Rush Limbaugh – a destructive provocateur

Rush Limbaugh, the political radio ‘shock jock’ who traded on ‘fake news’ and conspiracy theories and emerged from Reagan’s time to become a nemesis for Clinton and Obama, has died of lung cancer. He set the tone for the internet age calling women’s rights activists “feminazis”, referring to HIV/Aids as “Rock Hudson’s disease” and claiming “environmentalist wackos” were “a bunch of scientists organised around a political position”; argued the existence of gorillas disproved evolution, characterised both the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (2010) and the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand (2019) as “false flag” operations organised by leftists.

  He was born 12 January 1951 7.50am Cape Girardeau, MO, into a family of conservative judges, did poorly at school, quit University after a year and was then fired from a succession of radio jobs. In 1987 under Reagan, legislation changed which allowed him an opening and by 1992 he had a syndicated TV programme produced by Roger Ailes.

   His deeply personal anti-Clinton campaigning was so effective that when Gingrich and the Republicans re-took the House, they made him an honorary member of the Republican caucus. The same happened in 2010 when the Republicans rallied in the midterms and he reaped much of the credit with his claims that Obama was foreign-born and had allowed ebola into the US in revenge for African slavery.

  He received the presidential medal of freedom from Trump.

  His personal life was a series of short-lived marriages and divorces, with tales of prescription drug addiction.

  He had a 12th house Capricorn Sun square Neptune and on one leg of a Yod in sextile to a Pisces Moon inconjunct Pluto in his 7th house of close relationships and interaction with people in general. His Pluto was further emphasised/afflicted by being in a rage-filled opposition to Mars in contrary, stubborn Aquarius.

  His Mercury in Capricorn opposed Uranus and squared an 8th house Saturn in Libra.

  Shock jocks and conspiracy theories usually have volcanically angry and hate-fuelled Mars. Mercury in hard aspect to Uranus is also prevalent.

  It’s hardly surprising his personal life was such a train-wreck with his controlling, contemptuous Pluto in his 7th opposition Mars – with his Mars exactly conjunct his Sun/Moon midpoint.

26 thoughts on “Rush Limbaugh – a destructive provocateur

  1. It never ceases to amaze that a sizeable minority of human beings ally themselves with individuals who proudly display the very worst characteristics of mankind and whose currency is pure, unadulterated vitriol aimed at those with less power. What is it about malignant narcissistic behaviours, so reviled by my parents generation that is so appealing to so many today?

  2. I’ll base it on Astrology from what I remember of Rush Limbaugh. I’m half Irish and a Capricorn. The Irish say it like they see It. His Moon in Pisces. He had no real empathy for other people. When I heard him on the Radio in San Francisco. He sounded like he was getting his Knickers in a right twist. As a Capricorn he only cared about his ratings and how much money he made. Limbaugh loved the sound of his own voice on the Radio. I wasn’t impressed by him, when I heard him on the Radio. His voice had to be cold as a San Francisco Fog. I better keep quiet what they could have done to him on Alcatraz. Had his
    name on the list of Prisoners in the Canteen area. His name up with there with Al Capone, who was a Capricorn. Limbaugh would have hated it. No talking on the Rock.

  3. A corrosive, destructive man with no redeeming qualities. The GOP’s decline began
    with this man’s malignant ranting. It is no coincidence RL died within a short time of
    the former Thug In Command’s second impeachment trial. It speaks volumes that
    Trump awarded him with the presidential medal of freedom, and he was lauded
    by other GOP party members for saying the unspeakable.

    His crude persona has been forever silenced. He won’t be missed, apart from a
    few equally bitter individuals who bought into his boorish vision of America.
    All things must eventually fall, and RL was no exception.

    “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” – Samuel Johnson.
    How true.

  4. Limbaugh was a miserable person who said a lot of truly awful things, with the clear intention of hurting all of whom he felt impinged upon his smug, unbridled sense of privilege and entitlement.

    Regrettably, he’s not much different in basic sentiment than many white Americans, particularly so many white men who also identify with Trump and all his crassness.

    What made Limbaugh so impactful to this end was the fact that he had a mic and the airwaves to spread his bile and bigotry across the country, all while wrapping himself in the US flag and American tenets of free speech and patriotism. He gave license to many to take comfort in the politics of grievance and reactionaryism, rather than inviting them to embrace their better angels on a constructive path forward.

    America is all the poorer for his legacy.

  5. A person who made his living by peddling hate, lies, anger, resentment, racism, misogyny, and so many other ugly things does not deserve “respect” at his passing. Yes, there are people who loved Rush Limbaugh and believed in him – so be it. Let them mourn him. I am not ashamed to say that I am glad he’s gone, although his influence over people’s political and cultural thinking will be with us for a long time, unfortunately.

  6. Marjorie,
    You write great and interesting posts. I could think of many choice words to call Rush Limbaugh. A Lemming is one of them. Even though I’m British. I was over in San Francisco in 1994. I happened to hear Rush Limbaugh on the Radio. As a Capricorn that guy seriously needed to lighten up. I am a Capricorn. He was having a go at Bill Clinton at the time, about his Health reforms. As I listened to him, I thought what a load of rubbish. Fake News he was preaching. When I heard him on the Radio, I thought he was full of it.

  7. From a detached point of view, if it’s that bad on this side of his vile mouth, we could walk away/change the station/choose to not feed. He couldn’t. It went with him everywhere. He was a victim of his own bile. I don’t think his cancer was solely due to those dried, phallic symbols he smoked, but also because of his own self-loathing.

    Everything he spewed was really projections of his inner world. Good riddance.

  8. Rush Limbaugh was truly the epitome of someone who meets the “basket of deplorables” criteria Hillary Clinton once referenced back in 2016. He had absolutely no integrity and no decency whatsoever.

    I remember all of the horrible insults and outrageous conspiracy theories he spouted from the early 90s up until now about the Clintons, the Obamas, the Democrats, progressives, moderates, LGBTQIA+ people, women, African-Americans, People of Color, religious minorities, etc. It’s astonishing that someone like him had such a cult following.

  9. I’ve been banging on about the Fairness doctrine for 6 years. Reagan damned America and as a result, political discourse globally when that was removed. I really hope an improved form of it is reinstated.

  10. I’ve seen several attempts to spin his legacy as somehow a good thing. It wasn’t. He said all of what Marjorie cited and far more that was even worse. He called Chelsea Clinton the “family dog” when she was still an underage teen. Made fun of Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease. Regularly played a song during the Obama years entitled “Barack the Magic Negro.” And yes, he and Fox News are at the very root of what’s happened in the bitter political divide in the US and creation of an alternative reality which treats this pathetic excuse of humanity like he was some sort of idol to be emulated. Sorry you got hate directed your way Marjorie–and those of us who do know, know the chart doesn’t lie! Rush did. Frequently, constantly, and with as much hate as he could summon.

    • US citizen here. DG, you are correct. Rush was a miserable human being. And a pathetic lying ass in the media/political realms.
      So —
      Mr Trump is out of office. El Rushbo has dropped dead. Spring is almost four weeks away. Things are starting to look good around here.

  11. The below came through as a direct email to me – name withheld. I never fail to be astonished at how people manage to hold such views in the face of a mountain of verifiable evidence to the contrary.

    ‘None of those insulting things you said about Rush Limbaugh are even remotely close to the truth. I have been listening daily since the 1980s. You have not listened to an entire broadcast in your life. Your hateful comments are so typical of the left these days. Always ad hominem attacks when you cant simply argue a point if view and defend it with facts. So small-minded.

    I enjoyed your website but I wont visit it again. I like positive vibes, not nasty hate. Your a terrible person to say such things at someones passing.’

    • Judging by the wording, it sounds more like organised trolling than a subjective viewpoint. More disinformation to seed narratives across the internet. This seems to be gathering pace the closer we get to the Pluto ingress into Aquarius.

      • JB,

        I agree! That e-mail rant Marjorie received sounds exactly like the same random troll who had sporadically been leaving angry responses to a number of the posts covering the U.S. election (whenever the posts were bad news about Trump or Republicans). I suspect it’s the same person because I remember in a number of his/her responses, they would always say: “I enjoyed your website” or “I use to follow you” at the end of their post replies…and the sentence structure, tone, etc. in the e-mail she posted sounds eerily similar to that person.

    • Marjorie, you didn’t deserve that silliness. (Good riddance!) I am very much the amateur but greatly enjoy your astrological readings, infused as they are with keen insights into the human condition and an astute take on the times.

    • The facts they say they want, you mentioned, and are easily verifiable along with many others on the subject, on this miraculous thing called Google at the expense of say, 30 seconds?

      That astonishises me, lazy benighted idiots that they are.

    • Sorry to hear that, Marjorie. It’s like a virus or mass delusion, this stuff. As a peace-loving Libran I just don’t get it. Happened to me last week – one of these people, in response to a post about the age of Aquarius launched into hate-filled, anti-vax, conspiralunacy. They hate so much, they’re full of bile and they’re arch projectionists.

      • Isn’t it funny though when people attack websites and forums and say, ‘I liked your site. I won’t visit anymore. I had so much faith in you, blah blah blah.’? It’s a narcissistic stance of saying, ‘I am so disappointed in you for not pandering to my expectations. Now feel bad you no longer have my approval.’ Good riddance to the lack of critial thinkers and their self-absorbed hissy fits. However, you can be sure he/she/it will be back to drop another ‘I’m so disappointed in you!” bomb. They need you more than you need them, I’m afraid, such is their lack of self-awareness as they thunder around in life projecting their shadows onto other people.

    • In a way it would be a relief if it was a generic trolling – I really only put it up to indicate that lunacy still walks the face of the earth. Though even if it is manufactured they still assume they’re going to get some kind of traction from the thick-as-a-brick lobby.

  12. A loathesome, much loathed prating hypocrite who constantly spewed hatred and division. He didn’t deserve the honors he received, especially the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I’m glad he’s gone.

  13. While likes of Jerry Fawell Sr. and Phyllis Schlafly laid ideological grounds of current Religious Right Conservatism in The US, Rush Limbaugh probably did more than anyone else to normalize the frankly sociopathic language used. Therefore, I can’t say I’m sorry that his “buddy” Donald Trump’s media tour after his death turned into an expected grievance on how the election was rigged, etc., etc. He was horrible, but ultimately a tool, and will be forgotten in no time.

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