REPORT: Rush
Limbaugh Claims Coronavirus Is Being ‘Weaponized’ To ‘Bring Down’ Trump
Analyzing America
By David Rufful
February 25, 2020
Rush Limbaugh claimed on his show that an outbreak of
coronavirus in China was being “weaponized” by the news media against President
Trump.
“Folks, this coronavirus thing, I want to try to put this
in perspective for you,” Limbaugh said.
“It looks like the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet
another element to bring down Donald Trump,” he added.
“You think I’m wrong about this? You think I’m missing it
by saying that’s … Yeah, I’m dead right on this,” Limbaugh continued.
“The coronavirus is the common cold, folks,” he
continued.
These statement occurred during a segment of his show
highlighted by the left-leaning watchdog group Media Matters.
Despite its symptoms including a deadly form of pneumonia
that has reportedly killed more than 2,000 people in China, Limbaugh likened
the disease to the common cold.
“Ninety-eight percent of people who get the coronavirus
survive,” he said.
“It’s a
respiratory system virus. It probably is a ChiCom laboratory experiment that is
in the process of being weaponized,” Limbaugh added.
“All superpower nations weaponize bioweapons,” he
concluded.
The Hill reported, “Limbaugh then pointed to large drops
in the stock market in recent days thought to be caused by fears of the
coronavirus outbreak, and repeated a debunked conspiracy theory that the
disease was a released bioweapon.”
“U.S. officials previously told AFP that conspiracy
theories about the coronavirus including its alleged origin as a bioweapon were
being spread by Russian disinformation sites and troll accounts on social
media,” the report added.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has also pointed to similar
theories in comments to the media.
There have been over 30 cases reported in the U.S., and
coronavirus has spread from China to 29 other countries.