There are few that can compete with conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh when it comes to dissecting the left’s nonsense on a daily basis. So this past week, he was in usual form as he lambasted the liberal media who exist to “destroy” the Trump presidency through their “leadership role of the American left” despite CNN’s horrid ratings thanks to how they’ve “bastardized the concept of journalism.”
On Monday’s show, Limbaugh took aim at the fake news spread about the President and Meghan Markle by noting that, for the press, accuracy “doesn’t matter” because they’re “doing nothing more than trying to destroy” Trump’s “reputation” and “presidency.”
Limbaugh also spent time on the case of the Daily Beast doxxing a private citizen who was behind the edited video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, noting that “this reporter’s out there now taking kudos and everybody’s praising him for great reporting” like “Little Brian Stelter” even though Facebook gave him the assist in providing the man’s information.
Moving to Tuesday, Limbaugh elaborated on an article by Breitbart’s John Nolte that chronicled CNN’s pathetic ratings. Limbaugh told listeners that while he usually avoids this sort of “inside baseball” talk, this was different “because CNN has so bastardized the concept of journalism and news that CNN is now considered to be — and, actually, not just CNN.”
“But the whole of the mainstream media is now considered to be not journalism and not really media. It’s just a massively large and maybe leadership role of the American left,” he astutely added.
Later after he pointed out how CNN has “tak[en] no steps to reverse this whatsoever in any way, shape, manner, or form,” Limbaugh climbed inside the minds of CNN’s Resistance-rabid viewers (click “expand”):
They’re absent red meat. I mean that audience is not tuning into these networks because they have relationships with the hosts, ’cause the doesn’t matter who’s hosting. They’re tuning in because they need the red meat. They need to hear how Trump’s gone. They need to hear how Trump’s history. They need to hear how Trump’s going to jail. And when that stops happening, there’s no more reason to listen to it. If you’ve been getting a steady diet of it for two years from CNN, you’ve gotta be throwing up your hands up in total frustration. “For crying out loud, you’ve been telling me this guy’s the biggest reprobate there, and he’s still there and the queen just threw a big dinner for him!”...They hate the guy, and they’re not masking that, but their audiences are getting worn out because it’s not making anything change. So their audience is basically a bunch of activists, and the activists at these cable networks are not getting anything done....I have long maintained that CNN International is providing the funding, the advertising income for CNN domestic to operate, because they can’t be making it on their own here with ratings this low.
While some might think CNN’s declining ratings signals a broader tumble for the left, Limbaugh warned that “it means the opposite” as all flanks remain as committed as ever to spreading progressivism and removing Trump from office.
Sounds about right for those at CNN who, as Tim Graham illustrated last week, have gone all-in with a bunker and robotic mentality. Must be Jeffrey Zucker.
At any rate, Limbaugh was speaking Wednesday afternoon with caller Susan in Richmond, Virginia when he noted that “[t]his whole Trump-Russia collusion thing has brought out into the open who they really are and have always been,” which are devoted members of “the deep state or the administrative state.”
But Limbaugh went deeper as he made an outstanding point about the media not actually being journalists but groups hiding behind the free press clause of the Constitution (click “expand”):
They are not actually media, Susan. They get to operate under the constitutional protections of media, but they don’t really do journalism. It literally is nothing more than political activism. Yeah, they’ve got some reporters that go out and do stories. They stand up in the snow and tell you it’s snowing and that you shouldn’t do it. And they go out there and they trash fossil fuel companies and so forth. But basically, everything they’re doing, one way or the other, is simply moving forward what the agenda is of the Democrat Party and the American left, and they do it disguised as journalism, which makes it even more hideous because it covers and masks their activism as legitimate truth telling. And it isn’t that. And that’s what’s plain as day for anybody to see now since these last two years have happened. There’s no getting rid of them. I mean, what can we do to take our country back? There’s no reforming the media.
And when Susan expressed concern about people on the right like Limbaugh and Trump taking heat versus their supporters, Limbaugh reminded her that “[i]f you had a microphone, you’d be taking hits too” and even then they still try to. Ask the Covington kids or even the man behind the Pelosi video and it’s a safe bet they’d concur.
To see the relevant transcript from The Rush Limbaugh Show from June 4 to June 6, click “expand.”
The Rush Limbaugh Show
June 4, 2019RUSH LIMBAUGH: Even if they knew who Trump was — if they knew his thought and speech patterns, if they knew how he reacted — they would have still run this story this way. It doesn’t matter. This is why Trump is constantly pushing back against these people. You’ve gotta put yourself in his shoes. You’re lied about four times a day every day — 24/7, 365 — by the Drive-By Media, who are doing nothing more than trying to destroy your reputation, destroy your presidency. This is another classic example. The reporter is Kevin Poulsen of The Daily Beast is who reported on who the black forklift operator is in New York. He actually works in Queens and now lives in the Bronx. So this guy calls Facebook and says, “Hey, can you give me the name of the guy that posted the Pelosi video?” and Facebook did it! o you can get mad at the reporter all you want, but, for crying out loud, it — you know, Facebook’s already got a problem here with people. One of their lawyers admitted the other day — you know, it’s amazing. When you go to court and you’re under oath, it’s amazing what happens and the truth. One of the Facebook lawyers said (summarized), “There is no privacy. What are we talking about? There is no privacy! Once you’re online, there is no privacy.” That’s the official Facebook position: “There is no privacy. We’re not guarding anybody’s privacy. There isn’t any anymore.” A lawyer for Facebook said this. Six of one, half dozen of the other to me. But the fact that this reporter — and this reporter’s out there now taking kudos and everybody’s praising him for great reporting, and he couldn’t have done diddly-squat if Facebook hadn’t given up a name and all the information about one of their members or customers. This is not supposed to happen! You gotta be law enforcement with a warrant.
(....)
LIMBAUGH: Noah Shachtman, who is the editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast — which is the website that published the name of the guy, the African-American forklift operator in the Pelosi video. They had him on there to talk about this. Brian Stelter, Little Brian Stelter says, “It got a lot of attention a week ago,” that Pelosi video. “You’re trying to figure out who created it?”
[RELIABLE SOURCES CLIP]
LIMBAUGH: Would you give me a break. Who do these people think we are? How dumb and stupid do they think we are? “Why, this reached to the highest levels of power.” Are you kidding me? This video stood out among all others? This guy’s not even a Trump supporter, the guy that did the video. This is happening for one reason. It was because it’s close to the truth. Pelosi has been slurring her words for a number of years now, she’s teetering and tottering out there. This is getting a little too close to the truth. So they had to expose this guy — and what they’re actually doing is trying to intimidate all rest of you into not trying something like this. Big fake news. “You don’t need some sophisticated operation in order to push fake…” (laughing) Who are they kidding? Of course you don’t. It doesn’t take the New York Times to publish fake news.
(....)
June 4, 2019
LIMBAUGH: I’ve also had a lot of people email me today with the news about CNN’s continuing ratings loss. Now, I’ve talked about it before. Normally, I don’t get into this in depth. It’s inside baseball. It’s media stuff. The audience doesn’t care about ratings. They watch what they watch, they listen to what they listen to, and the only time they care about ratings is if something they watch is gonna be canceled; then they find out its ratings are low and they try to do something to change it. But it’s not something that ordinary people are running around chatting to each other about. But this is, I think, because CNN has so bastardized the concept of journalism and news that CNN is now considered to be — and, actually, not just CNN. But the whole of the mainstream media is now considered to be not journalism and not really media. It’s just a massively large and maybe leadership role of the American left. So any time people see any news that makes them feel better about it, they say, “Rush, you ought to see this! You ought…!” And the latest installment of this is a story from Breitbart.
(....)
LIMBAUGH: They’re taking no steps to reverse this whatsoever in any way, shape, manner, or form. That 761,000 prime time viewers is a go out-of-business level of audience. And, look, if you go over the years, as Breitbart points out, look at all of the things that CNN has been dead wrong about and never acknowledged.
(....)
LIMBAUGH: So these ratings plunges on these leftist cable networks continue, and people are trying to extrapolate. “Well, does that mean that liberalism is losing influence? Does that mean…?” I don’t think that’s the case. I think the case is more psychological.
(....)
LIMBAUGH: They’re absent red meat. I mean that audience is not tuning into these networks because they have relationships with the hosts, ’cause the doesn’t matter who’s hosting. They’re tuning in because they need the red meat. They need to hear how Trump’s gone. They need to hear how Trump’s history. They need to hear how Trump’s going to jail. And when that stops happening, there’s no more reason to listen to it. If you’ve been getting a steady diet of it for two years from CNN, you’ve gotta be throwing up your hands up in total frustration. “For crying out loud, you’ve been telling me this guy’s the biggest reprobate there, and he’s still there and the queen just threw a big dinner for him!” CNN was livid about that, and ABC was livid about that, that some developer from Queens got a gigantic royal banquet thrown for him by the queen. They hate the guy, and they’re not masking that, but their audiences are getting worn out because it’s not making anything change. So their audience is basically a bunch of activists, and the activists at these cable networks are not getting anything done. Now, on the other side of this, it’s like Trump pointed out. He’s over in the U.K. where his approval numbers are barely above 30, because all they’ve got in the U.K. is CNN. Now, over there it’s CNN International. And I have long maintained that CNN International is providing the funding, the advertising income for CNN domestic to operate, because they can’t be making it on their own here with ratings this low. But as to whether it means that the left is fading away and dissolving or losing intensity? No, I think it means the exact opposite. I wouldn’t draw any conclusion from drowning CNN numbers and MSNBC numbers that the Democrats or the left are losing supporters or intensity whatsoever.
(....)
June 5, 2019
LIMBAUGH: This whole Trump-Russia collusion thing has brought out into the open who they really are and have always been. They are part of what everybody’s calling the deep state or the administrative state. They are not actually media, Susan. They get to operate under the constitutional protections of media, but they don’t really do journalism. It literally is nothing more than political activism. Yeah, they’ve got some reporters that go out and do stories. They stand up in the snow and tell you it’s snowing and that you shouldn’t do it. And they go out there and they trash fossil fuel companies and so forth. But basically, everything they’re doing, one way or the other, is simply moving forward what the agenda is of the Democrat Party and the American left, and they do it disguised as journalism, which makes it even more hideous because it covers and masks their activism as legitimate truth telling. And it isn’t that. And that’s what’s plain as day for anybody to see now since these last two years have happened. There’s no getting rid of them. I mean, what can we do to take our country back? There’s no reforming the media.
(....)
LIMBAUGH [to SUSAN IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA]: If you had a microphone, you’d be taking hits too. It’s just they don’t know how to get to you. But they try! It’s an interesting observation of yours because this opposition of Trump and the character assassination really is aimed at you. It’s aimed at the people who voted for him, and that’s what the real rage is targeted to. Because in their world, Trump is gonna come and go but you are gonna still be there voting the way you vote, thinking the way you think and their anger — yeah, they hate Trump because he’s right there in front of ’em and they don’t like his personality. But what they’re really enraged at is you, because you, A, voted for him, and you won’t abandon him.
