Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said Tuesday that the idea Donald Trump is destroying the Republican Party is "comical."

Limbaugh said that recent controversial comments by Trump — he has said that many immigrants are criminals and "rapists" — are not damaging the GOP as many within the party have alleged.

"We have the Republicans saying that Trump is destroying the brand and destroying the Republican Party," Limbaugh said on his radio show, according to a transcript. "The Republican Party got started on that long before Trump entered any presidential campaign. We talked about this yesterday. We had a caller yesterday ... the Republican Party has had its conservative base in its crosshairs for how many elections now? The Republican Party, they don't want any part of the Tea Party."

Trump, a Republican presidential candidate who is near the top of some national polls, faced backlash for his remarks from some of his business partners, like Macy's and NBC Universal.

And some of Trump's challengers for the GOP presidential nomination, like Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, have blasted the comments as inappropriate and outside the mainstream positions of the party.

One major GOP donor, John Jordan, told the Associated Press on Monday that conservative activists should start a petition to have Trump excluded from the first primary debate in early August.

"But if you really wanted to get rid of Trump and you really want to limit whatever damage you think Trump is doing, then by all means tell anybody who will listen where he's wrong," Limbaugh said on his show. " I don't mean about calling Mexicans murderers and rapists. I mean his immigration policy. He wants to shut the border down. He wants to deport them. He doesn't want all of this influx continuing. Tell everybody where he's wrong. The best way to discredit somebody is to do that, is it not?"