TRUMP ISN'T EVEN WAITING FOR LIMBAUGH'S BODY TO GET COLD

Rush Limbaugh was a loathsome person and America is a better place now that he's dead. I have no qualms about saying that. If you have friends or relatives you can't speak to anymore because they believe all Democrats or liberals are evil, Limbaugh began laying the groundwork for the break in your relationship and many other relationshipz more than thirty years ago. He deomnized all of us. He wasn't alone, but he led the way. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

That's my disrespect for the dead. Donald Trump's version is a bit different.

Former President Trump will appear on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s prime-time show Wednesday evening, the network announced....

Fox News said in a press release Wednesday afternoon that the 9 p.m. Eastern broadcast of “Hannity” will feature an interview with Trump “to discuss the life and legacy of radio pioneer Rush Limbaugh.”

Trump is also expected to make appearances Wednesday evening on Newsmax and OAN, The Washington Post reported, citing a Trump spokesman....

Trump on Wednesday made his first media appearance post-presidency on Fox News's "Outnumbered" within an hour of the news breaking of Limbaugh's death.

Trump, who last year awarded Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom, praised the conservative radio icon during the "Outnumbered" interview, repeatedly calling him a “legend.”

“There aren’t too many legends around. But he is a legend," Trump said on the show via phone. "And those people who listen to him every day, it was like a religious experience for a lot of people."

Limbaugh's body isn't even cold and Trump is already looking to grab as much reflected glory as possible.

What Jane Mayer wrote shortly before the election seems relevant here:

A former Trump associate who is in the media world speculated that Trump might ... fill the talk-radio vacuum left by Rush Limbaugh, who announced in mid-October that he has terminal lung cancer.... the former associate suggested that if Trump anchored such a show—perhaps from his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida—he could continue to try to rally his base and remain relevant. The former associate pointed out that Trump could broadcast the show after spending the morning playing golf. Just as on “The Apprentice”—and in the White House—he could riff, with little or no preparation. Trump has been notably solicitous of Limbaugh, giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and tweeting sympathetically about his health. Limbaugh has become rich from his show, and is estimated to be worth half a billion dollars; Trump has publicly commented on how lucrative Limbaugh’s gig is, exclaiming in a speech last December that Limbaugh “makes, like, they tell me, fifty million a year, and it may be on the low side—so, if anybody wants to be a nice conservative talk-show host, it’s not a bad living.”

So is that the point of Trump's media blitz? Is he seizing the moment to tell Limbaugh's audience that he's the heir apparent? Trump established himself as a political figure on the right with years of regular appearances on Fox & Friends before announcing his run for president in 2015 -- does he hope to stay relevant for 2024 by appropriating Limbaugh's microphone?

I had much more affection for the World Trade Center than I did for Limbaugh, but if I'm right about what Trump is doing, it's somewhat reminiscent of his odd remarks on local TV news as the Twin Towers came down.

... [Alan] Marcus asked whether Trump’s 40 Wall Street building had suffered any damage. Before getting into his response about his Financial District property, the businessman had something he wanted on the record.

“40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest — and then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second tallest,” Trump said in the WWOR interview. “And now it’s the tallest.”

[WWOR's Brenda] Blackmon told The Post ... that Trump’s response left her baffled.

“[Marcus] dialed him up, and that’s when [Trump] gave the answer he did, which stunned us at the time,” Blackmon said to The Post. “Any reaction I had, in the midst of everything that was happening, was, wow, that’s insensitive. It just was.”

Trump may be thinking: In right-wing broadcasting, Rush stood the tallest. And now I'll be the tallest. And hey, it's easier for the lazy bastard than starting his own network, right?