Is Talk Radio To Blame For The Rise of Trump?

The Washington Examiner has the details from the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who said the reason Republican base voters have unrealistic expectations is because of talk radio. And when politicians say talk radio, that usually means Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck and other conservative talkers. McConnell also said talk radio may have contributed to Donald Trump’s win in the party’s presidential primary.

While some talk radio hosts, such as Glenn Beck and others, have been dead set against Donald Trump, others such as Rush Limbaugh have not endorsed any candidate. That has been taken by some as a tacit endorsement of the long-time businessman, especially when there were other staunch conservatives in the field before Trump won the nomination and those conservative talkers did not come right out and support them, such as Ted Cruz.

Here’s what McConnell had to say Tuesday, as reprinted in The Washington Examiner. “A lot of base voters have been really misled by a lot of talk show hosts and others about what’s achievable when you don’t have the White House. There is a president, the only one … who can sign something into law or veto a bill. The notion of shutting down government to defund Obamacare, even if that would achieve the result … is what my friend George Will would call the politics of futile gesture, or put another way, doing dumb things. I’m not in favor of futile gestures and doing dumb things. I think the reason people are unhappy is because of the condition of the country. And because they’ve been fed the notion that somehow a Republican Congress can overcome a Democratic president and somehow bring him to his knees when it’s not possible.”

While McConnell did not mention anyone by name, Limbaugh has repeatedly said Republicans should not be afraid to shut down the government. It’s also important to note that Limbaugh never endorses a candidate running for election in a primary despite being lobbied by many of them.