No Spin News - Weekend Edition - December 13, 2025

Summary

Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis

Weekend Edition – December 13, 2025

Summary

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Overview

This episode of the No Spin News Weekend Edition dives into several of the week's most pressing topics, with Bill O’Reilly focusing his signature combative scrutiny on issues of immigration and fraud in Minnesota, current political polling, U.S. economic policy and perceptions, the Biden administration’s border strategy, European security concerns, and the realities of reporting from war zones. O’Reilly is joined by an array of experts and commentators, including Richard Painter (law professor and former White House ethics lawyer), Dr. Betsy Stevenson (University of Michigan economist), John Solomon (Just The News), Dr. Celeste Wallander (former Assistant Secretary of Defense), and correspondent Robert Sherman.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Minnesota Somali Fraud Scandal & Political Culture

Segments: [01:07] – [10:35]

• O’Reilly outlines a major fraud case in Minnesota linked to members of the Somali community; insists that criticism is too often deflected as racism by state officials.
  • "If you criticize the Somali community, who is obviously behind most of this fraud, you get branded a racist." – Bill O’Reilly [01:07]
• He blasts state leadership (Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan) for negligence, arguing that media—not law enforcement—broke the story.
• Richard Painter (U. Minnesota):
  • Confirms scope of the fraud, blames state leadership.
  • Explains why Democrats continue winning in Minnesota: non-competitive Republican candidates and deep-rooted liberal political culture.
  • Emphasizes that not all Somali-Americans are to blame; O’Reilly counters with critiques of a lack of visible intra-community activism.
  • Notable painter point: “The biggest anti-Semites we have at the University of Minnesota are not Somali at all. They're white leftists.” – Richard Painter [09:08]
• O’Reilly links the scandal to national failures of oversight and discusses Congressional Rep. Ilhan Omar.

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2. Trump’s Standing in Polls and Economic Debate

Segments: [10:40] – [23:50]

• O’Reilly cites a Harvard Harris poll showing Donald Trump and Joe Biden nearly tied in popularity, noting Trump’s perceived strength on security and the economy.
• Dr. Betsy Stevenson provides nuanced economic analysis:
  • Warns against dismissing affordability concerns—political leaders must listen to actual public experience.
    • “I wouldn’t suggest you try to call the affordability discussion a hoax or blame it on the media...a lot of people are feeling that way.” – Dr. Betsy Stevenson [12:35]
  • Pushes back on O’Reilly’s reductionist view of capitalism as ‘winners and losers,’ emphasizing continual improvement and voluntary exchange.
    • “The essence of capitalism is being able to grow and do more through voluntary exchange.” – Dr. Betsy Stevenson [13:48]
  • Diagnoses current inflation as primarily a supply problem (tariffs, lack of housing, shortage of doctors).
  • Argues for more competition in sectors like insurance to lower costs.
    • “More competition is better.” – Dr. Betsy Stevenson [21:49]
  • Describes the U.S. economy as at a possible inflection point, not currently weak but with sectoral imbalances (“all the job hiring is occurring in two major services: health and education and tourism.”)

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3. Biden’s Border Policies & Immigrant Demographics

Segments: [23:55] – [32:04]

• O’Reilly and John Solomon discuss a New York Times article suggesting Biden’s team understood the risks of open-border policies but did not act.
  • “There isn’t a newspaper in the United States that I can just say, 'oh, I think this is true.’ I have to run it through my confirmation mill...” – Bill O’Reilly [25:04]
• Solomon traces the immigration debate back more than two decades.
  • “The more noncitizens that Democrats can bring into the country, the more they can win the apportionment war.” – John Solomon [25:58]
• Asserts, based on reporting and Democratic sources, that large-scale immigration is a conscious Democratic electoral strategy.
  • “That’s what my reporting shows, yeah.” – John Solomon [26:57]
• Discussion of how illegal immigration impacts congressional apportionment and federal funding.
• O’Reilly and Solomon agree that Biden appears largely sidelined in his own administration’s policy decisions on immigration.

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4. U.S. Security, NATO, and the European Landscape

Segments: [34:07] – [44:28]

• The U.S. national security strategy, as framed by the Trump administration, is sharply critical of European immigration and defense spending.
• Dr. Celeste Wallander gives a measured assessment:
  • Agrees with parts of the report, noting Europe’s “predominance of hard power over Russia” but disputes logic of U.S. disengagement from NATO/allies.
    • “The United States is more secure when we keep conflicts and adversaries far from our physical homeland borders.” – Dr. Celeste Wallander [35:27]
  • Admits that many European countries have had to reset immigration policies due to internal challenges but insists many (e.g., Italy and Spain) have growing economies.
  • Insists U.S. involvement is essential for deterrence, as Europe alone could not withstand a Russian onslaught.
    • “If you put the United States in the mix as a NATO ally, totally different. Russia is completely deterred...Putin would lose that war.” – Dr. Celeste Wallander [39:43]
  • Details Biden administration’s Ukraine policy: surge of weapons and support for Ukraine, imposition of sanctions on Russia, challenges posed by Chinese and Iranian support for Russia.

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5. Reporting from Modern War Zones: First-Hand Account

Segments: [47:13] – [54:10]

• Robert Sherman, NewsNation correspondent, discusses his new book and shares war reporting anecdotes:
  • Describes the psychological adjustment and danger involved (“I didn’t even know to be scared…” [48:04]; “Absolutely, absolutely [was frightened]” [48:55])
  • Explains on-the-ground challenges: makeshift vehicle signage, eating gas station food or candy bars in bomb shelters, renting risky accommodations, being detained and confronted by soldiers.
  • Contrasts Ukraine (highly dangerous, unstructured) with his Middle East reporting (Israel: perils but comparatively more controlled).
  • “Now I'm just so much more curious of a appreciation for the complexity of the world. Most of all, I am so proud to be an American.” – Robert Sherman [48:38]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Political Leadership and Fraud:

  • “They're just handing out money, no questions asked to criminals...This is a disaster in Minnesota.” – Richard Painter [03:16]
  • “I haven't heard anybody, not one person out of 100,000, say, ‘I'm ashamed. We Somalis aren't like that.’” – Bill O’Reilly [08:31]

• On Immigration and Political Strategy:

  • “The more noncitizens that Democrats can bring into the country, the more they can win the apportionment war.” – John Solomon [25:58]

• On Capitalism:

  • “The essence of capitalism is being able to grow and do more through voluntary exchange.” – Dr. Betsy Stevenson [13:48]
  • “The essence of capitalism is that there are winners and losers. The essence of communism and socialism is everybody's the same because the government imposes that.” – Bill O’Reilly [14:29]

• On American and European Security:

  • “Russia is completely deterred. You see that every day...if Russia wants to stop the West from helping Ukraine, all it has to do is invade Europe. But Putin has been deterred from invading Europe because he knows...he loses.” – Dr. Celeste Wallander [39:43]

• On War Reporting:

  • “You're guilty until proven innocent, it's a very scary time.” – Robert Sherman [49:07]
  • “Sometimes a gas station hot dog is as good as it gets. If they have coffee, that is at a premium, especially in wartime Ukraine in the middle of the winter.” – Robert Sherman [50:40]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Minnesota Fraud & Political Failure: [01:07] – [10:35]
• Economic Polling and the Capitalism Debate: [10:40] – [23:50]
• Borders, Immigration, and Biden’s Strategy: [23:55] – [32:04]
• Europe, NATO, and U.S. Security: [34:07] – [44:28]
• Correspondent Life in Ukraine & Israel: [47:13] – [54:10]

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Tone & Style

O’Reilly upholds his trademark bluntness, skepticism toward both government officials and mainstream media, and confrontational interviewing, frequently pushing his guests into clarifying or defending their positions. The experts, for their part, bring nuance—even while challenged—often blending experience-based insight with data and historical context. The episode blends policy dissection, statistical interpretation, and war-zone storytelling with O’Reilly’s clear focus on facts, accountability, and adversarial questioning.

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Conclusion

This edition weaves together the week’s biggest headlines and recurring debates—immigration, economic anxiety, law enforcement, great power competition, and media trust—offering listeners both hard-edged commentary and expert perspectives. O’Reilly’s trademark is evident: no spin, sharp cross-examination, and concern for factual clarity—backed by policy insiders and reporters from the field.

Transcript

[Dr. Celeste Wallander]

This is a real good story about.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Bronx and his dad, Ryan, Real United Airlines customers.

[Commercial Voice]

We were returning home and one of the flight attendants asked Bronx if he.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Wanted to see the flight deck and.

[Commercial Voice]

Meet Kath and Andrew.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

I got to sit in the driver's seat.

[Robert Sherman]

I grew up in an aviation family and seeing Bronx kind of reminded me of myself when I was that age.

[Narrator/Announcer]

That's Andrew, a real United pilot.

[Robert Sherman]

These small interactions can shape a kid's future.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

It felt like I was the captain.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Allowing my son to see the flight deck will stick with us forever.

[Robert Sherman]

That's how good leads the way.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Hablas spritz du dzoich?

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

Com d'. Unosc.

[Narrator/Announcer]

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[Bill O'Reilly]

Welcome to the no Spin news Weekend edition.

Now the population of, as I said, is approaching 90,000 Somalis. I'm adding legal and illegal in there. And if you criticize the Somali community who is obviously behind most of them this fraud, you get branded a racist. Here is the Minnesota lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan. Go. You know this vile racist stream of consciousness from President old man yells at cloud. You're disgusting.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

And the people of this country deserve so much better.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I just watched the of Donald Trump attacking the beautiful Somali community that calls Minnesota home. They are part of the fabric of our state. Yeah, well, I can't argue with the problem with part of the fabric of your state, madam. But you don't care about a billion dollar grift. Apparently you don't care at all, do you? What have you done about it? Nothing. And this would still be going on if not for two reporters, guy named Ryan Thorpe, another one, Christopher Russo. They both worked for the Manhattan Institute conservative think tank. They broke the story. Not Minnesota law enforcement, not federal law enforcement, journalists. And that's the memo. Let's get into the point of view. Somebody on the ground in St. Paul, which is the capital of the state. Richard Painter is a law professor at the University of Minnesota and he's a former chief White House ethics lawyer under Bush. The Younger. So, professor, pleased to have you. In my analysis, am I making any mistakes? Am I being unfair?

[Richard Painter]

Well, let's start with who's responsible for the massive fraud in the state of Minnesota. In addition to the criminals. Dozens. And it's going to turn out they're probably well over 100 criminals end up going to jail in connection with this fraud. Now, that out of an 80,000 or so Somali community, that's a small percentage. But who's responsible for what happened here? We have an incompetent Governor, Tim Walsh, and an incompetent Lieutenant Governor, Peggy Flanagan. They're responsible. They were overseeing these agencies. They're just handing out money, no questions asked to criminals. And we've had Tim Walsh now for two terms, and he wants a third term as governor. Peggy Flanagan wants to be our United States Senator. This is a disaster in Minnesota. You also mentioned Massachusetts, which has a lot of social programs, hands out a lot of money, but we haven't heard about anywhere near as much fraud. Yes, there's fraud in Massachusetts, but the government has been a lot more responsible. Until recently, they had Governor Baker, Charlie Baker, who was a good governor. We'll see how things work out under there.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah, Healy's not at that level. Yeah, but let's stay in Minnesota. You say that the Governor Walz is incompetent. So there are two questions then that arise. How is he incompetent? Is he just not smart enough? And why do the people of Minnesota keep electing him?

[Richard Painter]

Well, he's smart enough to do what's politically good for him, to get himself reelected, which is to have friends in the state, in various communities, including the Somali community, who have influence. And unfortunately, there have been organized criminals who have abused, taken advantage of influence in this.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You're saying basically, he doesn't care about that. He just wants power, Is that what you're saying?

[Richard Painter]

Exactly. He wants power. He doesn't care.

[Bill O'Reilly]

He doesn't care what happens. All right. I don't know, Mr. Walls. I certainly didn't respect his campaign. I thought he was. You look like a fool out there. But, you know, I've been to Minnesota many times, and folks don't seem. It's like San Francisco.

[John Solomon]

All right?

[Bill O'Reilly]

But they seem to. They elect the people who don't care. And I agree with that assessment. Why?

[Richard Painter]

Well, it's. It seems about partisan politics, who gets elected. I mean, look at. Our crime rate is sky high.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Why do they kill? Why do the good people of Minnesota keep electing these people that allow crime, fraud, and everything else? Why do they keep casting the ballots for them?

[Richard Painter]

Well, part of the problem is our Republican Party is not competitive anymore in statewide races. The Republican Party is competitive in several congressional districts. Indeed, four of our eight congressional districts have elected Republicans. But in statewide races, they can't find candidates who will appeal to a broader base. Candidates appear to be too much in line with President Trump or too extreme on some social issues where they don't need to be. We used to have some very strong Republicans. Governor Arne Carlson, a Republican. Governor Tim Pawlenty. Tim Pawlenty, yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Remember Pawlenty look like Oregon and other states. Minneapolis, St. Paul dominates. That's where all the people are. But what strikes me about this is that you have a very fervent liberal climate in Minnesota, and I guess that stems back to the Scandinavians coming there. I guess. I don't know. But when you see terrible crime that you've seen in Minnesota and, you know, after the George Floyd stuff, and then you see this massive fraud, and rather than deal with the fraud and say, gee, we're sorry, because remember, this tax money is not Minnesota tax money. This is everybody's $1 billion. Everybody. I haven't heard Walls or anybody else say, yeah, really sorry about this. I wish it didn't happen. Have you?

[Richard Painter]

Well, they say they're sorry, they wish it didn't happen and they're going to make it better.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But I haven't heard their. So they said they're sorry. I haven't heard any policy.

[Richard Painter]

They're not sorry for their own conduct because they were negligent. And they don't want to recognize they were negligent. The government was in charge. And also have to say, President Biden, they were just handing out all this money.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Ridiculous. Right.

[Richard Painter]

And the President of the United States was half asleep. So this was something that I don't think should be blamed on the Somali community, at least be blamed on the criminals in the Somali community who took advantage of the Somali community, and on the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walls, the Lieutenant Governor, Peggy Flanagan, both of them incompetent.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But let me challenge you there. I haven't heard anybody in the Somali community speak out against this, have you?

[Richard Painter]

Well, I haven't, you know, say the problem is the political leaders who get elect.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I haven't heard anybody, not one person at 100,000, say, I'm ashamed. And we Somalis aren't like that. I haven't heard anybody do that. And Omar, your congressperson, is outrageous.

[Richard Painter]

Yeah, some people, you know, I don't think she speaks for The Somali community. She is an incompetent Congress, but she's also anti Semitic. And we've all known that that's been a serious problem with Ilhan Omar, that she should never have been nominated for that seat. Once again, the Republicans are not competitive in that race at all because it's.

[Bill O'Reilly]

A Somali dominated district. So.

[Richard Painter]

Well, it's modest. But others as well. White liberals. Yeah, but, you know, far left white liberals. And I deal with them all the time at the University of Minnesota. The biggest anti Semites we have at the University of Minnesota are not Somali at all. They're white leftists.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Interesting.

[Richard Painter]

Running Minneapolis politics for a long time and then you get the Somali community is being taken advantage of. We've been through this before in this country. We can either fight the mafia or we can blame it on all the Italians. The real answer is to fight the Mafia.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Look, I get it. I'm a reporter here on President Trump. I understand that all Somalis aren't bad. But I disagree with you a bit. I don't think there's any activism in that community in Minneapolis St. Paul that are standing up and saying we need to clean it up. I haven't heard it. I haven't seen it. Somali crime is higher than the other groups, as you know. And until I see it, I'm not going to attack President Trump for his categorization that we were very generous in accepting these people from one of the most horrendous countries on earth and they came here and they're not doing what they should do. Anyway, Professor, I want you to have a very merry Christmas. Say hello to everybody at the university and it's a pleasure to talk with you.

You're listening to the no Spin News Weekend Edition.

There is a new poll, Harvard Harris out on Donald Trump and surprise me, 2,204 registered voters. Sample is fair. First question. Do you disapprove or approve of the job Donald Trump is doing as president? Approved. 47. Disapprove. 49. A dead heat. Look at that. Now that's up three points in approval from November. And disapprove is down two points. I don't know why. I can't tell you why that number is there. I don't know. Second question. Do you think Donald Trump is doing a better or worse job than Biden as president? Overall better. 53. Worse. 47. Next question. Use the National Guard and active duty military to police American cities. Stop crime. Support 51. Oppose. 49. Next one. Using US military to target cartel, drug smugglers, Latin America Support 58 Post 42 Next question, is the economy today better or worse than it was when Biden was president? 50. 50. All right, so that is the picture. Remember, these polls, they're not infallible. They change from week to week. But this one surprised me. Joining us now from Ann Arbor, Michigan is Dr. Betsy Stevenson, professor of Economics at the University of Michigan and was a chief economist for the U.S. department of labor under President Obama. We're very pleased to have the doctor on. As always, I asked my staff get the best person. Okay, and here we have. All right, in my memo, did I make any mistakes, mislead anyone, anything that you found that I should not have done?

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

Well, you know, I'm going to start by telling you that I learned a really important lesson when we saw the kind of inflation coming out of the pandemic that then came down pretty quickly, which was I basically told people, hey, don't worry about it. Prices are coming down, your wages are going up, everything's fine. And I, you know, people don't want to hear that. So I wouldn't suggest you try to call the affordability discussion a hoax or blame it on the media, because I'm telling you right now, a lot of people are feeling that way. And then the job is to figure out why they're feeling that way. And are there things you can do that just relieve the pressure enough that they won't feel that way? And I think the challenge that Biden faced was he couldn't really identify why people felt that way. And I'm sure you're about to tell me why we don't need to go down that road.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No, I mean, I don't want to rehash.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

It's a failure to listen. And so I just, I do want to give you that warning.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But in a capitalistic system, there are winners and losers. There are people who fall behind and people who surge ahead. That's reality. It's always been that way.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

The US Media, I'm an economist and I teach capitalism. I'm actually a huge markets person. That's not exactly how capitalism works. So it's the voluntary exchange. So people are made better off through trading with each other. You and I are made better off by coming together and having this conversation today, Bill. Like, that's what capitalism is all about. We improve each other and we come together. And so you are right that sometimes there are people who fall behind while others get ahead. But that's not the nature of capitalism. The nature of capitalism is being able to grow and do more through voluntary exchange. And the more voluntary exchanges we have, the, the better we are.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, but that's theoretical. I'm operating in the real life and I would get a D in your class because I was never a theoretician at all. The essence of capitalism is that there are winners and losers. The essence of communism and socialism is everybody's the same because the government imposes that. Now the question becomes for the American voter, next year in the midterms, are there more winners than losers? Because there are always going to be losers for whatever reason and reasons are all over the place. But do most people feel that they are okay financially? If you listen to the media and that filters through to most Americans, you're getting hosed every way by Trump. That's the pounding and pounding and pounding and pounding every single day. People don't pay close attention to. They absorb that and they get negative about it. Now, in order for the President to overcome that, he's got to do what I did and say, here's the menu right here. Here are the stats. That's the only way to do it. Am I wrong? Have you heard of Gold Belly? It's this amazing site that celebrates the best of America by shipping our country's most iconic foods from legendary restaurants straight to your door anywhere in the usa. Now I tried Gold Belly's Maine lobster roll kit and deep dish pizza. Incredible. Both of them. So this holiday season I'm gifting a coconut cake and Junior's red velvet cheesecake to friends and family. Gold Belly's food is high quality. Ships reliably makes giving deliciously easy. So if you're looking for that perfect gift for everyone on your list or want to impress your friends and family with an unforgettable meal and make hosting a breeze this holiday season, please go to goldbelly.com get 20% off your first order with promo code Bill. That's goldbelly.com code Bill. 20% off your first order. Have you heard of Gold Belly? It's this amazing site that celebrates the best of America by shipping our country's most iconic foods from legendary restaurants straight to your door anywhere in the usa. Now I tried Gold Belly's Maine Lobster roll kit and deep dish pizza. Incredible. Both of them. So this holiday season gifting a coconut cake and Junior's red velvet cheesecake to friends and family, Gold Belly's food is high quality. Ships reliably makes giving deliciously easy. So if you're looking for that perfect gift for everyone on your list or want to Impress your friends and family with an unforgettable meal and make hosting a breeze this holiday season. Please go to goldbelly.com get 20% off your first order with promo code BILL. That's goldbelly.com, code BILL. 20% off your first order.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

So, first of all, I teach a very, very applied course. I'm deeply involved in the real world. And I still am going to say that I think your framing that Kaplan's all about winners and losers is not correct. It's actually all about the chase. I don't ever want to see. Once people win, if people stop chasing them, the whole capitalism system doesn't work anymore. We're all striving to be better than the guy who's on our tail. That's what capitalism is all about. And what I'm seeing in this economy right now is we're seeing a decrease in supply. And if you want to know where affordability problems come from, it comes from not having supply expand as quickly.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Give me an example of supply. Well, what are you talking about now?

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

So, for instance, you can't pretend that tariffs are not hurting prices and hurting supply. You might say, this is going to be worth it. We need to restructure our economy. We need a manufacturing base. But the price of coffee is up because we made it harder to bring coffee into the country.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No doubt about it.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

And unfortunately, we did that at a time where there was also an agricultural problem that hurt supply.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So if we want housing, you can make that argument.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

Do you build more housing? If you want health care to be cheaper, you know what you do? You train more doctors. If you want food to be cheaper, you know what you do? You bring in more food or you grow more food. So it's all about if we bring more to the problem, prices come down.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay. And I think that analysis is excellent. But you're not citing one very important thing. In order for this economy in the United States to grow to the benefit of the workers, Donald Trump believes that it has to go from a service economy to a manufacturing economy, back to manufacturing. And therefore, he imposed the tariffs to get more money and more action in building back manufacturing jobs. Now, he says he succeeded, but you and I can't see it, and most Americans can't see it yet. So he's basically trying to sell a phantom. He's trying to sell. This is what gonna happen because of what I did. Hard sell. But that's why he did it.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

It's a hard sell. It's also a hard sell because Manufacturing jobs have been declining under him.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And I do look at time, though, to rebuild those factories, to get that investment up and running. Can't just do it with a magic wand.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

Nobody is going to dispute that. But it's hard to justify, you know, putting tariffs on bananas and coffee and things like that when on rubber, when you need rubber, on the cars. And you're trying to make sure that we are certainly cars in America. So I would like his tariffs to be much more targeted. I think we could agree on that. But look, I'm not here. I don't know. You want to make the case for what Trump needs to do to build his case for his defense of the economy. I just want to tell you what I think is right for the American economy, regardless of who is in power. And I think there's a lot of room for bipartisan agreement that we need to make it easier for small businesses. They need to be able to count on a certain economic environment. And I think we need to try to do everything we can to reduce every barrier that companies face when they want to expand higher.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But that's not happening in all the blue states, including your. Well, I shouldn't say that your governor has changed her opinion about this. So the regulations that we have that strangle the economy have been imposed largely by the Democratic Party. And I agree with you, free trade is always best. Let's the market roll. On the insurance thing, if you opened up competition among the insurance companies in all areas across state lines, you drive those prices right down. Correct?

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

I, well, I don't know. I do think insurance companies are facing higher costs on their payouts. But I will tell you, you and I can find lots of agreement there. More competition is better. And let's get.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But I don't want to get too.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

Into macro because it's unfortunate to be pointing fingers and trying to decide, you know, who's doing what. I think what I'd like to see is people work together to figure out how we can give America the kind of affordable economy they want. And I think there are lots of people that, whether they have a Republican or Democrat by their name that are willing to work on affordability by increasing supply and increasing competition and realizing that companies and corporate profits, they're part of the solution, not part of the problem.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And listen, I am right there with you on that last question. I believe the economy is fairly strong at this point in history. Am I wrong?

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

So we're in a really tricky spot in the economy. It is not weak when people say, oh, look the economy is weak, but it does look like it could be at an inflection point in which it is weakening.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right, but this is point you think it might be weakening. See, I don't see what, what, what.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

I see in the labor market is I do see that, you know, you said Donald Trump wants to turn us away from a service economy.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

Right now all the job hiring is occurring in two major services, health and education services and tourism, even business and professional services. No jobs. And so.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, but that's why he's bringing those manufacturing or hoping that he can get that manufacturing thing back to give the union workers more option which drives salaries up. Very good, doctor, very good discussion and I appreciate your time very much. Hope you have a Merry Christmas out there in Ann Arbor. Say hello to everybody for me. I'm sure I have a lot of fans out there. Thank you very much.

This is the no Spin News weekend edition.

All right, New York Times, you know how I feel about that. But they wrote an article on Sunday. It said Joe Biden's team, they don't really define. Biden himself knew that the open border was a disaster, yet refused to do anything about it. That's the essence of the article. Now, his team, you don't know these people, but it's Ron Klain, Mike Donilon, Anita Dunn, on and on and on. And they were running the country, not Joe Biden. But a guy who's on this and you know, really has a lot of good information is John Solomon. You know him, he's the editor in chief of Just the News. And he comes to us now from Washington. So I can't take anything out of any newspaper now. Anyone. There isn't a newspaper in the United States that I can just say, oh, I think this is true. I have to run it through my confirmation mill and have my people investigate. So when you heard about the New York Times and read the piece, what was your impression?

[John Solomon]

Well, listen, I think it is truncated in history, which is all right, there was a problem in 2020 and it's all Joe Biden's fault that Donald Trump's effort to secure the border and get violent criminals out of the country is popular now. But it misses the point. Barack Obama tried this a decade ago and it's what gave rise to President Trump's success in 2016. Remember, build the Wall was his chant and Americans voted for that. So illegal immigration isn't a Joe Biden figment. It has been a 20 year objective of the Democratic Party and it's very Clear what the objective is. The more noncitizens that Democrats can bring into the country, the more they can win the apportionment war. And this isn't me speaking. These are the data experts seeking. The left leaning center for Immigration Studies estimates Democrats get at least 14 more seats in the US House because of non citizens. And some of the conservative groups have that number at double because they're taking a look at some of the illegal immigrants.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And that assumes when they get the right to vote, when they become naturalized, right?

[John Solomon]

Yeah. Before then it affects apportionment. Right. You get representation based on it and you get federal funds based on it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So you believe John Solomon, brilliant guy, believes that when Biden was elected and brought in all these people to help him, all of them liberal, that the plan was to just flood the zone with undocumented migrants to help the Democratic Party get stronger.

[John Solomon]

That's what you believe, by the way. It's just not my opinion. I've actually interviewed Democrats who say that's been their 20 year strategy, that they could.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But I'm not interested in them, I'm interested in you. Okay, so that's what you believe?

[John Solomon]

That's what my reporting shows, yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

According to the New York Times, these people had conferences that they disco. This is not working out and then they didn't do anything about it. Do you believe that?

[John Solomon]

No. Well, they might have had conferences to raise complaints. They could have solved this in 20 minutes as President Trump showed. Right. It took less than a month to shut the border off. It wasn't that hard. It isn't rocket science. The Democrats like to profess they would like to solve the problem while letting it continue because it's in their political interest to do so. This goes all the way back to the Clinton Gore years. I remember in 1996 you were having the start of your great show and Clinton was trying to rush a whole bunch of citizens ahead of the normal schedule and around the regular rules to get more citizens so they could register them to vote for Democrats.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I don't think there's any dispute about. I've never heard anybody dispute that theory. Yeah, well, I shouldn't say that there are some radicals that are never going to tell the truth. But you know what was missing in the New York Times article was Biden's input.

[John Solomon]

Yeah. No fair comment from him. Yeah. They basically.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Is this guy even in the building?

[John Solomon]

Yeah. What do you think? It's amazing. Well, listen, it is the narrative that suddenly the left has. The left told us for four years when he was in office. He's totally fine. Until they bounced him out of office. Cuz he wasn't totally fine. Our eyes told us that he wasn't crooked until Hunter Biden had to admit that he was running a crooked sham and cheating on his taxes. They protected Joe Biden and now they're just throwing him under the buns by pretending he's irrelevant, that he. They're actually leaning into the narrative that he wasn't in charge. This story basically is written as though Joe Biden wasn't in charge. He had no say that he was right.

[Bill O'Reilly]

He wasn't even involved with any of the discussions about his own policy of open borders. I mean it's really, and I think it is true. Classic, classic. I have said from the very beginning, I don't think the man was in charge from day one. I think after he was inaugurated he zipped on over there and he took a nap. And now that nap lasted four years. That's what I think.

[John Solomon]

It sure feels that way. Yeah, there's a lot of evidence to that now. And meanwhile, the influx of this system that they allowed to happen, first, it's creating a very strong popularity push for President Trump on security issues. But secondly, it gives us things like the Minnesota Somali immigrant fraud crisis, which could be one of the largest fraudulent crisis in America. It is. And why does Tim Waltz want that? He'll let those immigrants stay and take as much money as they can because it gives Minnesotans more clout. He doesn't care.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Wall Street Journal had the best quote on it. This is their business model. Democratic Party. We don't care. Spend, spend, spend, spend, spending. Last question for you, John. So the immigration problem helped Donald Trump when he stopped the border cold. Yep, helped him. And then when he said we're going to get all the criminal aliens out of here, that helped him. Two for two. But then some so called peaceful migrants got caught up in the raids.

[John Solomon]

Yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And the left went wild.

[John Solomon]

That's it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

In your opinion, that video of the people being swept in by ice, and I talked to Saholman about this in the town hall we did at Kennedy center in D.C. is that going to hurt Trump in the midterms?

[John Solomon]

Not if he continues to focus on the vast majority of people. You have to fight this with statistics. And one of the things that Trisha McLaughlin, the Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security for Public affairs is doing such a great job is debunking now in real time these fake stories. Oh, they went after a woman and raided a school. No, she ran into the school but she was a felon. They're debunking these stories in real time. I'm out now. I have a TV crew out that's actually filming the immigration officers like it was a show of cops. What do you see every day all over the country? Florida, Texas, California. They're everywhere. And we're just like.

[Bill O'Reilly]

When you get that together, please come back and I will. I'm going to signal my producer now. We're going to try to get Ms. McLaughlin for Monday.

[John Solomon]

She's fantastic because she debunks it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I've seen her on stage, she does.

[John Solomon]

The facts and facts are a stubborn thing. But what you see in these planning they're going after, they have a sheet and they know that there are bad people that are in this building now. There might be innocent people just like when you raid a drug house or when you raid Enron. There were good people at Enron, there were crooked people at Enron. You're temporarily going to sweep up good people when you have a mass raid. But then what happens to the good people? They get sent a citation, the bad people get put in handcuffs and they get deported quickly. And I think the administration just needs to keep, they just need to keep telling that story cuz it's factually true.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Well you tell her, you know, I hope she doesn't dodge me. You know some people do there, John. I'm so charming I could never figure it out. But you know what?

[John Solomon]

You're about the facts and that she's going to love you because you're about the facts.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You care about facts, that's for sure. You have a nice Christmas, John. Thank you for helping us out.

[John Solomon]

Good to be with you.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Thank you my friend.

You're listening to the no spin news Weekend Edition.

All right. Trump administration also put out a national security strategy where it severely criticized our European allies is that they're weak, they can't defend themselves, they're overrun by insane immigration policies. Let's face it, the US economy is under stress. National debt rising, trade war shaking the markets and meanwhile China is dumping the dollar and stockpiling gold. That's why I protected my savings with physical gold and silver through the only dealer I trust, American Hartford Gold. And you can do this. Get precious metals delivered to your door or place in a tax Advantage Gold IRA. They'll even help you roll over your existing IRA or 401k tax and penalty free with billions in precious metals delivered thousands of five star reviews and an A from the Better Business Bureau. You can trust American Hartford Gold as I do. Please call 866-326-5576 or text Bill to 998-899. Again, that's 866-326-5576, or text Bill to 998-899.

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[Bill O'Reilly]

And the collective EU has wreaked havoc with individual countries. Okay, that is the Trump administration's national security report. Here's what the President said. So there's some financial assistance there he's really gotten.

[John Solomon]

Right.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Is the immigration, because he. He allows nobody in his country. And Poland has done a very good job in that respect. But most European nations, they're decaying. They're decaying.

[Dr. Betsy Stevenson]

You can imagine some leaders in Europe are a little freaked out by what your posture is and your view.

[Bill O'Reilly]

They should be freaked out by what they're doing to their countries. They're destroying their countries. A lot of it is about immigration, and some of it's about defense not paying enough money to defend themselves. Joining us now From Washington is Dr. Celeste Wallander. She's a former Assistant Secretary of Defense for international security under President Biden. She now works for the University of Pennsylvania. Hi, Doctor, is this security report about Europe accurate? Do you agree with it?

[Dr. Celeste Wallander]

I agree with parts of it. For example, the National Security Strategy points out that the way to secure American global interests, global prosperity and defense is to rely upon a rich network of allies and partners in strategic areas of the world, Europe and Asia. And the report notes that actually Europe enjoys a predominance of hard power over Russia and is very capable against Russian threats. What is more problematic is the notion that, therefore, the United States should disentangle itself from those strong and reliable allies. When the record shows that the United States is more secure, when we keep conflicts and adversaries far from our physical homeland borders, and when we actively compete for influence with important and prosperous regions of the world like Europe and like in Asia, our partners and allies, South Korea and Japan.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Well, it seems to be happening in Asia.

[Dr. Celeste Wallander]

A lot of the analysis.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah, it seems to be happening in Asia, but they don't have an immigration problem over there, and that's what's sticking in President Trump's craw here. But I'm going to dissent a little bit from your analysis. I don't think NATO is very strong at this point. Now, the president mentioned Orban and Hungary. Hungary doesn't allow migrants, and as you know, very strict. Poland, also fairly strict about that. But many of the countries, like Italy, Spain, Scandinavian countries, have passed new laws limiting immigration, have basically France, another good example, have created a lot of problems for themselves. And they're diverted, trying to keep control over rampant illegal immigration, mostly from the Middle east and North Africa into their societies, just causing all kinds of political turbulence. That's got to weaken those countries. Am I wrong?

[Dr. Celeste Wallander]

Those countries have themselves identified challenges from their immigration policies, and European countries have sought to reset their policies. But some of the countries you mentioned, Italy and Spain, for example, have substantial growth. They're some of the largest economies in Europe. And in fact, it is the case that in terms of their internal politics, the leaderships have been held accountable for concerns that their populations had sometimes migration.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Not Spain. Spain is the worst. They don't even contribute hardly anything to NATO, and they're the country that's. That contributes least. But what I'm trying to get across is that I don't believe that Europe could stand up to Putin on its own, that it absolutely has to have American backing, American money, American weaponry, American will. I think Trump resents that.

[Dr. Celeste Wallander]

Well, I think that's right. You're exactly right that it is not the case that Europe alone could defeat a Russian conventional attack, let alone a nuclear war, because Europe does not have the kind of nuclear arsenal that the United States does. So I agree with you. And more to the point, Bill, Russia agrees with you. The analysis of the Kremlin in Russian military doctrine is that in a war in Europe, they would win a quick war, they would win a fast war, because Europe does not have enough capability to sustain a long war. That's what they would count on if they attack Europe. But if you put the United States in the mix as a NATO ally, totally different. Russia is completely deterred. You see that every day. If Russia wants to stop the west from helping Ukraine, all it has to do is invade Europe. But Putin has been deterred from invading Europe because he knows that because of NATO and because of the United States, a war against NATO would Be a long war. We have the global war, and they lose.

[Bill O'Reilly]

We have logistics, and Putin would lose that war.

[Dr. Celeste Wallander]

He would absolutely lose that war.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So I got a final question for you. President Trump, as you know, and individuals can make up their mind on this, has said maybe 5 million times that if he were president, Putin never would have invaded Ukraine. Now, you can't say yes or no, but that's the president's posture, and believe me, he believes it. When Putin did go into Ukraine, you were with the Biden administration in the foreign policy area. What was the thinking there in the White House? Was, was there a strategy to confront Putin? Did you think he was going to lose? What were you guys thinking back then?

[Dr. Celeste Wallander]

So Putin wanted that war to be rhetorically a war of Russia against the United States, to slap us down for our strong alliances in Europe. But rhetorically is not reality. And Putin was counting on the United States and Europe to do what it had done years before, which was not to aid Ukraine. The first time Russia invaded in 2014.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah, Crimea.

[Dr. Celeste Wallander]

So he was counting on having that quick war, only the quick war against Ukraine, and we would be paralyzed. But instead, what we did from day one was surge military capabilities and defense and training to Ukraine. And the Ukrainian military, against all odds and expectations, including Putin's expectations, fought off those initial months of the attack. It was Ukrainian courage and bravery, but it was Western security assistance advice and training that defeated Putin's war plan in 2022.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Why didn't President Biden engage Putin more directly?

[Dr. Celeste Wallander]

During the summer of 2021, he sat down with Putin in Geneva and laid out what would be required for a resolution of the disagreement between Russia and Ukraine over territory. But it was American principles to support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as Russia had recognized under international law. And that's not what Putin wanted. Putin demanded a revision.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But did you guys think that Putin was going to get tired of this? Because Trump underestimated Putin in the sense that he thought he could, you know, convince Putin to stop. But if you read my book Confronting Evil, and I had to actually hand it to the president on 9 11, you got to read this chapter, because Putin's got a lot worse than when Trump was in the office the first time around. But did you guys in the Biden administration think that Putin was gonna stop at any point, or was this gonna go on forever?

[Dr. Celeste Wallander]

We didn't think Putin was gonna stop. We thought he had to be stopped. And that was first and foremost helping the Ukrainians fight the diplomatic war.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Just weapons and money was There any other strategy?

[Dr. Celeste Wallander]

Great question. Imposing significant sanctions on the Russian economy and restricting Russian access to defense technology. We closed the door on dual use capabilities.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But it didn't work though. And I'm not criticizing. It's just a historical fact that Putin that what you guys did. But to be fair, what Trump has done in the last year hasn't worked either. And now, I mean, I'm a hawk on this. I think you don't. I'd stop all flights in and out of Moscow. I wouldn't let any Russians land in any Western European or American held territory at all. Japan will go along with that and so would Australia. And I mean, you got to up it. Last word.

[Dr. Celeste Wallander]

So the plan to restrict Russia fundamentally didn't work because China and Iran came to Russia's rescue. Yeah, they bought their oil, China in banking and technology. So Putin got a rescue deal from China and now the challenge is Putin is indebted to Xi and you've got an axis of upheaval of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Well, hopefully Trump can undermine that national security.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I think China will turn on Putin if the trade deal is to their advantage. Very good discussion. Doctor. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. We appreciate it.

This is the no Spin news Weekend Edition.

Okay, so because of the Somali fraud in Minnesota, which we reported on earlier, $1 billion. And because an Afghan migrant, wherever Bud.

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[Robert Sherman]

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[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah.

[Richard Painter]

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[Robert Sherman]

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[Bill O'Reilly]

CMNO.com Murdered a National Guards woman in D.C. the Trump administration is revoking 85,000 visas in an immigration crackdown. And this is Under Secretary of State Rubio, and that includes 8,000 student visas. So they're just tightening it up and you can decide whether that's a good or bad policy. But 85,000 visas be revoked a lot. Okay, let's talk to another foreign policy guy right now. His name is Robert Sherman. You may have seen him on News Nation. Okay, so Sherman has a new book out, and I blurbed the book, that means I said good things about it called Lessons from the Front. A rookie war correspondent in Ukraine and Israel. Okay. And he joins us now from Ceiba, Puerto Rico. I assume you're getting ready for the invasion of Venezuela down there. Is that what you're doing down there?

[Robert Sherman]

Yeah, we're monitoring it, Bill. We're keeping a close eye on it. There's a lot of activity here, a lot of F35 C17s taking off and landing. So it's a very fluid and dynamic environment here, for sure.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, so I want to talk to you not about macro foreign policy. We just did that with the doctor. I want to talk to you about being a correspondent in the field. So as you know, I was a correspondent overseas for Time as well, but I was only. I was 33 years old when I went down El Salvador. And then I went subsequently after that to Buenos Aires in the Falklands War. And it was harrowing. You're 25 and you get thrown into Ukraine. Were you scared?

[Robert Sherman]

I didn't even know to be scared, Bill. I mean, I entered that thinking that I had a good understanding of the world. I was pretty fresh out of college, did well in school, so I thought that I understood things. Then one day on the ground in Ukraine, the first time that you saw the first Ukrainian refugees leaving, the first time we got buzzed by jets, the first time we were detained and accused of being spies. You grow up pretty quickly in that. And that's. Those are the main things that I wrote about in this book. Here, you know, all those experiences about how it changes you and changes the way that you perceive the world. And I have to tell you that. I mean, now I'm just so much more curious of a appreciation for the complexity of the world. Most of all, I am so proud to be an American. I had no idea how good we had it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And so you learn. But were you frightened at any time?

[Robert Sherman]

Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, those first couple of days when the war is its most dangerous and there are missiles flying all over the place and you're guilty until proven innocent, it's a very scary time.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah. You got no protection that the Ukrainians could grab you, the Russians could grab you. Anybody partisan could grab you. All right, let's talk logistics. So you get sent over there by NewsNation. Young guy trying to make a name for himself. You get into Poland. That's easy. And then you drive into Ukraine. Right. Where'd you get the vehicle? I mean, what kind of car did you have? How'd you do that?

[Robert Sherman]

Yeah, I mean, so we were told that we were getting a vehicle, and I envisioned, you know, a Humvee or something of the kind. Sure enough, it's a blue Honda Odyssey that rolls up, and it's supposed to have, you know, a minivan. It's supposed to have press indicators on the side of it. We didn't have those. So I'm watching our security guy writing press in duct tape on the side of this thing. It was not how I expected it to go. You learn pretty quick on the job.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I had one of those in El Salvador, but we rented it. Is that what you did? Is there a rent a car in Ukraine where you can get one of these things?

[Robert Sherman]

We borrowed it under a. You break it, you buy it. Pretense. Let's just put it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Borrowed it from who? No, from whom.

[Robert Sherman]

We borrowed it from a video production company that gave it to us, but they told us that the thing got hit by Russia. We were on the hook for it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, now, where do you eat? So you go in, and it's not like you're going to Taco Bell. I mean, you're in places that don't have a lot of facilities. You zipping around, you try not to get blown up. So what do you do for food?

[Robert Sherman]

That's whatever you can find. I mean, sometimes a gas station hot dog is as good as it gets. If they have coffee, you know, that is at a premium, especially in wartime. Ukraine in the middle of the wintertime. I mean, for the most part, there are a lot of Nights in which, you know, we were eating, you know, candy bars and bomb shelters every night. I mean, it was not the three course meals. Yeah, I mean, it was three square meals a day. Yeah.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And hotels where I was in Morazan, and you can look down up on a map. No hotels. I mean, no place to stay. Where did you guys stay?

[Robert Sherman]

We ended up finding an apartment that someone was willing to rent to us. And it's funny, because the first day that we were there, we got reported, and we woke up our first morning in Ukraine to three Ukrainian soldiers entering this apartment that we rented, guns drawn, because we were clearly outsiders there. So, I mean, everything was upside down.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And it was his apartment in Kiev.

[Robert Sherman]

This was in Ivano Franks in western Ukraine. So a smaller city.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, but it was near where the action was, right?

[Robert Sherman]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So with your crew, you got a cameraman, you got an interpreter, right?

[Robert Sherman]

Yeah, we had an interpreter.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You got to have those around, right? I had an interpreter, I had a cameraman, I had a sound man, I two man crew. So there were four when we went anywhere. Were there four when you went?

[Robert Sherman]

It was two of us. It was. It was me and a producer. We had a camp. We had a cameraman, and we had our fixer who was with. And we had security. So it was five.

[Bill O'Reilly]

The fixer would tell you, look, this is where you can go, where you can't go. They'd interpret and things like that, right?

[Robert Sherman]

Yeah, exactly.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And you paid this guy on a per diem, right, you. I paid him, absolutely. That's what I did, is stack of hundreds. And I'm paying Pedro, you know, every day. All right, then you go, because you. Your beat is the world. I mean, Robert Sherman's been everywhere. You go to the Middle east, you go to Israel, which is much more under control because you got the Israeli forces there. They know you're American, they know your credentialed. But it's still dangerous as hell because anything can happen at any time.

[Richard Painter]

Right?

[Robert Sherman]

Right, absolutely. I mean, especially in the early days in which the situation is moving so fluidly. It's a constantly dangerous environment. I mean, both of those, you have no idea what you're waking up to. That's the everyday fear that people are dealing with. They have no idea if this is their last day, what is coming, what missiles are coming, what weaponry.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, but that's an easier situation in which to report than Ukraine. Ukraine's a nightmare. I mean, just logistically, to get around, to know where the stuff is happening and all that. But Israel is a bunch of press there. It's a little more structured. And you got a bed every night. You got food. Right?

[Robert Sherman]

Right. Exactly. Bill, I apologize. We're getting paged for some breaking news right now that I'm actually going to have to run to now. I'm very, I'm very sorry, but they're calling us.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No problem. Let me give your book a plug. Lessons from the Front. Robert Sherman. I think it's a great Christmas gift. You go, Robert. You're doing a good job out there.

[Robert Sherman]

Appreciate it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Sure.

[Robert Sherman]

Thank you so much.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Thank you for listening to the no Spin News Weekend Edition. To watch the full episodes of the no spin news, visit billoriley.com and sign up to become a premium or concierge member. That's billoriley.com sign up and start watching today.