The mainstream media got a running start in its latest attempted take down of Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump Thursday, and in response, he got two of the biggest names in conservatism coming to his defense: talk radio titans Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin.

While Trump was signing autographs in Iowa, an NBC News reporter brought up the idea of a database to track Muslims.

While Trump was focusing his answer on immigration broadly and his solutions to stem illegal immigration, the reporter spun the Republican front runner’s relatively generic answer as an implied endorsement of the reporter’s Muslim database idea.

Limbaugh said on his program Friday:

The Drive-Bys are trying to destroy the two leading Republicans again today, Donald Trump and Ben Carson. They are doing a terrific job of taking Trump out of context. He was leaving the stage, I guess it was last night, he was doing a personal appearance somewhere, he was leaving the stage, he’s finished, and a Drive-By gets amongst the autograph speakers and starts peppering him with questions. He answered a question and it’s how the reporter is purposely misinterpreting it to say that Donald Trump last night said that he’s in favor of a registration database of all Muslims in the US, and everybody in the Drive-Bys has run with it, and he didn’t say it. We have the audio sound bite coming up to illustrate it.

Here’s the exchange Limbaugh’s referring to:

Limbaugh points out:

He’s probably worn out and spent, and there’s the usual crowd of autograph seekers and supporters and fans, and amongst them is a Drive-By Media reporter who says to Trump, “Should there be a database system that tracks the Muslims that are in this country?” Trump says, “There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases. We should have a lot of systems, and today you can do it. But right now we have to have a border. We have to have strength, we have to have a wall, and we cannot let what’s happening to this country happen again.” Reporter: “Is that something your White House would like to implement?”

There’s no specificity there. The question is just, “Is that something your White House would like to implement?” Trump has given a multifaceted answer. He says, “Is that something,” without specifying what he’s asking about. Trump said, “Oh, I would certainly implement that, absolutely,” and that’s how they report that Trump “demands a database and registration for all Muslims,” when he didn’t say it! He never said it. It’s a Journalism 101 trick. It’s right out of the manual they teach you at the first year of journalism school in how to destroy political opponents or powerful people you don’t like. It’s that common a technique.

Meanwhile, Mark Levin also defended Trump from the smear, underscoring Limbaugh’s argument:

While other mainstream media outlets quickly piled on Trump, the candidate took two Twitter to defend himself, pointing out the database was the reporter’s idea.

I didn't suggest a database-a reporter did. We must defeat Islamic terrorism & have surveillance, including a watch list, to protect America — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2015

In a follow up story, Yahoo News hit Trump because he “didn’t disavow the idea of a general registry for Muslims living in the country or say decisively he wouldn’t support it.”

But Limbaugh is confident the latest attempt by the mainstream media to take down Donald Trump will backfire — like all the others.

“Here is what they are forgetting. This isn’t gonna hurt Trump. Even their journalistic malpractice is not gonna hurt Trump,” Limbaugh said.

“They haven’t figured that out. They keep applying standard, ordinary, everyday tactics on hit pieces to Donald Trump, and all that happens as a result is that Trump increases his support. Trump’s support gets stronger.

“It gets deeper every time they try something like this because Trump is dead serious about protecting this country and its borders and keeping terrorists and so forth out of the country. He makes no bones about it. He’s one of the only candidates that’s unwavering on it. It’s the number one issue,” Limbaugh said.