Monday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh attributed the spike in media coverage of family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border to a desire to “change the subject” away from the Department of Justice Inspector General’s report finding wrongdoing within the agency and the positives of the American economy.

Limbaugh described it as “made to order” and a “manufactured crisis” to give Democrats positive momentum headed into an election season.

Partial transcript as follows (courtesy of RushLimbaugh.com):

This children and families being separated at the border? It is an entirely manufactured crisis. It’s entirely manufactured. This has been going on for years. It happened during the Obama administration. Nobody said a word about it, primarily the media. Some might say, “Well, that doesn’t excuse it continually happening.” You gotta keep it all in perspective, and wait ’til you understand why. This is all about asylum seekers, folks. It’s all about people attempting to invade our country, not emigrate here.

And I’m gonna do my best. You know, this is a very complex issue. Well, it isn’t. It’s been made to look complex, and after they try to make it complex, then they try to simplify it by simply suggesting the United States — no, Republicans — hate kids and Republicans like separating families. And that’s what they’re trying to boil all this down to. So I’m gonna spend some time today explaining what this is all about with the aid and assistance of a few others.

And by the time we finish, you will understand how yet again this is just another manufactured crisis. Look, they’ve gotta change the subject. They have to change the subject. The economy is rip roaring. They’ve got to change the subject from the IG report. For crying out loud, that’s a devastating report about the culture of the FBI. They have got to change the subject. They’ve got to move off of the problems the Democrats are having electorally, culturally, and politically.

And so made to order, this manufactured crisis, somehow that Donald Trump is heartless, that Republicans are heartless, that they want to bust up families. Let me tell you who’s been busting up families. The Democrats. The Democrats have been literally subsidizing single motherhood in the black community for decades. It used to be called AFDC. You could also say that Planned Parenthood is excelling at separating families, couldn’t you? You want to talk about separating families, look no further than the abortion mills of Planned Parenthood.

I fully expect these comments to be controversial because they are bull’s-eye right on target. The Democrat Party has prospered from separating families. The Democrat Party has prospered for decades by assuming the role of father and provider in minority communities all over this country by subsidizing single motherhood. It is the Democrat Party who is seeking to have children brought here on trains from Central America without their parents, to create just the kind of scenario we are finding ourselves in the middle of today.

Now, to set all of this up, let’s remember some things. As was noted over the weekend… By the way, greetings. Rush Limbaugh, 800-282-2882. (You know all of that, so I sought not to waste that much time with the usual show open. Lots to do here.) It was — as noted over the weekend — three years ago that Donald Trump announced for the presidency. It was three years ago that he came down the escalator at Trump Tower, and we all remember his announcement speech, and most people’s reaction when that was over was laughter and ridicule and disbelief.

“There is no way this guy is serious! You don’t run for president or any office saying the things that Trump said.” I was one of the many people laughing myself silly at it (chuckles), ’cause I thought it was courageous and brave and way over the to — and I, too, was trying to figure out the motivation. But then I’ll tell you when my mind changed, ladies and gentlemen. That’s when I saw the first poll results. I was pleasantly shocked and surprised that there was overwhelming approval for Donald Trump as a presidential candidate on the Republican side.

That’s when the panic in the Republican establishment began. On the Democrat side, they never took it seriously. (laughing) All the way up to 8 o’clock on election night, they didn’t take it seriously. Except they did, because they were running spies in the Trump campaign as early as 2016! They were running Russian spies, trying to convince Trump campaign officials to pay them to take the information they were offering. The Democrat Party, the media, the FBI, the intelligence community, spent years trying to corrupt the Trump campaign — and with everything they tried, they failed.

There’s no evidence there was any collusion, despite the fact the FBI was trying to create some. Now, all of this is relevant to where we are today. But there is much, much more. What has happened in the three years since Donald Trump came down the escalator at Trump Tower? There is a renewed optimism in much of this country. In the vast majority of the square footage of this country, there is vast enthusiasm, a renewed optimism, a renewed pride, a renewed happiness in the future. The economy is roaring.

We are seeing statistics we haven’t seen in years — in fact, in some cases ever. Black, Hispanic, female unemployed rates are at a record, all-time low. The overall unemployment rate is statistically zero. It’s 3.9, 3.8%. This has long been regarded as statistically representative of full employment. The stock market has rallied and is out of sight and is still on its upward trajectory. There is a new satisfaction poll out from Gallup, and it is overwhelmingly upbeat and positive.

“Public satisfaction with the direction of the country is the highest it has been since September of 2005,” but you would never know that if you did nothing but watch Drive-By news all day. You would never have any idea that public satisfaction is at the highest it’s been since September 2005. My friends, that is 13 years ago! Now, 2005 seems like yesterday, but it was the beginning of the second term of the Bush administration, and let’s take a look what happened in 2005. Why is today, the public satisfaction with the direction of the country the highest it’s been since September 2005?

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