Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted President Trump’s decision to award Rush Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Trump granted the honor to the longtime conservative radio host on Tuesday night during his State of the Union address — just one day after Limbaugh revealed he had been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. The president called Limbaugh “a special man, beloved by millions of Americans,” and then had first lady Melania Trump present him with the award.
Ocasio-Cortez, who decided to skip the president’s speech before both chambers of Congress, addressed Limbaugh’s honor during an Instagram Live video.
“First of all, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is an extraordinarily sacred award,” the New York Democrat began. “We’re talking about putting someone on the same level as Rosa Parks, for example, in terms of their contributions to American progress. Rush Limbaugh is a virulent racist, but, even just on top of that, to do it in the middle of the State of the Union and not even dignify it with its own ceremony as it has … it truly just cheapens the value of it.”
Ocasio-Cortez added, “Also him pretending to be surprised was such a joke, this has been news all day. There have been multiple reports from multiple news outlets … and then Trump announced it, and he had to pretend that this was some kind of Oprah moment was so disingenuous.”
On Instagram live, @AOC hits Trump for awarding “virulent racist” Rush Limbaugh a medal of freedom #SOTU2020 pic.twitter.com/p8ZBGq02HC
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 5, 2020
The freshman congresswoman called the president’s decision to honor Limbaugh “red meat” for his base. Limbaugh has long faced accusations of racism during his more than three decades in radio.
