The second, and this goes to the heart of my book, is that Trump’s hateful rhetoric around immigrants-which was a core element his campaign pitch-echoed what Limbaugh had been talking about for years, in particular during the Obama presidency.

And once things got to that point, well, Limbaugh is as partisan as it gets, so Trump was his party’s guy. The answer to that is twofold: one, he wasn’t going to attack the front-runner, in case the front-runner ended up winning. Now, your question was why did Limbaugh embrace Trump. For those of you who have the long-term memory and in this for the long game, think Perot.” So, he’s still bringing up Perot. But, at the same time, there’s no doubt in my mind - I’ll tell you what this is shaping up to be. If he had, Limbaugh might well have liked him more.įinally, when Trump did announce in 2015, Limbaugh began his discussion of it as follows: “Well, well, well, well, Snerdley and I just spent the last half hour sitting here watching Donald Trump’s announcement that he’s going to run for president, and we were laughing ourselves silly. (4/20/11)” But in 20, when Limbaugh talked about Trump, I didn’t see him bring up immigration, and I don’t remember Trump talking about immigration in hateful, divisive ways back then either. Nor are 25% tariffs on imports from the ChiComs. Limbaugh also repeatedly characterized Trump as a Perot-like figure: “There are a lot of similarities, if you listen to Trump carefully, between what Trump’s saying and what Perot was saying, because they’re both oriented here in populism.” Limbaugh also reminded listeners that Trump toyed with running for the Reform Party nomination in 1999, during which time he proposed a one-time wealth tax of 15%, about which the host said “Now, that isn’t conservative. I think somebody’s given him a bit of a misread on the conservative base.

(4/19/11)” The host also said: “I do think has a skewed view of conservatism. For example: “I mean he’s a marginal Republican in terms of the way people classify (4/7/11).” On Trump’s statement that he would impose large tariffs on China: “it’s a foray into populism. However, when Trump was flirting in 2011 with a presidential run against Obama, Limbaugh also made clear that he was skeptical at best that Trump was a conservative Republican. He also praised Trump for his tough talk about China, and in general for “taking it to Obama” in a way Limbaugh didn’t see other Republicans doing. In 20 Limbaugh mostly used Trump as a way to talk about birtherism without having to fully endorse it himself. I had some notes on this from 20, and I also took notes on Limbaugh’s reaction to Trump’s announcement that he was running for president. Ian Reifowitz: First, my research did not focus specifically on what Limbaugh said about Trump during the 2016 campaign, as my focus was on what he said about the Obama presidency. Why did Limbaugh embrace Trump, and did that enable him to become president?

A few of the conservatives became Never Trumpers, most fell in line, but Rush Limbaugh was one of the few who could have undercut Trump’s candidacy but refused to ever attack Trump.

John Wilson: Trump’s candidacy, early on, divided the conservative movement because Trump is not a true conservative but a soulless con artist who believes in nothing but himself. I interviewed Ian Reifowitz via email about his new book which is being published today, The Tribalization of Politics: How Rush Limbaugh’s Race-Baiting Rhetoric on the Obama Presidency Paved the Way for Trump (Ig Publishing). Reifowitz is Professor of Historical Studies at SUNY-Empire State College and also the author of Obama’s America: A Transformative Vision of Our National Identity.

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