Joe Biden Slams Rush Limbaugh For ‘Dividing’ And ‘Belittling’ People Following Trump Awarding Presidential Medal of Freedom
Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden slammed President Donald Trump in a CNN presidential town hall Wednesday over awarding conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh with a Presidential Medal of Freedom Tuesday night at the State of The Union — calling out the radio kingpin for various comments over the years.
CNN’s anchor Anderson Cooper who was tasked with moderating the town hall asked Biden the question on Limbaugh — making reference to the time the former vice president was himself awarded the honor.
“Mr. Vice President, yesterday — I want to ask you about something that happened at the State of the Union,” Cooper said. “You were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian honor by President Obama, and I’m wondering — it was obviously a very emotional moment for you. I remember the ceremony. Last night, President Trump awarded the same medal to Rush Limbaugh. I’m wondering what you thought when you learned about that?”
Laughter and applause then rang out from the crowd as Biden began shaking his head.
Biden then responded to Cooper’s question while offering “empathy” to Limbaugh over his terminal illness of advanced lung cancer, but also slammed the radio host over his dividing of people and belittling of people on his show.
“Look, Rush Limbaugh will spend his entire time on the air dividing people, belittling people, talking about how — talking about blacks in ways, African Americans in ways that — anyway, I do feel badly, I mean this sincerely, that he’s suffering from a terminal illness,” Biden said. “So he has my empathy and sympathy no matter what his background is. But the idea that he is a State of the Union receives a medal that is of the highest honor that can be given to a civilian; I find, um, quite frankly, driven more by trying to maintain your right-wing political credentials than it is anything else.”
Biden then doubled down, stating that he does not believe Limbaugh “understands the American code of decency and honor.”
“I mean, if you read some of the things that Rush has said about people, their backgrounds, their ethnicity, how he speaks to them, I don’t think he speaks — I don’t think he understands the American code of decency and honor. I just really — but, look. This is Donald Trump,” the former VP concluded.
Watch above, via CNN.
