“I got the feeling Rush was, too, but watched his mouth for the sake of his audience and ratings.”
Exactly right.
In Q4 2015, Rush was pushing Rubio and/or Cruz.
Rush’s use of “Trumpists” at the time was an epithet.
I wondered who had gotten to him. Was he threatened by the establishment? Then I realized, he was running Rubio and Cruz ads and airtime isn’t free.
Then Rush said sometime in 2017, “I was always with Trump”. Almost fell out of my chair.
Not sure if you remember the Cruz / Trump battles out here when we Trump supporters were called every name in the book?
Trumpee
Trumpys
Trumpholes
Trumpaloompa
Trumpsters
Trumpanzees
Trumpenistas
Trumpers
Trumptards
Trump Cult
Trump Diehards
The Trumpkin Proletariat
Trumpites
Trumpkins
Trumpettes
Trumpists (thanks Rush Limbaugh)
Turmpeteers
Trumpbots
Trumpnutters
Strumpets
Branch Trumpidians
Trumpophiles
Trumplicans
And then there is this opus by one of FR’s most obnoxious never-Trumpers:
“You are all freaking low class jerks. The Heidi thread has been pulled multiple times. Free Republic has become trump derangement central. I HAVE NEVER SEEN A BUNCH OF CONSERVATIVES SO PICKY, PETTY AND STUPID - STUPID FREAKING LOSERS YOU DAMN DEFEND TRUMP AS IF HE WERE A FREAKING BABY BECAUSE HE IS! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL.”