How did we end up with Trump? How did we end up with the most unfit and most corrupt President in my lifetime or even the worst U.S. President ever? Did it really all begin in the late 80’s to save the failing AM radio stations? “The Rush Limbaugh Show” premiered on AM radio in 1988. How did an aggrieved, disgruntled, former DJ, first-year college dropout who must have been thoroughly ashamed to be the failure in a family who included several lawyers, judges and public servants, become the voice and director of the Republican party? Deregulation in the form of the abandonment of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 and the subsequent implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which allowed companies to own more radio stations and to nationally syndicate, created the pervasive space for this destructive often false chatter that is tearing America apart.
Sadly, this allowed a racist, vile, uncouth, sophomoric,”insult-radio” host, four-time married, drug addict charged with prescription fraud, pro-porter of conspiracy theories, whose reported statements are often predicated with “claimed without evidence” or “despite providing no source or evidence” and whose rating on Politifact is 84% mostly false or pants on fire became a trusted radio personality. And according to Wikipedia, listeners of conservative talk radio in the U.S. tend to be white, religious Americans who are more prone to being ideological conservative and more likely men.
Limbaugh is a critic of liberalism which means he supports cuts to social safety nets and opposes civil liberty, equality, social justice, a mixed economy, the role of government in reducing inequality, providing education, ensuring access to healthcare, regulating economic activity and protecting the natural environment. He is against all the things that make America great and exceptional. He is also a critic of liberal media, feminism, environmentalists and climate science.
This man who has made tens of millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars ranting and raving mostly nonsense on the radio paved the way for Trump to enter the Whitehouse despite being totally unqualified and spouting lie after lie. Because of the false claims of Rush Limbaugh and several others who have followed in his footsteps, many American people can no longer distinguish truth from lies.
Hopefully, the era of this aggrieved whiner of untruths is coming to end. It has been reported that NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered surpassed Limbaugh’s ratings in 2016. Maybe evidence-based facts will once again rule the day. KNOW THE SOURCE OF YOUR INFORMATION!!!
reilly m gray 