Rush Limbaugh calls Twitter a 'political sewer', defends Trump in battle against social media platform
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh stood up once again for his ally, President Donald Trump, in the middle of the latter's ugly rift with social media giant Twitter. The 69-year-old ailing media personality has lashed out against the microblogging site accusing it of promoting political voices that show the president in an unfair light. Limbaugh went to the extent of calling Twitter a "political sewer" on his show on Wednesday, May 27, and questioned the social media site's reach.
Twitter drew Trump's flak after it came up, for the first time, with a move to fact-check his negative claims about mail-in voting. It came up with blue exclamation marks over a few of Trump's tweets related to mail-in voting which is gaining popularity in the times of the Covid-19 pandemic and said on another page that the president's claims were "unsubstantiated" after fact-checkers in media outlets like CNN, The Washington Post and others examined them. Trump was terribly upset and he then accused Twitter of interfering in the 2020 presidential election and stifling free speech. He also accused the social media platforms of doing injustice against conservative voices and even threatened to regulate or shut them down.
Limbaugh, who has stood by Trump a number of times in the past and was honored with the Medal of Freedom in February by the president during his State of the Union address, slammed Twitter with strong words: "When Twitter goes viral, nobody really has any idea what that means, but I'll guarantee you what they think. When they're told that 'Twitter is lit up' or 'Twitter went viral', they think the whole country is reacting to whatever it is, I’ll guaran-damn-tee-it."
On Wednesday, May 27, Trump said in a tweet warning a "big action" was coming and sources in the White House indicated that the president was set to sign an executive order related to social media on Thursday, May 28. Limbaugh, who is diagnosed with advanced lung cancer said earlier this week that ill-health might stop him from continuing with his radio program, agreed with the president to say Twitter's political portions are centered around liberal media establishments.
Limbaugh explains why Twitter is a 'sewer'
"What percentage of the population do you think uses Twitter on a daily basis?" Limbaugh asked, according to a report in Washington Examiner, and then himself answered: "Two percent. Maybe. I can't say for sure. I don't have any confirmed data. I have read, and I don't even remember where or when, that it is 7% and that most of Twitter is New York and LA. California and New York, maybe San Francisco. Well, if you believe that, then that explains why Twitter is the sewer that it is. And I'm talking about political sewer, ideological, political sewer."
The Trump camp slammed Twitter even though the platform refused to remove his controversial remarks made against former Congressman Joe Scarborough in relation to the death of one of his former woman staffers in Florida. Trump insinuated that it was a murder which made the widower of the late staffer, Lori Klausutis, appeal to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to delete the remarks. Twitter though sympathized with the Klausutis family but did not remove Trump's comments.