Rush Limbaugh died on Feb. 17, 2021. He did his last show in the first week of that month, and even now, around 11:55 a.m., I often catch myself about to turn on the radio. Across the country, there are many who do the same thing or something close.
For those who weren’t regular listeners of his three-hour show every day, one word that probably does not come to mind is “intellectual.” His brand was best known as bombastic, irreverent, entertaining, funny, and unapologetic. But to those who listened, he was so much more than that.
I always felt he never got enough credit for the listener he was. Every caller, even those “seminar callers” the left would send his way, got a fair hearing from him, and he always avoided the cheap opportunity to embarrass those whose intent wasn’t genuine. He debated on the issues, and as strong and confident and forceful as he could be in advancing his own arguments, he was never disrespectful to his callers.
Something else – something in which he took great pride – was his role as a teacher of conservatism. One of his tongue-in-cheek shticks was to call his show the “Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies,” and then he’d add, “where the learning never stops.”
As much fun as he had with that, it was true. If you listened to his show long enough and with any regularity, you would learn more about conservatism than you could ever learn in school. Rush, a high school graduate, was effective at simplifying complex concepts and dynamics, comparing conservative thinking to liberal thinking and all other political schools of thought.
He used simple language, and he was often blunt. He’d give examples, tell funny stories, use sarcasm, and bits to make his point. He’d talk about a leftist, or a story of the day, and he’d play montages of sound bites. In the end, he’d break it all down in such a way that you knew what was really happening, what the end games were, who the drivers were, and how all of this would affect you and your country.
It’s been said that while William F. Buckley was the father of modern conservatism, Rush Limbaugh was the one who brought conservatism to the working class. Like many others, I still consider myself to be a “Limbaugh conservative” because most of my conservative thinking was shaped by listening to him.
So where did Rush get his inspiration? Who was his model? None other than Buckley himself. I’m not sure how close they were, but Rush looked up to Buckley and studied everything he said and did. Rush illustrated the difference between Buckley and him by retelling the story of a dinner he went to at Buckley’s apartment in New York. The long and short of it is, Rush stayed true to himself, even though at that time he was a relative unknown when compared to others at that dinner. He remarked on the condescension of some of the guests while saying he never felt compelled to please them.
Instead, he felt his only obligation was to his own audience. For decades, he shaped and groomed that audience to possess a true and deep understanding of conservatism, what it is, and what it’s about. Rush created generations of conservatives, from farmers and construction workers to the old, the young, and even the kids who grew up listening to their parents listen to Rush. Rush called these his “Rush babies.”
As a result, he had his own following of conservative acolytes, one of whom was Andrew Breitbart, who was introduced to Rush Limbaugh by his father-in-law, Orson Bean, who gave Breitbart a copy of Rush’s 1992 book, The Way Things Ought to Be. That in turn led Breitbart towards his own mission to advance the conservative cause until his death in 2012.
Someone else who considered himself a Limbaugh conservative was Charlie Kirk, whom Rush inspired and mentored. Like Rush, Charlie was a high school grad who jumped into and attacked his life’s work in lieu of going to college. Like Rush, Charlie was an avid reader, thinker, debater, and hustler. And like Rush, he put his own stamp on conservatism.
If Rush Limbaugh brought conservatism to the working class, Charlie brought it to the young in a scalable way. While he had various platforms for communication, most notably his podcast, his most powerful medium was face-to-face, one-on-one debates with people who disagreed with him. He embraced the intellectual challenges that came with listening to, debating, and ultimately trying to persuade non-conservatives.
He found that his approach, while raw and filled with many uncontrolled variables, enabled him to prove he was the real deal to a generation that grew up on the internet and may be more cynical at that age when compared to previous generations.
Watch any of Charlie’s speeches, debates, or podcast and media appearances, and you not only can see he knew his stuff, but he was highly effective at teaching as well. So effective that on Sept. 10, 2025, he paid for it with his life.
Scott Adams, the Dilbert creator, fell outside of the Buckley-Limbaugh conservative tree. In fact, until he died yesterday, he said he was still a registered Democrat, and he didn’t think of himself as a conservative at all. But if you listened to his livestream/podcast every day and with any regularity, it was obvious he was an exceptional conservative thinker. More importantly, he was very good at explaining and teaching conservatism under the guise of teaching persuasion and common sense.
A point he would often make was that he was all about common sense, and it just so happened that conservatism fit that worldview. You could say he backed into his conservatism.
After Rush died, like many, I spent some time searching for another show or podcast that would help meet my continued desire to listen to a smart person teach and challenge me as a listener to think more intellectually about conservatism.
I found my “fix” by listening to a number of podcasts, one of which was Scott’s. Over time, I found myself prioritizing his podcast on a daily basis. He just had that right combination of fresh thinking, independent thinking, intellectual and intelligent thinking, combined with some really funny content. He was no Rush Limbaugh, but he wasn’t trying to be. I don’t even know if he ever listened to Rush.
Sadly, we lost Scott to cancer this week. Now, like many of his listeners, I will find myself rebalancing my podcast, radio, and media intake until, hopefully, I find one or two who come up to the intellectual rigor that Rush, Charlie, and Scott met.
Another intellectual standard-bearer for the conservative movement is Victor Davis Hanson, and last I heard, he is battling some health challenges of his own. Godspeed to him.
All of this has served as a reminder that our best and brightest conservative minds are an endangered species. You can’t just pick them off the streets and put them behind a microphone and fill that void. None of these people were replaceable.
Conservatism has many, many strong and effective voices. I hesitate to mention any of them here for fear of leaving an important name off the list. But for the most part, the ones in radio, TV, or podcasting are what I would consider conservative warriors, not intellectuals. They are more fighters than teachers. We need these people. We always have.
Of course, the conservative movement as a whole has no shortage of great minds. We have thinktanks full of people who can run circles around the best the left can put forth. They can give speeches, write books and papers, and appear as guests and panelists in the media. But what most of them don’t have is a strong media presence and a huge platform on which to teach at scale.
We need that right now. I'm not saying we don't have any. I'm saying we need more. We need a new generation of conservative teachers. Not people who will bend and twist conservatism to appeal to a new generation, but people who can articulately present the timeless value and power of conservatism itself.
Conservative intellectuals are an endangered species. We need to foster the development of and the establishment of the kind of inspirational figures who have brought us to where we are today.
It’s time to get the year off to a good start by taking advantage of the full catalogue of common sense thinking that comes with a PJ Media VIP membership. The good news is, PJ Media VIP memberships are on sale! Get 60% off of an annual VIP, VIP Gold, or VIP Platinum membership! Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off a VIP membership!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member