3 Days After Trump is on His Show, Rush Limbaugh Targets Senator for Being Jewish

Three days after the Trump campaign held a virtual rally on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show, Limbaugh targeted Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), accusing her of religious descrimination against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, and implying that Feinstein’s Jewish faith was her motivation for the alleged discrimination.

“So I have been watching the hearings for the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court…The only kind of fireworks we had at her previous hearings were when [Sen.] Dianne Feinstein [D-CA], who I think it's only fair to mention is Jewish, said to the very Catholic Amy Coney Barrett, ‘The dogma lives loudly in you.’ ‘The dogma lives loudly in you.’ Which everybody took it for what it was, it was an assault on Amy Coney Barrett's religion and how, to Democrats and the American Left, it's entirely unacceptable because it features reverence for God, it features reverence for life, and that's just unacceptable.”

- Rush Limbaugh

It is unclear what, specifically, Limbaugh believed Feinstein’s Judaism had to do with her comment about Barrett, particularly given that Limbaugh went on to claim that Barrett’s “reverence for God” was “unacceptable” to Democrats like Feinstein. Limbaugh’s insinuation seemed to be that Jews do not have “reverence for God.” In reality, some Jews do believe in God and some Jews do not, but it would appear that for Limbaugh, anything short of Christian belief in God does not constitute true “reverence.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) seemed to be making a similar assertion several weeks prior, when she falsely claimed that Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who is Jewish, thought “only atheists” should be Supreme Court Justices.

For weeks, Republicans and right-wing pundits have sought to claim that concerns about Barrett’s lifelong participation in the strict Catholic group, People of Praise, was religious discrimination against Christians. Some have even argued that Barrett has been the target of antisemitism via tropes about “dual loyalty.” While the “dual loyalty” trope has been used against Catholic Americans, concerns about Barrett’s leanings are not grounded in the belief that she is more loyal to the pope than the nation, as were discriminatory arguments made against President Kennedy. Rather, the fear is that Barrett will fail to abide by the fundamental separation of Church and State — or, as Feintstein put it, “dogma and law,” — in her rulings, particularly on issues such as marriage equality and the right to choose.

“Why is it that so many of us on this side have this very uncomfortable feeling that — you know, dogma and law are two different things. And I think whatever a religion is, it has its own dogma. The law is totally different. And I think in your case, professor, when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for years in this country.”

- Sen Feinstein

Limbaugh has long been favorite of the political right. In April of 2020, Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor a civilian can receive. Trump stated that this honor was bestowed upon Limbaugh in recognition of his charity work, and praised the right-wing talk radio host as an “inspiration.”

Just three days before Limbaugh targeted Sen. Feinstein, he hosted Trump on his radio show for a “virtual rally.”