Donald Trump called Rush Limbaugh to tell him not to apologize for homophobic remarks he made about Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg.
Last week, Limbaugh made headlines when he asked viewers if they could see “Mr. Man” Donald Trump “having fun” with Buttigieg kissing his husband on stage, and theorized that Democrats were wary of it too. He also asked his listeners how they would explain Buttigieg kissing his husband to their children.
On yesterday’s Rush Limbaugh Show, the radio host told listeners that Trump called to instruct him not to apologize for the remarks.
Said Limbaugh in a clip posted by Media Matters (below): “Hell, the president even called me about this. The president checks in every now and then to see how I’m doing. He’s such a nice guy. And he called. It’s uncanny. I’m — Do I respond to him? Yeah. No, I try to reply to all of them, Dawn. I’m not going to be able to, but he calls, and yeah — powerful, influential member of the media, folks. I have got the White House private number in my phone, so when the White House calls, it says there on my phone.”
“And so, invariably, it’s uncanny,” Limbaugh continued. “He calls when I am moments away from commencing a medical procedure. And I had to tell doctors, ‘You’ve got to give me a half-hour, the president’s calling.’ ‘OK, we’ll wait a half-hour.’ Then I told the White House, ‘Look, I’ve got a medical procedure in 10 minutes. Can you have the president call me back in 35?’ And they did. So, he called back, and he said ‘Rush, I just got to tell you something. Never apologize, don’t ever –‘ and I said, ‘For what?'”
“Well, I had no idea this thing had even bubbled up, you know?” Limbaugh added. “I’m doing the medical thing that I have to do here. And I wasn’t even aware of this.”
Asked to respond to last week’s remarks, Buttigieg told Chris Wallace on FOX News Sunday: “I’m in a faithful, loving, committed marriage. I’m proud of my marriage. I’m proud of my husband. I’m not going to be lectured on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh or anybody who supports Donald J. Trump as the moral as well as political leader of the United States. America has moved on and we should have politics of belonging that welcomes everybody. That’s what the American people are for. I’m saddened for what the GOP has become if they embrace that kind of homophobic rhetoric.”
