Rush Limbaugh claims that the coronavirus is "a common cold" which is being used to take down Donald Trump. Martin Pengelly writes in The Guardian:
The coronavirus outbreak is being “weaponised” by the media to bring down Donald Trump when in fact it is simply a version of the “common cold”, conservative radio host and presidential medal of freedom recipient Rush Limbaugh claimed on Monday.
His comments were widely condemned: more than 80,000 people are known to have contracted the virus worldwide and 2,700 are known to have died. Authorities are struggling to cope in China, Iran, Italy and Tenerife.
The World Health Organization has not yet declared the outbreak, which originated in China, a pandemic.
There are more than 50 known cases in the US, subject to quarantine. In India on Tuesday, Trump downplayed stock market falls in response to the outbreak, praised China for its response, and said coronavirus was “a problem that is going to go away”. But on Monday, his administration asked Congress for $1.8bn to boost its own response.
Limbaugh’s conspiracy theorist take is that the outbreak is being used by the media to discredit a president who earlier this month honoured the rightwing shock jock during the State of the Union address.
“It looks like the coronavirus is being weaponised as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump,” Limbaugh said on his Monday show. “Now, I want to tell you the truth about the coronavirus. I’m dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold, folks."
Thus spake Dr. Limbaugh. Sometimes his ignorance is laughable. In this case, however, it's more deadly than the virus.
Image: Media Matter For America
