Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh rejected the notion that America is currently run by a nation of white supremacists and pushed back on the idea that “white privilege” exists during an appearance on “The Breakfast Club” podcast Monday.
The frank conversation about race began with Limbaugh and the show’s hosts finding common ground on the issue of police brutality surrounding George Floyd’s death.
“It sickens me what happened to him,” Limbaugh said. “You know we’re only given one life… but George Floyd has his life taken away from him. He didn’t lose it. He had it taken away from him.”
After a brief discussion on the issues related to abuse of force, Charlamagne tha God asked Limbaugh what made him say “enough is enough.”
“Because I’m fed up with it,” replied Limbaugh. “To me, and I know you’re going to disagree with me on this, this is not America.”
“No, it’s definitely America,” Charlamagne tha God said.
“But it’s not what we can be. It’s not what we have been. We’re the greatest nation in the history of the world…” Limbaugh began to respond before being cut off.
“But for who Rush? I think it’s easy for you to say because you’re a white male and that comes with a different level of privilege,” the show host said. “I do think that America does work, but it works for the people that it was designed to work for.”
The conversation later returned to white privilege, where Limbaugh flat-out rejected its presence in the 21st century.
“I don’t buy into the notion of white privilege,” Limbaugh said. “I think that’s a liberal, it’s a liberal political construct along the lines of political correctness that’s designed to intimidate and get people to shut up and admit their guilty of doing things they haven’t done.”
Charlamagne called Limbaugh “delusional” explaining that white privilege “is that what happened to George Floyd would not have happened to a white man.”
Limbaugh pushed back, saying if Floyd was white, the public might not have heard about it at all.
Moments later, the discussion turned to a broader conversation about the presence of rampant white supremacy, where the nation’s ruling classes are ruled by racists.
“Moving forward, how do we dismantle white supremacy as a whole moving forward?” Charlamagne asked.
“Well, that’s a whole other show guys because A: you’d have to define what it means to you because I don’t feel like I’m a white supremacist and I don’t think there’s much white supremacy going on out there,” Limbaugh said.
Charlamange responded by providing a broad interpretation of the term, saying that “to me, once again this system is designed to work for the people that it was built by, and that’s white folks, particularly old white men… I think this is the tipping point, and we right now are at a point where we can finally force America to live up to its grand promises of liberty and justice for all and not just liberty and justice for white folks.”
“It has!” Limbaugh said, going on to invite the show’s host to have another conversation in the future. “Look, we’re out of time here. Would you guys like to do this again where we pick it up right at this point? Maybe make a focus of white supremacy.”
Charlamagne said he’d be open to continuing the dialogue if Limbaugh would accept the broad concept as a reality.
Angela Yee however, another host on the program said she was more open.
“Well Rush, I’m very into having these conversations because I do think it is important for white people to acknowledge the hurt that they’ve inflicted on the African-American community and to be able to come forward and admit that we can’t even move forward until that happens,” Yee said.
Limbaugh noted that he was in no denial that white supremacy existed, but rejects the idea that the extraordinary label is present on the grand scale the left claims.
“I just know that it’s a politically charged element of the Democrat Party’s politics and liberalism, and I do not cave or compromise or give one iotas of an inch to liberalism no matter what… I’m not denying there are certain individuals out there that think they’re better than other people but structurally, institutionally, it’s a construct.”
