PALM BEACH, Florida — As the political left continues its onslaught against any speech in support of President Trump and conservative values, radio superstar Rush Limbaugh says he expects his own popular broadcast will become a target.
“Yeah, that’s where we’re headed,” Limbaugh said Monday on his national program.
His remarks came in the wake of a statement by a former Facebook executive calling for news outlets on the political right to be deplatformed by telecom giants including Comcast, AT&T and Verizon.
“We have to turn down the capability of these conservative influencers to reach these huge audiences,” said Alex Stamos, the former chief security officer at Facebook, during an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”
“There are people on YouTube for example that have a larger audience than daytime CNN, and they are extremely radical and pushing extremely radical views. So it’s up to the Facebooks and YouTubes in particular to think about whether or not they want to be effectively cable networks for disinformation.”
On CNN this morning:
"We have to turn down the capability of these Conservative influencers to reach these huge audiences."
"There are people on YouTube for example that have a larger audience than daytime CNN"
Then calls for @OANN and @Newsmax to be deplatformed. pic.twitter.com/X34oewb1oU
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) January 17, 2021
Limbaugh, who hosts the most-listened-to program in America, immediately scorched every comment by Stamos.
“I guarantee you, he doesn’t know. I think he’s so young (he’s a former security officer at Facebook), I don’t think he has the slightest idea how he sounds,” Limbaugh explained.
“I don’t know if he understands the First Amendment or the Constitution – and if he does, he doesn’t support it. I’m not trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I guess it sounds like I am. He either doesn’t understand the Constitution or just doesn’t support it or believe in it. It’s gotta be one of the two, because he does think these conservative groups …
“He (Stamos) said, ‘Look. It’s up to the Facebooks and YouTubes to think about whether or not they want to be effectively cable networks for disinformation.’ That’s what conservatism is, you see. Disinformation. ‘We have got to turn down the capability of these conservative influencers to reach these huge audiences.’
“They may as well be talking about me and radio stations. And they’ll get there eventually,” Limbaugh concluded.
“Right now we’re flying under the radar ’cause these people don’t know what AM radio is, so they don’t feel threatened by it. When they figure it out, they’re gonna saying the same thing to our EIB affiliates that they’re now saying to Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast. ‘Well, I mean, you know, Rush Limbaugh has the biggest audience of anybody in radio, and you gotta something about that. That’s out-of-control conservatism. We can’t let you do this.’ Yeah, that’s where we’re headed.”
Stamos also named two conservative influencers he thought should be targeted as soon as possible – Newsmax and OANN, the One America News Network – both of which he called a “problem.”
“We’re gonna have to figure out the OANN and Newsmax problem,” he said. “These companies have freedom of speech, but I’m not sure we need Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and such to be bringing them into tens of millions of homes. This is allowing people to seek out information if they really want to, but not pushing it into their faces. I think it’s where we’re gonna have to go here.”
Limbaugh responded, “They may as well not have freedom of speech if you’re gonna say that they can’t have platforms that give them a basis to operate.”
Via Wnd