ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Radio’s Rush Limbaugh took to airwaves this week to condemn the Democrats who are stymying President Donald Trump’s border agenda, as well as the media, filled with members who serve as little more than lapdogs and mouthpieces for the left’s talking points.

But he reserved his harshest points for the Republicans.

“Why does Trump have to go it alone?” Limbaugh asked, after citing surveys that show “only 7% of Americans say illegal immigration is not a problem.”

The press has been busy releasing poll after poll showing Americans, by various majorities, really don’t think building a border wall is all that important. Yet the crux of a border wall is national security and stemming the tide of illegal immigration — and on those points, Americans are almost entirely in agreement: These are good things to supply.

“The first act by the Democrat House majority is to defy the will of 93% of the population,” Limbaugh said. “Only 7% of Americans say illegal immigration is not a problem. Eighty-eight percent of Democrats. To insinuate that anybody who disagrees with them is immoral? You know, if the rest of the Republican leadership would fight back, we could win this debate.”

Precisely.

Republicans — all Republicans, not just the ones in the White House — need to wage this war on behalf of the American people. But they’re not. And as Limbaugh asked: Why?

“I’ll tell you why Trump has to go it alone,” he said. “Because people like Never Trumpers, like [Mitt] Romney and the rest of this crowd, is sitting here living 25 years in the past, or 20 years in the past. They have been rendered obsolete. They have been rendered irrelevant. They never were relevant, if you want to get down to brass tacks. In their own minds, they were.”

Ouch. Truth hurts.

But that’s exactly why Trump won — to boot the establishment-minded from their long-held arenas of influence.

“[I]t remains a one-man show,” Limbaugh said, “Donald Trump against the Democrat Party and the media. Donald Trump against fake news. Donald Trump against lying news. And we are very fortunate the guy does not cave.”

Indeed.

There’s the understatement of the new year.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter, @ckchumley.

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