Rush Limbaugh: Trump's opponents weaponizing coronavirus

Rush Limbaugh gives a thumbs-up to President Donald J. Trump from the House Gallery Tuesday evening, Feb. 4, 2020, after President Trump awarded Limbaugh with the Medal of Freedom during the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (video screenshot)

Opponents of President Trump have turned the coronavirus into a political weapon despite aggressive decisions by the White House to protect Americans from the threat, says talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh.

On Thursday, he played an audio montage of comments on the Fox News Channel by  former New York State Democratic Party chairman Basil Smikle, comedian Pete Dominick, NBC's Katy Tur, New York Post columnist John Podhoretz and former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean.

The comments:

BASIL SMIKLE: You just don’t get the sense that this president understands or even cares about managing the complexity of something.

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PETE DOMINICK: He does not care about us!

KATY TUR: It’s exposing a real lack of leadership on a federal level.

JOHN PODHORETZ: We don’t really have confidence that he — even after three years as president — even grasps that element of the job.

HOWARD DEAN: We’re crippled by not having — exactly — no leadership at the top whatsoever.

Limbaugh argued that media and the Democratic Party didn't panic over the swine flu in 2009-2010, which was "worse than coronavirus."

"Folks, if you think this is not political, then you still believe the Steele dossier is true. If you think this is not political, then you still think that Trump stole the election in 2016 with the Russians," he said. "If you think this isn’t political, then you still believe that Trump committed impeachable offense in a perfect phone call with the lackey president of Ukraine."

Limbaugh said he's sick of the constant claims that Trump "is too stupid" and he's tired of the media "sniveling" he "doesn't care."

"He cares more about you than your precious Obama ever cared about you," Limbaugh said. "He cares more about you and the people of this country than any president we’ve had in I don’t know how many years, because he cares about the country. He cares about American greatness."

Further, Limbaugh said, none of the president's opponents "could do Donald Trump’s job given what he faces opposition-wise."

"They couldn’t, they wouldn’t last a day putting up with what Donald Trump has to put up with. They haven’t accomplished in their lives anything close to what Donald Trump has," he said.