Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity Discuss Trump, Cochlear Implants, and Conservative Movement at Southern Command
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Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity Discuss Trump, Cochlear Implants, and Conservative Movement at Southern Command
Rush Limbaugh opens up about his cochlear implants and near-total hearing loss while explaining the Trump phenomenon from his Southern Command headquarters in Palm Beach. Limbaugh and Sean Hannity discuss how Trump has transformed American politics, why the left opposes economic success, and the future of conservatism. The conversation covers media bias, the stakes of the midterm elections, Never-Trumpers in the conservative movement, and why the divide in America runs deeper than traditional left-right politics. Limbaugh credits Trump with implementing conservative principles more effectively than any recent president, while warning about the consequences if Democrats take the House.
Sean Hannity visits Rush Limbaugh at his Southern Command headquarters in Palm Beach, where Limbaugh broadcasts his show daily. Due to a local Palm Beach ordinance prohibiting working from home, Limbaugh built this dedicated facility that resembles a living room home office.
Rush Limbaugh's Journey with Cochlear Implants
Limbaugh takes a moment to address a question he receives constantly from viewers and emailers about the devices visible during his appearances. He explains that he is 100% deaf and relies entirely on cochlear implants to hear. The human ear contains 35,000 hair cells in each ear that determine hearing sensitivity. Limbaugh lost all of his due to an autoimmune condition where they simply laid down and died.
He now has eight man-made bionic electrodes that attempt to replicate what 35,000 hair cells naturally do. Limbaugh calls it a miraculous technology, noting that if he had lost his hearing just 15 years earlier than he did, the technology wouldn't have existed yet and it would have meant the end of his career. He views the timing as something to be eternally grateful for.
For three months before he could get the surgery, Limbaugh was totally deaf due to an infection. During that time, he had to rely on how his voice felt rather than how it sounded. He had to consciously tell himself not to speak up, since people who can't hear naturally raise their voices. When he asked doctors if he could continue speaking normally for the rest of his life without the implants, they said no. Without being able to hear himself speak, he would eventually sound like someone who had never heard before. The implants were truly a career saver.
Hannity acknowledges the dramatic hearing loss that comes with decades in radio, noting that he's experienced it himself after 30 years of cranking up the volume.
Understanding the Trump Phenomenon
Limbaugh says understanding the Trump phenomenon is not difficult at all if you're not affected by inside-the-Beltway or Washington establishment thinking. It's elites versus real people. Trump is fearless and willing to fight against things that no Republican has been willing to fight against or defend. He has an engaging personality and doesn't actually offend people the way the left claims he does. Trump just makes people laugh, which infuriates the left because they can't get over the fact that he's likable.
Limbaugh points to CNN's Brian Stelter complaining that President Trump is talking too much and is in the media too much, polluting the airwaves with lies and distortions, not giving them enough time to catch up and correct him. Limbaugh's advice: just keep going, President Trump. He's dominating these people and frustrating them. They've lost their monopoly on shaping public opinion through narrative, and they're as frustrated as they can be about that.
Hannity notes that Trump doesn't need the traditional media at all. Limbaugh agrees, explaining that what's happening goes beyond normal politics. They're up against psychological disorder and abnormality disguised as political issues.
Media Bias Beyond Recognition
When Hannity observes that media bias has never been this abusive, Limbaugh corrects him: it's not even bias anymore. They're so far beyond biased. These people are part of the agenda itself. Limbaugh believes they actually run it, orchestrating and giving marching orders to each other.
Trump has them bamboozled. Part and parcel of what they're doing is trying to demonstrate to themselves that they still have the power to shape public opinion through narrative. It's causing everyone on the left to get more and more extreme. Limbaugh is relying on the fact that average, ordinary Americans are as repulsed by this behavior as he is—the demands they're making on decent, God-fearing, America-loving people. Americans are not the problem, yet they're portrayed as the problem and treated as the enemy. It's really scary.
The Stakes of the Midterm Elections
Limbaugh warns about what happens if Democrats win the House in the 2016 midterms. Whatever Trump wants to do will stop. It will be paralyzed. Every relevant House committee will launch inspections, investigations, and subpoenas. They'll go back and try to get Justice Kavanaugh thrown out. It will be nothing but two years of getting even with Trump for having the audacity to win, and the business of the nation will be brought to a screeching halt.
They'll try to get rid of the tax cuts, though they won't succeed at any of this because the Senate will be in the hands of Mitch McConnell. McConnell moves slowly, but he's speeding up and has had a good run. Still, when it comes to the politics of all this, Limbaugh has implicit trust in Trump. He thinks Trump knows what he's doing.
Economic Success Under Trump
Hannity recounts Trump's accomplishments in just two years, contrasting them with Obama, who was the first president in history never to meet 3% GDP growth. Limbaugh explains why this matters: in Obama's view and the American left's view, America is the problem in the world. America is so oppressive and so mean to minorities that it doesn't deserve superpower status or economic success. This is why Limbaugh wanted Obama to fail.
Under Obama, 13 million more people went on food stamps and into poverty. The left wanted that because it meant more people voting Democrat and depending on government. Under Trump, 14 states have record low unemployment. Unemployment is at its lowest level since 1969. There are one million more job openings than people unemployed. African-American unemployment, Hispanic unemployment, Asian unemployment, and women's unemployment are all at or near record lows.
Limbaugh asks a simple question: Why would anyone be angry about this? America is in a roaring economy. More people than ever can get the job they want and are getting raises. People are free to start their own businesses. Every aspect of life in America is on the upswing, yet a political party and its voters are mad about it. Why?
The answer is simple: if economic success happens as a result of individual aptitude and application instead of government making it happen, they're going to oppose it. Economic growth, self-sufficiency, and self-reliance—people learning that the old rules of working hard and applying yourself pay off—is the biggest threat to the American left and the Democrat Party that there could be. They lose their power when people don't need government.
Trump and the Conservative Movement
Hannity asks Limbaugh, as a leader in the conservative movement, where Trump fits in the conservative tradition. Limbaugh dismisses the notion that he leads the conservative movement, noting that the conservative movement is actually led by Never-Trumpers who would have preferred Hillary Clinton to win.
Hannity frames Trump as part of the wave that started with Goldwater and continued through Reagan—the advancement of conservatism. He notes that people have said Trump isn't a conservative, but where's the evidence? Besides trade—and Hannity doesn't even think trade counts since Trump never planned a trade war—Trump is implementing conservative policy.
Limbaugh knows many of these Never-Trump conservatives personally from his 30 years in the business. What they don't like about Trump is revealing: he's implementing issues that these people have devoted their lives to seeing passed, and they're walking away from it. It must have never been about the issues. It must be about proper manners and making sure they don't offend their liberal friends in Washington. Trump does offend those sensibilities, so they can't abide it. Meanwhile, everything happening is making America great exactly as conservatives said it would, and they don't want to be on the bus.
Hannity states plainly that Trump governs as strong a conservative as we've seen in our lifetime. Limbaugh agrees but adds nuance: the divide in America isn't so much left and right anymore. The question is about conservative principles—the traditions of the founding versus Marxist leftism. That's what this is about.
No Common Ground with the Left
Hannity lists Trump's conservative accomplishments: tax cuts, judges, border security. These are core conservative principles. But Limbaugh makes a stark observation: we don't have anything in common with the left anymore. He still hears people say we need to cross the aisle to cooperate, but what do we have in common? Name something we have in common with any of the people who tried to destroy Justice Kavanaugh. Where is the middle ground to compromise with them on Kavanaugh when they didn't even want to allow him due process?
Hannity notes there was zero corroboration for any of the accusations. Limbaugh points out that they wanted to destroy Kavanaugh's life, his family, his career, and his future. And these are the people who tell us they're the party of compassion.
Hannity references how they've seen this before with Justice Clarence Thomas. Limbaugh observes that this happens to anyone they determine is an effective messenger of anything they disagree with. Donald Trump faces it, Limbaugh faces it, and Hannity has taken his hits too. The pattern is clear and consistent.
