In the 2016 primaries Limbaugh tried not to look blatantly partial to Trump but made excuses for him immediately after every negative story. He also attacked Trump’s critics. And he criticized preferred big money establishment GOP candidates Bush and Rubio for being soft on immigration, a theme central to the Trump campaign. Along with Russian help that was why Trump didn’t need the big GOP money.

Did Trump pay for any of that radio support?

Trump relies heavily on the talk radio in general to keep Republican politicians in line. Limbaugh and his dittoheads keep most other talk show hosts in line. Republican senators would be less afraid of the Trump base if they knew the Russian’s were using talk radio too or that Trump had been paying for talk radio support. They and a lot of big money donors also might like to know if their candidates would have had a better chance without Trump’s Russian and talk radio allies.

Cohen was Trump’s bagman. He delivered money for good press and polling results. Trump also paid to kill bad press.

Democrats need to ask Cohen in the upcoming hearings if Trump ever had him pay for good radio coverage. If so, where did that money come from?

Hannity was involved with Cohen in some real estate deals that were assumed to be related to paying off a mistress but may have been for something else. Hannity’s on 500 radio stations as well as Fox.

Former Trump operative Sam Nunberg told Gabriel Sherman that Trump used talk radio to help him in the 2016 election. From “Operation Trump”, by Gabriel Sherman, New York Magazine April 3, 2016:

Throughout 2014, the three (Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, and Sam Nunberg)fed Trump strategy memos and political intelligence. “ I listened to thousands of hours of talk radio , and he was getting reports from me,” Nunberg recalled.What those reports said was that the GOP base was frothing over a handful of issues including immigration, Obamacare, and Common Core. While Jeb Bush talked about crossing the border as an “act of love,” Trump was thinking about how high to build his wall.“We either have borders or we don’t,” Trump told the faithful who flocked to the annual CPAC conference in 2014.unless it was important

Why would cheapskate Trump pay anyone to listen to thousands of hours of radio? Cohen might know if someone told Trump to use talk radio.

The Russian trolling operations had targets but they needed content. They weren’t going to let a bunch of Russians create that out of thin air. Why not piggyback years, even decades, of talk radio repetition? Especially vs Hillary Clinton, who had been a regular target of Republican talk radio for 25 years.

Previous Russian use of talk radio may include the 2008 McCain campaign and when Limbaugh spent a week creating Climategate from Russian-hacked emails in 2009. What about debt default in 2011?

Fox is the cleaned-up cartoon Cliff Notes for talk radio and Limbaugh supplies a sanitized transcript of his daily show. One reason to pay for Nunberg to actually listen to 1000’s of hours of talk radio would be to listen to talk show hosts who dominate messaging in particular states. They usually coordinate with the state GOP and their think tanks, something Fox can’t do.

Cohen could be asked:

— if Trump was paying for good radio coverage. If so, who did he pay?

— what happened to Nunberg’s reports? Who ended up with them and how were they used? Did that analysis go outside of the Trump campaign — to Russians, for instance?

— who asked for that talk radio analysis in the first place? What was Nunberg asked to listen for?

— were specific states/local talkers targeted for analysis? Who determined who Nunberg listened to?

— did he ever hear reference to paying callers to phone into talk radio shows? Or emails sent to talk shows for the hosts to read? Domestic Republicans as well as Russians could do that.

If Nunberg listen to talk radio in particular states did those states match states the Russians targeted? Did they match the states that were visited by the Russian operatives that Mueller indicted?

Nunberg would know a lot of details and has been a regular in media like MSNBC. He needs to be asked. If he won’t say, Gabriel Sherman, also a regular in media now, needs to be asked if Nunberg gave other relevant details that weren’t included in the article.

Trump and Limbaugh have known each other a long time. They both have places around Palm Beach and both love golf. Limbaugh’s said they’ve played golf and shared dinner and Trump’s called into Limbaugh’s show.

From the Atlantic by Conor Friedersdorf 1/28/2016

Limbaugh: I've known Donald Trump for years, and I like him. I have never been angry at him. I have laughed. I have been amazed. I've had every reaction to Trump that you've had. Some of it up close and personal. I haven't divulged many of those stories. It's nothing hyper, super personal. It's just I don't routinely speak out of school without permission.

The Kremlin would be stupid not to use talk radio. And it’s in Trump’s character to ask a famous talk show host, fellow golf lover, dinner partner, and neighbor, if they could make a deal.