Counter-Currents
Rush Limbaugh Remembered from the Right (January 12, 1951–February 17, 2021)
Robert Hampton
Rush Limbaugh receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2020.
1,694 words
Rush Limbaugh passed away from lung cancer Wednesday at the age of 70. No one did more to shape modern conservatism than the talk radio giant. Republican politicians bowed before him and sought his favor. Rush had the power to shape the opinions of millions, and one rant from him could scuttle a presidential candidacy or legislation. He’s the rare figure to earn glowing remembrances from both George W. Bush and Donald Trump. Rush may have not invented conservative talk radio, but nobody defined it more than him.
Every conservative outlet and figure is reminiscing on Rush and his influence. The Dissident Right should follow suit. The radio host was certainly not one of us — here’s how he outlined his ideology in his famous CPAC 2009 speech:
We love people. [Applause] When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don’t see groups. We don’t see victims. We don’t see people we want to exploit. What we see — what we see is potential. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work — we do not see that person with contempt. We don’t think that person doesn’t have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government. [Applause]
We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. [Applause] We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth: that we are all endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them Life. [Applause] Liberty, Freedom. [Applause] And the pursuit of Happiness.
This is very bluepilled. (Breitbart and several other conservatives gushed over the speech on the day of Rush’s death, indicating they share its message.) Any time Rush would define his philosophy, it would be along similar libertarian lines. That may be reason to dismiss him as nothing more than a cuck, but he was more than his cringe. In his final years, he pushed conservatives to embrace nationalism, opposed mass immigration, criticized foreign interventionism and unrestricted free trade, and even entertained the idea of secession. Throughout his career, he savaged feminism and minority identity politics in terms National Review would squirm at. While no Pat Buchanan, he was superior to nearly every conservative radio host and generally pushed his audience in a positive direction (at least in his later years). The only major radio host who ventured further than Rush was Michael Savage.
Some on our side don’t fondly remember Limbaugh. VDARE editor Peter Brimelow aptly noted that Limbaugh failed to address immigration in the 90s and seemed to embrace the issue too late. It is certainly true Rush could’ve done more in the 1990s to push for immigration restriction. His voice could’ve pressured Republicans into passing legislation at a time when even Bill Clinton wanted to reduce immigration. The radio host’s failure to do so was a serious mistake that shouldn’t be forgotten.
However, in recent years, he has helped push the GOP in a more positive direction on immigration. He led the fight against amnesty. This was particularly helpful in 2013, when many prominent conservative figures backed the sellout. He presaged Trump’s immigration pitch in 2016. Throughout the campaign, Rush credited immigration for Trump’s popularity and urged Republicans to take the issue seriously. He even attacked Trump when it appeared the then-candidate would endorse amnesty (Trump did not do so.) Limbaugh moved beyond typical Republican talking points about the “rule of law” and exclusive concerns about illegal immigration. His radio program frequently discussed how Democrats weaponize mass immigration to change America’s demographics and secure future election victories. As Brimelow noted, Limbaugh began to entertain secession in his final months due to America’s demographic predicament. These are not discussions Sean Hannity or Mark Levin would ever touch.
In 2016, he read Sam Francis’s “From Household To Nation” essay on the air and praised its author. The 1996 essay advised a hypothetical Republican candidate to abandon traditional conservatism and promise to restore the nation’s Middle American core. “[S]ooner or later, as the globalist elites seek to drag the country into conflicts and global commitments, preside over the economic pastoralization of the United States, manage the delegitimization of our own culture, and the dispossession of our people, and disregard or diminish our national interests and national sovereignty, a nationalist reaction is almost inevitable and will probably assume populist form when it arrives,” Francis wrote in that essay. Limbaugh read this to his 15 million listeners and said it described Trump. He was attacked by the SPLC for this grave offense.
Two areas where Rush deserves criticism are on trade and foreign policy. He was instrumental in convincing Republicans to back NAFTA in the early 90s. He touted the globalist trade alliance and debated Ross Perot on the matter. The Clinton White House praised him as one of the “distinguished Americans” who helped secure the nefarious deal’s passage. Limbaugh could’ve helped scuttle the job-destroying, nation-undermining deal. Instead, he chose to back it. To his credit, however, he later came to regret his support for NAFTA and complained it did nothing to stymie illegal immigration. (Its supporters claimed it would reduce Mexican migration to the US). He later came to oppose globalist trade deals and supported Trump’s attempts at trade protection.
Like nearly every conservative, Rush fully supported the Iraq War. He later came to regret that decision. But unlike most conservatives, he seemed to learn from this mistake. He opposed intervention in Libya when neoconservatives cheered it on. Many great conservatives unfortunately backed the Iraq War, including Tucker Carlson, Ann Coulter, and Michelle Malkin.
Rush’s career was animated by what critics would deride as “race-baiting.” He said that most mug shots of black criminals resemble Jesse Jackson and argued “the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons.” He reputedly once said: “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.” He famously lost his job at ESPN in 2003 after correctly claiming sports media overrated black quarterbacks.
These don’t evince racial consciousness outside of normal boomer conservatism. But his early commentary was more willing to call out black malfeasance than most commentators today. This was likely a response to the high crime rates of the 80s and 90s, which made even suburban whites vaguely cognizant of the race problem. The early forerunners of conservative radio such as Bob Grant made their names through racial analysis of crime. This form of “black awareness” has subsided alongside lower crime rates. Limbaugh never discussed race in the daring manner of Grant (who recommended Jared Taylor on his program), but he didn’t necessarily ignore it. His discussion of criminality was not as brave as his commentary on mass immigration and he certainly didn’t promote white identity.
You can know a man a lot by his critics. Liberal publications shrieked in unison that Limbaugh made America and conservatism worse on his death day. They complained he was too racist, sexist, crude, bombastic, and even entertaining for them to respect. In their opinion, without Limbaugh, conservatives would’ve embraced everything liberal elites imposed on them. They would all be more like John McCain and just respectfully dissent on higher taxes.
This universal opinion is why the Dissident Right should respect Limbaugh. Millions of our people turned to him to escape from mainstream media programming. They intrinsically knew something was wrong with our country, as did Rush Limbaugh. He didn’t necessarily direct his listeners in the right direction, but his message was far better than CNN. Too many on our side believe that without mainstream figures like Rush, millions of Republicans would instantly become white nationalists. Middle America suddenly discovering William Luther Pierce and toppling the corrupt system absent Limbaugh is a fantasy that fails to understand the vast majority of people. Most people don’t have the time or wherewithal to search for us. We’re not on major radio stations or on cable news. Average Americans turn on whoever is on the radio or on TV to get their information. These people aren’t going to reject everything they hear or see if they only come in contact with liberal commentators. They’re more likely to embrace that message if that’s all they hear.
Limbaugh offered them an alternative. We can all agree it would be better if Jared Taylor had had his platform, but you have to live with what you have. For millions of Americans, Limbaugh was the first person to tell them that immigration threatened our country and demographics matter. He told them to not trust the mainstream media, which is a virtue in our age of hate hoaxes. Just think of how many people would think Trayvon Martin was an innocent boy if it weren’t for conservative media.
The fundamental problem with Rush is that he didn’t take people far enough and could only express his worldview in classical liberal terms. His America was not based on its people, but on its values. He saw people as mere individuals, not as members of groups or a greater collective. This runs counter to the mission of the Dissident Right.
Our present mess was caused by this pernicious individualist worldview — we must step over it.
But we must step over it with the people who adored Rush Limbaugh.
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20 comments
Quite a few years ago, and mindful of the fact that he liked to play Mannheim Steamroller as bumper music during Christmas, and Mannheim is also a moderately important German city, Rush revealed the fact that his patrilineal ancestral village is near Mannheim, the village is named Limbach. Obviously, Limbach was their original last name, and they Anglicized it to Limbaugh after they migrated to the Pennsylvania Dutch region at first, and then later to southeast Missouri.
Wikipedia lists five different towns named Limbach in modern day Germany, and the Michelin Road Atlas index lists twelve. But this one in particular, in the current Federal state of Baden-Württemberg, I’ve been to. You head east out of Heidelberg along a road that runs along the north bank of the meandering Neckar River, for about an hour. Then you turn left on this side road and head up and away from the river for maybe about ten minutes, and you’re there. Plain words, you’ve got to be going there to get there, you don’t land there by accident.
And now I think that a lot of people are going to hear about this town, and, at least when it’s feasible to do international travel again, a lot of normie conservative Americans will do a pilgrimage there. For those of you who will eventually do that, I should say there’s not much there, it’s just a tiny village. So you’ll probably want to stage your accommodations in Heidelberg (one of the most underrated cities in Germany, IMHO — Do the Philosophers’ Walk if you have a brain), or Mannheim if you’re feeling ironic.
I’ll also add that the Limbaugh family, Cape Girardeau, Missouri based, has been a big wheel in Missouri state Republican Party politics for the majority of the post-WWII period, long before that particular Limbaugh became famous. Rush’s eponymous grandfather was practicing law past the age of 100.
His brother is a federal judge, Eastern District of Missouri
https://www.moed.uscourts.gov/judge/stephen-n-limbaugh-jr
Correction — his first cousin
I should add that Jared Taylor by name and AR by publication name and the NCF by organization name were mentioned once on his show that I know of. It was when Walter Williams (go figure) was guest hosting in the late 1990s, and he bought up The Color of Crime in passing.
But we must step over it with the people who adored Rush Limbaugh.
There is something important to unwrap here. While I do admire certain, shall we say, high-class-burger-eating thought leaders on this side of the political spectrum, I get the feeling that there is an unspoken contempt for the common American folk when such matters are discussed.
Yes, there is a lot to criticize regarding White America, no question about it. But ultimately, aren’t these the people you’re trying to save?
I am fully willing to accept a certain level of disdain for the common folk by intellectual aristocrats (heaven knows I’ve been guilty of it myself on many occasions) but on some level, you have to make peace with who they are (or, phenomenologically speaking, how they presence themselves to you).
The common American man, for better or worse, embodies and believes in the so-called self-evident truths of the Founders. As much as we on the dissident right know that it’s all a bunch of BS, if we are going to reach these people we will have to do it in another way than trying to dismantle their entire existential framework.
If you are going to save these people, you have to be willing to meet them half-way, and perhaps, that’s just what Rush Limbaugh, warts and all, was trying to do.
I quit listening for a while in 2016 when Rush was really pushing Cruz and didn’t seem to understand that Trump was the only candidate with even a shot in hell of winning. That misjudgment made me rethink several things regarding Rush. But in the end, he was a happy warrior, if imperfect. That alone is worth setting aside the couple of things we disagreed on. Rest In Peace.
Pore Flush is Daid (The fat old Boomertard is daid)
Flush Rimblow’s dead, Pore Flusher is daid
We gather around the fat bastard’s coffin & don’t cry
He had a heart of shit,
His tard-speech was mighty effin old
It’s past time the fat old bastard had to die . . .
(Had to die)
Flush Rimblow’s dead, Pore Flusher lies daid,
He’s looking all pissfool & obscene (and obscene)
Flusher’s all laid out to rest,
A blowhard fraudulent pest,
His shittohead’s skulls are washed cumpletely clean
(Cum-cum cum-cum pleatly clean.)
The fat old Boomer fraud is dead and so is the world he apologised for as it was not sustainable — nor should it be. The Flusher will be the first to be thankful that this epitome of fat dumb and happy Boomertard croaked just before Collapse with four wives — one a kikess — and no spawn to show for it from a family of Cape Girardeau Missouri Republican lawyers who licked up all the cream and left nothing for younger generations of ZOGling whigger ass-clown ZOGtards.
The Flusher was an entertaining old Boomer bastard who filled the skulls full of shit-mush for other empty-headed Boomer ZOGtards and it is past time now that the Archetype of Fat Boomer-whigger Bastards who presided over the decline and fall of ZOG/Babylon as an apologist for doing nothing but eat, yap and shit get done with his three-score and ten years and go directly to Hell, Do not pass “Go”, Do not collect 666 sheckles.
Flush Rimblow was one of the smarter Boomers who could have been a Good White Man and instead was nothing but a cheerleader for ZOGling Whiggerdumb and not being satisfied with being a sell-out & shithead put every other Boomer ZOGling whigger ass-clown straight on the broad, wide and easy moral path that leads to Perdition (Matt 7:13-14). The Flusher set a table of tasty plausible-sounding shit from whence ZOGling whigger Boomer men who should have known better did consume mass quantities.
Don’t get me wrong — driving down the road in the late 1980s and early 1990’s I was entertained by Flush Rimblow back when the fat bastard was “edgy” and something of a critic. But as this fat bastard got older and fatter his words, while clever, were honeyed hypocritical shit and the sanctimonious dishonesty on behalf of thieving Republicucks grew heavy on my stomach, akin to sheep shit looking and tasting initially like chocolate-covered raisins and then turning back into shit in the digesting thereof. I don’t like eating shit, even when — especially when — it tastes like candy and you are greedy & stupid enough to eat a lot of it, shit that is.
Flush Rimblow was the P.T. Barnum of ZOGling whigger Boomer ass-clowns & ZOGtards.
I’m glad the fat lying Boomer bastard is finally dead and his fat bloated corpse is food to poison the worms eating of his fat-assed ZOGling whigger Boomer ass-clown carcass..
Makes me ashamed since “Ick bin Ein Boomer 2.”
Hail Victory !!!
Pastor Martin Lindstedt
Church of Jesus Christ Christian / Aryan Nations of Missouri
This man forever changed my life. I began listening as a 27 year old Los Angeles native who believed in socialism and religiously voted for the Democrat / Peace & Freedom Party platform into the man I am today. That is all there is to say.
Interesting take here, I caught some of that in the mid-1990s, as someone was playing it at work every day. Some of it was a bit much, and I figured this must mean that I’m actually radical center. Some of the rest was a bit too lightweight, as in the items you pointed out. I’m glad to see that he came to somewhat better understanding later on.
One thing I’ll have to say for him is that he was hard-hitting. Also his sound studio did some pretty good work with their merciless mockery, sometimes in musical numbers. The spirit of his legacy goes on in Internet podcasts and memes, translated to a new technology.
First, about Mannheim Steamroller: Mannheim was well known in the 18th century as a center of music development. The court orchestra, led by Karl Stamitz, offered innovative styles such as a Mannheim ‘rocket’ (swiftly ascending passages), or the ‘roller’. ( an extended crescendo passage
with rising melodic line). Many composers admired the orchestra, among them Mozart, who was delighted to visit and perform with it. A lot of his music was influenced by the Mannheim style. Pieces like Eine Kleine Nachtmusik or the 4th movement of his 40th symphony show the Mannheim style.
Now, enough erudition.
I first discovered Rush when I drove from Boston to St. Louis in 1991, and always listened to him after that. Since I’m from Missouri (120 miles from Cape, as we say), I felt an affinity with him, and Rush always had a lot of exciting, funny, and at times intelligent things to say. It’s safe to say he created a widening base of the Reagan revolution.
However, many in the far right and WN movement consider him flawed, a ‘conservative con man,’ as William Pierce said. There is some truth in that. Rush aligned himself with the Bush war, always kept a safe distance from WN, and would argue keeping the GOP together even as it showed little enthusiasm in keeping any kind of conservative program. He was the team captain of conservatism.
That being said, for all the people on the right who denounce him, most should acknowledge that he likely brought them into our movement, and as he said about people demanding he have opposition guests on his show for ‘equal time’, he thundered back ‘I AM equal time.’
There was genuine popular enthusiasm for him. My mother never failed to listen to him, as did millions of other people. He could be forgiven his failings because, as it was said, he was a showman.
I think the best perspective on Rush is Andrew Anglin’s piece in The Daily Stormer, which offers a view that is respectful, very critical, but also meditative.
I think in the last few months, Rush kept a steady strength and insight, especially being loyal to Trump and what he represented. At the Capitol unrest, he didn’t openly condemn the people streaming in, which too many ‘conservatives’ on radio immediately denounced, calling the participants ‘stupid’ and ‘crazy.’ I respect Rush for that..
Rush always kept a common touch, warts and all, but also a lot of silver in it. He was our Charles Foster Kane. Citizen Rush.
@ Robert Hampton: Thank you for a fair and accurate obituary.
I first started listening to Limbaugh in the very earliest times; shortly after an article about him appeared in the NY Times (If I remember right). I lived in Hell’s Kitchen in the very shadow of the EIB building. What I remember most distinctly was a culture warrior coming to the ‘belly of the beast’ (as the lefties say) and hoisting high the flag of normalcy in that weird and hostile place. His main message to ordinary work-a-day people was that the Democrat Party had been highjacked by freaky marxists years ago, and now had nothing to do with normal working class people. This was the period of the mocking of the Kennedys and the gurgling cod. Another big part of his message was mocking and deriding “the pouur” (as only he could pronounce), the welfare cheats whom the working and middle classes despised; he probably took this from Reagan’s “welfare queens” and “welfare mammies.”
For years and years I couldn’t listen because I was at work, so I missed the pain pill addiction and some of the war mongering, but towards the end of Bush II I started tuning in again. Although the term did not exist at that time, Limbaugh was sick of cucoldry and pandering. When Obongo took power he actually called it a regime and declared, “I hope Obongo fails in his agenda of bringing c c c change to America.” and “The Republican Party does have a solid and loyal base—-but they would very much like to switch it out—race replace it.” He was fed up with cucks like Willard Romney and Juan McCoon.
So during the Obongo years Limbaugh once again became a beacon of truth and hope. I remember much high comedy during this period. The laughter sustained us during the darkness. Who will ever forget the ‘Rogue Rodeo Clown’ and Sandra Fluke’s $3,000 diaphragms?
Well, he can’t be replaced, and maybe talk radio itself is going, but here are some tips for those who would want to fill the Atilla the Hun chair:
1) The Voice; I don’t know how he he did it, but he did. His voice naturally commanded attention and never became background noise.
2) Soft pedal religion. If you talk about your personal beliefs, you will surely alienate some. If you must express faith do it in the “American Religion” way—-talent on loan from God; God-given rights. This is where Beck went wrong.
3) Talk to the entire nation. Don’t be regional. This is where Savage and Berry went wrong.
4) An understanding of and contact with the Real World of productive people, as well as respect for them.
5) A thorough understanding of the multiculti monstrosity in order to explain and expose the errors and delusions.
6) A thorough understanding of the “sausage making” of American electoral politics.
7) Must be normal, upbeat, and youngish.
RIP Rush Limbaugh
#8 Must be impervious to insult and abuse as if born in a suit of armor. Not ready to go along to get along. Must not be ready to recant, apologise or take the knee.
During one of Limbaugh’s last broadcasts a caller got through who, as he signed off, blamed his father’s financial ruin on “Jew bankers.”
Limbaugh seemed not to hear him. At least he did not respond until he was prompted by one of his screeners. At which point he did little more than repeat the man’s claim, without comment.
At the time I thought “Rush is clearly fading, but he’s given someone a good audio drop.”
Now I wonder if there wasn’t more to it…
I heard that too. I think that Rush just let it go. He applauded the Game Stop / Reddit thing. He knew the truth, but of course wanting a career in show business you can’t speak it. There’s an obvious reason why Savage, Howard Stern and even Judge Judy are allowed to speak it… I once heard Savage say that black ancestors contributed nothing. They were just swingin from trees and eatin each other. He has even said he sees a bleak future for the country due to demographic changes.
This was an excellent obituary of Rush. In his final years he took on the republican establishment. I think it’s unfair to blame him for what he did in his early years.
To me, and I suspect many, many others, Rush was a gateway to conservatism, and from that, at least for me, to racial realism. The very first time I was ever cognizant of politics was my grandmother waking up early to watch his television show, and we would then talk about it. I must have been 8 or 9. Rush, along with Reagan, changed her from a life long Democrat into a Republican. This contact with Rush definitely influenced my interest in politics and in a more right wing point of view. Figures like Rush, though not perfect, move more people to the right, and, eventually crack the window open, even if just a little, to the world of White nationalism and race realism. I’ll miss hearing him, and will, without a doubt, miss the fits of apoplexy he often sent our enemies into.
Back in the first Bush administration cabinet members could attack Israel. So like James Baker they could object to war on Iraq on those terms. RUSH did Kosherize the right I am sorry to say.
I was blind in the 90s but always in the background was Rush dogging the Clintons in a way the MSM refused to do. Clearly Rush was ahead on that curve. That’s what I most appreciate about the man, his drive to inform the public despite the massive disinformation campaign being waged against him and us. Rest In Peace Rush. Thank you.
Rush Limbaugh was one of Alex Kurtagic’s Masters of the Universe.
It wasn’t so much what Rush said, but how he said it: the self confidence, the bulldozing rhetoric, the willingness to entertain ideas beyond the Overton Window, all of which manifested power.
Pace Kurtagic: “[His] authority is instantly obvious. It’s in the way he looks. The way he sounds. The way he carries himself.”
Rush was the voice of the high command addressing the real resistance behind enemy lines in the Blue State regime. Tune in to his program and you were part of a wider movement out there in radioland. He gave the faithful a weapon in the culture war: humor to attack the sacred cows of the hostile elites.
“You are not alone” was the message, stick with me, learn how to be masterful and you too will be powerful. And we might note that Donald Trump was in many ways of the same school.
So vaya con dios, Rush, let’s see millions more continue the struggle in the 2020s.
Rush Limbaugh was a huge fraud, just like so many other Conservative Icons like Ronald Regan.
Now I read, on top of everything else, such as race denial, etc., he supported NAFTA? How many times did I hear that POS railing about “rugged individualism” to workers whose jobs were exported to China and Mexico, who are forced to feed the welfare state that supports the high minority birth rate, and who had NO VOICE in our political sphere? I can’t count them all. He, with his multi-million dollar broadcasting contracts, worked against the American worker for most of his career and after that he says he’s sorry?
I was particularly sickened by his cult like worship of Ronald Reagan, whom he called “Renaldus Magnus.” Reagan was another fraud who signed the first amnesty that legalized millions of Mexicans and accelerated the transformation of California from a solidly Republican state to a political subdivision of Mexico that is solidly Democratic. Somehow Reagan’s treachery is swept under the rug and he’s never called to account for this.
And all of his bragging about his cigars, his private jet, his golf game and football…made me want to puke. His acceptance by so many common people whom he screwed over for thirty pieces of silver only shows how stupid and dull witted were most of his listeners.
Rot in Hell.
Limbaugh most certainly had his faults, as many above have noted, but as one younger white-winger put it a few days ago, “He was the first person I even heard on the radio who sounded like he didn’t hate people like me”. He was a man of his time, and his time is not our time, but compared to anything else on the airwaves in the late 1980’s he was a breath of fresh air. He could have been a lot better, but one does what one can.
RIP
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