President Trump, Rush Limbaugh hold ‘largest virtual rally in radio history’

Rush Limbaugh was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during President Donald Trump's most recent State of the Union. Trump appeared on Friday's edition of Limbaugh's nationally syndicated radio talk show. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Credit: Patrick Semansky

Credit: Patrick Semansky

Rush Limbaugh was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during President Donald Trump's most recent State of the Union. Trump appeared on Friday's edition of Limbaugh's nationally syndicated radio talk show. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

President Donald Trump appeared on Rush Limbaugh’s nationally syndicated talk show Friday in what the radio host called “the largest virtual rally in radio history.”

Trump spoke extensively on a wide range of topics, including his coronavirus recovery. “I was in not great shape” when he was admitted last week to Walter Reed Medical Center. Now the president said he is not taking any drugs at all.

“I’m not taking anything," Trump said. "I’m off any regimen they gave me.”

But “I might not have recovered at all without the Regeneron cocktail.”

Trump’s appearance came hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a legislative attempt that would allow Congress to remove a sitting president from office through the 25th Amendment.

For his part, Limbaugh was back on the air Friday after spending the last three days undergoing his latest round of lung cancer treatment. Limbaugh’s show is broadcast in metro Atlanta on AM 750 WSB and 95.5 WSB, and began at noon.

Trump will conduct his first person-to-person interview since his coronavirus treatment on Fox News at 8 p.m. Friday EDT on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” The president has not been seen in public, other than in White House-produced videos, since his Monday return from Walter Reed Medical Center where he received experimental treatments for the virus.

On Thursday, his physician, Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley, said in a memo that Trump would be able to safely “return to public engagements” Saturday, as the president tries to shift his focus to the election that’s less than four weeks away, with millions of Americans already casting ballots.

Trump’s appearance came after a tumultuous Thursday in which he flatly rejected an attempted change in what was to be his second debate with Democrat Joe Biden. The Commission on Presidential Debates said the Oct. 15 debate would be held remotely, a decision that was made without consulting either campaign first.

Trump immediately denounced the move as an effort “to protect Biden,” and that he would not participate. Biden’s campaign accepted the new format, with the candidate himself later telling reporters, “We don’t know what the president is going to do, he changes his mind every second, so for me to comment on that now would be irresponsible. I’m going to follow the commission recommendations.”

Later Thursday morning, Biden’s campaign said its candidate will “find an appropriate place to take questions from all voters directly on Oct. 15.”

Shortly before noon, Biden’s campaign tweeted its hope the commission will move its town hall-style debate to an already-scheduled Oct. 22 event in Nashville. Trump’s campaign fired back about 12:30 p.m., proposing an Oct. 22 debate and a third debate Oct. 29.

The Commission on Presidential Debates has decided that the Oct. 15 debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden will not be held in person.

Biden’s campaign responded angrily, saying “Trump’s erratic behavior does not allow him to rewrite the calendar, and pick new dates of his own choosing.”