Rush Limbaugh: US ‘trending toward secession’

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday suggested on his show that America was headed toward the conditions that resulted in the American Civil War after a caller asked whether conservatism would ever dominate U.S. culture again.

The host responded to the call, first noted by Media Matters, saying that he believed the country was “trending towards secession,” or the act in which states could attempt to leave the Union.

“I thought you were asking me something else when you said, ‘Can we win?’ I thought you meant, ‘Can we win the culture, can we dominate the culture.’ I actually think — and I’ve referenced this, I’ve alluded to this a couple of times because I’ve seen others allude to this — I actually think that we’re trending toward secession,” Limbaugh said.

“It can’t go on this way,” he continued. “There cannot be a peaceful coexistence of two completely different theories of life, theories of government, theories of how we manage our affairs. We can’t be in this dire a conflict without something giving somewhere along the way.”

The only time states have seceded in U.S. history was in the days leading up to the Civil War, when Southern states supporting the cause of slavery attempted to break away from the Union. The move led to a four-year conflict that left more than 600,000 dead.

Limbaugh’s comments follow a similar remark made by a Mississippi state Republican lawmaker following President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election last month.

In a now-deleted tweet, state Rep. Price Wallace (R) wrote that his state needs “to succeed [sic] from the union and form our own country.”

Wallace later wrote in a tweet that his remark was “inappropriate and in no way represents the will of my constituents or myself.”

I truly love the USA and Mississippi and would never support any idea of seceding from the union. I am extremely sorry for my comment it was inappropriate and in no way represents the will of my constituents or myself. I humbly ask for forgiveness for my poor lack of judgment.

— Rep. Price Wallace (@pricewallace) November 11, 2020