One day after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, Rush Limbaugh implicitly endorsed political violence and at the same time blamed the attack partly on so-called “antifa” “instigators.” Some of Limbaugh’s fellow conservative talk radio hosts have similarly attempted to downplay the mob’s actions, dismissing calls to condemn the violence and suggesting that the attack was actually a “false flag” operation.
On Wednesday, a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. The attack left multiple people dead and was inspired by baseless claims of a stolen election that both Trump and his allies on talk radio helped to spread.
Most of these radio personalities — with the notable exception of Limbaugh — offered at least a perfunctory condemnation of political violence in response to Wednesday’s events. But hosts have tried to avoid reckoning with the rioters’ actions in other ways, falsely blaming “antifa” for the violence or complaining about how the mob was treated in media coverage compared to Black Lives Matter protesters.
Limbaugh, appearing on air for the first time this year on Thursday, disagreed with those “who say that any violence or aggression at all is unacceptable.” Limbaugh then invoked the Revolutionary War, arguing, “I am glad Sam Adams, Thomas Paine, the actual Tea Party guys, the men at Lexington and Concord didn't feel that way.”