Rush's Theory on Why So Many Republicans Are Retiring: 'Democrats Are Finding Dirt'
The House Republican caucus is being rocked by the retirement of a series of Republicans in swing districts. In any ordinary year, this would be bad news, but considering the importance of 2020 — particularly in winning the lower chamber back from the Democrats — this is pretty serious news.
What’s the reason? Several different theories have been floated, usually revolving around the fact that these are mostly moderates who aren’t on good terms with President Donald Trump.
Radio icon Rush Limbaugh has a different theory, though: He thinks the Democrats might have some form of compromising material on them.
Limbaugh floated the idea on his Wednesday show.
“Look, I’ll tell you something else is happening out there, folks. I saw … Have you noted all the Republican members of Congress that are again retiring?” he began.
“I think one of the reasons we lost the House in 2018 is that there were a huge number of Republicans who retired,” Limbaugh said. “Now, we were told the reason was, ‘Well, they’re being term-limited out of their committee chairmanships, Mr. Limbaugh, and they don’t want to go back to just being regular members of the House. What’s in it for them? Once you become a committee chairman, you can’t go back to being a regular bencher.’
“OK. Fine. So they quit. Time to cash in. Time to use that experience to make real money, provide for your children’s future, defense contracts, whatever.
“But it’s continuing. Another guy, another Republican member of Congress — five terms, Texas — is retiring [Bill Flores]. Now, folks, I tell you something. I ran into a guy, a friend of mine some months ago who is from North Carolina. … I said, ‘Man, it’s not looking good. The Democrats appear to be taking over the state.'”
While his friend said that the Republicans “own North Carolina,” Limbaugh pointed out that the state’s governor was a Democrat and its major cities were liberal.
“Something … North Carolina is not true red Republican; I don’t care what anybody thinks. The Democrats are going in and taking over these local communities. All politics is local. That’s where they can have really tremendous impact on culture and a number of things because nobody’s paying any attention,” he went on.
“Now, in Texas, the Democrats are dying to take over Texas ’cause if they get Texas and the electoral votes of Texas, then (sigh) it’s not good. The Republicans need the electoral votes of Texas to counter New York and California.”
So, what’s the real problem here? Not what everyone seems to think it is, Limbaugh said.
“Now, people will say, ‘Well, Rush, I’ll tell you what it is. The truth be known: There’s a bunch of Republicans that just can’t stand Trump.’ That’s not what it is. That’s what they want you to think. That’s not what it is.
“You know what I think’s going on? I think — and don’t doubt me on that. I can’t prove this ’cause this is just a supposition. But I think, based on how I have seen Democrats and their operatives act, I think — and that given that nobody, no human being is clean and pure as the wind-driven snow,” Limbaugh continued.
“We’ve all got something in our closets. We’ve all done something that we don’t want people to know about. I think the Democrats are finding dirt, and they’re going to these Republicans, and they’re saying, ‘Do you want people to know about this? We are glad to publicize this about you.’ ‘Oh, no, no. No, no! Please don’t.’ ‘Well, OK. Then you gotta retire.’
“Now, I can’t prove it, but some of this stuff — and some of it may be legitimate. I mean, people retiring after 10 years, they may think it’s enough. It’s five terms. But it’s a lot of power to be giving up.”
He said that “it just seems to be that these retirements are predominantly Republican, and it’s all happening under the radar.”
“You hear about another retirement here, retirement there,” Limbaugh said. “They never add up in your mind. They’re all indiscriminate, little isolated stories — and what’s odd? Nothing’s odd about somebody retiring from Congress. But it seems there’s an exorbitant number of Republicans doing so, and I just have my suspicions about it. That’s all.”
While Limbaugh’s speculation is just that, he touches on a major issue: There are an awful lot of retirements going into the 2020 election.
It’s not just Flores and it’s not just those who preceded him. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin became the latest Republican to announce he wouldn’t run for another term just hours after Flores did, according to CNBC. Sensenbrenner has served 21 terms in Congress and was a key Republican in the House.
All in all, 14 Republicans have announced they won’t run for re-election in 2020.
Is it a question of dirt? There’s no way to tell for sure, of course, since this is just speculation on Limbaugh’s part.
However, this is a trend that can’t just be explained by floating the name of Donald Trump out there.
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