Buzzfeed Details Conservative Talk Radio's Love For Donald Trump

Despite the crowded field of Republican presidential candidates, conservative talk radio seem unified on their favorite: Donald Trump.

Thanks to talk radio, Buzzfeed News' Rosie Gray noted in her August 27 article “The Real Media Machine Behind Trump: Conservative Talk Radio,” “you can almost listen to pro-Trump News all day.” Gray pointed how “some of the biggest names in conservative talk radio -- Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and Savage -- have praised Trump and his bashing of the politically correct left and Republican establishment”:

Unlike cable news, conservative talk radio speaks directly to the disaffected conservative base fueling Trump's rise. Rush Limbaugh's is still the most-listened-to talk radio program in the country, pulling in 13 and a quarter million weekly listeners, according to estimates in Talkers magazine, an industry publication (Limbaugh himself has estimated it in the past at 20 million). Talkers puts Sean Hannity in second, with 12.5 million. Mark Levin ties with Glenn Beck (a Trump critic) for fourth, with 7 million. Savage has more than 5 million, according to Talkers' estimates.

And if you're someone who listens to a lot of talk radio, you can go from Ingraham to Limbaugh to Hannity or Savage to Levin in a day and hear nary a word of displeasure with Trump.

[...]

Though many hosts have avoided a formal endorsement, they've heaped praise on the candidate and signaled to their listeners that Trump is their guy.

Indeed, Limbaugh has spent the summer praising Trump for tapping into the base Republicans need to win and for his “ability to illuminate” issues. Hannity has lauded Trump as “impressive and refreshing,” while Ingraham has claimed he resonates with voters because he's willing to say what “no one else is saying.”

It's not mere compliments spewing from talk radio -- the conservative pundits are championing Trump's offensive and dangerous proposals. And as Gray noted, "[i]f Rush Limbaugh or Mark Levin or Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham decide that birthright citizenship is going to be a big issue, then lo, it becomes the issue of the week, or month." She went on:

And right now, Trump's embrace of hardline immigration ideas like ending birthright citizenship matches up perfectly with the policies that some of these hosts have been promoting for some time. The Trump-inspired debate over immigration is allowing them to mainstream ideas that once didn't have much purchase, the birthright citizenship question being a notable recent example. Both Levin and Limbaugh have seized on a quote by Sen. Jacob Howard, the original sponsor of the Citizenship Clause, that they're using to bolster their case that the 14th amendment doesn't guarantee citizenship to the children of people in the country illegally. Laura Ingraham has also referenced it.

Limbaugh has bragged that Trump's smear of Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and criminals is similar to what he's been saying on the radio for years. On birthright citizenship, Limbaugh applauded Trump's call to end the constitutional right, saying Trump “has people standing up and cheering.” Hannity and Levin joined forces to declare that “Trump was right” on the 14th Amendment.

The praise should come as no surprise, as Trump's call to end birthright citizenship is itself taken from right-wing talk radio talking points. For years, Ingraham and Levin have been demanding an end to birthright citizenship, which Levin dismissed as a “nut-job policy” and Ingraham attacked as “nonsense.”