Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh downplayed Donald Trump’s warning this week that there would be riots if the Republican Party works to find another nominee, and accused media of blowing the GOP front-runner’s remarks out of proportion.
“This is totally out of control here!” Limbaugh exclaimed after playing a montage of journalists reporting that Trump had warned of rioting if he is denied the nomination. “This is exactly how this kind of stuff happens here in the [drive-by media].”
The radio host repeatedly accused reporters of stating that Trump had “threatened” and “called for” riots, except that no one included in the audio montage played on his program actually used that word. The media personalities highlighted by Limbaugh were careful to say that Trump had “warned” of rioting.
“This is no defense of Trump,” Limbaugh added quickly. “This is standing up for the whole concept that words mean things!”
Trump stated clearly Wednesday morning that there would likely be riots if the Republican Party tries to deny him the nomination.
“I think you’d have riots. I think you’d have riots,” the GOP front-runner said in an interview with CNN. “I’m representing a tremendous — many, many millions of people, in many cases first-time voters.”
“[I]f you disenfranchise those people … I think you would have problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen, I really do. I believe that. I wouldn’t lead it, but I think bad things would happen,” he added.
Trump has been criticized for encouraging rally-goers to confront protesters at his campaign events. He even promised to pay the legal fees for whoever took a swing at a disruptor. Since making this and similar comments, Trump rallies have grown increasingly violent, and he was prompted last weekend to cancel an event in Chicago over security concerns.
Limbaugh, who has spent a great deal of energy over the last 10 months defending Trump’s campaign, found the candidate’s remarks altogether harmless, and accused media of creating a story from thin air.
“All Trump did was suggest that there would be riots,” he said. “[Trump] did not call for them. In fact, he said he hoped there wouldn’t be. But all he had to do was predict that there might be, and there comes everybody claiming that he’s ‘calling for them.'”
“In the meantime,” he added with reference to the press, “these people are craving riots because of the media attention they would draw. That’s the hypocrisy.”
Limbaugh is not alone in dismissing the casino tycoon’s riot prediction.
CNN contributor Scottie Nell Hughes, who has been one of the real estate mogul’s most eager and tireless media boosters, seemed at ease Wednesday with Trump’s comments.
“You know, riots aren’t necessarily a bad thing if it means it’s because they’re fighting the fact that our establishment Republican Party has gone corrupt and decided to ignore the voice of the people and ignore the process,” she said in an interview with Wolf Blitzer.
The CNN anchor pushed her for clarification, and asked if she was condoning violence if Trump doesn’t win the nomination.
“It’s not riot as in a negative thing, what we’ve seen in the past,” she said. “I don’t think they would sit there and resort, in fact, I know they would not resort to violence. I know they would not do it. However, they would make sure their voices are heard, that they can’t be ignored,” she said.
Hughes later walked back her position after Blitzer asked her a second time to clarify her remarks. She explained she didn’t mean an actual riot when she used the word “riot.”
“There are two definitions of riot. On one side, it is, yes, it does mean something to disturb the peace in a violent way. But the other definition, technical definition, is ‘an impressively large or varied display of something.’ I think that’s what you’re going to have: A large display of emotion. People that are there that were elected to represent Mr. Trump is not allowed to do the job they were elected to do and vote for Mr. Trump, who has gotten the majority of the population, the majority of the delegates.”
“In no way would Mr. Trump, nor myself, ever want to see probably — would ever want to see anything violent or any harm come to anybody,” she added.
