When It Started

There are plenty of spots in our history one could point to as the beginning of what the right-wing in America has become. (This post was originally supposed to be on another topic. Which I’ll get to.) Some say Reagan. Some say Gingrich. Some say McConnell and others pushing back against anything and everything Obama and the Democrats wanted to do. Some say it was the Federalist Society. Or the Heritage Foundation.

My opinion was that it started with a talk radio host that started in Kansas City, moved to Sacramento, where I listened to him because it got my blood boiling. One of the law professors where I worked at the time couldn’t stand that I listened to Limbaugh, who eventually went national from his Sacramento success.

When researching the original point I wanted to make today, I can upon this Rolling Stone profile of Rush Limbaugh, published after he died. The article is a bit of a long read, but it’s well worth it for the historical context and the parallels it draws between what Rush was saying and what was happening to the GOP at the same time.

Limbaugh, as far as I’m concerned, blew up the boxes with a brand of commentary that showed no respect and no dignity for those with different views. “Scorched earth” is probably the best description of his approach to political debate. And if he could demonize Democrats and liberals on the way to his massive financial success, he certainly was going to do it. As the article notes, he referred to an African-American woman being considered for a VP slot as a “ho” and a “mattress.” He denigrated AIDS victims, he bashed migrants. He was right-wing toxicity before we really knew it was such a thing, or that a President would actually stoop to Limbaugh’s level in leading the country.

I don’t remember any Republicans every questioning or challenging Limbaugh’s verbal tactics. Instead, as his popularity grew, they moved more and more in the direction he wanted to lead them. Gingrich was a Limbaugh baby, and many others who followed were as well. Limbaugh was the voice of the disgruntled, conspiracy-theory-riddled, right-wing who wanted to be able to say and think and do the things that Limbaugh was. And Republican leaders eventually went all in on his version of things.

The original point I wanted to make today was this idea that the GOP is pushing that it is only the “radical left,” which they really mean as anybody who isn’t MAGA, who calls people fascists or Nazis or enemies. I really could just point to some statements that Trump, Vance, and others have made repeatedly that puts the lie to that claim. But what I wanted to do was this.

Decades ago, Limbaugh started referring to feminists as FemiNazis. He did it repeatedly and endlessly. I would hazard a guess that once he came up with that term, he never actually said “feminist” again, and trust me, he loved going after feminists. So, he used the term FemiNazi quite a bit. They were a regular target of his. I have no doubt that he also started the canard that all feminists are ugly and fat. Coming from a man who was morbidly obese for most of his adult life, and who also developed an opioid addiction that he hid for years. But … I digress.

FemiNazi. It was a term he used constantly. And again, I have absolutely no memory of any Republican, any conservative, any right-winter objecting to his use of the term to bash liberals. Instead, they celebrated him. Trump gave him a Medal of Freedomo during his first term. Over on PowerLine, when I was reading it regularly, commenters would regularly bemoan the fact that Limbaugh wasn’t around anymore to comment and guide them. The hero worship on the right for a man like Limbaugh tells you everything you need to know about the right-wing today.

It also tells you something about how much they actually don’t care about rude name-calling (as if Trump wasn’t enough evidence of that), including the use of Nazi to try to damage your ideogical opponents.

So … remember this the next time you see somebody on the right bemoaning a Democrat referring to Trump or MAGA or the GOP as fascist. Those same people whining about that have followed and celebrated and model a lot of their own statements after a man who had no problems with using the very same derogatory terms for decades, without any opposition or outcry from the right.