i want to bring in mark levin host of
life liberty and levin
and a fox news contributor he joins us
now
by phone mark good to have you with us i
heard you speaking earlier when the news
was
very fresh just a couple of hours ago
your thoughts as you've continued to
reflect on the loss of your dear friend
well martha first time i met you was at
his wedding wasn't it that's right
and uh he was one of my best friends
pardon me it's okay
i would say this very very happy with
the outpouring of support for him
and in many ways he would be shocked by
it people say he was a very regular guy
he was a regular guy
but he was utterly inquisitive curious
all the time he had a huge library in
his home
he read the great philosophers this is a
man who never went to college and he
didn't need to go to college
he uh we exchanged over the years many
many emails
lots of discussion about various issues
he became an expert on the constitution
the history of the nation all
self-taught
he was as kind as kind could be you know
early on uh
it's a wonderful staff snerdly
you can see the jokester cookie kid
carson who passed away and that upset
him
to all of us greatly and i would start
to send him early on you know some
issues on the constitution independent
councils the clinton years
and finally he tells a cookie who who is
kathleen gleason a wonderful lady did
his audio
and i want to talk to this guy directly
so he would talk to me and then he gave
me his email and then we would and he
appointed me the director of his legal
division
f lee levin because he didn't have a
legal division
but that's the way he was yeah and
i wanted to know about my kids later i
wanted to know about the grandkids
had us to his house was a tremendous
gentleman
and host and um
he smiled he laughed he was also serious
he was very very worried
particularly now about the future of the
country
and i think about all these things and i
think what was it that attracted him
to donald trump you know a lot of us
eventually were attracted but he was
attracted early on and i think it's this
trump was an outsider trump was rejected
by the elites
they said trump couldn't succeed
they all said the same thing about rush
and i think russia identified with that
in many respects
and also i think rush felt why should we
be controlled and hindered by what the
left or by
what the mainstream media tell us what's
okay what language we can use what we
can discuss this is america we are free
human
individuals human beings and he didn't
think it was terribly controversy
to be an old-time defender of the
country was he was absolute patriot
uh he gave it mounds and mounds of money
to different causes without making a big
fuss about it
he would help out individuals without
making a big fuss about it
and even even his later books
he and catherine with liberty and
paul revere and these folks in order to
reach out to young people
he really felt that the country
while he thought it was more than worth
saving and when i think of rush
generally i worked for reagan too and i
knew reagan
i campaigned for him in 76 and 80.
i've known some very very great people
and
rush limbaugh he's not at the top he's
near the top of the greatest people i've
ever known
i think he's in the category as newt
said if a reagan
of a bill buckley the milton friedman
he was not just a broadcaster he was an
activist
he had his own way of encouraging people
to do certain things
he was to some people a fatherly figure
to some people a brotherly figure
to some people like a son but he was
always good old rush
we could always rely on rush and get and
the worse
things got the more he wanted to tune in
and listen to what russia had to say
what is russia's take on this
that's what everybody wanted to know
what does russia say i'll tell you
he encouraged me to get into radar as
hannity did i didn't really want to get
into radio or anything
and i remember once he said
he wanted me to sub i said well i don't
know how to do it he said just do it
he'll do great so he'll throw you in the
water you know
and that's a big audience to just do it
and i said to him when i first started
out on radio
what can i possibly say after you speak
and hannity speaks then it's my turn
and he said mark they've heard me
they've heard hannity but they haven't
heard you
but this is the kind of guy he was he
didn't say only listen to me omnibus
even though he was yeah absolutely
hands down shawna taya absolutely the
best
but he he didn't even look at himself
that way you know
people would listen to him you know
about uh alone from god and went on to
this was all tongue-in-cheek stuff he
was hilarious absolutely
and a great guy yeah he had a great sort
of self-deprecating sense of humor that
i think people misinterpreted sometimes
um with you know the excellence in
broadcasting and
talent on loan from god and all of that
you know he it was
very funny uh i always thought that he
had a great
sense of humor and was hilarious and he
was generous with with people and
different even
you know people don't think this but you
know he liked to hear people's different
opinions
about things um before i let you go you
just said something a moment ago you
said because i always think of him as
such a great optimist
and a big picture observer
of america and the future you said he
was worried
right now can you talk an optimist he's
an optimist but he wasn't a pollyanna
that is he he can see the rising tyranny
he's concerned about all these things he
the long picture yes he's an optimist
we're americans
but he also understood in order to
succeed we had to fight we had free will
and you know he would encourage people
to get involved in election day would
encourage people to vote
he would you know it's very interesting
he was able to do something i'm
certainly not able to do which is
he was able to kind of back individuals
against other individuals
without offending the people he didn't
back you know like in the republican
party i found everybody apparently
but he he he
he either born without you or not he had
a fantastic
nature um and uh
and i but he was and is as so many of us
are are concerned about the future of
the country
look i'm not a psychologist i'm not a
mind reader but i feel certain he would
see
particularly the young people today
defend your country fight for your
country
speak out in smart ways learn the true
history of your country
many men and women have come before and
died for this country
don't be devoured by the by the leo
status neil marxist left
he would want others to carry the flag
he knew
the world didn't end with him as we all
know the world doesn't end with each of
us
he would want us all all to carry on
to save this great country and defend
this great country i'm telling you i
know that for sure
and he will be uh grievously missed
mark thank you so much i'm so uh glad
that he
encouraged you to um begin your
radio career and sean hannity encouraged
that you're such a great
voice for all of us on the constitution
and on history and on things that really
matter so
i appreciate you being here today thank
you very much
thank you