The death of a radio star: Rush Limbaugh, Trump and polarization

JIMMY FITZPATRICK: Rush Limbaugh, a famous conservative political commentator, succumbed to lung cancer after battling it publicly for roughly a year on February 17, 2021. Limbaugh was an influential man, someone who controlled the airwaves for over 30 years (including his boneheaded stint as a “Monday Night Football” commentator). He opened up the floodgates for talk radio to become a lasting force in our nation’s culture, and his persona will loom large amongst conservative America for generations to come. However, he leaves behind a damaging legacy. Aside from his undeniably racist, sexist, homophobic, and climate change denying shtick, Limbaugh’s legacy is ultimately weakened by his cultivation of conservative populism that led to the election of Donald Trump. 

Recently, no man understood the power of populism more than Trump. He is a man who shares many of Limbaugh’s negative qualities, especially his outmoded, crude views on social issues. But instead of simply being a shock jock like Limbaugh was, Trump was able to run for and be elected to the highest civilian office in the nation: President of the United States. In his time in the Oval Office, Trump was able to greatly exacerbate the large political divide that continues to contribute to severe political gridlock and shows no sign of slowing down.

Unsurprisingly, the two men’s origin stories in politics were similar in that they were unusual, as neither had any true training for public service before finding great success. Trump emerged from the shadows as a political outsider, someone known for his real estate deals and appearances on The Apprentice and not for his public service. This is a rise that parallels Limbaugh’s - he only finished one year of college and, on paper, had no political background aside from the fact that his parents were involved with politics in his native Missouri. After struggling on the radio for about a decade, the repeal of the FCC fairness doctrine gave him a platform to truly express his political views, and it became an instant hit. People began to turn to news sources that more and more aligned their views, and conservative America flocked to the Rush Limbaugh Show, which became the most popular radio show on the planet. Of course, with success comes imitators, and once it was determined that politically based radio was viable, it was no longer exclusively in the domain of the American right, as talk radio and cable news from all over the political spectrum began to emerge. 

In the run-up to the election, Limbaugh used his cache to drive his legions of followers to the polls, where, with his backing, they voted for Trump. Once he propelled Trump to the nation’s highest office, Limbaugh’s rhetoric went from mere blather on AM radio to actual, implemented policy for the world’s most preeminent nation. The notorious Muslim ban that Trump almost immediately enforced upon taking office had its roots in Limbaugh’s idea chamber: he was supposedly a driving force behind George W. Bush’s hardline stance on border control, and he continued to exert influence on that issue with Trump. Right off the bat, it became clear that Limbaugh’s patented ideology was rubbing off on his newfound friend. As Trump’s presidency progressed, it only became more blatant-pulling out of the Paris Agreement, damaging Obamacare, and the denial of election results. Limbaugh infamously stated in 2016 that Trump would have won the popular vote had “illegals not been able to vote.”  Such denial of election results became all too real  4 years later when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol contesting the 2020 election, leading to the needless deaths of 5 citizens. 

Limbaugh was able to continue spreading misinformation to his consistently strong listenership, even after he began slipping from the top of the radio world. Take, for example, his opinion on the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Upon the news that it came to the United States, Limbaugh, without any evidence, immediately suggested that it “was no worse than the common cold” and naturally, his supporters ate it up. 

Even in his decline, he was instrumental in the spread of conspiracy theories disguised as “conservative” ideas, which have contributed to the continuing defiance of COVID-19 protocol nationwide. The fact that his last public statement was denouncing President Joe Biden is very fitting, as he constantly eschewed the idea of a unified America and instead focused on ensuring that a bipartisan America would no longer be a viable option, sowing division instead. 

While Limbaugh will be venerated by conservative America in light of his passing, his legacy, upon further analysis, will be the exacerbation of the cavernous partisan divide that our nation will grapple with for decades to come. This partisan divide played no small part in creating the actuality of the Trump presidency and its many destructive policies  which have severely weakened both our domestic and international political 

Jimmy FitzPatrick is a sophomore from Connecticut studying government and history at Georgetown.