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The conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who has a substantial following among grass-roots Republicans, came to the defense of Donald J. Trump on Monday as prominent leaders in the party stepped up their criticism of Mr. Trump’s pointed comments about Senator John McCain.

Such a defense is not entirely surprising, since Mr. Limbaugh’s distaste for the Republican establishment is deep and well documented. But the supportive words from Mr. Limbaugh may provide Mr. Trump with the inoculation he needs to survive the scorn of the party’s elders long enough to be included in the presidential debates.

Mr. Trump is not following the typical protocol for public figures who are scorned by the establishment, Mr. Limbaugh said.

“The American people haven’t seen something like this in a long time,” the radio host said, speaking to the unique nature of the emerging 2016 Republican presidential contest, in which harnessing anger and money may be crucial ingredients for success. “They have not seen an embattled public figure stand up for himself, double down and tell everybody to go to hell.”

“Trump can survive this, Trump is surviving this,” Mr. Limbaugh said at the start of his three-hour program on Monday, two days after Mr. Trump took issue with the description of Mr. McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner-of-war, as a “war hero.” “This is a great, great teachable moment here, this whole thing with Trump and McCain.”

Last week, Mr. Limbaugh expressed aggravation with Mr. McCain, who has never been a favorite of the Republican base, for saying that Mr. Trump was riling up “the crazies” in the party with his comments about illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Mr. Limbaugh described the dust-up as an over-hyped effort from “the drive-by media.” He returned to the topic in the show’s second hour, pointing out that Democrats have taken shots at Mr. McCain’s service — including Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, years before he was elected to the Senate.

“When leftists attack McCain, they’re perfectly warranted, because they’re nice people,” Mr. Limbaugh said. “Here comes Trump, and you would think that nobody has ever said anything like this before about the revered and respected John McCain.”

Pointing out how many people are calling now for Mr. Trump to exit the race for president, Mr. Limbaugh said: “There’s just one problem — Trump is not following the rules that targets are supposed to follow. Targets are supposed to immediately grovel, apologize.”

“Guiding all of this,” Mr. Limbaugh said, “is the guiding presumption that the majority of the American people are as outraged as the media are.”