Rush Limbaugh Claims GOP Was In Freefall Before Trump, Except It Was Actually Much Better Off

By Kyle Foley | 6:00 PM on August 04, 2016

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*Caricature by DonkeyHotey flic.kr/p/Ct4G4K*

In his latest idiotic stretch to defend Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh claimed that the GOP was in an absolute freefall prior to the emergence of Trump.

The problem is, Rush is living in an alternate reality.

Limbaugh claims that because Jeb Bush was the “establishment” candidate, the GOP had no future. He claims that the base believed no one could beat the Democrats and that Republicans were not excited. He tries to paint this picture that the GOP as a whole was dying, and, of course, it is “the establishment’s” fault.

David Harsanyi of the Federalist pointed out that Limbaugh is incredibly wrong, and that in the past eight years the GOP has gained over one thousand seats both at the state and national level.

GOP gained around 1000 state + national seats over the past eight years. so totally. https://t.co/bMCjxs6eOd

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) August 4, 2016

The “dying GOP” currently holds a majority in the House of Representatives, a majority in the Senate, and the majority of Governors in the United States are Republican. In 23 of the 50 states, Republicans control the state House, Senate, and have a Republican governor. The Democrats can only say the same in 7 states. 55 percent of state senators (1,086) and 55.9 percent of state representatives (3,026) are Republican.

So, in reality, this notion of a “GOP freefall” is absolutely ludicrous. All Limbaugh had to do was go look at the numbers to see that his narrative is absurd, but if he did that he would not be able to continue railing on “the establishment”. Already in 2016 we have seen several incumbents, some of whom were tea partiers, lose their primary election. We see a Republican candidate that is currently down by an average of 6 points to one of the most corrupt politicians in history, something that would not be true if any other Republican candidate had been nominated.

The GOP is in freefall now, the building is burning down and Trump keeps pouring gasoline on the fire while both talk radio AND the establishment rush to defend his every word. What was once a bright future for the GOP has now turned into a barren wasteland, and we do have Donald Trump to blame for that.