Dear Rush,
I’ve been listening to your program for probably 16 years now. I believe I’ve agreed with most everything you say. But this election cycle, I’m just not connecting with you. And I’m not the only one. And you know it. You lament two or three times a day about how often you’ve explained Trumpism and anti-Trumpism. You’re tired of explaining it over and over ’til you’re blue in the face. Here’s an example of your frustration from Friday:
RUSH: See, I think I have gotten hoarse explaining anti-Trumpism. Who have I not explained why they’re anti-Trump sufficiently to you?
Well Rush, “Who” is me. I don’t believe that you’ve explained it all, at least not very well. I’m not being contentious; rather I’m agreeing with you. You’ve said you blame yourself when your audience doesn’t understand you. That’s why people keep calling asking you to explain these things. I myself have listened to you and read and read, and everytime you say you’re going to explain this all to everybody, you lose me. I keep waiting for that explanation and it just never seems to come. So the caller says this:
CALLER: …when it comes to the people that don’t want to vote for Trump — and I don’t mean the establishment. I don’t mean the elites that are afraid of losing their jobs, everything you explained. I mean, the common man… The common man. Not the elites, not the party establishments, the common-man people that do not want to vote for Trump even though they do not want Hillary Clinton, either… Non-famous, everyday people you meet in the grocery store or work or whatever you do.
And it’s hard to put your finger on this, but I think this caller hits the nail on the head. What he’s identified is that you fail to distinguish the common man in your explanations. Let me attempt to explain. In another place in the program, another caller asks a similar question. We see your frustration again in the beginning of your answer. But please go through this with me as I explain.
RUSH: …I have answered this question over and over again time and time and time again. I’m not could you give you of not listening. I’m just prefacing this. I’ve answered it all last fall starting in August after the first debate, right through February-March.
See, in your mind, you’ve done a great job explaining Trumpism and anti-Trumpism. You just can’t believe that you’ve got to keep explaining this. Now you’re going to define the question that you believe you are answering:
RUSH …Your question: Why do these various groups on the right — this conservative or that conservative, conservative movement here or the Republican Party, individual Republicans. Why do they not just line up behind Trump and focus on Hillary as the as the enemy and be done with it? And let me see if there’s a brief way of rehashing what I have explained over and over again.
Do you see how you identify the subject as “this conservative”, “that conservative”, “conservative movement”, and “individual Republicans”? Okay, most of us Rush fans have learned about conservatism from YOU. We’ve all been attending the Limbaugh Institute for Conservative Studies. Some may have graduated. So when you say “this conservative, that conservative, conservative movement”, to us (the common man) that has been listening and learning for so long, have identified ourselves as such. WE are this conservative and that conservative. We ARE the conservative movement! We are the subject that you’ve identified. The subject is YOUR audience. So then you go on to try to answer the question:
RUSH: … I think what we’re witnessing: actually things I predicted last fall. Because this degree of panic, fright, fear, anger is so deep, it almost seems like the effect on these people is personal. And the reason they’re not lining up behind Trump is because Trump is blowing up the existing order. His victory — well, his assumed victory as the nominee — is blowing up the existing order.
Okay, so the mind of the common man hears this and says, “Panic, fright, fear? I’m not panicked, frightful, or fearful. I’m really not sure who he’s talking about now. Anger? Well okay. Yes, everybody is angry at the establishment. I’m listening… Blowing up the existing order? Huh?” I’m this conservative. I’m that conservative. I’m the conservative movement. Rush, this is where you really start to lose me. I want the existing order blown up. Conservatives want the existing order blown up. I want the power hold that the elites have on the government broken. I want these career politicians taken out. I’m a conservative. Why would blowing up the existing order give your audience a degree of panic, or fright and fear? I’m a long-time listener; a believer. I love my country. I love the constitution. I love liberty. I learned it from you, Rush. Why would you think that blowing up the existing order would make me angry? Your question is why do they not just line up behind Trump; “they” being “this conservative or that conservative, conservative movement here“? Now look where you go:
RUSH: And if he became president, it would blow it up even more, in these people’s minds. One example. I’ve mentioned it a couple of times, if not more. In the establishment, it’s basically a network. It’s a closed club.
And there it is! In these people’s minds? So far, Rush, according to what you’ve said, I’m “these people” and I thought you were too. This conservative or that conservative, conservative movement here. And you keep doing this over and over and over these past six months. Listen to what you’re saying. “One example…. In the establishment…” How on God’s green earth do you say that an example of this conservative or that conservative, conservative movement here IS the establishment? You keep doing this. I don’t know if you’re doing it intentionally or unintentionally, but you keep doing it. I am not the establishment. In fact, I’m not sure much of any of the electorate (common man) is the establishment. You are inadvertently grouping Cruz supporters, conservatives, YOUR audience with the establishment elites. And you’ve been doing this throughout the campaign. As soon as you hit the subject of anti-Trump, you make a B-line to the establishment. I understand that the establishment is anti-Trump like they’re anti-Cruz. But the electorate, the common man that is anti-Trump, is NOT the establishment. Is it that you just can’t admit that the conservative electorate and the establishment elite actually have a common enemy? Who’s the purist? That’s why people keep calling you, asking the same question and you keep hitting a brick wall. And if that’s not enough, sometimes you’ll also do the same thing with the Black Lives Matter and the Code Pink crowd. It’s like we don’t exist in your head.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why you do this. The example I just gave has been repeated over and over and over on your program for months. Almost everyday I listen to you, you group the common man conservative with the establishment in your “anti-Trump” comments. Quite frankly, I find it hard to believe that you don’t know you’re doing this. I understand you have to stay above the fray, and stay in a position where you can do whatever it is you do. But my God, this is not El Salvador and San Salvador. This is Israel and Iran. Would you be so nonchalant about Trump if he was running as a Democrat like he said he was years ago? Just because he’s got the ‘R’ now, he’s off limits? I just really don’t understand. If you knew a year ago that these two clowns were the choices we’d be left with in the end, would you do things the same?
Rush Limbaugh, the champion of conservatism, everyday of the year, year after year, BUT the unbiased, fair and balanced, journalist during the nomination process. Since when was this a news show? And I don’t know Rush, maybe your answer to the common man caller explains why you keep doing this. This is how you answered:
RUSH: Well, I have limited contact with people in the grocery store,
Maybe you need to go to the grocery store. I’m just saying maybe, you’re getting a little out of touch. I love your program. I’m not someone from the outside that just tuned in. I’m not the enemy trying to give you a scathing review. I’ve been listening to it for 16 years. I remember when my firstborn went from crawling to dancing to the EIB Music. Pump Pump Pununump Tadump Tadump Tadudanump! I’ve bought your tea. I’ve bought your books. So this might be difficult to hear this, but here’s the rest of your answer to the common man caller. And I’m going to list them::
RUSH: …but I could tell certain things that…
- His “coarseness.”
- He tweeted out that picture of Ted Cruz’ wife. But it was… That bothered them.
- His comment about Megyn Kelly and blood coming out of her…
- They don’t think he knows anything,
- He’s faking it
- He’s too off the wall
- Too unpredictable
- Dangerous
- He may not be really qualified to have that much power in his hands as president of the United States.
- Some just don’t like his personality.
Some are jealous of him.(Common man is not jealous)I mean, it runs the gamut. It’d be hard to say that there’s a dominate reason why.
First of all, I want to compare this to something you said in another segment of your show: When you read this, ask yourself this question, who are you talking about?
RUSH: By the way, there’s one more answer to the question, “Why don’t people line up behind Trump?” And it’s this. There are some people who are true-blue, red, white, and blue, top-to-bottom, front-to-back, wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor conservatives. It’s the essence of their existence, and they are appalled by Trump. They don’t think he is. They are scared. They have devoted their lives to conservatism and promoting it, and they are in utter panic that somebody like Trump can come along and simply… Well, however they perceive whatever’s happened to happen.
Wipe it out, dominate it, trounce it, what have you. I mean, my point is that there’s some true believers in there, too, that really feel hurt and scared because they’ve poured everything they’ve got into it, and they’re scared to death. And it’s apparently so fragile that, in their minds, a carnival barker can come around and talk people out of what they have believed for ten years, 15, 20 years, whatever. And so it frightens them for the future of the movement that they so love, and it frightens them for the future of the country. I mean, you’ve got countless number of reasons to explain why people on the Republican side will not line up with Trump.
Look, I don’t know who you’re talking about. But if you’re talking about the common man, you’ve got a lot wrong. It’s not some people. It’s a lot of people. And they’re not scared. They are disgusted and repulsed by the vile character of Trump and the manner in which he’s (almost) won this nomination. Character matters and morality matters. We’re not in a panic. We’re in anger. Conservatism is not fragile in our minds, but the nation is and our freedoms are. And it’s not fright for our future, but it’s of the desire to fight for our future that we oppose this man.
And if not the common man, then who? Your brother? Mark Levin? Thomas Sowell? Ted Cruz? Are they the only ones who are true-blue, red, white, and blue, top-to-bottom, front-to-back, wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor conservatives? Can not the common man be that? Look at your list for the common man, Rush! You didn’t mention one thing about true-blue conservatism. You didn’t mention one thing about principles and the love of country, our constitution, our liberties. Oh no! The common man I guess is too shallow. He’s jealous of Trump! Do you see how you inadvertently belittle the 58% of the Republican electorate that does not want this man as our President? No doubt you’d say you don’t, but nevertheless, you do.
Secondly, your answer to the common man is crystal clear. Let me sum up what you’re really saying to your audience: “I really don’t know.” Yet you tell us over and over and over that you do know. And you tell us over and over that you’re explaining it when you’re not. “Anti-Trumpers are scared and insecure. They have problems dealing with people’s personalities, so shallow that insults affect them so much. They won’t vote for Trump because he’s rude.” Oh, but the pro-Trump movement, you call it a PHENOMENON! You say that Trump’s campaign is BRILLIANT! You even said one time “TRUMP IS ME!” Whatever. You need to go to H.E.B. Or better yet, take a stroll at the Piggly Wiggly. These are YOUR explanations; and quite frankly, much of your audience does not agree. That is reality. And I think the mayor of Realityville is having a problem understanding this.
Lastly, what worries me the most are the implications of what I’ve described. I can understand you doing this unknowingly or inadvertently. Hey, we all make mistakes. But what is yet to be determined is if this is intentional. It seems to me like you’re going down and promoting the path of the Savage Nation. In his book, Government Zero, in the chapter Saving a Nation with Nationalism, he states the following:
It’s time to abandon conservatism as the defining principle of our movement. It has become meaningless. Conservative has come to mean anything anyone who joins the Republican party says it means…”
I have no choice but to believe that IF you are purposely doing what I’ve previously stated, you are in fact watering down and distancing yourself from the term conservative. If this Trump movement is truly a Nationalist, Populist movement, you seem to be enamored with it. You say yourself that it FASCINATES you. I’d be okay with all that if at the core of the Trump/Nationalist movement was in fact the underlying principles of the conservative; that at the core was the same substance found at the core of our founding fathers and the revolutionaries. But it’s not. No. At the core of this movement is ignorance to the principles of liberty, lies and smears of good, conservative, God-fearing people, misdirected anger, and confusion of a most dangerous kind. It seems that at the core is Alinksy himself. Your audience knows that change is needed and change is most desired; but you’ve admonished us for years that when it came to the liberal’s intentions that the ends don’t justify the means. That doesn’t change with Trump and that doesn’t change for the conservative.
I am in no way saying you are abandoning conservatism. It just seems to me like you’re tired of being on the losing side. I am too. I understand that. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that your hope, if we can endure it, is that conservatives can ride this tidal Trump-wave to power and influence. I think it’s your way of dealing with the grim reality that the silent majority is now so ignorant, amoral, and unprincipled that it may never come around to conservatism and the principles of our constitution; that nationalism (regardless of what it’s founded upon) is somehow necessary vehicle to change this country. I think it’s folly. It’s putting the cart before the horse.
I hope that I’ve put to words what many are thinking. I appreciate your time in reading this.
Sincerely,
the common man