Friday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh hammered former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and argued that the “deep state” had damaged American elections beyond what Limbaugh said were Russian President Vladimir Putin’s wildest dreams.

Partial transcript as follows:

(BEGIN AUDIO)

CLAPPER: And I think it’s hugely danger if someone like that is exposed because, uh, the danger to that person, not to mention the reluctance of others to be informants for the FBI. And the FBI gains a lot of valuable information from informants. So — so — so to me, this is incredible.

(END AUDIO)

LIMBAUGH: So it’s perfect… Okay. I tell you what. I’ll tell you what then, Clapper. Whoever you people run in 2020, we’re gonna put a spy on! It’s gonna be a valuable thing. We’re gonna find out who it is that might be trying to rig the election for you. If the Russians tampering with campaigns is the big deal… You heard Clapper say, “It’s not Trump. No, no. This is hyperbole! We were trying to find out what the Russians were doing because the Russians were tampering.”

You people have done more to damage the integrity of the American electoral process than Vladimir Putin could in his dreams! And I’m not joking. With what these people have done for the last year and a half — basically get people thinking the election was stolen, that it was illegitimate, that the Russians didn’t want Hillary and wanted Trump and made it happen — look at what they have done to the image, the reputation of the American electoral system and process.

…

LIMBAUGH: You know, here’s another thought. And this is how I know that the snake Clapper is lying. Clapper tells CNN (imitating Clapper), “Oh, no, no, no, we weren’t interested in the Trump campaign, our spy. We think it was a good thing the FBI had a spy to look for pernicious activity from the Russians, the Russians tampering with our electoral process. It was a good thing they had a spy in that campaign, not to look at the Trump campaign, but to look at the Russians.”

Follow Joshua Caplan on Twitter @joshdcaplan