Radio host Rush Limbaugh came out swinging on Monday against “phony” media outrage over President Trump’s language behind closed doors.

The man behind “the golden EIB microphone” says last week’s “sh—hole” remarks attributed to the president during policy negotiations have spotlighted media bias yet again. Mr. Limbaugh told millions of listeners that racism claims and concerns over presidential rhetoric are all part of an act.

“These people talk this way every day to themselves talking about us,” Mr. Limbaugh said. “They think Mississippi is a hellhole. They think Alabama is a hellhole. They think flyover country is for bitter clinger redneck reprobates. They talk this way all the time. I don’t think Anderson Cooper almost crying was genuine. I don’t even think these people are news anchors. I think they are actors. I actually now believe that not only is the daily so-called news a soap opera, but the journalists reporting it on television are actors. […] Anderson Cooper learned how to fake the near tears.”

Mr. Limbaugh’s commentary comes just days after Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois claimed Mr. Trump made racist comments about Haiti and African nations. The radio host said that CNN and other networks did not show similar outrage when former President Obama referred to war-torn Libya as a “sh—show” during an Atlantic interview published in April 2016.

“Barack Hussein Obama, the hero of refinement and sophistication and temperament to all of these people on the left, refers to Libya as an excrement show,” Mr. Limbaugh said. “He refers to a country, not as an excrement hole, but as an excrement show. Nine times you find that word in this Atlantic story, and I don’t remember anybody being upset about the way the president was speaking. ‘It’s so demeaning. We don’t want presidents talking this way.’ Nine times.”

“These people act like they are the pristine examples of decorum and propriety, like it’s just so beyond the pale that anybody would ever use that word as a president in the Oval Office,” the radio host continued. “And yet you can boing interns all day and all night and have it said to be nobody’s business. […] The outrage is phony because they have become actors.”

Mr. Trump told Twitter followers on Monday that Mr. Durbin “totally misrepresented what was said” during negotiations.

“Deals can’t get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military,” Mr. Trump wrote regarding the Democrat.

Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting. Deals can’t get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2018

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