No Spin News Special: Culture Battles

Summary

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Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News Special: Culture Battles

Date: August 26, 2025
Host: Bill O’Reilly
Guests: Dan Bongino, Jason Whitlock, Jose Antonio Vargas

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Overview

This episode of No Spin News dives deep into America's current "culture battles," focusing on U.S. foreign policy (particularly recent actions in Iran and Ukraine), the ongoing domestic debate around immigration, and the role of music—especially hip hop—in shaping societal norms and youth culture. Anchored by Bill O'Reilly's signature assertive style, the roundtable features frank debates and personal perspectives from Dan Bongino, Jason Whitlock, and Jose Antonio Vargas.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. U.S. Foreign Policy—Iran, Ukraine, and Isolationism

Participants: Bill O’Reilly, Dan Bongino, Jason Whitlock

• Iran Bombing Debate

  • Dan Bongino’s Position: Initially against the bombing due to risks for U.S. pilots, but after observing the precision and aftermath, supports it—provided it does not escalate further.
    • “I was against the bombing because I hate the idea of an American pilot in harm's way.” (01:13 – Dan Bongino)
    • “If it goes no further, Bill, I'm absolutely for it. And I think it's going to go no further...” (03:02 – Dan Bongino)
  • O’Reilly’s Skepticism: Dismisses the notion of handing off sensitive military technology to Israel; insists this is not a realistic or safe policy.
    • “None of that would ever happen in any way at all. Because we are the only people in the world that have that technology.” (02:21 – Bill O’Reilly)

• Aftermath & Global Consequences

  • Bongino links the event to a broader, almost spiritual turning point, referencing Trump’s survival of a past assassination attempt as potentially consequential for world safety.
    • “If you believe in God... there's a reason he got hit in the ear...” (03:28 – Dan Bongino)

• Ukraine and Taiwan—The Scope of American Involvement

  • Bongino: Against U.S. funding for Ukraine; suggests focus should be on shoring up domestic chip manufacturing, arguing it’s not America’s business if China overtakes Taiwan.
    • “If we can up our game with Nvidia and the other chip makers... I think it's none of our business if China [takes Taiwan].” (04:29 – Dan Bongino)
  • O’Reilly’s Argument for Engagement: Warns that unchecked aggression (by Putin or China) destabilizes the world.
    • “If Putin's allowed to take over Ukraine, then China will march into Taiwan. That's what will happen, 100%.” (05:20 – Bill O’Reilly)
  • Isolationist Strain in GOP: Discussion about the size and influence of isolationist viewpoints (Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson) in the Republican party after recent events.
    • “I think there's a split in MAGA that... needs to be 50, 50 split, maybe 60, 40 in favor of what Trump did.” (10:29 – Dan Bongino)
    • “Most Republicans support Trump in this action. Now if it goes south... more would come over to the isolationist movement.” (10:40 – Bill O’Reilly)

Notable Quotes

• Dan Bongino:
  “I'm a, I'm a anti war America first human being.” (06:38 – Bongino) “I think right now Donald Trump has proven to the world that ... you don't dispute Donald Trump.” (13:34 – Bongino)
• Bill O’Reilly:
  “Isolationism has never worked, particularly in a society now that's intertwined planet wise.” (06:17 – O’Reilly) “We need a strong leader... there have been accusations that Trump is too soft about Putin.” (11:41 – O’Reilly)

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2. Immigration—Process, Reality, and the American Experience

Participants: Bill O’Reilly, Jose Antonio Vargas

• Debating the System’s Openness and Fairness

  • O’Reilly’s Data-Driven Approach: Points to legal immigration numbers and argues the system is generous but rigorous, and could be improved by legislative action (tripling green cards, for example).

    • “There are 4 million legal Filipino immigrants in this country right now... in the last five years, there have been about a million new green cards. I think that should be tripled to 3 million.” (13:57 – Bill O’Reilly)

  • Vargas’s Perspective: Affirms U.S. generosity but highlights historic colonial ties and complexity of the process, noting the 31 years it took him to secure legal status despite high achievement and demand.

    • “It took me 31 years. I have what's called an O visa... I had to leave the country to get the visa...” (17:41 – Jose Antonio Vargas)
    • “The 12 million people did not come during Biden's era. They've [been here over time].” (18:53 – Vargas)

• On the Challenges Facing Undocumented Immigrants

  • Repeatedly, Vargas challenges the myth that undocumented immigrants are simply lazy or unwilling, pointing to economic and bureaucratic obstacles.
    • “...people don't want [or] are too lazy to follow a process. Look at the dreamers...” (21:54 – Vargas)

• Points of Agreement

  • Both agree Congress is failing to provide practical solutions; express optimism that bipartisan consensus is possible.
    • “If there was ever an opportunity to actually fix this problem... this would be [it].” (24:10 – Vargas)
    • “You and I could probably come up with this, figure this out in two weeks. But these pinheads in D.C. all have agendas...” (24:28 – O’Reilly)

Notable Quotes

• Jose Antonio Vargas:
  “There should be a process that people ought to follow to come to this country.” (19:32)
• Bill O’Reilly:
  “Not easy, but nothing worthwhile is easy. You did it. Millions of other foreign nationals have come here illegally. The people who come here illegally, okay, they have no right to feel entitled to be here.” (17:50)

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3. The Cultural Debate—Music, Hip Hop, and Youth

Participants: Bill O’Reilly, Jason Whitlock

• O’Reilly’s Critique:
  Argues that hip hop is responsible for teaching disrespect and lowering moral standards among youth, especially marginalized children without strong parental supervision.

  • “This hip hop stuff, it teaches disrespectful and encourages it. Bad language... instead of me listening to Four Tops and the Temptations... they're listening to this. And I think the level of disrespect among younger people has risen because of this kind of stuff.” (24:46 – O’Reilly)
  • “You give those kids role models who are using the F word every two seconds... you are saying that this is what is going to be imitated.” (27:37 – O’Reilly)

• Whitlock’s Nuanced Counterpoint:
  Pushes back against blaming hip hop alone, putting it in historical context: the provocative messages in rock, heavy metal, Hollywood, and the broader music industry. Emphasizes it’s not purely a genre or race issue.

  • “When we talk about disrespect... if you listen to rock music, have you listened to heavy metal...? We've seen all of this in the past... and that had nothing to do with hip hop.” (25:23 – Whitlock)

  • Suggests that it’s about individual songs and parenting, not blanket condemnation of an entire genre or culture. Recognizes some hip hop artists are positive role models despite others being negative.

    • “There are other songs. I don't mind. It all depends on a particular song and particular lyrics... as opposed to me denigrating an artist because of [one] particular song.” (26:58 – Whitlock)

• On Opportunity, Systemic Barriers, and Role Models

  • Acknowledges social challenges insidiously compounded by unemployment and lack of opportunity, particularly for young black males.

    • “When white folks catch a cold, black folks catch pneumonia, it's always worse for us. There's always an uphill battle...” (29:57 – Whitlock)

  • Argues music industry incentives and wider social structures, not just artists’ choices, shape outcomes for marginalized youth.

    • “Artists answer to somebody. Somebody makes those albums, they promote those albums, they market those albums, they disseminate.” (30:54 – Whitlock)

  • O’Reilly points to choices about appearance and language as obstacles to employment—disagreeing on how representative that is.

    • “If you go in and you can't speak English and you're going the F word every two minutes... there's a good chance you're not gonna get the job.” (31:47 – O’Reilly)

  • Whitlock counters that most Black Americans are not represented by these extremes and notes hip hop artists often do positive things too.

    • “That is not a vast majority of African Americans out in this world.” (32:12 – Whitlock)

• Debate on Jay Z’s Criminal Past

  • O’Reilly calls out Jay Z for his past as a crack dealer; Whitlock, as a friend of Jay Z, emphasizes circumstances and personal agency, insisting multiple truths exist simultaneously.
    • “Jay Z sold crack, all right? Kill people. All right? I have no respect for him. None. Zero.” (32:32 – O’Reilly)
    • “He's a friend of mine... this is what I had to do to survive.” (32:48 – Whitlock)

• Nostalgia for Motown vs. Modern Music

  • O’Reilly suggests a music industry return to Motown would benefit American youth.

    • “Wouldn't it be better for the world if Motown came back... and not this other garbage?” (33:56 – Bill O’Reilly)

  • Whitlock pushes back, citing positive modern R&B artists and suggesting the good and the bad have always existed and will continue to coexist.

    • “...Everybody can't beat Prince, Michael Jackson, the Temptations, the Four Tops... Let's not forget about Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross...” (34:16 – Whitlock)

• Respect, Honesty, and Cultural Debate

  • Whitlock credits O’Reilly’s authenticity as the reason for cross-cultural respect, even as arguments persist, closing the discussion on a note of mutual regard.
    • “Even if we think you're wrong, we know you mean what you say. You believe it. You feel it. ...it ain't because we think you're right all the time.” (34:54 – Whitlock)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamps | |-----------------------------------------|------------------------------| | Iran, Israel, and U.S. Intervention | 01:07 – 04:12 | | Isolationism and Republican Party Split | 06:38 – 10:40 | | Immigration Debate: Stats and Stories | 13:57 – 24:28 | | Hip Hop & Youth Culture | 24:46 – 35:41 |

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Memorable Moments

• Spiritual Framing of Trump’s Survival:
  Dan Bongino drew a line between Trump’s brush with death and his decisive actions, echoing a belief that there’s “a reason he got hit in the ear.” (03:10 – 03:57)

• Direct Exchange on Immigration Reality:
  Vargas’s personal anecdote about waiting 31 years for legal status stands in sharp contrast to O’Reilly’s numbers-driven view. (17:41)

• Respect Amidst Fierce Debate:
  Whitlock explains why people respect O’Reilly: “Even if we think you're wrong, we know you mean what you say. You believe it. You feel it.” (34:54)

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Summary & Tone

This episode typifies No Spin News: direct, combative, at times personal, but grounded in the host’s commitment to fact-based debate. O’Reilly pushes guests to take clear positions; moments of sharp disagreement abut with surprising moments of agreement and mutual respect. The result is an episode that both illuminates complex cultural and political issues and models frank, sometimes uncomfortable, but civil discourse.

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Transcript

[Jason Whitlock]

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[Bill O'Reilly]

A Carlos no le gusta larena por.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

Quese pega todo cuando pareira Sofia lembito el doanirami.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Vives paratener las cosas a tubusto.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

Vivimos con Alberca, Cascada, Tina, Yuna, regador and crable Expedia. Vivimos paraviajar.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So, bowling, are you for or against the bombing? Just yes or no.

[Dan Bongino]

Yes, I am for or against the bombing. Let me explain, if I may. I was against the bombing because I hate the idea of an American pilot in harm's way.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I don't know. So you. At first, at first you were against it and I.

[Dan Bongino]

And yeah, and further explained that I was against it because we had complete. Or not we. I'm sorry, I correct myself because Trump did the same thing. Prior to the bombing, Israel had complete control of the airspace over Tehran, over the whole country of Iran. They were getting things done. I loved what they were doing. They were relentless. People were saying, okay, you know, you made your point in Israel. No, no, no, they were going to finish the job. Now did they have the 200 mile into the side of the mountain bunker busters? They didn't at the time. And then the. My side or my brain, this side of my brain would say, okay, we'll sell it to them. Sell Israel the, the bunker buster bomb. Sell them in the mop. Mop. Train a pilot. I don't care if it takes a month, train the pilot how to fly it. How's this? Get a dual citizen Israeli American pilot to fly it over, drop the. Wouldn't have our fingerprints out.

[Bill O'Reilly]

None of that, none of that would ever happen in any way at all. Because we are the only people in the world that have that technology. We're going to hand it off to Israel. Okay? And there's not going to be any pilots that are not under. Under the supervision of the Pentagon. Never, ever going to happen. Now that the bombing, now that the bombing has happened. Yes.

[Dan Bongino]

Yes.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay.

[Jason Whitlock]

Yes.

[Dan Bongino]

Now I look back at so far, we're what, 36 hours out and it looks like a surgical strike. That was precision. It was as Pete Hegseth tells us, it obliterated the nuclear capabilities.

[Bill O'Reilly]

We all know that. Are you for it or against it? Now.

[Dan Bongino]

If it goes no further, Bill, I'm absolutely for it. And I think it's going to go no further because as Trump said this.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Morning before Air Force One, Marine One.

[Dan Bongino]

And saying Israel and Iran, they don't know what the f. They're doing. Use the word. And I think he told the world that was one and done. And we're, we're done. And it was, it was, it was magical. It was almost spiritual. I think back to the day Trump was shot in the ear in Butler, Pennsylvania. Bill, just bear with me one second, one inch either way. Now, I'm not just saying one inch towards his head would have killed the would be next president, but one inch away from his ear and it wouldn't. Yes, it would have been an assassination attempt. It wouldn't have the massive implications it does. But those of if you believe in God, if you believe in a higher power, if you believe in the spirit, whatever you believe in, there's a reason he got hit in the air and not taken out and not missed him completely. And this may be the reason because what he did in the last 36 hours made the world a safer place.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, so now you've evolved on that, but you're still essentially an isolationist and you don't support US funding Zelensky in Ukraine, or am I wrong on that?

[Dan Bongino]

No, you're 100% right.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You don't want any money going to Ukraine, right?

[Jason Whitlock]

Correct.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, so if we pull out back and Putin takes the whole country, which is what he wants to do, then, you know, China goes to Taiwan, takes that. Is that okay with you?

[Dan Bongino]

I mean, is it okay? I think a smart president would beef up our chip capacity, chip producing capacity in United States because frankly, Taiwan, the best interest to us in Taiwan is their ability to produce Silicon Valley type chips. If we can up our, our game with Nvidia and the other chip makers, even Taiwan Semiconductor for that matter, I think it's none of our business if China.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So you let, you let Taiwan go, you let Ukraine go, why would they stop then? Why wouldn't Putin then go to Moldova? Why wouldn't China then move into South Korea and help the nut in North Korea destabilize that? So in isolation is basically saying, look.

[Dan Bongino]

Do you know that that's, that's illegal.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No, you don't know.

[Dan Bongino]

Have eyes on the prize with further, you know, other countries in Europe, there's.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No guarantee of anything other than my eyewitness report when I was in China. And I can tell you the 100% certainty if Putin's allowed to take over Ukraine, then China will march into Taiwan. That's what will happen, 100%. So if you're okay with that, will that affect you? Bill O'Reilly, how it will affect is it causes chaos in the world. It destabilizes the entire world. When you have two chaotic when you have two crazy world, hey, when you have two totalitarian regimes expanding and taking over, foreign countries invading and taking over, you do not have a safe world. You cannot hide in Idaho and worldwide economy will just be battered. And you think it's bad now, the conflicts. Where do you see the chaos that those totalitarian nations will cause if not restrained? And this is history bowling. And you can't argue history with me because I'll, you know, I'll dissolve you into pudding. But it's history. All right. Isolationism has never worked, particularly in a society now that's intertwined planet wise.

[Dan Bongino]

I don't necessarily think I'm a total isolationist. I'm a, I'm a anti war America first human being.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But in America, it's not going to be first. China will be first.

[Dan Bongino]

We still are part of NATO. And I, I've never said remove.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But you don't want military action.

[Dan Bongino]

Well, if you really don't want Putin to take Ukraine, put them in NATO and then you've opened yourself a whole.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Putin's not going to go Ukraine in.

[Dan Bongino]

NATO, put Ukraine in NATO, allow Ukraine to enter NATO.

[Bill O'Reilly]

That would, that would then that would give justification if you allowed Ukraine into NATO, that would heighten Putin's justification to the Russian people, to the only people that can stop them at this point. All right, so now you have, you're an isolationist. Bannon is Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson is how big do you think that constituency is within the Republican Party, the isolationist movement? How big is it?

[Dan Bongino]

You know, I think it was huge until Trump decided to go forth with this. Like I think a lot of we many of us, I call Steve Bannon the true north of the original Gangster Maga crew. He was the original don of that. And I think until Trump actually went forward in in Iran with a bombing that that split people. Then they put people like Tucker, I think Tucker was more the hardliner against it. And Steve and the did you know.

[Bill O'Reilly]

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[Dan Bongino]

Hannity and Mark Levin were very much, very much pushing for Trump to go.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Ahead and, but where are we now? Now where are we in your opinion?

[Dan Bongino]

I think there's a, there's a, there's a split in MAGA that needs to be 50, 50 split, maybe 60, 40 in favor of what Trump did, maybe 70, 30 in favor of.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You don't know. All right, because I don't know either. I mean I suspect that most Republicans support Trump in this action. Now if it goes south and all of these other things happen, unintended consequences, which Iran is too weak to really make anything happen but say something crazy did happen, then you would get more people, more would come over to the isolationist movement. All right, last word.

[Dan Bongino]

To do anything aggressive here. They're not too weak to, to, you know, to, to fortify and finance their sleeper cells and their, their Houthis and.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Their sleeper cells and always going to.

[Dan Bongino]

Happen, attack us internally on a smaller basis.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Which, but then that's not because of the bombing. They were, they're already here. They just made a big bus. They just made a big bus in Connecticut.

[Dan Bongino]

These people were of the 12 of the 2 million Iranians who are in this country, quite a lot, which is great.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Biden let them all in.

[Dan Bongino]

He want ice around Biden let them all in.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So they're already here. They don't need an excuse. Okay. They're here and they're not here to get a job at 7:11. Last question for you. The final word on this isn't going to be until Trump leaves office. Okay. Because it's not like Iran. They may go away, the army may overthrow them all, let's hope. But Putin, he's a psychotic. I mean, you're reading my book now. I know Confronting Evil. And when you see how psychotic that man is, that we need a strong leader and there have been accusations that Trump is too soft about Putin. There have been accusations he's too soft on him. So we're never going to have a peaceful world. Last word.

[Dan Bongino]

I 100% agree, by the way. Your book is phenomenal. This is the best book.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Thank you.

[Dan Bongino]

I've read, I just started, I received it yesterday, started paging through it last I started reading it. I want to just have a little bit of an idea what it's about. It's gripping. It's really, it's your best work so far with the, maybe the exception of you throwing JP Morgan and Rockefeller into the mix with evil, with the evil people.

[Bill O'Reilly]

They are evil.

[Dan Bongino]

But we'll, we'll get back, we can talk about that another time. But it was fascinating how you take people from this man won't be alive at the end of the day or tomorrow and then you explain why and then you go back to the roots of the evil that's causing so much of the evil in the world. It's fantastic book. Where are we going from here? I, I, I would say MAGA needs to, needs to get, get their self together again figured out and, and again, hopefully it's done. Hopefully we're finished. Hopefully.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Absolutely.

[Dan Bongino]

Nobody wants give, give nukes to Iran or hopefully China doesn't give nukes to Iran.

[Bill O'Reilly]

They're not going to give nukes.

[Dan Bongino]

They may escalate it and that would, that would be bad. But I think right now Donald Trump has proven to the world that. You don't dispute Donald Trump. I dispute his ideas on tariffs and so far I'm wrong. I didn't think we should attack Iran as of, you know, this day, right now, today.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right. Probably we won't know till the end.

[Dan Bongino]

Of the and I hope I'm wrong forever.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So you and I don't See this eye to eye, Mr. Vargas, but we do have some common ground. I believe that Congress should make it easier for foreign nationals to work in this country. They have to have a clean sheet. They have to have no crime. They have to be responsible people. They probably have to put up some kind of collateral to get in here. All that can be done. But I do not agree with you that the immigration process is that difficult. And I'll cite the stats. Okay, so there are 4 million legal Filipino immigrants in this country right now. At least that stat is three years old. So you got probably about five or six million population. Philippines, 117 million. So we'd be pretty generous to the islands. All right. In the last five years, there have been about a million new green cards. I think that should be tripled to 3 million. Okay. And there are 400. There are 4 million new U.S. citizens in five years. So you say that they don't understand. Well, 4 million do. Any reply to those stats?

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

Well, first of all, thank you for having me. Second of all, I do think we have more in common than you think. And I think a lot of it has to do with what shared facts we have. Thank you for citing all those statistics. Actually, let me give you a little bit more statistics. So, estimated 5 million Filipinos, about 1.4 million of that in California, where I grew up. Since 1993, there are actually more Filipinos in California than there are people in New Hampshire, Delaware and Rhode Island.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

Like that's, that's how big the Filipino population in this country has gotten. And to your point, I'm grateful that the United States has been generous to the Philippines. And I think a lot of that also has to do with the Philippines was a property of the United States. We were actually the first country that became a part of the American Empire in 1898 after the Spanish American War. So we have a long history together. So the Philippines was colony of Spain for 350 years and then the Americans came for almost 50 years. That's why apparently when you go to the Philippines, where I haven't been Since I was 12, the Philippines is the most Americanized of all the Asian countries. So I just wanted to point that out now to address your question. And I've been thinking a lot about this since we just celebrated July 4th weekend. Apparently, during, during the Founding Fathers era, when the thirteen colonies declared independence from, from the, from, from the British empire, there were 2.5 million people in the colonies right now in this country. And I don't know if I Believe these estimates. I don't know, Bill. If you do, estimates say that we have 12 million undocumented people in this country. I think there's more than 12 million. I don't really.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I want to. I want to. Look, I want to advance your belief system. Now, you're an accomplished man, okay? You won a Pulitzer Prize working for the Washington Post. You've contributed to this country. The name of your book is Dear Notes of an Undocumented Citizen. But you are. You have a visa. You're here. Nobody's going to kick your door and grab you at this point. But it's been a struggle. And it's been a struggle that's unfair to you because you were a people smuggler. Brought you here when you were 12. You, your family when it happened. Yeah. That's not your fault. You had no.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

I had no. I had no. But, but, but, Bill, to your point, it took me 31 years. I have what's called an O visa, Right. So I had to leave the country.

[Bill O'Reilly]

This country, to get the visa, but I want to go all the way. What I'm trying to say to you and to the audience is there are ways to do it. Not easy, but nothing worthwhile is easy. You did it. Millions of other foreign nationals have come here illegally. The people who come here illegally, okay, they have no right to feel entitled to be here. Now, I'm not saying they should all be mass deported. I'm not. But I want to get your take on a few things. Joe Biden opened the border. Okay. Did you support that?

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

When you say open the border, meaning what you mean when.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You know what I mean? Jose, don't. Don't give me any of this. You know exactly what I mean. He opened the border. At least 12 million people poured across it, many of whom asked for asylum. Not in the legal way, in the ports of entry. Did you support the Biden program or not? Yes or no?

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

No. No, I do not.

[Bill O'Reilly]

What was your objection?

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

My. Okay, a couple of objections. The 12 million people did not come during Biden's era. They've.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But at least 12 million did. At least. Well, every estimate, it's 12 to 15 under Biden poured in here, most of whom asked for asylum, violating American law because they didn't go to the port of entry. That's the stat from the federal government. You want to quibble? It gets us nowhere.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

Yeah. So it gets us nowhere.

[Bill O'Reilly]

What objection did you have to the Biden thing? What was your objection to that? Biden.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

My objection is, I think the fact that we don't have an orderly system like what you just said a few minutes ago. There should be a process that people ought to follow to come to this country.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay? In the same way, and I agree we're on common ground. But what if they don't follow it? Come on. What if they don't? Well, it's a problem. We have the right to kick them out.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

Well, wait a second. Yes, yes we do. And however, that's why we have 12 million people in this country legally, because there's no process for people to follow.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But there is a process.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

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[Bill O'Reilly]

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[Jose Antonio Vargas]

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[Bill O'Reilly]

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[Jose Antonio Vargas]

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[Bill O'Reilly]

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[Jason Whitlock]

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[Bill O'Reilly]

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[Jose Antonio Vargas]

There is that okay, as somebody, Bill, who lived through this, I had to wait 31 years for this window of an opportunity to follow.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, Jose, I know, I know that. But do you know how many immigration attorneys there are in California? Thousands.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

Thousands. Yes.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And they're getting people to stay here by using our system of due process. So don't tell me there's no way that you can become a legalized citizen. Because there is.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

So, Bill, why. Why are there 12 million undocumented people in the country then if there's a process for them to follow the legalize.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Because they don't want to follow it or they don't have the money to follow it. One of the two that by the.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

Way, is I think the biggest myth in journalism that we have to break, that people don't want are too lazy to follow a process. Look at the doc. Look at the dreamers. The dreamers in this country had to pay $500, about 800,000 of them or so have to pay $500 so that this government doesn deport them so that they can work legally.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, look, there's always going to be that kind of a thing. Trump is actually. He's actually sympathetic to dreamers. But, Jose, for you to come on here and say there's no process for foreign nationals to come here legally is simply not true. They advertise on television. The immigration attorneys are out there. Come to me. I'll get you here. I'll get you there. It's a booming industry.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

Bill, how many, how many. How many immigrants are there in the country today?

[Bill O'Reilly]

Do you know how many illegal immigrants.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

Or immigrants in general overall? How many, how many million numbers?

[Bill O'Reilly]

50 million, something like that.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

About 49 million of that. 49 million. Of that 49. This is according to the Pew Research center, which is a nonpartisan organization.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

Within that 49 million, 12 million are undocumented. Right, those 12 again. And you and I both know that.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Just destroys your argument because you're saying there's no pathway and most of the people are here legally. No, no, no.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

But please hear me out here. The 12 million people live with within 49 million people, right? There are people in that family, like in my own family, that could call lawyers and naturalize themselves and actually adjust and change their status. I was one of those 12 million people that couldn't just do that. I had to wait 31 years for this very specific thing so that I could legalize myself.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, I understand that, and I'm sympathetic to it, and Congress should. It's Congress's fault. They could make new laws that impose order. But for the left to scream that we have a Gestapo, that we're throwing people out and this, and we're cruel, and that's just hype. So last word. Go ahead.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

One thing that we must agree on. This may be an opportunity, if there was ever an opportunity. Look, we've been talking about illegal immigration since I moved to this country in 1993, right? If there was ever an opportunity to actually fix this problem and come up with a solution, this would be all right.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And I agree. You and I could probably come up with this, figure this out in two weeks. Okay? Yes. But these pinheads in D.C. all have agendas, one side or the other. Yeah, I agree 100%. Okay, look, my, my. I'm a simple man, as you know, and I believe that this hip hop stuff, it teaches disrespectful and encourages it. Bad language, don't even wear no condoms. You know, all of that stuff. And kids as young as what, 10, 11, 12 Listen to this. Instead of me listening to Four Tops and the Temptations and Smokey Robinson, all these people, they're listening to this. And I think that the level of disrespect among younger people has risen because of this kind of stuff. Am I wrong?

[Jason Whitlock]

I'm in no position to say definitively, Bill, that you're wrong. Where I was pushing back on you is when you talked about hip hop as if hip hop are the originators of all of this. When we talk about disrespect, when we talk about some of the lyrics that are spewed. And I'm like, if you listen to rock music, have you listened to heavy metal music? Have you listened to some of the stuff spanning decades? Have you seen people worshiping the devil, engaging in Satanism, preaching about violence and whatever? I mean, we've seen all of this in the past, and that had nothing to do with hip hop. So when you came out on Cuomo show and you talked about hip hop, it's one thing to say that you don't like it, but it was almost as if you isolated your opinion to that, as opposed to really embracing what really has been happening with the music industry, with Hollywood, and some of the things that they've been perpetuating and disseminating for decades, long even before hip hop came along. That was my issue.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But I don't do that. I don't do the justify bad behavior by pointing to other bad behavior. And you're absolutely right. I mean, a lot of this rock stuff is garbage. But this hip hop industry is directed at not just African American children, but children, many of whom are marginalized. They don't have people in the house. Father in the house. Look, I wouldn't let my kids listen to Megan, Thee Stallion and Florilla or whatever his name is that could not come into my house. Am I wrong?

[Jason Whitlock]

No, you're not wrong. You're not wrong. You're wrong. If you're saying them. I would say to you, there's certain songs I'm not going to allow you to listen to. Like, for example, the artists that I grew up listening to, whether it was run DMC, it was KRS1, it was Eric Being Rakim, Public Enemy, et cetera, et cetera. In this day and age, whether it's Eminem, it's Jay Z, it's Nas, who's been around forever, along with a plethora of others, there's some songs I wouldn't allow my kids to Listen to. There are other songs. I don't mind. It all depends on a particular song and a particular lyrics that are being spewed as opposed to me denigrating an artist because of particular song.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I.

[Jason Whitlock]

That's what I'm saying to you.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay? But remember, okay. The unbelievable amount of African American children who are living without a father. It is a problem that this country has never seen at this level. You give those kids role models who are using the F word every two seconds. We've got tattoos all over them who can't speak proper English and you are saying that this is what is going to be imitated. Look, Willie Mays was my idol growing up, all right? There couldn't have been a better idol for me than Willie Mays. Just couldn't have been, all right? And he drove me to play baseball for 15 consecutive years. And then I went over to the turn on WABC AM radio to listen to all of these black artists whose music was uplifting. That helped me. It didn't hurt me. Now, the role models, many of them are hurting these kids. You got to admit that.

[Jason Whitlock]

I'm not denying. I have no problem admitting that. I have no problem acknowledging that. Parents. And it extends beyond the black community. White, Hispanic.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Jason Whitlock]

I mean, everybody's complaining about. Everybody's complaining about it. You're absolutely right. I'm not trying. I'm not here to say that you're wrong. I just want you to contextualize things properly. So we're talking about the subject right now, Bill, and you can look at it that way. And you have every right to. I'm not going to knock you for that.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Mama, papa por la moda Conos precios vajos de la vuelta Clases de Amazon Amazon gasta menos son riemas. If you know your party's extension, press or say 1. To leave a message in our company mailbox. Press or say two. Spoiler alert.

[Jason Whitlock]

It will be full representative.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Would you speak to your mother in that tone?

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

Speak to a real human being.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You shouldn't need to shout into the.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

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[Bill O'Reilly]

This is a real person. How can I help you?

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

Human service, not automated phone trees.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Pacific Source Health Plans.

[Jason Whitlock]

But allow me to retort. Let's go into your wheelhouse for a second. Right now we're looking at an unemployment rate in the United States of America that's hovering around 4 to 4.1%. In the black community, it's at 16%. Amongst young black males, particularly between the ages of 16 and 19, for example, I think I read the number being at about 19.8%. I've often been on the air saying this. When white folks catch a cold, black folks catch pneumonia, it's always worse for us. There's always an uphill battle to climb to get to your point. It makes it even harder when other obstacles get in the way that we know would potentially derail. Particularly somebody from an African American community on a come up looking for opportunities. But what happens, the music industry comes along and they're talking to you about making money. And here's how we want you to make the money. And so you have young minds that are being influenced, but most importantly are trying to get a leg up or trying to earn their stripes, or trying to find a way to pay their bills and to take care of themselves and their family, et cetera, et cetera, that are presented with these opportunities. So when you talk about a hip hop industry, you might talk about the artist. And I might say somebody like Bill O'Reilly is informed enough to know it extends far beyond that particular artist because those artists answer to somebody. Somebody makes those albums, they promote those albums, they market those albums, they disseminate.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah, but the artist is creating, it is creating the scenario that if you are a certain person, you can use that language. The reason that the minority unemployment is higher is because of the presentation. If you are an African American in this country and you present yourself in a way the employee, employer believes that is going to help the business, you'll get the job.

[Jason Whitlock]

Not always.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No system is perfect. But if, but believe me, believe me, you have a just as good a chance to get that job. And you don't want to work for a racist anyway. Okay? Right. But if you go in and you can't speak English and you're going the F word every two minutes and you got a tattoo of a panther on your neck, there's a good chance you're not gonna get the job.

[Jason Whitlock]

That is totally true. But that is not a vast majority of African Americans out in this world. And you have to take that into consideration as well. Now, you might look at some members of the hip hop community and you might see them acting a certain way, which is unfortunate, and we don't hesitate to call them out for that. But we also see a lot of these hip hop artists doing fantastic things within the community, within the world.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay? But that doesn't justify. Look, Jay Z sold crack, all right? Kill people. All right? I have no respect for him. None. Zero.

[Jason Whitlock]

Well, He's. He's. And he's a friend of mine.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, I'm sorry. Well, I'm sorry, but I'm a truthful man. He sold crack.

[Jason Whitlock]

So am I. So am I.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So if he would come out and he would say, I was absolutely wrong, don't use crack. All right? That is horrible.

[Jason Whitlock]

And I'm saying to you is you can do two things at once. You can admit exactly what Bill O'Reilly said and then turn around and say, excuse me, this is what I had to do to survive. Because the opportunity.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I believe that for a second.

[Jason Whitlock]

Well, tell me. Tell me something. You don't believe that because there are.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Most African Americans don't sell crack.

[Jason Whitlock]

I understand that, but you're using a specific incident. I'm going to a macro perspective. There are an abundance of situations involving males in the African American community where trying times present themselves and challenges present themselves. I was fortunate and blessed enough to have a mother and a father in the home, Bill.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Even though. And that's why, even though I feel terrible about the unsupervised children, not just African Americans, but all of them who get involved with this hip hop, which is going to hurt them. Last question. Wouldn't it be better.

[Jason Whitlock]

Not as simple as that, but. Okay.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Wouldn't it be better for the world if Motown came back and all of the good songs that we still listen to 50, 60 years later, okay, dominated the music industry and not this other garbage? Wouldn't that be better?

[Jason Whitlock]

I think a lot of it exists now. You've got a lot of beautiful artists out here. Have you ever listened to Joe? Have you ever listened to Akon? Have you ever listened to an abundance of other guys out there with some great music, some great albums out there? Whatever. Everybody can't beat Prince, Michael Jackson, the Temptations, the Four Tops. You forgot to mention the Osley Brothers. Let's not forget about Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross. We had a whole bunch of artists that were absolutely fabulous.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I got. I got to stop you there on Cuomo tonight, if we have time. You asked me about going to the Isley Brothers concert, Okay? I was the only white guy in there. The only white guy.

[Jason Whitlock]

You told me.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I know.

[Jason Whitlock]

You told me that, and I remember.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And the crowd.

[Jason Whitlock]

But see, here's your problem. Here's your problem. You think. You think you're loved because you. You. You know, Bill O'Reilly is right, and he tells the truth. That's not why you're respected and why you can walk anywhere even when people disagree with you. Do you know what the real reason is, Bill? Even if we think you're wrong, we know you mean what you say. You believe it. You feel it. We could go on and on about this particular conversation. I could have corrected you on a few things. But I know that your foundation, the foundation of your belief, has some merit. And you're bold enough and brave enough to say it, and I appreciate the. Rather than hiding behind some curtain. So that's where it comes from. But it ain't because we think you're right all the time. Because.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No, no. And I don't want you to. I don't want you to think I'm right. I just try to make an overwhelming case. And that's what the three Americans is all about. That's why it's sweeping the country. You got three separate guys who all have belief systems who throw it on out there, and then people can say, all right, that's been. That's it. Has she been able to see?

[Jason Whitlock]

You could be nicer. You could be nicer to Chris Cuomo. You could be nicer to Chris.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You know, he doesn't deserve it. Okay. I mean, I tell you, he just doesn't deserve it. All right, I'll see you soon. Thanks for helping us out. We appreciate it.

[Jason Whitlock]

To watch the full episodes of the.

[Jose Antonio Vargas]

No spin news, visit billowri.com and sign up to become a premium or concierge member.

[Jason Whitlock]

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