President Trump salutes Rush Limbaugh at the State of the Union
First lady Melania Trump presents Rush Limbaugh with Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The winds keep changing for Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, who attacked talk radio legend Rush Limbaugh as a "racist" after he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom but previously defended him from the same attacks.
President Trump drew partisan reactions on Tuesday when he announced that he was going to award Limbaugh the highest civilian honor after the conservative giant told his millions of listeners on Monday that he was diagnosed with "advanced lung cancer."
Rubin, the self-described Washington Post "conservative opinion writer," vehemently opposed the celebration of Limbaugh, penning a piece titled, "What's next -- giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to David Duke?"
"I am sorry to hear talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh has cancer. Any decent person should hope he has a full recovery," Rubin began her column. "His health condition, however, does not excuse a career of hate-filled racism, homophobia and misogyny, nor remotely justify giving him a high honor in the form of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That honor has been granted to patriots and heroes, human rights leaders and artistic trailblazers, ranging from Rosa Parks to Elie Wiesel to George Balanchine.
"He is the embodiment of divisive, hateful right-wing media rhetoric, which, just like Trump, casts Democrats as evil and the media as enemies of the people."
The MSNBC contributor slammed Limbaugh for his history of "hateful statements" and dismissed his receiving of the award as a "Republican theatrical stunt."
"Trump’s great lie is convincing Americans that white males no matter what their conduct — Brett Kavanaugh, convicted war criminals, and most of all, himself -- are victims of elites," Rubin continued, "That, in turn, gives them license to unleash bigotry and engage in intolerable, unhinged conduct, all in the name of vindicating themselves from oppression. That mentality of grievance, propagated effectively by Limbaugh, is nothing more than cover for white nationalism. The country should denounce, not honor, its practitioners."
However, Rubin didn't always feel such animosity towards Limbaugh. In fact, she once defended the conservative giant from similar attacks back in 2011.
Responding to a tweet saying that one should try to "end" the "victimhood contest" instead of winning it, Rubin replied, "One way would be to stop calling Rush and others racists."
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In another tweet written on the same day, which appears to have been deleted, Rubin even acknowledged that she listened to Limbaugh's radio show "a lot."
This isn't Rubin's first flip-flop of the week. On Tuesday, she asked in a column: "What good are the Iowa caucuses anyway?" after arguing "why Iowa is so important this time" back in May 2019.