Rush Limbaugh claims Atlantic report of Trump disrespecting fallen troops is a plot to distract from “the Pelosi hair salon story”

Limbaugh: “They had to do something to change the subject”

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Citation From the September 4, 2020, edition of Premiere Networks’ The Rush Limbaugh Show

RUSH LIMBAUGH (HOST): And it’s once again, it is further evidence that the Democrats and the media are convinced Biden cannot win. Now, why would they think they could sell this? Go back to 2016, where Trump had some comments about McCain.

“I don’t respect heroes that get captured. I don’t think you’re a hero if you get captured.” He never called McCain a loser, or any of the other terms.

And now there’s a story — since Trump is denying this, the rest of the drive-by media is demanding that the anonymous sources for the story in The Atlantic now come forward and identify themselves.

And you know who they think the sources include? John Kelly and John Bolton. And they are — Maggie Haberman, others in the New York Times, are demanding that these anonymous sources now identify themselves, since Trump is so vociferously denying this. It is a horrible story, folks. And I don’t believe any of it for a minute.

But there are the very famous comments that he made about McCain, which — for a lot of people, was the glue that made them support Trump. You know, McCain was not the universally popular Republican that the Washington inside-the-Beltway types thought that he was. And when Trump came out and said, “Look, I'm not — I don’t have this kind of respect for people that get captured, those are not my kind of heroes,” So, oh, that was thought to be one of the most insulting things you could say, particularly because it was about McCain.

Something else, the Pelosi hair salon story was getting legs. The Pelosi hair salon story was doing damage. They had to shift focus, and Plugs [Biden] was not helping himself out there. [Biden] is wandering aimlessly in vain search of a thought, the more he goes out and speaks. They had to do something to change the subject. The Republican convention was awesome. Everything, Trump’s rally last night was one for the ages.

So they push this story out that Trump hates the military now — despite the fact he’s the only member of the administration that’s done what he’s done for veterans, via the VA. He has, and he’s made a big deal about it.

I know that this was a gut punch for Trump, because the U.S. military features people he loves the most, features people he respects the most. And now to have to hear that he thinks they’re a bunch of — that people who've died, who have given their lives, the ultimate sacrifice — to have to get up and read that people are saying you think they’re losers, and not worthy of any respect. You know, this is the kind of — it can make you sad for the country.

Contrary to Limbaugh's assertion about Trump and McCain: