Rush Limbaugh is a hypocrite when it comes to Trump

In the summer of 1992, Rush Limbaugh saved me from myself. I was an 18-year-old high school graduate about to begin college, too impatient to wait for adulthood to come to me. So instead, I went in search of it the only way I knew how: by engulfing myself in presidential politics and the fascinating campaigns that summer between Bill Clinton, George Bush and Ross Perot.

Like many idealistic teens, I was at first drawn to the youthful Clinton campaign and Fleetwood Mac's cheerful command to "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow." But then I started listening to Limbaugh and it changed everything. I was working as a delivery driver, so I'd plan my trips at six minutes after the hour so as to not miss a minute of his show â€” a habit I keep even today. The way he described his belief in conservatism reached out and grabbed me and I've been a loyal listener ever since.

So it is not from a place of hatred or misunderstanding that I write this. I'm not a plant from Media Matters. But when it comes to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Limbaugh is a mind-numbing, frustrating hypocrite (with all due respect, of course).

His tacit endorsement of Trump, now occurring daily during his show, is almost impossible to understand. Listening to him gleefully discussing Trump is painful for those of us who have followed his advice for decades. Why? Let's break it down.

For years, Limbaugh has lambasted the "drive-by media" for their insistence on using polling data to make headlines and drive the story of the day. Trump's appearances and speeches, for the most part, are Trump droning on about how well he's doing in the polls. It's often the only story.

One of Limbaugh's biggest criticisms of President Obama has always been the vagueness in Obama's message; in his way of speaking until he can think of something to say; in the blank canvas that he offers us to project our hopes and dreams upon. And that, when he goes off-message, he often misspeaks. Explaining what Obama meant to say has become a cottage industry for websites like Vox and full-time gigs for a variety of nationally known journalists.

When has Trump ever offered anything of substance? His speeches are meandering streams of consciousness, and although he claims each to be unique, they are often the same litanies of vague promises. Trump will negotiate hard with China and Mexico. Trump will make the military so strong it will make your head spin. You'll get bored with winning so much. Chinese bankers live in his building, which proves he can bring jobs back from China. Trump thinks reporters are sleazy. Trump will hit you so hard. And, oh, by the way, have you seen the polls?

Limbaugh has been the voice for those who believe in smaller government for as long as he's been on the air. So it would stand to reason that challenging Trump on even his vague promises to vastly enlarge an already bloated government should give Limbaugh pause. Apparently, it doesn't. How many new government agencies will be necessary to round up 11 million illegal immigrants, send them back to Mexico and then let them back in? How many billions of dollars will it cost to make the military so great your head will spin? How many government workers will be required to build the Trump wall, complete with a beautiful Trump door?

Limbaugh has long lamented "low-information voters," who, he claims, are responsible for the rise of Obama. It's not his policies that win the day; it's the fact that he's cool and hip. His celebrity overcomes all other weaknesses.

Trump took the money that his father left him and built a series of failed casinos. What else does he have to offer, other than gaudy celebrity?

Simply put, the Limbaugh Theorem is Limbaugh's explanation as to why Obama remains popular when so many of his policies lack public support. It posits that Obama is always campaigning against the bad guys or bad situations, even when those situations are of his own making. It's a disassociation in the public perception of him between cause and effect.

Just peruse Trump's Twitter feed to see the Limbaugh Theorem on full display. He's always campaigning; always ready to right to wrongs in the world. The problem, though, is that many of those wrongs will be borne from a Trump presidency. He'll be there on Twitter or on another stop in his perpetual campaign, making obscenely vague promises that only he can fix what is wrong.

I'm still listening, Rush. But I hope you are, too. We don't need another blank canvas in the Oval Office, gilded or otherwise.

Hale is a freelance writer who lives in San Antonio with his wife and three children.

Rush's most lawyerly, non-response:

RUSH: TheHill.com. I'm debating whether or not to discuss this. Headline: "Rush Limbaugh Is a Hypocrite When it Comes to Trump." And it's written by a young Rush fan. Snerdley brought me this. He couldn't wait to bring me this. I have it here.

RUSH: It's a column, it's an op-ed. TheHill.com today, by Travis Hale, who's a contributor. I just want to read to you how he opens the piece.

"In the summer of 1992, Rush Limbaugh saved me from myself. I was an 18-year-old high school graduate about to begin college, too impatient to wait for adulthood to come to me. So instead, I went in search of it the only way I knew how: by engulfing myself in presidential politics and the fascinating campaigns that summer between Bill Clinton, George Bush and Ross Perot."

So he openly credits me for helping him understand politics and to see the conservative way. And he goes on to credit me in this piece as being the conservative voice. In other words, if you're in America and you want to know what conservatism is, then you listen to Rush Limbaugh, which is what he says he did.

Now, the headline of the piece: "Rush Limbaugh is a Hypocrite When it Comes to Trump." And he has five areas where he says, Travis Hale says that I'm being hypocritical and not true to my own identity and principles as it's related to this campaign and the way the Trump campaign is treated on this program, which I am the program, so that would mean the way I am treating Trump. And the five areas that he thinks I'm being hypocritical are these: The polls, my oft-used phrase that words mean things, big government, the Kardashianification of American politics, and the Limbaugh Theorem.

He supports and believes all of those and thinks I'm violating every one of them, because he believes that I have tacitly endorsed Trump. I have endorsed no one. I never do in primaries. Just the other day, after my appearance on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, during the lightning round I was asked for a quick reaction to several people. And one of those people was Ted Cruz. What I said about Ted Cruz has ended up on a major fundraising appeal that the Cruz campaign has sent out. And in it they say that I, your host, El Rushbo, made a major move to Cruz on Fox News Sunday. But I haven't endorsed Cruz, either. I haven't endorsed anybody.

When I was asked about Trump on Fox News Sunday, I said the great service Trump is performing and, by the way, the Trump campaign put that quote out and they tweeted that all over the place, too. Which is fine. Don't misunderstand. Not complaining about that. What I said about Trump was, paraphrasing myself here, the great service he's performing is to show that you, as a Republican, don't have to be afraid of the media. You can be courageous. You don't have to worry about what the media's gonna say about you and you don't have to worry about what the Democrat Party's gonna say about you.

You can triumph. You can win. You can lead without worrying about what the media is gonna say. That's a huge thing. I was hoping that a whole lot of Republicans in the field would see this. I mean, look, I've got a story here in one of the other stacks, if I've seen this headline once, I've seen it a thousand times. You know what we're facing right when January shows up and the holidays are over and Congress comes back, you know what you're facing? A government shutdown. Oh, yeah. Because of the budget.

So, once again the media is already in consort with the Democrat Party, trying to intimidate and bully the Republican House into giving Obama yet again another budget deal, exactly what he wants, otherwise the government's gonna be shut down. And you're gonna see, won't be long before every Republican strategist and consultant is all over Fox News warning that we can't do this, we can't shut down the government, that will be the end of the Republican Party's presidential hopes. Cycle repeats. Trump is showing you don't have to be afraid of any of that. But saying that is not endorsing Trump.

The other thing I said is Trump is demonstrating that you do not have to fear violating political correctness. That you can spit on it, you can violate political correctness. As long as you have built a bond with your audience, you will not lose them, you will not be harmed, you can thrive. But none of that adds up to an endorsement. And yet Mr. Hale is afraid that it does. Don't misunderstand. Don't get mad. Mr. Hale is afraid for me. It's actually a piece that he has written out of concern. He is afraid I'm betraying myself, and he doesn't want me to betray myself. He thinks that I am abandoning some of my own rock-solid philosophies in order to endorse Trump, which, again, I haven't done.

In talking about this Kasich ad that they're putting together, you support Trump, Trump's gonna get rid of everybody, he's gonna get rid of everybody he doesn't like. What I want to know is, why hasn't there be an ad like this run about the Democrats? Why haven't any Republicans decided to run ads like this against Democrats who actually are in the process of doing some of these things that Kasich is accusing Trump of wanting to do? EIB

I don't work for anybody, so you can drop that

No, I won't drop it.

I've believed for years that you're a paid GOP operative. Your behavior on this board during the last two election cycles proved that to me and many others. Deny it all you like, but you function exactly like a paid political apparatchik.

Trump will depress the conservative vote in 2016 (hurt the ticket down the line) and aid in the election of Democrats (independent voters).

What earthly evidence do you have to support that poppycock? The man is energizing the right conservative base like no one since Reagan. He's pulling support from across the political spectrum, and is giving voice to the concerns of millions of angry patriots.

If anything, Trump is leading an American backlash that will likely topple the whole rotten DC cabal, once he's elected. He's already got the feckless GOP-e cornered and quivering. With the American people behind him, he's going to take a wrecking ball to the leviathan that's killing this country.

But let me share what Jim Robinson thinks about Trump:

Trump has the support of the antiGOPer base, like me.Trump is right on immigration, illegals, border security, deportation, anchor babies, and about the long-term harm the cheap labor express is doing to America, etc. No one is better than Trump on this. If he is elected and builds the wall, deports them all, ends anchor babies and derails the cheap labor express, then that alone makes America great again whereas any of the GOPe amnesty pimps would simply hasten our demise.
And if his Reaganesque plan to drastically cut taxes, cut spending, cut the regulations, cut the government, cut the government overreaching, cut the bureaucracy, cut the red tape, cut the globalism, cut the rotten deals, cut the crap is implemented, then that will make America great again and keep it great.
And if, like Reagan, he rebuilds the military and makes it the most powerful and effective force for defense of freedom again, then that will keep America secure and make it great again.
And he is a Christian who loves our Judeo-Christian God and way of life (including capitalism), and he is upfront and forceful in speaking out against the growing Islamic scourge on the planet. No other candidate is as great about defending our Judeo-Christian faith, society and system of government, equality and justice as Donald Trump. And I do believe he means business. And this above all else will ensure the very survival of our country as a free nation and will make us great again (prayerfully, within the will of God).
Plus he is funding this primary effort mostly with his own money rather than corporate, PAC, or cheap labor express or GOP big money donor and string pullers.
Now, where was I going with all this? Oh, yeah, if that aint conservative, what is?
Go, Trump, GO!!
Go, Cruz, GO!!
May the best men win.
We win, they lose.

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