Rush Limbaugh: Media is devastated that Trump's cabinet is so genuine and authentic

President Donald Trump's first cabinet meeting Monday was mocked in the media by pundits who called members "sycophantic" and "obsequious" in their praise of the president, but radio show host Rush Limbaugh said they were actually devastated by how "genuine" and "authentic" they were.

"The Democrats think the Trump cabinet meeting was scripted, it was planned, probably rehearsed," Limbaugh observed Tuesday on his radio show. "If you watch it, it was genuine, it was legitimate, it was improv, it was ad-lib. There were not people reading scripts. The laughter was genuine. You can’t fake that.

"One other observation I made on the media reaction to the Trump cabinet meeting yesterday," he said. "I think — and I’ve touched on this in an ancillary way, but I want to double back here and zero in on this. I think these people in the media — and, of course, their accomplices in the Democrat Party — when they hear Donald Trump addressed with respect by people that they don’t consider to be Trump-like.

"I mean, some of the people in the cabinet Democrats have previously associated with them, respected them," he explained. "Like Rex Tillerson, Rick Perry. There’s any number of Trump cabinet members that the Democrats and the media have long found OK. But to hear them addressing Trump with such respect, the same kind of respect they gave [former President Barack] Obama (very, very important), I think it just shattered them. It is so far out of their experience.

"The media immediately thought that they were looking at Jim Jones and the cult or at North Korea," he continued, "because they can’t fathom anybody respecting Trump. It just doesn’t compute. They don’t."

"It’s kind of like Jimmy Carter’s reaction to the Nixon funeral," he added, "when he heard all of these people just praising Richard Nixon. Carter didn’t understand it! Neither did see wife, Rosalyn. I think it sent them for a loop yesterday."

"All they know is vicious hatred," Limbaugh concluded. "They’re swimming in it, and to see Trump respected and treated with respect the way they treated Obama? I think it sent them in an all-new downward spiral."

The cabinet meeting included Trump's own self-praise, saying, "Never has there been a president ... with few exceptions ... who's passed more legislation, who's done more things than I have."

One of the examples of the sycophantic praise came from White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who said, "We thank you for the opportunity and blessing to serve your agenda."

Limbaugh went on to catalogue many of the mainstream media's response to the cabinet meeting, including their reporting of the parody video by the staff of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).