cartoon from Politico.com
It is impossible to avoid noticing that the same people who embrace Rush Limbaugh's offensive ideas, especially those insulting to women, are the people who are the base for Donald Trump.Even Republican women are leaving Trump in droves, as are independents, in the wake of the original scandal and continuing scandals. As with hating people of color, and people of diverse national origins (aka immigrants) or diverse religious beliefs, the only demographic supporting the GOP this election cycle are old white men - the flabby and crabby old white men, like Trump, like the listeners to viagra-swilling sex-tourist and much-married pig, Rush Limp-dick.Thanks to the effectiveness of the liberal boycott against Rush Limbaugh over his comments regarding Sandra Fluke, in conjunction with the predatory vulture capitalism of Mitt Romney's company Bain Capital, Rush Limbaugh no longer has such a large number of radio stations to broadcast his vile programming, and as a result, he is no longer the king maker he has been in past elections. These are people who are misogynists, pure and simple; they justify it by saying they are against political correctness, but the reality is they want to be able to believe and say hateful things without criticism or impediment. These are the "good" hard-righties, the women haters, the racist bigots, the anti-LGBT, the Islamophobes, the Obama haters, and many are also Anti-Semitic. Their classic outsider group to hate are immigrants, of any stripe. And the Clinton haters.
They believe it is their right to oppress and punish others for failing to conform to their narrow and factually inaccurate beliefs, which is a key part of the definition of authoritarianism. As a group, they object when government - which becomes to them 'big government' interferes with treating people badly who belong to what they see as the nonconforming 'other' - women who are not appropriately subordinate, people of color, LGBT, and anyone who differs from their religious beliefs, no matter how odd or extreme or hateful.
Many of them are employed, but not generally at high paying jobs; many of them believe they must be 'good' people because they belong to a toxic version of Christianity that is part superstition combined with a very large dollop of authoritarianism that is conservative Evangelicals. Few of them are well educated with a well rounded background.
Rush Limbaugh has a lot in common with the person Donald Trump really is, the persona he pushes to his base. If you look at what Trump says about women - calling them dogs and pigs; predicating women's role in society, especially employment on their attractiveness rather than ability; defending and excusing sexual harassment; selectively fat shaming (but never applying the same standards to men, least of all themselves); and making a range of derogatory comments about women relating to sexuality or reproduction. Presumably ALL of these were excused by Limp-bow in the same way as Trump, or the bozos at Faux News -- as entertainment, which somehow is excepted from normal standards of fact or decency.
Here are a few quotes from Rush, which I will contrast with a similar number of quotes from Drumpf. H/t to Addicting info for the unpleasant job of collecting these (and more). See if you recognize the similarities. In no particular order, 12 out of the 35 offensive statements were about women, more than any other category of comments.
Collected by Addicting Info:
- “Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women access to the mainstream of society.” ~Rush Limbaugh, The Rush Limbaugh Show, August 12, 2005
- “Socks is the White House cat. But did you know there is also a White House dog?” ~Rush Limbaugh, while holding up a photograph of 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton on his 1993 television show
- “They’re out there protesting what they actually wish would happen to them sometimes.” ~Rush Limbaugh, on women who protest against sexual harassment, The Rush Limbaugh Show, April 26, 2004
- “Women should not be allowed on juries where the accused is a stud.”
~Rush Limbaugh, 1994 List of 35 Undeniable Truths- “It doesn’t look like Michelle Obama follows her own nutritionary dietary advice. And then we hear that she’s out eating ribs at 1500 calories a serving with 141 grams of fat … No, I’m trying to say that our first lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue or of a woman Alex Rodriguez might date every six months or what have you.” ~Rush Limbaugh, Feb. 21, 2011
- “These were highly civil comments for crying out loud. I mean, people are going nuts. USA Today, the Politico. And some people were suggesting that my comments were below the belt. Well, take a look at some pictures. Given where she wears her belts. I mean, she wears them high up there around the bust line. Isn’t just about everything about her below the belt when you look at the fashion sense she has?” ~Rush Limbaugh, after being criticized for making derogatory comments about First Lady Michelle Obama’s weight, Feb. 22, 2011
- “I’m a huge supporter of women. What I’m not is a supporter of liberalism. Feminism is what I oppose. Feminism has led women astray. I love the women’s movement — especially when walking behind it.” ~Rush Limbaugh, responding to criticism that he is sexist and defending his selection as one of the judges at the 2010 Miss America Pageant, “Fox News’ Fox & Friends,” February 3, 2010
- “We’re not sexists, we’re chauvinists — we’re male chauvinist pigs, and we’re happy to be because we think that’s what men were destined to be. We think that’s what women want.” ~Rush Limbaugh, claiming that women want men to be assholes, April 15, 2004
- “Given the National Organization for Women’s membership and proclivities, it’s no wonder that people now view the NOW gang as being obsessed with only two issues: abortion rights and lesbian rights.
- “What is it with all of these young, single white women? Overeducated- doesn’t mean intelligent.” ~Rush Limbaugh, insulting educated women, March 6, 2012
- [T]he nags … the national association of gals, that’s our pet name for the NOW gang … the nags are a bunch of whores to liberalism. ~Rush Limbaugh, another attack on women, October 14, 2010
- “I think this reason why girls don’t do well on multiple choice tests goes all the way back to the Bible, all the way back to Genesis, Adam and Eve. God said, ‘All right, Eve, multiple choice or multiple orgasms, what’s it going to be?’ We all know what was chosen.” ~Rush Limbaugh, making another degrading comment about women, February 23, 1994