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The complete denial of reality, the utter combativeness on literally every issue, the hatred of science and "experts" because they don't conform to your ideology... these were all brought to you by Rush and Newt and it has snowballed into 30 million people in Texas freezing.
Unlike a lot of people talking about Rush today, I actually listened to him. A LOT. After 9/11 I wanted to know my enemy and hear the Dubya POV so I listened almost exclusively to right wing talk radio for the next decade. I heard at least an hour of Rush every day for 10 years.
I learned that all of these guys lie, in the service of a very simple worldview, but Rush LOVED to lie. He LOVED to own the left. Didn’t really care about implementing right wing policies or even fighting fair, he just wanted to mock and hate his enemies by any means necessary.
That worldview & mentality is unmistakably the Right now. Before him the Right actually wanted to institute right wing policies. Rush just wanted to fight. He knew it was more entertaining than whatever Buckley did and it’s what made him rich, but it was his passion: Hate. Anger.
Rush was a huge football guy, big Steelers fan, and he brought that mentality to politics. But when a football game is done, it’s over, you go home. In politics, when the game is over you actually get to the hard work of doing the work you ran on. He couldn’t care less about that
None of the people he inspired do, either. We have a generation of right wing nuts who only hate their enemies and only have their beliefs bc they’re in opposition to their enemies’. Climate change is the ultimate example of this. In the 90s, everyone cared about Earth. Not Rush!
Rush was THE ONLY person in the 90s who didn’t believe in climate change. He ONLY didn’t believe in it because the Clinton administration made it a priority. Now climate denial is a prerequisite for Republicans... and they don’t even care about it!
That is Rush’s legacy: a party of grievance, intellectually bankrupt, motivated only by seeking to beat your enemy into submission, becoming extremely rich and powerful while doing so.
