Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh took on CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein and CNN Tonight host Don Lemon during his eponymous Thursday show, thrashing Brownstein for condemning criticism of the FBI and Lemon for being “totally blind to any opposing view.”
Taking Lemon first, Limbaugh played a clip of Lemon from Wednesday suggesting that “there should be a network that is devoted to just going through the opening monologues of conservative media and fact-checking them every single night to debunk — I watch and I cannot believe this.”
“No one is fact-checking, everyone is on same page. They load the deck with people who support them. They never have a dissenting voice. It’s really unbelievable, and many Americans believe the bull crap that they’re spewing,” Lemon added.
Wasting no time, Limbaugh lambasted the liberal host’s lunacy, calling it “fascinating” that “[h]ere’s a guy that not only works at a network, but is a guy who is totally blind to any opposing view” and “in fact exactly what he’s accusing us of being.”
Limbaugh pointed out that “[t]here’s nobody fact-checking” the “monologues” of CNN hosts like Lemon. Why? It’s safe to assume in the liberal media bubbles that their claims must be true. He then continued [emphasis mine]:
They don’t have anybody from the opposition on very often, and when they do, they belittle them, they outnumber them four to one. No one’s fact-checking, everybody is on same page, they load the deck with people who support them, never a dissenting voice. He’s describing the way CNN operates, but he doesn’t see it. In his world, he is the pinnacle of objective journalism, the pinnacle of it, and all of CNN is. I mean, forget for a moment the partisan nature. To me it’s fascinating the two Americas that we have with nothing in common. There’s no bridge. There’s no way to get from one side to the other.
For the conservative host, he blasted Lemon for not only lacking the ability to possess “the slightest capability of understanding what he hears in a conservative monologue” but “the ability to understand it.”
Whether it was suggesting that Ronald Reagan had Alzheimer’s Disease while President, claiming without evidence that President Trump is mentally ill, or insinuating Trump supporters are racists, Lemon has been less than stellar in his efforts to unite people of differing viewpoints.
Switching to Brownstein, Limbaugh tore into him in light of a New Day hit in which Brownstein dismissed questions about the FBI as “talking points” in “conservative media” meant to inflict damage on the FBI.
Limbaugh responded that the media will “never...have a bond with their audience like Trump has with his supporters or I have with you in this audience.”
“[T]hey can’t understand it and so, in their view, anybody to this day who still supports Trump has gotta be sick. Anybody that still supports Trump has to be deranged, somehow, has to be emotionally not right, psychologically unbalanced. And therefore it is dangerous what Trump is doing,” he added.
To see the relevant transcript from February 8's The Rush Limbaugh Show, click “expand.”
The Rush Limbaugh Show
February 8, 2018RON BROWNSTEIN [on CNN’s New Day, 02/08/18]: You have a Republican Party that is following the Trump lead of kind of losing interest in talking to the broad country and feeling on anything to do with Russia and the Russia probe that it is simply enough to just throw out anything over talking points of conservative media. This is all about kind of energizing the base. There is evidence in polling that they are turning portions of the Republican base against the FBI.
(....)
RUSH LIMBAUGH: They’re never going to have a bond with their audience like Trump has with his supporters or I have with you in this audience. As such, they can’t understand it and so, in their view, anybody to this day who still supports Trump has gotta be sick. Anybody that still supports Trump has to be deranged, somehow, has to be emotionally not right, psychologically unbalanced. And therefore it is dangerous what Trump is doing. Trump is actually succeeding in turning some of his supporters against the FBI as though that is simply unacceptable and what they don’t understand is that Trump’s got nothing to do with that. What is happening to Trump is why people are turning against the FBI. And they’re not turning against the whole thing. They’re not turning against the whole organization. But these people that support Trump, you people in this audience can think for yourselves, and they’re not mind-numbed robots being driven down the road and told what to say or even what to care about.
They are deeply aware, fully informed. They know full well they have enough information on their own to be suspicious of this entire investigation. They know full well what it is. It’s an effort to throw Trump out of office. It is an effort to overturn an election. But people like Brownstein can’t possibly think that you could come up with that on your own.
The only way you could think that, ’cause it’s so not true, why, they’re just trying to defend the Constitution. They’re just trying to defend the FBI. They’re just trying to defend law enforcement and government in general. And Trump is being dangerously irresponsible by telling his people the FBI is the problem in Washington. I’m sorry, Mr. Brownstein, but Trump voters know that without being told. They think it without being told. You know why? Because they can see. Because they can read. I dare say that your average Trump voter probably knows more about this investigation and all angles of it than people like Brownstein knows. Because Brownstein and others will shut themselves off from media reporting certain facts on this. Those certain facts, the Drive-Bys, the left, the Democrats, don’t even want to entertain because they’re not legitimate.
So now it’s dangerous what Trump is doing. And it’s not just Trump. The Republican Party, following the Trump lead, losing interest in talking to the country at large, simply trying to drum up opposition to the FBI. They are talking to the country at large. Mr. Brownstein, there’s an attempt here to persuade as many people as possible what you refuse to see or report. Here’s Don Lemon, CNN last night, and this is about his idea for a news network, and Ryan Lizza is on this bite.
LEMON: I shouldn’t give my idea away, but there should be a network that is devoted to just going through the opening monologues of conservative media and fact-checking them every single night to debunk — I watch and I cannot believe this. No one is fact-checking, everyone is on same page. They load the deck with people who support them. They never have a dissenting voice. It’s really unbelievable, and many Americans believe the bull crap that they’re spewing.
LIMBAUGH: This is fascinating. Take the fact that it’s Don Lemon out of it. Here’s a guy that not only works at a network, but is a guy who is totally blind to any opposing view. He is in fact exactly what he’s accusing us of being. There’s nobody fact-checking their monologues. They don’t have anybody from the opposition on very often, and when they do, they belittle them, they outnumber them four to one. No one’s fact-checking, everybody is on same page, they load the deck with people who support them, never a dissenting voice. He’s describing the way CNN operates, but he doesn’t see it. In his world, he is the pinnacle of objective journalism, the pinnacle of it, and all of CNN is. I mean, forget for a moment the partisan nature. To me it’s fascinating the two Americas that we have with nothing in common. There’s no bridge. There’s no way to get from one side to the other.
Don Lemon hasn’t the slightest capability of understanding what he hears in a conservative monologue. He doesn’t have the ability to understand it. The fact that there is a point of view other than his own is all he needs to know to reject it. And fact check conservative monologues? Have you ever heard of Media Matters for America? You know what, Mr. Lemon, they have to lie about us when they fact check our monologues. They have to make things up and lie to people about what we’re saying because they can’t refute.
And that’s why there isn’t any fact-checking, Don. You guys really can’t refute us idea to idea to idea. So you don’t even want to take us on in that realm. But just the existence of these obvious two Americas and how do they ever, ever get put together? How is this gap ever gonna be bridged? Because, folks, it is widening. We’re not getting closer together. We’re getting further away. And because that’s the reality, it’s why I keep telling people, it’s a fool’s errand to try to compromise with them. They have to be defeated. And they have to be defeated every day.
