On Sunday night, conservative talk radio powerhouse Rush Limbaugh sang the praises of Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz, calling him “trustworthy,” “likable,” a true conservative and “in a different league, on different planet” when it comes to substance.
Limbaugh has previously deemed the Texas senator the most conservative of the entire Republican presidential field, even calling him the “closest in our lifetimes we have ever been to Ronald Reagan.” During his quick interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace, Limbaugh reinforced this sentiment after Wallace — who has had a few testy exchanges with Cruz in the past — challenged that previous comparison of Cruz to Reagan.
“I think he has the ability to appeal to everybody,” replied Limbaugh, after conceding that Cruz has “limited his appeal” via his tailored message. “That debate the other night that you guys did — I don’t mean this to be insulting to anybody, I’m just telling you what I saw — he was on a different league. He was in a different league, on a different planet. Everybody says ‘we need substance in these debates,’ you got it. You got it from Cruz. The other guys are doing what they were doing. At one point, [Donald] Trump even had to say, ‘Yeah, whatever Ted said, I agree with.’ He’s in a different league.”
“He was in a different league, on a different planet. Everybody says ‘we need substance in these debates,’ you got it. You got it from Cruz.”
-Rush Limbaugh
Addressing the senator’s authentic conservative principles and likability, Limbaugh added, “He understands conservatism because he is. And he is a nice guy, he’s a likable guy. He’s not crazy. He’s not nasty and he certainly is — he’s not a liar. He’s a down the middle guy that anybody could trust. He has got plenty of integrity.”
Limbaugh continued, highlighting why the establishment opposes Cruz: “Establishment doesn’t like him either. It’s not just Trump. And that’s because he is who he is. He is conservative. He does want to get government out of people’s lives, and that, we can’t have that if you’re the establishment.”
As the Daily Wire reported last week, Limbaugh all but endorsed Senator Cruz on his radio show last Monday:
Rush Limbaugh has repeatedly underscored on his radio show that he does not officially endorse Republican candidates in a primary, but Monday he may just have unofficially endorsed one: the only “unquestioned conservative” who’s “demonstrated opposition to the establishment” in the race, Ted Cruz.
Although Limbaugh seems to be partial to Cruz and on occasion has taken Republican frontrunner Donald Trump to task, the controversial shock-jock has been gently critical of the “Never Trump” movement — particularly from the Republican establishment (i.e. Mitt Romney), suspecting that said establishment is being hypocritical and tone-deaf.
“Donald Trump has put together a coalition… That’s exactly what the Republican Party says that it needs to win, yet look what they’re doing. They’re trying to get Trump out of the race because they’re not in charge of it, they’re not in control of it,” Limbaugh told Wallace.
Senator Cruz has been building momentum, winning two of the four states on Super Saturday by large margins and winning the CPAC straw poll, a clear indicator that the large swath of conservatives agree with Limbaugh on his assessment of Cruz regarding his authentic conservatism.
The question now is, will the anti-establishment crowd rally behind Cruz, an obvious true anti-establishment conservative, or will the anger of the American people drive the Republicans into the arms of the boisterous, anti-PC, quasi-anti-establishment candidate with little to no authentic conservative values?