'Overwhelming': Limbaugh's 'Betsy Ross' Shirt Sales Net $3M in Donations So Far
Rush Limbaugh announced Monday that proceeds from his “Betsy Ross” flag T-shirt have reached $3 million and counting in funds that will be donated to the nonprofit Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
“Three million dollars to a charity on a 27-dollar item,” the radio talk show host said on “Fox & Friends.”
“I really have to thank all of you at Fox for helping us with this,” Limbaugh added. “This has been overwhelming. If this money were going to some left-wing charity, the drive-by media would be all over this.”
Limbaugh told the hosts that there had been a four day turnaround in producing the shirt following Nike’s decision to recall its Betsy Ross flag-emblazoned shoes just before the July 4 holiday.
Nike pulled the shoe after former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick convinced the company the 13-starred flag was a symbol of racism.
“There’s no reason to tear down our history and certainly there’s no reason to tear down Betsy Ross,” Limbaugh said. “She is an American hero, maybe one of the first feminists.”
The conservative talk show host noted that many vendors are selling Betsy Ross shirts, some even claiming to be Rush Limbaugh ones, but the only original which will benefit Tunnel to Towers can be purchased at The Rush Limbaugh Show Store.
Frank Siller founded Tunnel to Towers in memory of his brother Stephen, who was a firefighter who died on Sept. 11, 2001.
“Stephen drove his truck to the entrance of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, but it had already been closed for security purposes. Determined to carry out his duty, he strapped 60 lbs. of gear to his back, and raced on foot through the tunnel to the Twin Towers, where he gave up his life while saving others,” the organization’s website states.
The group supports families of fallen first responders and military service personnel, as well as injured veterans.
Siller told Fox News last week that he was “beyond words” over the shirts sales after Limbaugh announced proceeds had crossed the $2 million threshold.
He said at the time that the new funds would enable the foundation to immediately pay off the mortgages of six more heroes.
“Among the recipients was the family of Ohio police officer Steve Disario, whose wife was expecting their seventh child when he was killed in the line of duty in 2017,” Fox News reported.
Limbaugh observed that his Betsy Ross shirt tapped into a vein of people wanting to push back against hyper-political correctness.
“It’s getting tiresome to listen to a never-ending parade of people on the left rip this country, criticize this country, blame this country and when none of what they’re saying is applicable,” he said.
“This is not the land of grievance. This is the land of opportunity. This is the land of wealth and prosperity like nowhere has ever been in American or world history.”
Kaepernick’s main grievance was that slavery was legal at the founding of the United States, which the flag represented.
The institution’s introduction in the American colonies predated the forming of the country by 150 years. Slavery was legal throughout much of the British Empire until Parliament abolished it in 1833.
Shortly after America declared its independence in 1776, Northern states began abolishing slavery, consistent with America’s founding document the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims that “all men are created equal.”
By 1804, all Northern states had voted to abolish slavery within their borders, according to WNET.
The Republican Party was formed in the 1850s to oppose the growth of slavery further into the Western territories. Leaders of the time such as Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass consistently pointed to the Declaration of Independence when decrying the evils of slavery.
The question of its fate in America was ultimately decided by the Civil War in the 1860s.
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