Rush Limbaugh's deranged 2020: From denying the pandemic to supporting a
coup

The Medal of Freedom recipient lied about the biggest stories this year �
even when it could put his audience in danger

Written by Alex Walker

Published 12/18/20 9:08 AM EST

Almost three weeks after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020
presidential election, a man called in to The Rush Limbaugh Show and
declared that he was willing to die for President Donald Trump.

Through tears, the caller expressed his frustration with elected
Republicans who failed to show similar loyalty to Trump and his efforts to
overturn the election on the basis of nonexistent voter fraud. �No one
stands for us, Rush,� he exclaimed. �Only you and Donald Trump.�

Limbaugh was speaking with a listener who was consumed by a fantasy that
the host and other members of right-wing media helped to create. Just a
few days earlier, Limbaugh had declared, �There's simply no way Joe Biden
was legitimately elected president. I just can't believe it. I do not
believe it.�

This refusal to accept reality � constantly reassuring an aging,
conservative audience that their vision of America is never wrong � is
part of what has enabled Limbaugh to build such a devoted following over
more than three decades in radio.

But in a year in which the country faced a global pandemic, racial unrest,
and a presidential election, this resistance to the truth proved not just

The year 2020 with all its chaos was a personally tumultuous one for
Limbaugh as well. The host revealed in February that he had been diagnosed
with lung cancer, and in October Limbaugh announced that the cancer was
terminal.

On February 4, one day after he announced his diagnosis, Limbaugh was
awarded the Medal of Freedom at Trump�s State of the Union address. Trump
was rewarding a personal friend who in many ways helped pave the way for
his presidency and who has been an unwavering defender throughout Trump�s
term in office.

Although it may be one of Limbaugh�s last years behind a microphone, he
continues to draw one of the largest audiences in right-wing media.
Talkers Magazine estimates that Limbaugh has more than 15 million unique
weekly listeners, and he is considered the third-most trusted source of
information among conservative Republicans, behind only Fox News and Sean
Hannity�s radio program, according to the Pew Research Center.

In 2020, Limbaugh continued to abuse that trust, doubling down on old
tropes and painting a false and misleading picture of the year�s biggest
stories, even when it could potentially endanger the lives of his
listeners.
Limbaugh consistently downplayed the dangers of COVID-19, echoing his
long-standing climate denialism

In now-infamous remarks on February 24, Limbaugh compared coronavirus to
�the common cold.� Ten months later and with more than 300,000 Americans
dead, Limbaugh, like Fox News, is largely avoiding discussion of record
daily death tolls.

In the intervening months, Limbaugh�s discussion of the virus featured
insidious misinformation and outright conspiracy theories, and one study
found that individuals who listened to Limbaugh or watched Fox News were
more likely to believe the danger of the pandemic was exaggerated.

In March, Limbaugh argued that �the coronavirus has been weaponized by
the media and by opponents of Donald Trump� and mocked efforts to contain
the spread of COVID-19.
In April, Limbaugh claimed Dr. Anthony Fauci is a �Hillary Clinton
sympathizer� who is working to �get rid of Donald Trump.� Later, the host
floated the conspiracy theory that Fauci would personally profit from a
coronavirus vaccine.
In May, Limbaugh mocked Biden for wearing a mask at a public event,
claiming he looked like an �abject idiot,� and argued that masks have
become a symbol to �promote fear.�

Citation From the May 26, 2020, edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The
Rush Limbaugh Show

In June, Limbaugh accused journalists and hospitals of inflating
COVID-19 case counts. The next month, Limbaugh suggested that there was
�staged overrunning of hospitals.�
In July, Limbaugh dismissed mask mandates and instead encouraged �the
young and the healthy� to �live their lives and spread herd immunity.�

Limbaugh�s refusal to accept the severity of the virus mirrors his
response to climate change. Early on in the pandemic, Limbaugh himself
explained that his thinking on the virus was at least partially informed
by his climate denialism, and the divided response to coronavirus has
revealed just how damaging years of anti-science rhetoric from right-wing
media figures like Limbaugh can be.
Limbaugh dismissed the systemic injustices highlighted by Black Lives
Matter protesters

Limbaugh�s response to this year�s racial justice protests remained
consistent with the bigotry that has been a staple of his program since
its inception.

In the wake of the killing of George Floyd on May 25, Limbaugh, like the
rest of the world, seemed momentarily shocked by the brutality of the
incident. But it wasn�t long before he reverted to form.

Limbaugh appeared on the radio program The Breakfast Club on June 1, in
what was ostensibly an effort to reach out to a Black audience. Yet during
the interview, Limbaugh refused to acknowledge the existence of white
privilege, arguing instead that it was a �liberal, political construct.�

A day later, Limbaugh downplayed the threat of white supremacists,
claiming, �The number of white people in America today who actually think
they�re better than anybody else, on the basis of skin color, is so
infinitesimally small you couldn�t count them.�

Citation From the June 2, 2020, edition of Premiere Networks� The Rush
Limbaugh Show

The next month, Limbaugh attacked Black Lives Matter as a �full-fledged
anti-American organization� and claimed that certain protesters in
Portland were paid �actors.� When confronted with a poll showing a
majority of Americans approved of the movement, Limbaugh claimed, �I
refuse to believe that 65% of the American people support this insanity.�

During a year in which many white Americans began to acknowledge the
existence of systemic racism, Limbaugh repeatedly assured his audience
that the problem did not exist.
Limbaugh worked to undermine listeners� trust in the 2020 electoral
process

Months before the election, Limbaugh began sowing doubts about the
integrity of the process. In addition to his bigoted attacks on Democratic
candidates � pushing racist, sexist smears against Vice President-elect
Kamala Harris and mocking Pete Buttigieg�s sexuality � Limbaugh worked to
prime his audience to reject the results should Trump fail to win
reelection.

In July, Limbaugh claimed that expanded mail-in voting would allow
Democrats to �flood the system with fake ballots, fake votes.� In
September, Limbaugh suggested that an Axios piece explaining the concept
of a �red mirage� on election night � in which Trump led in states that
had yet to count mail-in ballots � was actually �coded language� intending
to encourage Democrats to expand their supposed voter fraud operation.

Immediately following Election Day, Limbaugh began promoting wild
conspiracy theories. On November 4, Limbaugh promoted an obviously false
viral claim that Wisconsin reported more votes than eligible voters. On
November 6, Limbaugh � to account for the fact that Trump underperformed
relative to down-ballot Republican candidates � claimed that Democratic
operatives had time to �alter� only the presidential vote on each ballot.
Video file

Citation From the November 6, 2020, edition of Premiere Radio Networks'
The Rush Limbaugh Show

Now, more than a month after the election, Limbaugh still refuses to
accept Biden�s victory, and 75% of Republicans feel the same way.
Limbaugh created a space where Trump and his supporters could avoid
confronting 2020�s challenges

Limbaugh�s show this year served to shield not just Trump�s base, but also
Trump himself from reality.

In October, after Trump refused to attend a virtual presidential debate
while recovering from coronavirus, Limbaugh hosted Trump for what he
described as a �mega MAGA rally.� Limbaugh began the two-hour interview �
during which a number of false claims went unchallenged � by playing the
sound of an imaginary crowd and asking Trump to visualize millions of
adoring fans.

Before Trump and Fox News, Limbaugh was creating his own alternate world,
and long after Limbaugh is gone, the divisions he helped fuel will
persist. Just last week, Limbaugh suggested that a �peaceful coexistence�
between today�s conservatives and liberals is not possible and that the
United States is �trending towards secession.�

Americans were forced to confront some hard realities this year, including
the need for drastic public health measures in the face of a global
pandemic and the country�s failure to address racial injustice. And the
efforts of people like Limbaugh to deny these realities made solving the
challenges of 2020 that much harder.