Analysis | A megaphone for Trumpism that preceded Trump’s rise
The Hindu
Rush Limbaugh, a popular radio commentary host who dominated the “conservative airwaves” in the U.S., died at the age of 70 on Wednesday. Limbaugh was a powerful voice for the conservative movement and a strident and rabid critique of liberalism and progressivism. His four-decade-old radio stint took a turn towards hardline political commentary in the late 1980s after the Reagan administration revoked the Fairness Doctrine, a decision that opened the floodgates for unbalanced opinion on controversial issues on broadcast channels. Limbaugh’s no-holds-barred commentary continually pressed for hardline policies on issues such as welfare, promoted slander and diatribe against Democrats, liberal politicians, feminists, LGBT activists and intellectuals, upheld hard-right Republicans and went on to become one of the biggest cheerleaders for Donald Trump and his brand of politics.
The support for Mr. Trump has featured a coalition of eclectic voices — non-college educated white voters, including working class people who bought into his strident talk of trade protectionism, white supremacists across several class segments, social conservatives who were buoyed by his packing of courts with conservative judges, and conspiracy theorists who have traditionally shared a deep distrust of the U.S. state or its “government”. Mr. Trump’s recourse to repeated disinformation and his questionable way of governance have never been an impediment to his core support base for whom “political correctness”, intellectualism, and progressive ideals have been anathema.
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