Sympathy for Rush Limbaugh doesn’t mean he deserves the Medal of Freedom. That’s a joke
Remember when I wrote that we shouldn’t celebrate the news that Rush Limbaugh says he has advanced lung cancer? I meant it. It should go without saying that we shouldn’t celebrate a dreaded disease suffered by anyone, even someone as objectionable as Limbaugh.
But then on Tuesday, out of nowhere, Limbaugh was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech. The most prestigious award bestowed on civilians by U.S. presidents has gone to giants in literature such as John Steinbeck, Maya Angelou and Tennessee Williams.
It’s been awarded to incomparable contributors to the American song book, such as Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Irving Berlin and Aretha Franklin. Civil Rights icon and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall received this award. So did generals Omar Bradley and Colin Powell.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks were given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. You get the idea.
So am I celebrating Limbaugh’s medical condition as he described it? No. And despite the fact that a good number of you wrote to me saying that I was all wet and that you were, in fact, happy about Limbaugh’s condition, doesn’t change the way I feel.
Having lost a mother, cousins, dear friends and people I admire to cancer, I would never wish it on anyone and I sincerely pray for those of you who wish it on Limbaugh. Go with God on that one.
But whether this vile man deserves the nation’s highest civilian honor is an entirely different question.
Limbaugh represents America’s worst
So let me spell it out: NO FREAKING WAY. Trump is a joke as a president and has debased his office every day in every way imaginable. And in the grand scheme of things, this award might not even make Trump’s top-10 most heinous acts.
For that, I refer you to immigrant kids ripped from their parents and put in cages. I refer you to his persistent attacks on the Affordable Care Act. I refer you to his giving comfort to Nazis and racists. To his endless attacks on a free press. To his cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the world’s greatest despot.
Honoring Limbaugh with an award that has been presented to illustrious human beings is simply the latest move by Trump to cheapen all that we once held dear in this country.
Limbaugh just does not deserve to be in the company of America’s best. Limbaugh represents America’s worst.
Beginning in Sacramento in 1984, Limbaugh has used to his poison microphone to infect our public discourse with hatred and vitriol. In his time, Limbaugh has made racist comments about prominent African Americans, such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson. He’s denigrated gay people and women. He had to quit a side gig on ESPN because he couldn’t resist dipping his toe in the sewage of well-worn racist tropes about African American quarterbacks.
He’s called NBA players “thugs.” He made fun of Michael J. Fox for having Parkinson’s disease. And that’s not to mention his constant, racist drumbeat when Barack Obama – America’s first black president – was in office.
And what’s truly sad? Limbaugh found huge success by peddling hatred. He’s a charlatan, just like Trump. When Limbaugh got his award Tuesday night, it was just the latest reminder that elections have consequences.
If you don’t value your vote or our democracy, then you should feel responsible when democratic norms are cheapened and attacked.
I wish Limbaugh luck with his medical struggle.
But he is no Medal of Freedom winner in any other America but the one defined by Trump: Racist, intolerant, arrogant, ugly.
What a joke.
This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 12:30 PM.
