Was Rush Limbaugh Done
with Conservatism?
American Thinker,
by
Rich Danker
Original Article
Posted By: Magnante,
2/26/2021 6:58:39 AM
In a trail of observations that began with Trump's campaign in 2015 and peaked during the last year of his life, the late Rush Limbaugh, as he was in and out of the studio battling cancer, was on a path to the previously unthinkable. He was ready to let go of the ideology he'd spent three decades promoting — Reaganite conservatism — and replace it with right-wing populism. Specifically, the right-wing populism of the just-defeated Republican president. Why?
Limbaugh, the self-proclaimed "mayor of Realville," was constantly trying to see around corners. What he saw was a political movement that offered more staying power and strength against the left
Reply 1 - Posted by:
philsner 2/26/2021 7:28:40 AM (No. 708695)
Conservatism is a set of values that do not change. Rush Limbaugh lived those values. Conservatism has nothing to do with self serving politicians calling themselves republicans.
This article is garbage.
81 people like this.
As any longtime Rush listener can tell you, we were not minds of mush being instructed by Rush. We found someone who thought like we did, and became loyal listeners. Although he definitely educated and convinced many a liberal with his reasoning skills and brilliant banter.
The genuinely cheerful pictures of both George H. Bush and George W. Bush with Obama and Clinton did it for me. (Especially the one of George Bush and Bill Clinton with John Roberts and his three supreme court newbies at the recent inauguration!!!) Like Dorothy, I have seen the globalist uniparty men behind the curtain.
Public trust is gone forever.
As is the case with the FBI and CIA, I think the Republican party needs to be razed. It is impossible to root out the existing powerbrokers in a takeover.
58 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
F15 Gork 2/26/2021 7:41:23 AM (No. 708715)
IMHO it was the GOP Establishment that turned its back on the core principals of Conservatism.....President Trump was a clear alternative to the Go-Along Get-Alongs the GOP had been giving us for decades. I was onboard with President Trump by the time he reached the bottom of that escalator ride......
64 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
TexaTucky 2/26/2021 7:52:36 AM (No. 708729)
Navel gazing and splitting hairs. Rush was neither about Reaganite conservatism nor right-wing populism.
He was about liberty of the individual.
77 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
lakerman1 2/26/2021 7:53:03 AM (No. 708730)
The U.S. is a center-right country.
It took election manipulations to put Dementia Jo in office, in the 5 critical swing states, where Soros acolyte Secretaries of State shut down vote counts at the same time, wee hours of the morning.
But it also took precursors to pull off the theft. Dollar Blil Clinton's motor voter law, George W. Bush's Help America Vote Act, which created provisional ballots and flawed voting machines.
The danger now, especially with mail in ballots, is a permanent, out of touch, left wing loon running the country, who is allowed to do so by a cowardly U.S. Supreme court.
45 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Laotzu 2/26/2021 8:00:20 AM (No. 708737)
"Right Wing Populism" is nothing more than a description of the condition where the body politic -- the people -- are more interested in implementing conservative policy than their leaders. This is the world we've inhabited since Nixon. We would all rather worry about our kids, our jobs, and our own lives instead, but our feckless leaders can't seem to do anything other than apologize on cue.
21 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Clinger 2/26/2021 8:12:41 AM (No. 708747)
What the hell are you talking about Richie? This is just another attempt so psychoanalyze people you don't understand just as the left does repeatedly. You are trapped in labels and vocabulary. To understand us, and America, you must escape those constraints.
We believe in individual liberty and sovereignty, unalienable rights as defined in the declaration of independence and bill of rights, and limited government. That's it. At one time the public institutions protected that so we supported those institutions. You seem to have confused our support for that which protected the public as fealty to the institutions rather than the public. We have remained rock solid and consistent and so did Rush.
The only change is your muddled confusion stemming from attempts to define us as anything other than what and who we are. Because to do so would involve admitting that those who oppose us have themselves rejected the American experiment in freedom and are willing to return to the ancient form of totalitarianism.
You article is about your own confusion and blindness At least you won't run out of material.
47 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
IowaDad 2/26/2021 8:13:01 AM (No. 708749)
It’s easy to define “libertarian” and “socialism”, but hard to define “conservatism”. Rush always put hard working and decent Americans first. So did Trump. Rush never wavered from MAGA and America First. He never changed. But we did.
This unfortunate article argues with itself, and reaches no valid conclusion.
17 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
TJ54 2/26/2021 8:30:14 AM (No. 708769)
A garbage article
24 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
bigfatslob 2/26/2021 8:49:00 AM (No. 708784)
Rich Danker bloviating about something he knows nothing about and still doesn't. The last populist that scared a sitting president was Huey Long. Roosevelt wanted to be king when Long was the 'kingfish'.
10 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
seamusm 2/26/2021 8:51:48 AM (No. 708788)
Interesting take. It clearly articulates why the 'never Trumpers' so hated him - their time has passed and Republican voters fully rejected yet another Bush.
11 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
udanja99 2/26/2021 9:10:12 AM (No. 708811)
30 year Rush listener hear and I think that he was done with the kind of “conservatism” practiced by the likes of George Will, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell, Jonah Godberg, Rich Lowry and every other Never Trumper - those who would rather see the Republican Party destroyed than support its leader.
35 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 2/26/2021 9:29:00 AM (No. 708835)
Rush was done with the pretenders who destroyed what was left of the pubbie party and those who thought it was smarter to always follow the money and not their values. Assuming they had real values, that is.
16 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
DVC 2/26/2021 9:35:59 AM (No. 708850)
I remember Rush actually discussing dropping the use of "conservatism", saying that the term had become distorted and a magnet for hate. He toyed with the idea of calling it something else, just to avoid the automatic recoil of hatred that many have been taught when that word comes up.
If "conservatism" is something that McConnell and Ryan, and the Bushes and the other globalist, corruptocrats believe in - then I am already done with it. They are bad people. I'd be more comfortable with "Constitutionalist" or "free marketer" or something along those lines. Too many horrible people call themselves "conservatives" and believe in things very different from what I believe in.
17 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Highlander 2/26/2021 10:06:44 AM (No. 708889)
May I suggest calling ourselves “Populists” in place of “Conservatives?” I know it has a connotation with the un-washed granola crowd, but we can steal that word for ourselves. So far, no major left/liberal group is claiming it exclusively, that I know of.
4 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
padiva 2/26/2021 10:37:39 AM (No. 708924)
PDT was not defeated.
24 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
BarryNo 2/26/2021 12:39:05 PM (No. 709057)
I think Rush was done with Republicans.
I know I'm done with anyone sucking off the Washington teat.
1. Term Limits
2. Donations limited to $2000/voter per candidate. Candidates and office holders MAY NOT accept any gifts from business or foreign nationals. Any gifts belong to the USA.
3. After serving in office, the citizen is exempt from holding office for no less than 10 years.
4. In person voting with photo ID for everyone except military and active State Department officials.
5. Registered voters in national elections MUST BE citizens. Candidates in National elections must at least be naturalized citizens.
6. Localities can set up local elections to suit, but even local candidates MUST BE citizens of USA.
7.DROP all federal unions, and non elected workers are under contract for no more than ten years. No permanent positions in government bureaucracies.
I could go on. We need this. Even if we have to go to war for it.
9 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
MDConservative 2/26/2021 2:34:05 PM (No. 709149)
Rush Limbaugh, brilliant as he was with his talent on loan from God, failed to realize that ideology and politics are different animals. Reagan's "conservatism" was adopted until his "trusted" successor tossed it aside with "Read my lips..." betrayal. Bush41 was sold as a conservative because that was the hottest brand going. When the chips were down, the leopard failed to change its spots.
Politics is always a case of WIIFM. It's always a case of taking from one to parlay to another, always for greatest national benefit, of course. People know it, and largely get it, and hate to admit it, especially when their side is doing the taking and the getting. Everything in between is sheer bull-oney. Cut my taxes; raise his, or cut her benefits to balance the budget.
Limbaugh was the mayor of Realsville...and that meant maintaining and building and audience supporting those syndication checks and obscene profit timeouts. Entertainment, and make no mistake as to the nature of his show, must evolve with the audience without alienating anyone. He was masterful. And like others, his views and his analysis changed. Orthodox conservatism is yesterday's ascendant; populism is today's.
Leaders get in front of movements and guide them. Rush was doing exactly that.
1 person likes this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
pensom2 2/26/2021 4:32:37 PM (No. 709228)
I enjoyed Rush, and agreed with him 90+% of the time. I really like Trump. He's honest and direct in his political speeches, not arcane and lofty. I refuse to listen to most political speeches, left or right. They all lie and make promises they know they won't keep.
What I really like about Trump is that he fights back. When Pelosi or Schumer or the media insult him, he insults them right back. Dubya refused to engage or fight, and they buried him. And Trump got things done. He didn't just pontificate about ideology. He DID something about it. And that's more than can be said of any Republican president in the last 70 years, excepting only Ronald Reagan.
7 people like this.
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