No Spin News Special: Political Players

Summary

Podcast Summary: Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis
Episode: No Spin News Special: Political Players
Release Date: May 28, 2025
Host: Bill O’Reilly
Description: No Spin. Just Facts. Always looking out for you. Head to BillOReilly.com for more analysis.

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I. Economic Challenges and Income Inequality

Discussion Between Bill O’Reilly and Congressman Tom Homan

The episode opens with Bill O’Reilly engaging Congressman Tom Homan in a discussion about the pressing economic issues facing America. Congressman Homan identifies two primary problems:

1. Economic Stagnation in Factory Towns:

   • Congressman Homan [00:49]: "Economic stagnation in factory towns. We took a bet on technology and finance. It did great, but we hollowed out manufacturing in this country and left a lot of people without economic security."
   • He emphasizes that while unemployment rates remain low (around 3%), many jobs are neither high-paying nor stable, leading to a lack of wealth generation in communities predominantly engaged in service sectors.

2. Deep Political Divisions:

   • Congressman Homan [00:49]: "The deep division we have in this country, the deep anger between people who represent blue areas like mine and people who represent red areas."
   • The conversation highlights the growing income inequality, with the U.S. ranking 128th globally, up from 53rd, attributing this disparity to insufficient measures addressing wealth distribution.

Economic Security and Manufacturing:

• Bill O’Reilly [01:14]: Questions why, despite low unemployment, there are concerns about job quality.
• Congressman Homan [01:28]: Responds by clarifying that the issue isn't the number of jobs but their quality and stability.

Income Inequality Solutions:

• Congressman Homan [01:28]: Advocates for higher taxes on billionaires combined with economic growth strategies and infrastructure development.
• He acknowledges President Trump's correct stance on reducing dependency on China and the necessity of revitalizing manufacturing sectors to restore economic security in the heartland.

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II. Border Security and Immigration Enforcement

Interview with Tom Homan, Former ICE Official

Open Borders and Democratic Policies:

• Bill O’Reilly [03:55]: Criticizes the Democratic Party for endorsing open border policies, attributing Democratic losses in elections to these stances.
• Tom Homan [04:31]: Admits a mistake was made by allowing 8 million undocumented immigrants into the country under Biden’s administration and emphasizes the need for stringent border security.

ICE Enforcement Operations:

• Tom Homan [10:08]: Describes ICE’s "target enforcement operations," which focus on individuals with criminal backgrounds using various databases and intelligence.
• Bill O’Reilly [08:40]: Questions the validity of deporting non-criminal migrants caught during sweeps.
• Tom Homan [08:40]: Defends ICE practices by explaining that even non-criminals undergo due process and that sanctuary cities exacerbate the situation by harboring undocumented individuals.

Sanctuary Cities and Legal Actions:

• Tom Homan [11:44]: Announces a recent operation in Boston resulting in the arrest of 370 illegal aliens, including significant public safety threats.
• Bill O’Reilly [12:33]: Suggests that the Justice Department will initiate civil litigation against sanctuary cities.
• Tom Homan [13:11]: Confirms intentions to hold sanctuary cities accountable and continue enforcement operations despite potential legal challenges.

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III. Assault on Sanctuary Cities and Political Figures

Discussion on Enforcement Against Local Governments:

• Bill O’Reilly [10:22]: Probes into the nature of ICE’s operations and their impact on local communities.
• Tom Homan [11:44]: Details coordinated efforts involving multiple federal agencies to dismantle sanctuary policies in Massachusetts, highlighting arrests of individuals posing public safety threats.

Political Repercussions and Accountability:

• Bill O’Reilly [12:33]: Anticipates civil litigation against mayors and governors who support sanctuary city policies.
• Tom Homan [13:53]: Expresses confidence that Attorney General Pam Bondi will take appropriate legal actions to enforce federal immigration laws.

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IV. Global Affairs: Ukraine and China

Analysis with a Donald Trump Advisor

Ukraine Ceasefire and Putin Relations:

• Bill O’Reilly [17:07]: Posits that President Trump aims to soften Putin to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine.
• Trump Advisor [19:03]: Agrees that a ceasefire is possible but doubts Putin’s willingness to concede, suggesting that economic reintegration could incentivize Russia to seek peace.
• Bill O’Reilly [21:17]: Discusses strategies to ensure a meaningful ceasefire without empowering Putin unduly.

China’s Rising Assertiveness:

• Bill O’Reilly [22:03]: Shifts focus to China, noting recent tariffs and increased aggression under Xi Jinping.
• Trump Advisor [22:24]: Attributes China’s actions to Xi’s desire to assert global influence, warning of challenges posed by China's policies and demographic issues.
• Bill O’Reilly [24:50]: Questions why Xi didn’t take similar aggressive actions earlier, especially under the Biden administration's perceived weakness.
• Trump Advisor [24:50]: Believes Xi views the current moment as an opportunity to challenge the U.S., despite China’s internal economic and demographic problems.

U.S. Response to China:

• Trump Advisor [22:24]: Emphasizes the need for a robust American response to China’s increasing military and economic maneuvers, without advocating for direct military confrontation.
• Bill O’Reilly [23:15]: Seeks clarification on whether the response will be military-based, to which the advisor clarifies it will not involve direct military action.

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V. Democratic Party Dynamics and Internal Politics

Conversation with a Moderate Democrat Congressman

Party Dynamics and Extremism:

• Bill O’Reilly [30:53]: Accuses the Democratic Party of being hijacked by far-left elements under Biden’s leadership.
• Moderate Democrat Congressman [31:18]: Argues that both major parties have extreme factions but emphasizes his commitment to centrist policies. He criticizes the Democratic leadership for ineffective messaging and the inability to counter Republican portrayals of the party as extremist.

Policy Disagreements and Common Ground:

• Bill O’Reilly [35:56]: Challenges the congressman on Democratic policies, particularly on border security and climate change.
• Moderate Democrat Congressman [35:56]: Acknowledges disagreements on climate policy, advocating for a balanced approach that includes utilizing natural gas reserves. He also defends Democratic actions on immigration, attributing policy delays to legislative compromises and focusing on problem-solving through bipartisan efforts.

Critique of President Biden’s Policies:

• Bill O’Reilly [32:10]: Questions Biden's rationale for maintaining open borders over three years.
• Moderate Democrat Congressman [32:27]: Explains that Biden’s immigration policies were a result of legislative compromises and executive actions aimed at mitigating asylum applications, though he concedes these measures were implemented too late.

Role of the Problem Solvers Caucus:

• Moderate Democrat Congressman [34:41]: Highlights efforts to find bipartisan solutions on key issues like border security, inflation, and public safety despite the influence of more left-leaning leadership.

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VI. Notable Quotes

• Congressman Tom Homan [00:49]: "We hollowed out manufacturing in this country and left a lot of people without economic security."
• Bill O’Reilly [03:55]: "The open border was really why the Democrats lost the election."
• Tom Homan [04:31]: "We made a mistake on the border. We let in 8 million people."
• Bill O’Reilly [03:37]: "The Democratic Party constantly overstates and sells this division between the rich and the poor."
• Congressman Tom Homan [14:36]: "We're going to keep President Trump's promise. We're going to be going to every sanctuary city and arresting public safety threats."
• Donald Trump Advisor [19:03]: "Whatever the outcome, whatever the geography, whatever the disposition, in the end, that kind of aggression can't be rewarded because it'll get you more of it."

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VII. Conclusion

Bill O’Reilly’s special episode brings to light critical discussions on America’s economic woes, the contentious issue of border security, internal dynamics within the Democratic Party, and pressing global affairs involving Ukraine and China. Through interviews with key political figures like Congressman Tom Homan and a Donald Trump Advisor, the episode delves into the complexities of policy-making, partisan divisions, and international diplomacy, offering listeners a comprehensive analysis of the current political landscape.

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Note: This summary excludes non-content sections such as advertisements and intros/outros, focusing solely on the substantial discussions and insights presented during the episode.

Transcript

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[Bill O'Reilly]

So, Congressman, what are the two biggest problems right now facing the American people?

[Congressman]

Economic stagnation in factory towns. We took a bet on technology and finance. It did great, but we hollowed out manufacturing in this country and left a lot of people without economic security. And the second is the deep division we have in this country, the deep anger between people who represent blue areas like mine and people who represent red areas.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, let's stay on the economy first. There are plenty of jobs. Anybody who wants to work can get a job in this country. Unemployment is around 3%. So why are you concerned about the workplace?

[Congressman]

People are in jobs, but they're not in high paying jobs. They're not in stable jobs. And a lot of communities don't have wealth generation. They're doing a lot of service jobs, but they don't have an industry that's bringing in wealth into their towns.

[Bill O'Reilly]

The extreme people in the Democratic Party get all the attention there. Doesn't seem, you know, if you go out on the street, Congressman, you say, who are the moderate Democrats?

[Donald Trump Advisor]

Nobody knows.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I mean, it's all the Ocasio Cortez, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren. These are the faces of your party. I think that hurts you.

[Congressman]

Well, look, I identify as a progressive. I'll tell you where, where, where they tap into something which is the massive income inequality in the country. We've gone from 53rd in the world in income inequality to 128. Now. The difference is, I think to deal with that income inequality, you know, you and I will probably disagree. I think yes, you need to have higher taxes on the billionaires in my district, but you also need to have economic growth. You also need to build things. And my view is let's argue with Donald Trump on who is going to be better at actually getting factories, who's going to be better at getting businesses there. And let's give him credit for one thing. He was right about two fundamental things. He was right that we were getting too much of our business going to China and that we had had too soft a policy on China. And he was right that people in the Midwest, the heartland should be. Were angry that their jobs had left. And I think the Democratic Party can say, you know, he was right about certain things, and we have a better vision of how we're going to build the future in these communities.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I don't believe the most Americans are jealous of billionaires. And they don't think they're oligarchs, and they don't think that they've made their money illegally, and they don't think Elon Musk is a terrorist who's trying to come and take their home. But the Democratic Party constantly overstates and sells this division between the rich and the poor. You say you're progressive. That's a progressive tenet. You on board with that?

[Congressman]

Well, look, I represent probably the place that is the most billionaires in the world. I mean, at the heart of Silicon Valley, I've got $13 trillion of market cap. I was the one. I said, look, don't. Don't vandalize Tesla and don't cheer for any American company's stock to go down.

[Bill O'Reilly]

One more question for you, though. You're an honest man. We're happy to have you here. The open border was really why the Democrats lost the election. Yes, the economy. But under Biden, the last two years, the stock market was good. He could never get the prices under control because he wasn't running the government anyway, as you may know, Biden was not running it. But the open border was embraced by your party. Nobody came up and said, this is insane. And the American people said no. And that is what killed you guys in the last election. Am I wrong?

[Congressman]

We made a mistake on the border. We let in 8 million people.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And in the Biden long mistake, four years long.

[Congressman]

And look, I think that we've got to be for border security. And then we got to tell the story of people like my parents who came to this country to study. They were engineer, teacher. I grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Born in Philadelphia, 1976. Let me tell you the biggest thing, Bill, that the party needs to make it clear. This country was founded in 1776, not 1619. This is the greatest country in the world. It gave the son of Indian immigrants like me, someone born of Hindu faith in a 99% white community in Bucks county, every chance possible. I today represent Silicon Valley. It's an amazing country. We need to celebrate it and have more people, have the opportunities I do. And if people believe you're a true patriot and they can tell that, they can tell that, you know, it's not rhetoric. If they believe you believe in this country, they'll give you a lot of latitude on whether they agree on this policy or that policy.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I agree with that. You should run for president. So, Mr. Homan, I've noticed when you appear on the network news and some cables that the questioning is often hostile to you. It's not neutral questioning. It's like, hey, what are you doing? How many people did you throw out today? And I'm sure you noticed that too. And I'm saying to myself, why. Do you have any idea why that so many, so many of the American press corps are antagonistic to you?

[Tom Homan]

Well, I think it's because I serve President Trump. I mean, you know, when I work for, I was a third in command ICE under Barack Obama, we had over 409,000 removals, and they weren't hostile then. So I think working for President Trump makes me hostile. Anybody that serves President Trump. But look, I'm proud to work for President Trump. I think he's the greatest president in my lifetime, and especially when it comes to border security and immigration enforcement and national security, so they don't bother me. Look, if I can live their heads rent free, I'm okay with that. But because I'm gonna keep telling the truth, whether they like it or not, my talking points never change. I don't care if I'm talking to a conservative or talking to liberal, they're gonna hear the same thing, because what I give them is facts. They can like it or not like it, but they're gonna hear the truth.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, but they don't like it. Now, when you were working for President Obama, who deported more undocumented people than any other president in history, all right? And most of those were at the border that got kicked back fast. And they didn't have this asylum con that they rose up under President Biden. When you were working for Barack Obama, in my research on him from my book Confronting the Presidents, he didn't want an open border. He didn't want chaotic immigration. Am I correct there?

[Tom Homan]

Well, his first term, like I said, we removed a lot of people in the first term, and largely because we're counting border patrol removals with ICE removals. And that's how come the number got so big. But he was pushing for that. He was pushing for more removals. But under the second term, the Obama term, we pretty much got shut down. I mean, once he got the name deporter in chief, operations really slowed down. And that's one of the reasons at the end of that administration, That I decided to retire because after four years doing that, I was tired of it. But in the beginning he was about securing the border. In the last four years he was not.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And you think it was political pressure obviously from the left that caused that?

[Tom Homan]

Absolutely.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay. Now one of the beefs against Homeland Security is they are not, they are deporting non criminal migrants along with the criminals. And I believe that's true to some extent. Because how could you possibly know? When you go sweep, a whole bunch of people say you're a criminal migrant, married to a person who isn't a criminal, stuff like that. How valid is that criticism that ICE is now deporting people quickly without due process that aren't criminals?

[Tom Homan]

Well, they all get due process. I mean, the non criminals, where does the most non criminals get arrested? Sanctuary cities. And I've said this for two months, Sanctuary city is going to get exactly what they don't want. More agents in their communities and more collateral arrest. Because if we can't arrest a bad guy in the county jail, one agent arrest one criminal alien, and they're going to release them like the major cities this country, sanctuary cities, you're going to release them back in the community. Okay, fine. We're still going to do our job, which means we're going to go to the community and we're going to find him. And when we find them, most likely they're with others. Others that are illegally in the United States, but not a criminal. Well, we're not going to tell ICE agents, forget the oath we took, ignore the immigration law, walk away from these people. No, they're going to come too. So when you look at the collaterals and non criminals, most of them arrested sanctuary cities because they forced us in that position, we're going to arrest them.

[Bill O'Reilly]

That's an important point. So when you do a sweep, if you find a non criminal migrant, that person gets taken into custody, correct?

[Tom Homan]

Yeah. To be clear, when we do a target enforcement operation, we know exactly who we're looking for and we're most likely we're going to find them. And when we go to that location, look for that target, that criminal target, many times, most times he's with others. Especially if they're at a work site. They're coming too.

[Bill O'Reilly]

They're coming too.

[Tom Homan]

So sanctuary cities are forcing us into that situation. So if you, I've said this many times, let us send the jail. That means less agents in the neighborhood. That means less collaterals. But they refuse to assist ice. So we're going to keep doing what we're doing.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Just to be clear, when you do an enforcement sweep, it is based upon information provided about criminal aliens, is that correct? Local, state, federal information, right?

[Tom Homan]

That's exactly right.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, stop, stop.

[Tom Homan]

I wouldn't call it a sweet bill. I call it a target enforcement operation. We have a target, we got a sheet. Who's the alien's name? What's his immigration record, what's his criminal record? Where most likely will we find them? And it has to be approved by supervisors. We go on the street looking for somebody. We have a whole fugitive operation sheet that details who this person is we're looking for.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And where do you get that information? From the states, from the locals. Where does that come from?

[Tom Homan]

Through various databases that we use at ice. I can't tell you all of them because the law enforcement sensitive, but we do targeting based on criminal databases. We use all sorts of social media. We use a lot of things I don't want to discuss here. But we create those target bases so.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You get this stuff. And if there's an undocumented alien who is not a criminal, they get swept up, they get deported sometimes and it depends on the process. Am I correct?

[Tom Homan]

Yes.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right. Now, Michelle Wu in Boston is heading for collision with Tom Holman who's speaking to me right now again this weekend. She basically said we're not, we're not going to cooperate on any level. We want undocumented people in the city of Boston. And she's backed up by the Governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey. Do you have any plans to take action against Mayor Wu and Governor Healy?

[Tom Homan]

Actually the first show where I can make this announcement. So as I promised at cpac, I was going to go to Boston. I'm going to bring hell with me. And we did. I was in Boston this last Tuesday. I started an operation with ICE, HSI, ERO, FBI, ATF, DEA, US Marshals and in the State Department. And in five day operation we arrested 370 illegal aliens in Boston and the surrounding communities in Massachusetts. And 205 of those were significant public safety threats, including four murderers, child rapists, armed robbers, a couple Interpol Red Noble arrests. We arrested a lot of bad people in the last five days in Massachusetts, many of them in Boston. We just put the numbers again today. You're the first show I've actually been able to talk about this. The numbers just got put out today, bill.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Excellent. But Ms. Wu is defiant even in the face of those incredible stats. And they are incredible. If you know the city of Boston, it's Not New York City. It's not nearly that large. So I'm wondering whether the next step for the Justice Department it wouldn't be, would be the Attorney General Bondi is going to go after people like Michelle Wu for violating some tenet of federal law. Do you believe that will happen?

[Tom Homan]

I hope it will happen. I know Pam Bonney's already put sanctuary cities on notice. I know she's already sued a couple. I sent that report to Pam Bondi this morning, who we arrested in Boston and the surrounding area. And the public safety threats that we had to take off the street because if we got to go to the street and arrest people like this, the job of ICE is already dangerous. But to go arrest an aggravated felon, murder, public safety threat in the general public not only puts the officer at risk, it puts the community at risk. So I sent the numbers this morning to doj. So I think Pam Bonney will take action and do what she can do, but she's already started suing sanctuary cities. So, you know, God bless Pam Bonney. I think she's. I think she's going to do the right thing, and I think she's going to try to hold these sanctuary cities accountable in courts.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right, so it'll be civil litigation, not criminal litigation. Correct.

[Tom Homan]

I'll leave that up to Pam Bondi. We'll see what happens.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But it would be amazing to see a big city mayor or a state governor like Pritzker in Illinois or even here, Hochul in New York. She plays the double game. The damage that the Biden administration did to the country, and I know this is a political question, but it has troubled me from the very beginning, seems to me to be incalculable as far as the treasury is concerned, crime is concerned, social upheaval is concerned. Do you have any idea why Joe Biden opened that border for three and a half years? Do you have any idea why that man did that?

[Tom Homan]

No. I can only guess. And I've said many times, I worked for six presidents, down with Ronald Reagan. Even when Clinton Obama took steps, as we discussed, to try to take action to secure the border, no one did more. President Trump, he was unprecedented at his success. We had the most secure border of my lifetime. But Joe Biden's the first president in my lifetime who came into office and unsecured a border on purpose. That wasn't mismanagement. It wasn't incompetence. He knew exactly what he was doing, along with Alejandro Mayorkas.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But there must be chat, though. There must be chat in Homeland Security and in the Border Patrol precincts. About the why of all this. What did he think he was accomplishing?

[Tom Homan]

I think they saw future political benefit and let millions of people into this country. Remember when he did everything to secure the border, what else did he do? He overturned the Trump census rule, which means millions of people released in sanctuary cities will be counted next census, which will lead to more seats in House for the Dems. I think they saw a future political benefit by releasing millions of people in sanctuary cities in this country. That is my belief.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Final question. California has 50% of the undocumented migrants. Newsom is now backpedaling, as you know, but LA and San Francisco are still sanctuary cities. Do you expect anything to change in California?

[Tom Homan]

I can tell you ICE is going to. We'll be going to LA and San Francisco very soon. In sanctuary cities, we can't arrest a bad guy in jail. We'll double the man force in those cities, but we're going to do our job. Sanctuary. Now, if you're a sanctuary, you want to step aside and watch us protect your communities, then have at it. Just don't get in the way. Don't cross that line of normally harboring, concealing, illegal ammo. Don't cross that line of impeding us, because there will be consequences. But we're coming. We're going to do this job. President Trump promised American people. We're going to do this. American people given a mandate, that's the number one issue. We're going to keep President Trump's promise. We're going to be going to every sanctuary city and arresting public safety threats, because that's what the American people want.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right? Unless the court, Supreme Court, says you can't do a certain thing, you're not going to defy the federal court order, correct?

[Tom Homan]

No, we're not going to do that. We're not. The Biden administration, who ignored the courts on forgiveness of student loan, they told me he couldn't do it. He did it and he fought him every step of the way on that. No, this is a law and order administration. We're going to do the right thing.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Let's go to Ukraine. So my hypothesis. Let me use that word, but it's not really a hypothesis, because I know President Trump, as you know, pretty well, and I do talk to him. So he doesn't want to alienate Putin, he wants to soften Putin up so he gets him to a ceasefire discussion, and that's why you're not seeing call Putin names and do all that kind of stuff. He also wants to tamp down Zelensky's arrogance, which we saw. Is this the wrong strategy on Ukraine?

[Donald Trump Advisor]

Well, Bill, what you're describing there are the personal interactions, right? So that's a very personalized view of this. I think both of those are correct. There's no reason for the Commander in Chief of the United States to mock or call names for any leader. You remember with Chairman Kim, he'd say we exchanged love letters. He talked about Xi Jinping in glowing terms from time to time. That was. That was the personal same with Zelensky. In that sense, I think you're right. I think he was trying to make sure zelensky understood. Without U.S. support, they were going nowhere. And. And I'm untroubled by either of those. The real proof is what's the policy? What's the outcome that President Trump's seeking? And from my vantage point, President Trump has always been someone who understood winning, and in this case can't be the case that Putin can be perceived as having won. Whatever the outcome, whatever the geography, whatever the disposition, in the end, we can't. That kind of aggression can't be rewarded because it'll get you more of it. And if there was one thing I'm proud of from our first four years, Bill, is we were pretty good at deterring the bad guys from doing exactly what they did to President Biden and invading Europe. We were pretty good at convincing folks like Hamas not to invade Israel on our watch. President Trump's pretty good at deterrence, and that's what he's going to try to get back. I'm counting on it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay. But you're going to have to let Putin save a little face. He's not going to surrender because he doesn't care about how many people are dead or anything like that. He just cares about himself. So you got to give him an exit ramp off. I think Putin wants the ramp, but you're dealing with an evil man here. He's just flat out evil. Do you believe that there will be a ceasefire? See, I said once Trump was elected, I think that ceasefire is going to happen. Do you believe it?

[Donald Trump Advisor]

Yeah, there'll be a ceasefire. But the interesting question is really the one that you pose, which is you have an evil dictator like Vladimir Putin who has to date, evidenced nothing that suggests he's actually looking for that off ramp that you described. Maybe he is, but he's been pretty good at masking any willingness to concede a single thing. In the end, though, how I think this ends up, call it face save and call it what you will, I think he wants to be back in the global world, his economy back connected to the global international system. There's the solution, is that you find a mechanism by which to permit Russian activity back in the economic system. We rebuilt Japan. Right. We've, we have. There's a long history. When these wars end, we, we allow these economies, the people of those countries to engage in the world again. That's what I think Putin desperately needs for his own political stability back home. But also that's the ticket to give him something to say. Look, look, look what I got us back.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah, and, and, but you're, if you give him that ticket, you gotta have European peacekeepers in there, so you've gotta give the Ukrainians some assurance. I mean, Trump was smart not to sign a document saying Putin breaks the ceasefire. United States going to go in with troops. You can't do that, but you can negotiate a deal where the UN or the EU would put, and you call them rebuilding, you know, security to rebuild. And it'd be good if Putin kicked in a couple of billion too, which he'll make easily by, you know, having the sanctions lifted on the oil stuff. So, you know Putin pretty well. A lot of people just think that he is some kind of crazy guy. I don't see him that way.

[Donald Trump Advisor]

I just think he's flat out evil, not crazy. And I've been criticized for saying he's actually pretty shrewd. And while he, while he screwed this up, he thought he'd get to Kyiv, he thought he'd get victory on the ground. Terrible strategic mistake, no doubt about it. He's not crazy. He is evil. And the rationality flows from that. I don't think there's any doubt that his intentions were even greater than that. In my judgment, he wasn't fearing NATO was going to attack him. For goodness sakes. That's just nutty. He, he was trying to begin the, the, the revisit of something greater for Russia. Yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Just like Georgia and Belarus. He was trying to duplicate that.

[Donald Trump Advisor]

That's it. And he didn't get it. It was a fail. And now he's got to find a way.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So now you got to give him a push out, but you can't hammer him between the eyes like the idiot democrats are trying to do. You say to them, well, if you do that, you'll never get a ceasefire. And they have no answer. Let's go to China. So China slapped tariffs on the USA today. That situation seems to be deteriorating. Is it.

[Donald Trump Advisor]

I think it is. And I know some will want to blame President Trump for that. I think this is all Xi Jinping. This, this challenge that's being faced by the entire world. And by the way, it's connected to Russia. We shouldn't forget for a second that the primary consumer of Russian energy today is the Chinese Communist Party getting discounted crude oil and gas out of Russia. China is a huge beneficiary of this war continuing in Ukraine, in Europe. But I think it's deteriorating because Xi Jinping now believes that he's got a place where he can actually exert influence and shape things in a way that his predecessors didn't believe. The old, the old. This is a rough translation from Mandrel. You'll have to forgive me, but the old motto was hide your power and bide your time. And Xi Jinping's no longer hiding his power. He's showing it full force. And it's going to require a real American response.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Well, when you say a response, everybody gets nervous. Is that going to be a military response? Can't do that. Right.

[Donald Trump Advisor]

Well, Xi Jinping's gonna. We're not gonna attack China militarily.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right.

[Donald Trump Advisor]

But Xi Jinping is already running into ships in the Philippines, the South China Sea.

[Bill O'Reilly]

He's the last five years, though. So as long as he doesn't touch Taiwan, then the US Is going to allow some of that to happen. But I see it this way, and maybe I'm wrong. I think that China's economy is really wobbling, just like Russia's, but China is more intense. And Xi, like Putin probably at this point in history, would want a better economic situation and he would be willing to deal for that. Am I wrong?

[Donald Trump Advisor]

I think you're wrong. I think Xi Jinping has concluded that this is the moment. So you've heard some of our generals talking about 2027, and I can't put a marker down as for time, but I think Xi is willing to sacrifice an awful lot of economy to gain a global advantage, to get closer to the political hegemony that he seeks. It's going to be really hard. I agree. They've got huge long run demographic problems. Their real estate industry is way worse than anybody even knows. Over levered. So there are many, many challenges. But I think Xi has concluded that it's no longer time to supplicate to the United States on the economic front. And so he's going to push and push and push until the United States pushes back. And I think you see President Trump.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Well, he pushed back 25% is a pushback. But if your opinion is correct, why didn't she move under Biden, who is extremely weak? Why. Why did he live four years of Biden and he didn't really do anything that catastrophic?

[Donald Trump Advisor]

Yeah. I don't think, Bill, I don't think for a second he's going to invade Taiwan. I don't. The military invasion there I think he believes is unnecessary. He's gonna. His view is he's gonna get Taiwan through propaganda politics. Same way he took Hong Kong. Right. Force, choke them off, make their economy more difficult. And eventually the people will come to see they, hey, you know, what's that? Why fight this? And so I think this is a longer march for him, and I think he made real progress on that in the Biden administration in the Pacific Islands, in Africa, saw what's gone on in Panama under President Biden, where the Chinese got a foothold on our doorstep. I think this is a determined strategic effort, not a Xi Jinping military takeover. He knows he can't actually win, that the United States would, in the end, crush him.

[Bill O'Reilly]

The press, the American press portraying Donald Trump over the world as a villain. That hasn't stopped. And then they point to Trump denying Kiev US intel, and then Trump saying to NATO, we're not going to do any military exercises. Let's take them one by one. The. As you know better than anybody, the reportage on the intel is just flat out ridiculous because British intelligence gets everything we have and they just give it to Kiev. So it doesn't matter what any of the former CIA chief, doesn't matter what Trump said. Well, we're not going to give anything. The Brits have it all and they'll give it to them. Am I wrong there?

[Donald Trump Advisor]

I think that reporting is highly hyped. I always joke, Bill, that if I watch the. If I watch the BBC, I wouldn't like America either.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right? Right. So. But it's such. Most people don't understand that. They don't understand how it works. Okay. You do because you were in there, and I do. I've been around for so long. The second military exercise thing, I didn't quite get why Trump did that. Do you know?

[Donald Trump Advisor]

No, I don't know. Look, we've been. We've been trying to help them with training for an awfully long time. When I was CIA director, we were helping the Ukrainians. It was President Trump who provided the Javelin missiles. Right. People forget President Trump did that. It was President Trump who put American energy in the front, making Vladimir Putin's resources worth less. I don't know why he chose that particular.

[Bill O'Reilly]

It might have to do with Putin and some phone calls. If my.

[Donald Trump Advisor]

It might. And by the way, I'm not privy to any of that. I'm not either trying to solve this.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But that's the only thing I can think of. All right. Now, a lot of people, including myself, believe that you would have been an asset to this Trump administration, but you weren't invited. Do you know why?

[Donald Trump Advisor]

No, I don't know the particulars of why, but again, I give president slots of latitude to pick the team they want. He picked.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No, but you did a good job.

[Donald Trump Advisor]

Entirely new team, Bill.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But he even said you did a good job. He told me you did a good job. So I worked hard. Yeah. I mean, I was surprised. The man of your experience and, you know, all of these players, I would have put you as Defense Secretary. I don't think Hegseth is the guy. I would have put you there. But you must have thought about it a little bit, Mr. Secretary, because it is a natural fit. You succeeded with Trump the first time around. Did you guys have a falling out of some kind?

[Donald Trump Advisor]

Oh, no. Look, I don't know why he chose the people he did. He went through a lot of folks, Bill. I'll leave to him the personnel choices. I had said before if he. If he asked me to go serve, whatever role, whether it was in the Defense Department, wherever, I had happily go serve, and he just made a different decision.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I think he's going to ask you. I do. I think he's going to pull you back. Next time I see him, I'm going to get to the bottom of that because that surprised me. Because you know how.

[Donald Trump Advisor]

You let me know, Bill?

[Bill O'Reilly]

Of course I'll let everybody know. You know, the president is unpredictable. I think that's an accurate word, right?

[Donald Trump Advisor]

Yeah. That's fair. Yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

He goes by his gut. I agree with you that maybe he wanted a fresh look. I like Rubio because he's a good counterbalance to Trump. I think that's a fairly good play.

[Donald Trump Advisor]

I agree. No, I agree. I think Secretary Rubio is going to do a very fine job because when.

[Bill O'Reilly]

He put Tillerson, the oil guy, who you saved his bacon, remember that?

[Donald Trump Advisor]

I went vividly what?

[Bill O'Reilly]

That was a disaster. And then he brought you in because you're the pro. And then you guys straightened it out when Trump left office, when he was defeated in 20, the war was fairly stable then. I mean, it wasn't. As you pointed out earlier in this interview, there Wasn't a lot of threats on the doorstep. Would that be accurate?

[Donald Trump Advisor]

We had things in a pretty good place if you think about what fell apart relatively quickly. Europe fell apart. The advancements that were the Abraham Accords in the Middle east were dead, stopped even before the massacres of October 7th. And then we had come close to delivering on President Trump's commitment to reducing our forces in Afghanistan to zero or near zero. And President Biden came in and pulled the plug. And we all know the calamity that followed there. Not only the 13 dead and many, many injured, but I think much of the chaos that ensued in the final two and a half years, the Biden administration, was a direct result of that epic failure in Afghanistan. None of that happened for our four years.

[Bill O'Reilly]

There's no doubt in my mind that that's true. I got some questions for you. Number one, your party was hijacked by far left people under Biden. There's no doubt about that. That's why Trump won. How did that happen? You're not a far left guy. How did your party get hijacked by the far left?

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

I think that both parties are prone to being hijacked by their extreme bases. Both parties, in the case of the Democratic Party, Joe Biden is not the greatest messenger in the world. I think he did a lot of good stuff, but he's not the greatest messenger in the world. And too many people are intimidated to speak up against their extreme base. And as a result, I think the Republicans effectively weaponized the extreme elements of our party. To say, like, you're all for defund police, you're all for open borders, you're all for all this extremist stuff. And it worked. There are plenty of extremists in the Republican Party, you know, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz. But we did not effectively weaponize that. And the bigger spokesman was Donald Trump. So you couldn't paint them with that brush. It was just the message he was selling as opposed to.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But I still don't understand. If you're, if you're a president of the United States and you go into office and open the border and 14 million foreign nationals come in unattended, that's a far left play. Do you have any idea why that man Biden did that? Any idea at all?

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

My belief, I genuinely believe this bill. Joe Biden is a creature of the Senate and he thinks that, you know, to make long lasting change, you got to negotiate a deal in the Senate and to come up with a compromise and he worked on trying to do a compromise for years. Ultimately, they came up with this. This compromise in February 2024 was too late. And he did an executive order in June of 2024. And I sent him a letter along with a Republican, Brian Fitzpatrick Patrick asked him to seal off asylum applications in between the ports of entry. And he did it. And the numbers are down from what they were when it was really bad back in the 2023. But it just waited too long. And as a result.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But he. Too long. It's three years of damage.

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

The first year, the first year was not that bad because we were still having the COVID hangover and there were not that many people.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Come on, you know how bad it was. You said it in your campaign that it was wrong.

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

There's no, I can't.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You said it. So why did he do it? Why did he do it for three years?

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

I think he was focused on other stuff and he did other stuff. Look, he was a major issue.

[Bill O'Reilly]

He rams. He rams through. I don't give me bill baloney.

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

Covid was a major issue when he first came into office. The economy.

[Bill O'Reilly]

What does Covid have to do with an open border? Nothing. And then he rams through regulation after. Wait, listen to me. He rams through regulation after regulation on the energy industry rocketing inflation, so everybody suffers. And then two years in, he takes that off. Takes him two years to figure out you can't strangle the fossil fuel industry and not have inflation. And he takes it out and he drills like crap. Crazy. This is Biden. So he is. Well, he's the second worst president ever, in my opinion. And I know what I'm talking about. But let's advance it. You're the co chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, right? In the House, correct?

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

Yeah. 25 Democrats, 25 Republicans regularly try to find common ground.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But here's the problem with that. The most powerful guy in the House is Hakeem Jeffrey. He's a far left guy.

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

He's not far left.

[Bill O'Reilly]

How are you going to get anything done?

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

He's not far left. But I'm working for the people I represent and I'm going to work to try and find common ground on the border. I'm going to work to try and find common ground on inflation and high costs. I'm going to work to find common ground on public safety. I'm going to work to find common ground on something the President talked about in his speech, about chronic disease and protecting children. And there's a lot of things that the President has Done and said already that I don't like. But I'm not going to focus on the things I don't like. I'm going to focus on where can we find common ground to actually solve the problems we've been facing for the past 30 years.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right, so we need to. Now you had an article in the New York Times, good article. I actually texted you that it was a good article and about Trump. And you just said on this broadcast there are a lot of things I don't like that he's done in a week. Give me one the pardons.

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

You know, I'll just talk about one pardon from the 1600 from January 6th. This guy, Daniel Rodriguez was there when they were beating up a police officer, a Capitol police officer. He's on the ground, some guys are saying, kill him, kill him. And Daniel Rodriguez takes a Taser and sticks it in the police officer's neck, Tasers him. The police officer has a heart attack and has traumatic brain injury as a result. This guy, Daniel Rodriguez texted his friends and said, you wouldn't believe the stuff I just did. And I got away and I tased the. You know what, out of the blue, he pled guilty. He got 12 year sentence and he was included in the blanket pardons. And there's a lot of examples of that from.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right, that's legitimate. I don't think any fair minded American would disagree with you. Give me a policy thing though. So we've had a lot of policy in eight days. Give me one policy thing that you object to.

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

The one thing that I disagree with is the complete effort to eradicate a lot of the climate change stuff. You know, I have a difference with the president on that stuff. I take climate change much more seriously than he does. He doesn't look at it the same way. And I'm all for, you know, all the above and, and use utilizing the natural gas reserves we have in our.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Why do you think. And that that breach will never be. You'll never reach Daytona on it now.

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

Yeah, I know that.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Why do you think most Americans have now turned against the climate change zealots?

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

I think it's been very effectively weaponized. You know, I think that the Republicans and President Trump specifically have done a much better job of navigating the fractured media landscape. You know, it's not the traditional media that you and I grew up with with, you know, your local paper and your local news stations and cable news. It's now podcasts like yours. It's, it's like social media. It's, it's, it's a so much more fractured environment. And he and his team have done a very effective job of taking anything that they disagree with and blowing it up into a painting of the whole party being a wreck. So, you know, we got, we got to figure out how to combat that and how to make our argument.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Bob, we'll give you an open invitation. Come here. And also your peer, Laura Gillen, who's a Democrat, who's the South Shore of Long Island. I was telling you I ran into Congresswoman Gillen at the Islander game on Friday. And you're both moderate people. I mean, I've known you guys for a while. You're not loons. But I'll tell you what, Congressman, the power in the Democratic Party still lies in the left wing zealots. And if you don't break that down, well, J.D. vance will be the next president.

[Moderate Democrat Congressman]

I don't believe, I don't believe in defund the police.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No, I know that. But the powerful people. And to say Hakeem Jeffries isn't a far left guy. All you have to do is look at his record and look at his public statements. Look at the, look at, look at how he categorized. Wait, just do this, because this will. You're a guy. You went to the same high school I went to. You know, we have a lot in common. When those rioters in New York got out of control, you look at what Hakeem Jeffries said. That's all you need to see.

[Discover Card Representative]

To watch the full episodes of the no Spin news, visit bill o'reilly.com and sign up to become a premium or concierge member. That's billoriley.com sign up and start watching.

[Donald Trump Advisor]

Today.

[Tom Homan]

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