming Rush for Trump. I don’t think any radio host or the collection of them could have really changed what happened. But it would have been nice if Rush had fought harder for Cruz (or other conservatives) and spent more time revealing why Trump is not a terrible candidate.

http://therightscoop.com/rush-trumps-not-a-conservative-and-i-never-said-he-was/