Rush Limbaugh is trying very hard to go out in a blaze of glory, it appears. Receiving the Medal of Freedom and a diagnosis of terminal lung cancer is not slowing him down one bit. Even as Trump longs to run against Bernie Sanders, Rush is already queuing up the commie chat to scare listeners into thinking Bernie Sanders is going to let the United States become an annex of China.

The coronavirus was today's topic of discussion, and Rush began by hatching a nice conspiracy theory about it.

"It probably is a ChiCom laboratory experiment that is in the process of being weaponized," he said. "All superpower nations weaponize bioweapons. They experiment with them. The Russians, for example, have weaponized fentanyl. Now, fentanyl is also not what it is represented to be."

Well I guess Rush would know, wouldn't he? Is this how he explains away his addiction? By pretending it's a Russian government plot to kill Americans?

No seriously, he knows ALL about Fentanyl.

He goes on and on, attributing the Chechen takeover of a theater and subsequent death of hostages due to an unidentified substance as an example of how fentanyl has been weaponized, and how the coronavirus, which is almost certainly a biological weapon that got free is being weaponized against business, not so China can get an economic advantage...no, not that.

"I think the coronavirus is an effort to get Trump," he concluded. "It’s one of the latest in a long line of efforts that the drive-by media is making to somehow say that Trump and capitalism are destroying America and destroying the world."

And then he drops the punch line, because what would a conspiracy theory be without someone to blame?

This is just stupid. Let's be honest here. The only thing that's communist about China is, well...nothing. China is purely capitalist with a President-for-life leading the country. It's authoritarian and capitalist, the way Trump wants this country to be. If anyone is going to remake the country into China's image, it's not going to be Bernie Sanders.

It was, however, a perfect opportunity for Rush to do what the WHO has warned against:

Since the emergence of COVID-19 we have seen instances of public stigmatization among specific populations, and the rise of harmful stereotypes. Stigmatization could potentially contribute to more severe health problems, ongoing transmission, and difficulties controlling infectious diseases during an epidemic.

(h/t Media Matters)