Donald Trump has been roundly condemned by critics for giving the controversial conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh one of the highest civilian awards in the country in the middle of his State of the Union address.

Mr Trump announced his decision to award Mr Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during his speech on Tuesday night, having Melania Trump present the medal and place it on the outspoken supporter of the president.

Though news of the decision was widely reported hours before the State of the Union address, Mr Limbaugh initially appeared surprised, seemingly shaking his head in disbelief before accepting the award from the First Lady. The prestigious medal has been awarded to trailblazing political figures and activists like Martin Luther King Jr, Shirley Chisolm, and Desmond Tutu, among others.

Mr Limbaugh recently announced he was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.

The 69-year-old has been accused of spreading racist, xenophobic and anti-immigrant claims, infamously calling former President Barack Obama “more African in his roots than he is American” while suggesting the former president was “behaving like an African colonial despot”.

All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Show all 6 1 /6 All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz is a controversial American lawyer best known for the high-profile clients he has successfully defended. Those clients have included OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. One longtime Harvard Law associated told the New Yorker Dershowitz "revels in taking positions that ultimately are not just controversial but pretty close to indefensible." Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Ken Starr Starr became a household name in the 1990s as the independent counsel who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. That investigation began as a look into a real estate scandal known as Whitewater, and eventually led to impeachment after Mr Clinton lied under oath about having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. AP All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Jay Sekulow Sekulow is the president's longtime personal attorney, and, now, personal lawyer in the White House. He has been accused by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas of being "in the loop" during the Ukraine scandal. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pam Bondi Bondi is the former attorney general in Florida, and a longtime backer of the president's. She made a name for herself in Florida for taking hyper partisan stances on issues, and her penchant for publicity. She is likely to be a prominent public-facing figure during the trial. AFP/Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pat Cipollone Cipollone is the White House counsel, and leading the president's defence team. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Rudy Giuliani While not officially named as one of the president's impeachment lawyers, it is hard to ignore Giuliani's outsized role in this process. The former mayor of New York has been making headlines for months as he defends his client, and for his apparent role in the effort to compel Ukraine to launch the investigation into Joe Biden. We'll see how he figures in the actual trial, which he has said he would like to be a part of. Reuters

He has also said slavery “had its merits” for having “built the South” and called Mexican immigrants “stupid and unskilled”, adding: “You’re a foreigner. You shut your mouth or you get out.”

Walter Shaub, former director for the Office of Government Ethics, slammed the decision in a statement that suggested Mr Trump was awarding Mr Limbaugh the honour in order to appease his base.

“Like the Joe Arpaio pardon, Trump awarding that medal to Rush Limbaugh has nothing to do with its recipient but was awarded as a message to the viciously racist, nationalist segment of the population whose votes Trump needs,” he wrote. “It says: Stay with me, I am with you.”

Late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel noted that Mr Trump was awarding the honour to Mr Limbaugh on Rosa Parks Day, which celebrates the legacy of the civil rights icon who also received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996.

“Today is Rosa Parks Day,” Mr Kimmel said, “and this is a medal they gave Rosa Parks.”

He added: “Tonight, Rush Limbaugh got it.”

CNN journalist Jim Acosta also responded to the president’s State of the Union Address, saying Mr Trump “was trying to make appeals to the African American community” and noting: “It can’t be forgotten that he was awarding the Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh, who has a history of making derogatory comments about African Americans.”

“So I think, you know, overall, it’s a wash”, the reporter said.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, called Mr Limbaugh a "virulent racist" and said his being awarded the medal "cheapens" the prestigious honour.

"First of all, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is an extraordinarily sacred award," she said. "We're talking about putting someone on the same level as Rosa Parks, for example, in terms of their contributions to American progress."

She continued: "To do it in the middle of a State of the Union, and not even dignify it with its own ceremony, as it has, there is all sorts of norms that are being violated ... not just for people's humanity but also, it truly just cheapens the value of it."