02x08 - The Rise of Rush Limbaugh

[bunniefuu]

Women are dying every day

all over the world
because of people like you.

Rush Limbaugh is one of the
'90s most controversial figures.

Feminists in America today
are outdated.

The reason that Trump was
so effective with fake news...

It started with Limbaugh.

First on radio, then TV.

Whenever we see gays
in the military,

we're gonna go... aah!

Limbaugh attacks men...

The NFL all too often looks

like a game between
the Bloods and the Crips.

Women...

We're going to do
a feminazi update.

- And even children.
- That's the kid!

I don't think anybody was
comfortable with that.

I got the sense that he was
beaten up when he was younger.

He'll spend the decade
and beyond

spreading hate and conspiracies.

"Democrats are evil.
Democrats are not patriotic."

The modern Republican Party

has been reshaped
in Limbaugh's image.

It's Limbaugh's rhetoric
that will fuel

the right-wing populism
that taints our politics today.

He purposely divided America.

You will not replace us!

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.

The most dangerous man...

in the U.S.A.!

Well, Rush Limbaugh
bills himself

as "the most dangerous man
in America."

Why? Well, why not?

He has the hottest radio
talk show in the country.

Ladies and gentlemen!

In the '90s, one man gives voice

to the id
of American conservatism.

It seems everywhere you look,
there he is,

on the billboards
and in the bookstores.

With his radio and TV shows,

Rush Limbaugh will push together
a cult following

by pulling America apart.

You know what all caused this?

Me!

But Limbaugh's rise to become

the king of blue-collar
conservatism

is no rags-to-riches story...

More like riches
to even more riches.

This guy grew up
in Cape Girardeau, Missouri,

relatively well-off,
very Republican family.

His dad was a corporate lawyer
and a Republican leader.

His father was very politically
opinionated and loved

to spout off
at the dinner table.

Friends remember this.
You know, when you went

to the Limbaugh dinner table,

you were getting
a seminar in things.

As a teenager,
Limbaugh dreams of one day

spinning records
for a top 40 radio station.

He grew up loving radio,
loved radio,

and he was a deejay,

much to the consternation
of his lawyer father.

He was kind of viewed
as the failure of the family.

I'm Brian Rosenwald.
I'm the author

of "Talk Radio's America:
How an Industry Took Over

a Political Party That Took
Over the United States."

He goes off to college
and only lasts like one year

because his heart's not in it,
he's not interested in it.

And he heads off
to try to do radio.

Limbaugh was a good deejay,
but he was exactly

the type of person
who didn't listen to his boss.

He was the kind of deejay who
would call the local pizza place

and order 5,000 pizzas

and tell them he was
from the competing station.

And so, that's a very poor
strategy for remaining employed.

After getting fired from jobs
across the Midwest,

Limbaugh scores his first real
break at KFBK in Sacramento.

He got the job because another
right-wing talk show host

made some sort of ethnic slur
and was fired.

His name was Morton Downey Jr.

You disagree with what
you hear, don't blame us...

Blame it on Morton Downey Jr.

Morton Downey Jr. will soon
be known for his angry antics

on his late-night TV show.

But in 1984,

he's a loudmouthed deejay
talking politics on KFBK.

And he says something r*cist
about a city councilman,

and so they fire Downey
and they have a slot.

Limbaugh gets that job.

But to appeal
to Morton Downey's audience,

he tweaks what he talks
about on the mic.

And you have to understand,
at the time that Limbaugh

goes to Sacramento,
he is not that political.

This guy's never been
registered to vote.

He's in his 30s.

But he's just sort of applying

the shtick that he had developed
as a deejay

to political conversation.

And he has a good time,

and he's doing gags
and all this kind of stuff.

So, I have a little joke

I'm gonna play
on the light company.

We will call them up
on the phone right now.

Limbaugh's new act is heard
by Ed McLaughlin,

the head of ABC Radio.

He's got an opening at WABC,

the company's flagship station
in New York City.

He moves to New York
July 4th weekend of 1988,

and August 1st of '88,
he debuts nationally.

♪ With talent on loan from God ♪

In New York, Howard Stern has
already established himself

as the king of the FM dial

by syndicating his show
to stations across the country.

Howard Stern starts to kind of
pioneer the raunchier,

in-your-face,

what they call "guy talk"
that could be really sexual.

Stern was so outrageous
on last night's "Tonight Show,"

NBC issued a formal apology
to its viewers.

They talk a little politics,
but it was mostly focused on sex

and women and popular culture
and that kind of thing,

and it pushed
the boundaries of propriety.

But while Howard reinvents what
morning drive time sounds like,

Rush uses his midday
AM talk show

to do the same thing
with political radio.

Tantamount Pictures presents...

Bill Clinton in "Tax-ula."

It's hard to understate
how different and unique

and fresh his show feels.

There's no doubt that
the Rush Limbaugh radio show

was pretty inventive.

There was more comedy.

Limbaugh had an amazing talent
of connecting with his audience.

He did it unlike other
right-wing ranters on the radio.

On loan from God, Rush Limbaugh,

here on the Excellence
in Broadcasting Network.

Calls his network

the Excellence in Broadcasting
Network,

and EIB One is his plane

when he gets wealthy enough
to have a plane.

And that was very sticky.
You know what I mean?

Excellence in Broadcasting,
you know.

It's just... it was all...

It was all this... I wouldn't
even say it was marketing,

'cause it was way more campy
than marketing, you know?

Limbaugh quickly makes a name
for himself

by belittling liberal beliefs.

Morality is not defined
by individual choice.

You hear that, you liberals?

He has caller ab*rtion.

He plays, um, a vacuum cleaner
sound effect

and screaming in the background

while hanging up
on liberal callers

And his point... he stops them
after a short period of time,

but his point is that
they're more controversial

than actual ab*rtion.

So, he's making
a conservative political point,

but he's not just
lecturing on it.

He's not a sermonizer.

This is not church. This is fun.

- ♪ Whoa! ♪
- Rush Limbaugh!

Yeah.

The first time
I heard Rush Limbaugh,

I vividly remember driving to
my sister's house in Cincinnati.

I turned him on, I'm somewhere
in the middle of Indiana,

and here's this energetic,
kind of off-the-wall guy...

Tiananmen Square,

nuclear weapons, oh, no!

Who's speaking to me.

I am Joe Walsh,
former Illinois congressman,

former Republican candidate
for president,

and former Rush Limbaugh
listener.

Before Rush,
conservatives complained

that no one on TV or radio
speaks for them...

Generally, if you were right
of center, you'd get pounded.

You'd get criticized.

And that the mainstream media

is biased against them
and their values.

ABC, CBS, NBC...
They're all left of center.

CNN... left of center.

I mean, most of the media
in America is,

has always been left of center.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Well, I hope I've answered
your questions as best I could,

given the very little
that I know.

So to have somebody like
Rush Limbaugh beat them up,

it was refreshing.

The country was moving
to the right since Reagan,

and there was...
There had been backlash

from, you know,
the social movements.

You know, there was
the hippie movement,

there was the civil rights
movement,

there was the feminist movement.

This is a kind of peak moment
in the culture wars.

You've got a lot
of white Christians,

especially white Christian men,
who feel like the world

has been turned upside down
on them over like 20 years.

Telling these men,

"Well, you can't call
Black people 'colored' anymore,

you can't call women
'girls' anymore."

And it's these
white conservative men

who see in Rush Limbaugh

a man willing to speak up
on their behalf.

Rush had an amazing,
amazing sense of what people

who tended to think like he did,
where they were coming from.

He's just becoming a bigger
and bigger deal,

especially for men.

It becomes like their clubhouse.

In only a year,
his audience swells

to almost 1 million people
on 172 stations.

His listeners soak up his lack
of political correctness,

and so long as he's beating up
on liberals,

they don't care
if what he's saying is true.

If Rush says it,
they believe it.

And so, the simple fact
of the matter

is that the homeless advocacy
in this country is...

Is, I think, based upon fraud.

This guy doesn't just get
his facts wrong...

He turns them upside down.

My name is Jeff Cohen.

I founded
the media watch group FAIR

that debunked and documented
Rush Limbaugh's reign of error.

I remember the first time
I heard Limbaugh.

I was in a cab in New York City,

and I was in that cab
for about 20 minutes.

In the first 20 minutes,
I said, "This is one

of the biggest charlatans
in the history of talk radio."

He once said that, you know,

"This wasn't handed to me
on a silver platter."

Not quite true.

His first radio job, he hosted
a show on a local radio station,

and his dad was the part owner.

I don't think he cared
about the truth.

I don't think
it was important to him.

That wasn't the goal
of his show.

I never knew from the beginning

if Rush Limbaugh believed
a word he said.

A lot of people say,
"You really believe

the stuff you say?"

I don't know.
That's for you to figure out.

I think Rush knew
in many instances

he was not telling the truth.

Even after being corrected,
he would keep saying the lie.

Limbaugh isn't just loose
with his facts.

He's also becoming more
and more derisive

towards the social
and political groups he targets.

It's no secret the talk show
host offends many people,

including gays, women,
Democrats, and liberals.

It was a lot of complaining
about liberals and Democrats

and women and Black people.

Making fun of g*y people,
making fun of people with HIV.

The thing that a lot of
liberals start to feel

is that he was a bigot.

He punched down at people
who were less powerful than him.

Early on, Limbaugh popularizes

the term feminazi

to describe any woman
who's pro-choice,

something he's called out for
when he appears on "Donahue."

"Feminazis"?

Feminists are Nazis?
- I don't think

that the feminists who say,
"We're feminists,

we're fierce
and we're in your face,"

which is clearly "us against
men," is representative

of the majority of women
in this country, or people.

Not to psychoanalyze Rush,

but he seemed
to have issues with women

and he seemed
to have issues with sex.

There seemed to be
a real ugly anger for women

that would come out
publicly on his show.

How many of you guys

in your own experience
with women

have learned that no means yes
if you know how to spot it?

Well, I mean, I guess people
could say Rush was a sexist.

He said sexist things.
You know what?

My father said sexist things
when I was growing up.

My dad's not a sexist.

My name is Nick Africa no.

I was a producer
for "Rush Limbaugh,"

the television show,
from '91 to '95.

Can you use language on TV?

- Yeah.
- Oh, okay.

- I mean, I won't...
- I'm not gonna say

I think like a lot
of misogynists,

you know, it wasn't his fault...
It's those damn women,

and it's the feminists
and the feminazis.

Despite increasing outrage
from activist groups,

Rush Limbaugh doesn't get
canceled like he might today.

Instead, he's rewarded.

CBS asked Limbaugh to guest host
Pat Sajak's talk show,

but it's a request
they will soon regret.

Affirmative action is an insult.

Sir, please sit down.

We'll get to you in good time.

By 1990, Rush Limbaugh
the right-wing radio phenomenon

becomes Rush Limbaugh
the human cash machine.

Along with his
million-dollar salary,

Limbaugh hawks
an ever-growing range

of Excellence in Broadcasting
merchandise, along with

the "Rush to Excellence"
public speaking tour,

where he earns $250,000 a year

off fans willing to pay
for in-person jokes

about what he calls "libtards."

The latest craze among
progressive h*m*

has resulted in numerous g*y men

reporting to hospital
emergency rooms

needing gerbils surgically
removed from their rectum.

Rush would get particularly ugly

making fun of the whole
LGBTQ community.

Man, it would be like he took
a knife and just stabbed people

and twisted that knife,
in a much uglier fashion

than when he's just
going after somebody

because of climate change
or some other issue.

His increasingly toxic diatribes

earn him more and more fans,

the most diehard of which
he nicknames the Dittoheads.

Rush himself would call them
Dittoheads,

and they started
calling themselves Dittoheads.

Means that they just agree

with everything
that Rush Limbaugh says.

By the way, Ditto and a half

from the land
of the lonely pine.

Thank you. Thanks very much.

A Dittohead was just
a rabid fan.

"I agree with you. Ditto."

Politically, I agree with him.
Beautifully.

I always agree with him.

My dad was such a Dittohead
that he said,

"I don't agree with everything
Rush says...

Rush agrees
with everything I think."

I'm Jen Senko.

I'm an award-winning filmmaker,

director of
"The Brainwashing of My Dad."

Like many Americans in the '90s,

Jen's dad discovers
Rush Limbaugh...

Rush Limbaugh.

On the car radio during
his daily commute to work.

Before Rush, my dad was,
you know, a Democrat.

To keep himself company,
he... he found talk radio.

He wasn't much into music,
but the guy on the radio

was r*cist, sexist, h*m*,

and always, always, always

pounding on liberals
and Democrats

and... and demonizing them.

"Democrats are evil.
Democrats are not patriotic.

Democrats are gonna
just destroy the country."

And, so my dad
found Rush Limbaugh

and fell in man love

and became addicted to Limbaugh.

It was like the pod people,
that movie.

This is the body of my dad,
but it's not my dad.

You have to understand that
if you're driving a truck

or you're in an auto body shop
or you're a homemaker,

you know, they're spending
15 hours a week with him.

And he is, you know,
almost there...

That could be more than they're
spending with their spouses.

He becomes part
of their families.

He becomes, you know,
a friend to them,

and they form this bond.

You know, it's just a bunch

of wacko, leftist
environmentalists

who are continuing their as*ault
on capitalist America.

Rush became my father's
best friend.

He locked himself
in the kitchen for three hours

and would have these
Limbaugh lunches.

And my mom was cast
to the living room

to eat her lunch
in the living room.

I remember thinking that
my dad's addicted to this anger.

And the number of Americans
addicted to Limbaugh is growing.

By 1990, his nationwide
syndicated network

reaches 5 million listeners.

And as long as his audience
continues to grow,

the show's corporate sponsors
don't seem to mind the vitriol.

When it comes to the US media,
it's corporations

that are the owners, and that
can never be forgotten,

that these media corporations
were willing to give a voice

to a guy who was a champion
of the over dog.

He defended tobacco industry,

he defended
the pharmaceutical companies.

They're huge advertisers.

And he was beating up
on these powerless groups.

So, the big corporations,

I think, were happy
to give him a microphone.

In March of 1990,

the executives
at media giant CBS

choose to ignore Limbaugh's
attacks against minority groups

when they ask him to guest host
Pat Sajak's failing talk show.

This is, you know, CBS.
This is the big time.

This is... they're trying to see
could Limbaugh be a star

in late-night television
the way he is on the radio?

As you know, there's been
a controversy brewing all week

regarding
the Idaho ab*rtion bill.

Rush quickly discovers
what happens when you do

your bellicose act in front
of a non-Dittohead crowd.

- You'll never have a baby.
- You... It has nothing...

Madam... Madam...
- You'll never be pregnant.

You'll never have to have
an ab*rtion.

- Madam?
- Yes, Rush?

- Why are you so mad?
- Why am I mad?

- Yeah.
- Because women are dying

every day all over the world
because of people like you.

A bunch of activists
are in the audience,

and they start
talking back to him.

We are going to be
wherever you are

and we're gonna denounce
and expose you.

It's just an utter,
unmitigated disaster.

Rush Limbaugh never handled
opposition well.

- Now...
- Go back to the radio, Rush!

Rush Limbaugh never, ever
really was put in a position

from the beginning where he had
to defend his point of view.

Finally, some of the people

he's been denouncing
from his throne

are there confronting him,

and it was an embarrassing
moment for him.

Limbaugh gives up on TV for now

and returns to the safety of his
three-hour-a-day radio program.

In TV, we have a live audience,

and I think that was a fair bit
difficult for him.

You know, when he was
behind the radio,

he just had to crank the mic on
and, uh... and get talking.

It was pretty easy that way

in terms of having to
deal with anybody.

From behind his mic,
Rush can do what he does best...

Spout off about feminists,
immigrants, and minority groups

he thinks are all destroying
the "real America."

And his opinions soon reach
the inner circles

of a political group
that agrees with him.

Slowly, Republican consultants,
Republican staffers,

Republican politicians
are being turned on to him,

and when they're
turned on to him,

a light bulb goes off that,

you know, this could be really
politically beneficial.

The Republican Party woke up
to the fact that, "Oh, my God,

this guy is channeling
our voters better than we are,

and we better embrace him
pragmatically and politically."

The Republican
who embraces Rush the most

is a man named Roger Ailes.

Before Rush,
there was Roger Ailes.

Roger Ailes, who is
a television producer

and political consultant

responsible
for lots of famous ads.

One of his most notorious
is "Revolving Door,"

a campaign commercial for
the Bush-Quayle ticket in 1988.

The ad is a not-so-subtle
suggestion

that voting for Michael Dukakis

means Black criminals
get released from prison.

This was calculated to emphasize

the one African American here.

Roger Ailes was one of the most
important figures in the history

of the modern Republican Party
and the modern media.

Ailes worked for
Richard Nixon's campaigns,

later worked for Reagan,
worked for Bush the first.

He already had this idea
that he wanted to make news

that would be biased
towards Republicans

and that would earn
Republican voters.

In a few years' time,
Ailes will help create Fox News,

the conservative wing of
Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

But in 1992, he's helping
transform Limbaugh

from a right-wing b*mb thrower
into a guided m*ssile.

Roger Ailes and Rush
were two of a kind.

In fact, when they met,
Roger Ailes said it felt

like he met his... his soul mate.

In June of 1992,

he arranged for Rush Limbaugh
to come to the White House.

And George Bush the first
carries his overnight bag

into the Lincoln Bedroom
of the White House.

Think about this.

This is a guy who's been fired
like five times

and isn't even
registered to vote.

And in less than a decade, he's
sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Like, you could never
have picked a guy and been...

Who was more unlikely
to be a political star

in short order
than Rush Limbaugh.

Roger Ailes believes
enough in Limbaugh

to bring him back to TV

by creating
"The Rush Limbaugh Show."

Learning from
the Pat Sajak fiasco,

Ailes fills the studio audience
with loyal Dittoheads.

The show premieres
in syndication

in September of 1992,

just a few months
before Clinton challenges Bush

for the presidency.

Rush danced to his drum,
and he said things

that lots of people didn't like.

He made people crazy.

But you know what?
If you play it safe,

I guess people
don't talk about you.

Leading up to the election,
Rush's TV show,

along with his three hours
a day on radio,

serves as one long attack ad

against Democrats
and the Clintons.

A woman is like a tea bag.

Put her in hot water,
she just gets stronger.

And, uh...

We made fun of Hillary Clinton,
for sure, yes.

And Bill Clinton.

Back and forth,
can't make up his mind

which way he wants to go.
That's what it looks like

when Bill Clinton gets close
to the Selective Service Office.

During the run-up
to the election,

Clinton focuses on winning over
young and Black voters

by appearing on shows
like "Arsenio Hall."

Meanwhile, Bush Senior
relies on Limbaugh

and attacking Clinton's
military draft record.

Speaking to a national
radio audience today,

President Bush told conservative
talk show host Rush Limbaugh

he doesn't want to make
a big deal

out of Clinton's draft status,
but he did call on the Democrat

to give a full explanation
of his non-service.

The only problem with Limbaugh
criticizing Clinton

for dodging the draft
is that Limbaugh

did the exact same thing,
but for different reasons.

There were a lot of good reasons

to criticize Bill Clinton,

but Bill Clinton was opposed to
the Vietnam w*r that he evaded.

Rush Limbaugh
supported the Vietnam w*r.

He just wanted other people
to fight it for him.

Rush and other, uh,
outspoken leaders

in... in conservative media,
I think,

do best when they have an enemy
that they can rail against.

Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton.
Barack Obama.

You know, listen,
the Clintons... fair game.

And they... and, listen,
they took a lot of people apart

on... on the way
to where they were.

So, that never felt like
an unfair fight.

While Rush starts out
his TV show

with the same humorous
political jabs

he perfected on radio,
it's not long

before he crosses the line
into petty personal attacks.

He was cruel from the beginning.

On January 20th, 1993,
Bill Clinton gets sworn in

as the 42nd president
of the United States.

Immediately, he outlines
his vision for change.

We're going to ask the rich
to pay their fair share

so the rest of America
can finally get a break.

For Democrats, it's a moment
of triumph...

The first time they've held the
White House in 12 long years.

And while Limbaugh
publicly decries Clinton

as a dangerous liberal and a
threat to conservative values...

So, I think it's, uh,
pretty much far-left liberalism,

uh, that seeks to... to raise
the level of incompetence

to the level of competence.

Privately, he celebrates.

With Clinton as president,

Limbaugh has the perfect target
for all his grievances,

and that means more listeners
and more money.

Bill Clinton beats Bush in '92.

'96, Bill Clinton's reelected.

Those are heydays for Rush.

The fact that... that Rush had
Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton

to go after, I think that

more than almost anything else

really helped grow his show.

The Clintons give him
something to be against.

You know, not only is there
a Democrat in the White House

trying to do liberal things,
but he's a guy who they think

is, like, the worst
from a moral standpoint.

They're looking for someone
who's going to voice that.

And Limbaugh provides them that.

Yes, he gave voice to
a hell of a lot of people

who felt voiceless,

but Rush Limbaugh taught people
during the '90s

that it's okay to demonize
your political opponents.

I never did them
the way they are doing us

in Washington, D.C., today.

It is wrong

and it is not good for
the United States of America.

Oh, dissent and disagreement

is not good for
the United States of America.

We're so sorry, Mr. President.

So sorry.

He hammered... Hammered Clinton.

You know, Trump whined

that he was the most picked-on
president, like, ever.

But really, before Clinton,
there was no president

that was hammered
as much as he was.

When attacking the Clintons
proves to be the magic formula

for attracting
even bigger audiences,

Rush seems willing to say
anything to appease his fans.

That includes ridiculing

the Clintons' 13-year-old
daughter, Chelsea.

Let's take a look, see who is
the cute kid in the White House.

No, no, no, no!
That's not the kid! That's...

That's the kid! We tried to...

Like, how hurtful is that?

He was a pioneer in many things,

and one of the things
he pioneered in was nastiness,

name-calling,
and coarseness gone public.

I got the sense that he was
beaten up when he was younger.

And he would then lash out.
Projection.

He would lash out
and take off after like, I mean,

take off after the way
Chelsea Clinton looks.

I don't think anybody was
comfortable with that.

Um, I wasn't comfortable
with it.

Looking back on it,

I'm less comfortable today.
I have children.

His own mom calls him up
and scolds him for that.

You don't attack children.
So, yes, there...

There is some stuff
where he's crossing the line,

where it's over the top,
but these people

who hate Clinton
find a lot of it entertaining.

By far, the more disturbing
aspect of that

was how his audience reacted.

"Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!"
And they ate it up.

The reaction
from Limbaugh's critics

was often just as over-the-top.

Yeah, I mean, one day, uh,
we were opening the mail

and someone sent us feces,
human feces in the mail.

FedEx.

I was the one that opened it.

The greatest part is
that they spent the money

to overnight it to us,
and it's like,

"I'm gonna send poop, and guess
how I'm gonna get them

to open it...
I'm gonna send it FedEx."

But the parcel does nothing
to stop Limbaugh

from trash-talking the left,
including making sh*t up

if it helps to advance
his anti-liberal agenda.

He says the Clintons send
their daughter to a school

where all the eighth graders
have to write an essay...

"Why I Feel Guilty Being White."

"CBS News is my source."

There was no CBS News report.

There was no essay.

It would have been very hard

for the 25% of the people
at Chelsea Clinton's school

who are nonwhite

to write the mandatory essay.

But again, these lies,

these concoctions
are in furtherance

of a serious
political perspective,

which is white people
are oppressed,

the people that are wrecking
society are the feminazis,

the homeless, the immigrants,

the gays,
and the people dying of A*DS.

And those are the people
he would fume about.

Now, this next one,
I want to warn you,

some of you liberals, you're
gonna be unhappy at this.

I love it.

While taking cheap shots
at the Clintons can be ignored

as harmless political satire,

the rise of the Christian right
and right-wing radical groups

makes Limbaugh's rhetoric
increasingly dangerous.

We are for the Second Amendment

and for the American people
to arm themselves.

And when we take over, we're
gonna level the IRS building.

Rush said the things that they
were told that they couldn't say

or weren't supposed to say.

And it also combined with sort
of like the evangelical movement

that was going on at that time.

Rush Limbaugh came along
with a more secular approach,

but the wave he rode in on
was televangelism.

He was able to prey
on the social resentments

and the resentments against
modernity and feminism

and g*y rights

that people were getting from
right-wing Christian preachers.

By the end of 1994, Rush has
20 million listeners on radio

and several million viewers
on TV.

That gives him
an audience similar

to shows like
"Seinfeld" and "Friends."

Those were his, you know,
glory days, man.

He's making a shitload of money.

He's eating, he's drinking,
he's smoking his cigars.

He's living life large,
and he looked like...

On TV, like he'd been
living life large.

Rush is making more
and more money.

He's gaining
the trappings of success.

I think the best place
that you see this is politically

because he becomes a rock star
specifically to conservatives.

And maybe the best way
of understanding this

is the 1994
Republican revolution.

The revolution, led
by Congressman Newt Gingrich,

happens during
the midterm elections of '94,

when for the first time
in 40 years,

Republicans win a majority
in Congress.

It's a major upset
for the Democrats,

and Republicans
in and out of politics

know exactly who to thank...

Rush Limbaugh
and his legions of Dittoheads.

These are not unimportant
people who are like,

"Will you take a picture
with me?

Can I have your autograph?"

Like, they treat him
like a rock star.

But just as he's basking
in the conservative limelight,

America gets rocked
by a homegrown t*rror1st...

Who doesn't quite fit

into Limbaugh's
carefully crafted world view.

It's about feeding
your audience what you think

they want to hear.
And Rush Limbaugh knew

that his audience wanted
to blame a Muslim.

On April 19, 1995,

the Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building

in Oklahoma City

gets hit by a t*rror1st attack.

The toll is devastating.

168 are confirmed dead,
including 19 children.

Rush Limbaugh was one of
many commentators

after the Oklahoma City bombing
happened

that immediately rush to assume
this is foreign

and "let's retaliate, let's b*mb
somebody, God damn it."

That was par for the course,

but Limbaugh had the biggest
audience to say that with.

Within just three days,

the FBI tracks down
the real t*rror1st...

American born and bred
Timothy McVeigh.

His motivation... retaliation
for the FBI's handling

of the Waco siege in Texas
exactly two years earlier.

And then we learned that
the t*rror1st was connected

to right-wing militia groups,

grew up around
Buffalo, New York.

And all of a sudden,
it was like,

"I never said those things."

You know, clearly we don't want
to be bombing Buffalo, New York.

The... The thing that a lot of
liberals start to feel

is that talk radio hosts
are encouraging hate.

Not only are they, you know,
preaching kind of hatred

and... and anger towards
Democratic politicians...

That this can easily spill over,
right?

That if you preach that these
people are attacking America,

they're attacking
American values,

a logical leap for some of
the fringe of the audience

that there could be people out
there who are moved to violence.

Timothy McVeigh represented
a number of disenchanted,

loner-type white dudes
in America

who didn't feel a connection
to anything.

Rush Limbaugh would have helped
give them a voice.

Rush gave them a home.

In the aftermath
of the Oklahoma City bombing,

as many Americans try
to come together and heal,

Rush Limbaugh downplays the role

that white conservatism
played in the tragedy

and continues his obsession
with poking fun at the Clintons.

Well, look at it this way, sir.
If you aren't reelected,

you'll have more time
to practice your golf game.

- I'm looking forward to that.
- Oh, so are we.

The pleasure Rush gets
from speaking falsehoods

is only matched by his love
of spreading fake conspiracies.

Case in point, Jeff Cohen
remembers when Limbaugh tried

to pin a fictional m*rder
on Hillary Clinton.

He went on the air breathlessly

to read something
he got, like, faxed to him.

♪♪

Okay, folks, I think I got
enough information here

to tell you the contents
of this fax that I got.

Brace yourselves.

There's a Washington
consulting firm

that is scheduled to release
a report this afternoon

that will appear,
that will be published

that claims that Vince Foster
was m*rder*d in an apartment

owned by Hillary Clinton,
and the body

was then taken
to Fort Marcy Park.

Rush Limbaugh in action.

Vince Foster was the associate
White House counsel

who had committed suicide.

There's never been
any evidence otherwise.

I mean, how do you go on the air

when you get something
off of the fax machine

accusing the first lady
of the United States of m*rder?

It was part of this conspiracy
crap that he was so good at,

you know, at telling,
was these giant conspiracies.

The conspiracies don't sit well

with his more mainstream
TV viewers.

And in the summer of 1996,
his show is canceled.

In today's Washington Watch,
Rush Limbaugh

is reportedly dropping
his syndicated television show.

While Rush focuses on his
three-hour radio show,

his old friend and soul mate
Roger Ailes launches Fox News.

Using Rush as the template,
Fox spawns a slew of hosts

who channel Limbaugh's
conservative fury.

What you see today is all
a derivation of Rush Limbaugh,

Sean Hannity,
I mean, Bill O'Reilly...

these guys just didn't know
how to do it.

They didn't have
the verve he had.

Then, when Bill Clinton leaves
the White House,

Rush Limbaugh loses
his favorite punching bag.

He really needed
to be the opposition.

It's not helpful for him

when George Bush the second
becomes president,

'cause he needs to be bashing
away at the Democrats in power.

And while he's left to
reminisce about the evil deeds

of Bill and Hillary,

Limbaugh will soon find himself
in the grip of a vice

he spent his career
railing against.

Like millions of people,
he got hooked on opiates.

In 2003, the mainstream media

gives Rush Limbaugh
yet another chance on TV

when ESPN hires him
to commentate on NFL football.

He only lasts like four
or five weeks

because he... he starts talking
about Donovan McNabb

of the Philadelphia Eagles

and Black quarterbacks.

The media has been very desirous

that a Black quarterback
to do well.

It says something about
U.S. corporate greed

that they would take a guy
like Rush Limbaugh

with his... his history
of racial contempt.

That history will get
another chapter when Limbaugh

says the following a few years
later on his radio show.

Let me put it to you this way...

The NFL all too often looks
like a game

between the Bloods
and the Crips.

Three years later, in 2006,
the king of right-wing media

reveals the true depths
of his hypocrisy

when he's arrested
on prescription drug charges.

I remember Rush in the '90s
railed against,

you know, people who did drugs
and drug addicts.

And my... my dad agreed
with him...

"Yeah, they should
just be locked up

and throw away the key."

He admits he went around
doctor shopping,

getting these drugs
from different doctors.

And the prosecutor has
an open-and-shut case,

but drops the charge.

He looks a little bit
hypocritical when he confesses

that he has drug addiction
and cuts a deal on,

you know,
criminal charges and things.

The drug w*r affected poor
people and people of color,

the kind of people Rush Limbaugh
belittled for decades,

and the Rush Limbaughs
of the world got off.

By the time that Rush's
own addiction came out,

the Rush community
was a full-on cult.

And so, the cult leader
can do no wrong.

And that's certainly true

when Limbaugh begins spreading
the falsehood to his listeners

that Barack Obama isn't really
a natural-born American citizen.

He was one of the birthers
that at the same time

that Donald Trump
was questioning

that Obama is not
a legitimate president

because he wasn't born
in the United States,

Limbaugh was doing
that conspiracy,

that fake conspiracy.

I think Rush Limbaugh knew
that was bullshit,

and yet he still
put it out there.

Now, to me, I find that to be
a lot more dangerous

than some idiot

who actually believes that Obama
is not an American citizen.

Trump's a dumb-a*s, so Trump
doesn't know what he's doing.

But Rush? Rush knew.

The reason that Trump was
so effective with fake news,

"don't believe journalism"...

It started with Limbaugh.

Trump came along in 2016.

Why was he so able
to so easily demagogue?

Because he came along
to a group of people

who were perfectly okay
being lied to.

Then, in 2020,

Rush Limbaugh announces that
he has Stage 4 lung cancer

and that he won't be spending
as much time on the air.

There's an immediate outpouring
from the radio industry

and the conservative media
worlds wishing him well,

and Trump gives him
the Medal of Freedom

at the 2020
State of the Union Address.

The first lady
of the United States

to present you with the honor,
please.

That to me is an insult
to g*y people,

women, people of color.

It's just an insult.
And no one cares.

The modern Republican Party

has been reshaped
in Limbaugh's image.

That's what has
to be understood.

After 30 years of that guy
on the radio

spewing disinformation
and lies to the point where

the entire base of the
Republican Party right now

no longer believes
in basic truths...

I mean, think about that.

Six weeks before his death
in February 2021,

Limbaugh is still at it,

claiming election fraud
on behalf of Trump

and helping incite the
insurrection on Capitol Hill.

There's simply no way Joe Biden

was legitimately
elected president.

When you talk about the
extremism of the American right,

Limbaugh probably played
a bigger role

than anyone alive or dead
to do that, to shape that.

I have fond memories, and, um,
I've never said a bad word

about the guy and I never would.

Um, he's...

You can disagree with him. Uh...

Good people can disagree
with him,

and have, and...
And will continue.

His legacy is division.
He purposely divided America.

He's not the only one,

and there's plenty of blame
to go around,

but he had a huge microphone.

America right now
is dangerously divided.

Jews will not replace us!

Rush Limbaugh
played a huge hand in that.

It's immeasurable,
the... the damage

that Rush Limbaugh
has caused to society.