Whoopi Goldberg Winces At Meghan McCain’s Defense Of Rush Limbaugh

Whoopi Goldberg took a dim view of Donald Trump’s decision to award Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

And she wasn’t impressed by her co-host Meghan McCain’s rationale for why the president would give the controversial talk show host the award.

On Wednesday’s episode of “The View,” Goldberg started things off by referencing Limbaugh’s recent announcement that he has advanced lung cancer before admitting she didn’t think he deserved the nation’s highest civilian honor.

“You know, I am very sorry that Rush is ill, because you never want to wish bad stuff on people,” Goldberg said. “He has stage 4 cancer. But I’m sorry, I thought that the Medal of Freedom was supposed to go to people who actually did stuff.”

Goldberg named a few people she thought were more deserving of the award, including Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who died last October.

“I didn’t understand,” she said. “You’ve got a Tuskegee Airman sitting there, and if you’re going to give the Medal of Freedom to someone who actually has made differences in the country and has done all kinds of stuff, how about giving it to Elijah Cummings’ wife as a thank you to all of his service?”

McCain attempted to explain the decision as Trump “playing to his base” and Limbaugh’s influence with conservatives. 

“[Limbaugh] has 30 million listeners a day,” she said. “To put it in perspective, this show averages around 3 [million].”

“What has he done that merits the—” Goldberg started to ask.

“He completely changed the paradigm of radio,” McCain jumped in.

Goldberg winced slightly at that comment, though McCain later agreed that Limbaugh has “said a lot of awful things.”

Co-host Joy Behar noted that it was especially tone-deaf to give Limbaugh the award during Black History Month since the radio host “spent a lot of Obama’s tenure singing — what did he call him now? — ‘Barack the Magic Negro.’”

Sunny Hostin also explained why many Black Americans might find Limbaugh’s medal insulting.

“I don’t think it was lost on the Black community that he gave that honor to Rush Limbaugh during Black History Month, sitting next to a Tuskegee Airman, on Rosa Parks Day,” Hostin said. “Rush Limbaugh was a longtime birther during the Obama administration.”

“And Melania, the other birther, put the [medal] on him.”

You can watch the segment below: