[ideonexus]

Not the end of the world, but I do see him historically as the beginning of the end for the Republican Party. I was in college when I first heard of Rush Limbaugh. Before him, Republicans were these very stuffy folks like William Buckley Jr, who came to our campus and bored many to tears with highly-intellectual and logical arguments that were extremely challenging and generated a great deal of cognitive dissonance for me. Republicans were considered the intellectual party back in those days.

Then Limbaugh came along, never referencing anything he said or wrote, constantly contradicting himself and making offensive cracks like calling a 12-year-old Chelsea Clinton the White House dog. My young Republican friends loved him, chanted slogans like "Rush is Right!" and labeled themselves "dittoheads." Anyone who pointed out Limbaugh's contradictory logic or took issue with his offensive statements was dismissed as being "politically correct."

Flash forward 25 years and Limbaugh is now considered tame in comparison to Coulter, Savage, and some of the other voices that have followed in his footsteps. I was sad to hear that William Buckley, who I still admire intellectually even if many of his positions are anathema to me, was largely forgotten and ignored in his final years. Trump's nomination would not be possible without Limbaugh laying the groundwork for him two and a half decades ago.

Some on the left are gloating about it, but it frightens me. America needs a plurality of voices debating issues and policy logically in order to thrive. We can't let it become one party of power on the left and an easily demonized opposition party on the right, but with the Republican party falling apart... that's the way it seems to be going.

*Edited for grammar.

[whyenot]

In Limbaugh's lexicon, feminists turned into "feminazis" because advocating for equal rights for women was somehow equatable to a group advocating genocide.

[smoyer]

Early in his career, Rush Limbaugh was funny and made political news worth listening to. Yes, he was heavily biased towards the right.

Later (when Clinton won the Whitehouse in '92), he became bitter and hateful ... I stopped listening to him when I realized that hearing that content for three hours a day (while at work) was making me bitter and hateful too.

As an aside, the eight years of the Clinton presidency look pretty good compared to the last 16 years.

[josho]

As your neighbour to the north you make it sound like the Republican party has fractured into two groups. Those that are conservative (the Buckley Republicans in your example), and those ignorant masses that respond to jingoist and politico-entertainment rather than well thought out political debate. (I'm shocked that anyone would label them self a dittohead, implying that they have no independent thought, rather in my mind's eye that is a hurtful label that I'd reserve only for my worst enemy).

From what I've observed in this election cycle I can't disagree with your assessment, though I am deeply saddened at this realization.

[a_c_s]

For now though the Republican party controls congress and in 30 states[1] they control both legislative houses and the governorship: for a party that is 'falling apart' they are doing much better than the Democrats.

[1] https://ballotpedia.org/Gubernatorial_and_legislative_party_...

[xlm1717]

The irony with that is Rush never really endorsed Trump during the primaries. It was very uncomfortable for him, he at times refused to even talk about Trump.