Rush Limbaugh spreads conspiracy theories about Trump and Senate Republicans getting COVID-19

Limbaugh: “They will pull out every weapon they’ve got” to stop Supreme Court confirmation hearings. “That’s what this is all about.”

Written by Eric Kleefeld

Published

Rush Limbaugh is now trafficking in conspiracy theories over the outbreak of coronavirus at the White House, which has infected President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and a variety of other Republicans including a few U.S. senators.

“Still can’t find a Democrat that’s been infected,” Limbaugh said at the beginning of his show on Monday. “I don’t know, folks. I just — I don’t don’t believe in coincidence.”

There certainly have been Democratic officials who contracted the coronavirus, such as Rep. Ben McAdams (D-UT) and Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA). But the reason that prominent Democrats did not get infected in this specific outbreak is because they did not attend the public rollout at the White House for Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court. That nomination is now widely believed to have been the superspreader event (where a number of people get infected at the same time) due to a variety of irresponsible behaviors by those in attendance at the event.

Limbaugh did acknowledge Barrett’s nomination ceremony, but to castigate Democrats for wanting to delay the Senate hearings and confirmation process as two Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have also tested positive: “And they will pull out every weapon they’ve got to stop Amy Coney Barrett being confirmed. And that’s what we were in the middle of here. That’s what this is all about.”

At the end of his opening monologue, Limbaugh seemed to allude to conspiracy theories from the 1990s about then-first couple Bill and Hillary Clinton.

“But I’m telling you I, for one — you know me, I have been saying ever since the ‘90s and the Clintons that there’s no such thing as coincidence in politics,” he said. “It’s not a new philosophical belief of mine. And I don’t think there’s a whole lot of coincidence going on here.”

From the October 5, 2020, edition of Premiere Networks’ The Rush Limbaugh Show

And just in case there was any lack of clarity on this point, Limbaugh spoke later on in the show with a caller who even sought to explore the possibility that this outbreak “could be a result of bioterrorism.”

Limbaugh repeatedly said he wasn’t implying that the outbreak was a biological attack on Trump — but he and the caller gamed out some of the ways such an attack might have happened.

From the October 5, 2020, edition of Premiere Networks’ The Rush Limbaugh Show

RUSH LIMBAUGH (HOST): Well, let me ask. You said there are conceivable ways that this could've been done. Share with me a couple that you’ve been thinking about. How could this — if somebody wanted to purposely infect a number of people at the White House? And I’ll tell you this, in terms of — not that this is a bio-attack — people just literally, honestly trying to figure out how did it happen. They’re zeroing in on two events. One was debate prep, because Chris Christie’s got it. You heard about that, right?

CALLER: Correct.

LIMBAUGH: Chris Christie came down with it. He was a part of urgent debate prep. He was in there with the president and some others. And then the Amy Coney Barrett Rose Garden announcement ceremony is where a lot of other people came down with COVID-19. So given those two locations, those two events, how would — if somebody wanted to infect a bunch of Republicans, how would they do it at those two events?

CALLER: Well, I think the White House would be a very difficult place to do it, because I think people are tested before they go in and sit down and do whatever.

LIMBAUGH: I think it'd be very easy to do it at the White House.

CALLER: Well, I think it’d be easier to do it on Air Force One. You got all sorts of people coming and going, refueling, bringing refreshments on board. I can't — maybe, I’m sure there’s some security, but I can’t imagine it’s as tight as it could be. So, you know, anybody who’s an outside vendor anywhere, anyplace, where, you know, people were — and, you know, ask the Chinese. They’re very good at this sort of thing. But —

LIMBAUGH: A-ha — the Chi-Coms, the Chi-Coms. Well, let me just throw a couple things out to you, and see — these are just possibilities. These are not — whatever you think out there, folks, we are leveling no allegations. What about an infected swab that they are testing people with?

CALLER: Well, if —

LIMBAUGH: What about, what about — what about, what about some person who has the virus but is asymptomatic and is walking around all of these places — getting close to people, breathing on them, touching them — and maybe a Republican, even. What do you think about those two possibilities?

CALLER: I think they’re all possibilities. I don’t think you can dismiss anything out of hand.