Mr. Limbaugh described the dust-up as an over-hyped effort from “the drive-by media.” He returned to the topic in the show’s second hour, pointing out that Democrats have taken shots at Mr. McCain’s service — including Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, years before he was elected to the Senate.

“When leftists attack McCain, they’re perfectly warranted, because they’re nice people,” Mr. Limbaugh said. “Here comes Trump, and you would think that nobody has ever said anything like this before about the revered and respected John McCain.”

Pointing out how many people are calling now for Mr. Trump to exit the race for president, Mr. Limbaugh said: “There’s just one problem — Trump is not following the rules that targets are supposed to follow. Targets are supposed to immediately grovel, apologize.”

“Guiding all of this,” Mr. Limbaugh said, “is the guiding presumption that the majority of the American people are as outraged as the media are.”