On his talk radio program Monday, Rush Limbaugh slammed the media and the Democrats over their response to the coronavirus epidemic and offered an explanation of why he thinks the whole thing is going to end up blowing up in their faces.

“The coronavirus is being hyped beyond what it is,” said Limbaugh. “[Former Chicago Mayor] Rahm Emanuel, right here we have it, ‘Coronavirus Could Be ‘Devastating’ for Trump Reelection Bid,'” said Rush, citing an article highlighting Emanuel’s comments over the weekend on ABC News’ “This Week.”

“The Drive-By Media is back to weaponizing the coronavirus against the Trump administration, once again claiming this could provide an opening for the Democrats, which continues to just outrage me,” Limbaugh said.

“I mean, these are the people that claim to have all the compassion, they have all the understanding, they have all of the feelings for people, they’re running around: ‘Could be an opening for the Democrats,'” he continued. “What does it mean to say that the coronavirus, it could be an opening for the Democrats? It means the suffering of people could be an opening for Democrats. And they’re all excited about it. And they’re unable to let go of it.”

The Democrats, Limbaugh said later, “are sitting there, like Rahm Emanuel, and they’re rubbing their hands together and they’re salivating over the fact that this is going to provide an opening for the Democrats.”

He then summarized his central argument for why he believes this strategy will fail: “I guarantee you we’ve not gotten to this point where a political party will benefit profoundly by happily noting the suffering of its voters.”

“Democrats, you better be real careful that you’re not seen this way,” the host warned. His goal, he said, is to make sure they are.

“You are seen as hoping to profit on the illness and the discomfort and thedestruction, distraction, the upset of normalcy that people are experiencing in their lives, that’s the kind of thing you want to profit from or benefit from?” he said. “It ain’t gonna happen. You might sit there and dream about it thinking you’ve got George W. Bush and Katrina 2 happening here, but you’re off and dreaming.”

The problem with the Democrats’ “Katrina 2.0” plan, Limbaugh suggested, is that the coronavirus will not end up being as devastating as Democrats appear to hope. And, as is the case with the stock market plunge Monday, said Rush, the media’s attempts to connect everything to coronavirus will be demonstrated to be overblown, too.

“The Drive-By Media wants you to think that this massive stock market plunge is because of the coronavirus,” said Limbaugh. “Some of it is, but the vast majority of this has nothing to do with the coronavirus, absolutely nothing to do with the coronavirus.”

The driving factor in the market’s drop on Monday, Limbaugh pointed out, was the drop in oil prices, which is due to many factors not connected to coronavirus. And while the stock market’s performance on Monday might seem dire, the reality, he argued, is that lower gas prices are going to end up being positive for consumers.

“Now, this drop in the oil price is gonna be good for the consumer, folks,” said Limbaugh. “This is good news for everybody except for producers. This always happens every time the production price of oil drops. The crude price, the barrel price, everybody panics; the stock market drops.”

Transcript via RushLimbaugh.com