Rush Limbaugh was to Ronald Reagan what “My City Was Gone” is to “the shining city on the hill.” The two would have agreed on most issues, but their styles and attitudes were completely different. Reagan lived in a happy nostalgic haze; Limbaugh saw a changing world and hated it.
Limbaugh wasn’t the first right-wing radio guy to make a mark on America. I can still remember Paul Harvey, for example. Harvey, however, was a relatively genial figure. Limbaugh’s real predecessor probably was the fascist Father Coughlin, but that was before my time.
Limbaugh brought anger, toxic masculinity, and the culture wars to a large audience of reactionaries. They lapped it up, and made him a millionaire. Everyone won except liberal democracy and the American people.
More than any single individual, Limbaugh was the prototype for Donald Trump. We will be feeling his influence, for good or ill, for many years to come.
Just kidding. It’s only for ill.