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Mike Slater
Foreign.
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Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly, here. You are listening to the O'Reilly Update. Coming up next, the News with Mike Slater.
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Mike Slater
Thank you, bill. It's Wednesday, February 26, 2025. Here's what's happening today in America. The cabinet meets spending bill advances, Ukrainian mineral deal finalized and an airport close call. That's all coming up. Then Bill's going to be here with your message of the day. But first, Trump has his first Cabinet meeting today, now that almost the entire Cabinet is put together. Also, Elon Musk will be there, although not officially in the Cabinet. The press secretary said Musk will be talking about Doge efforts and how all the Cabinet secretaries are identifying waste, fraud and abuse. In Trump's first term of office, he did not meet with his entire cabinet until June 12th of 2017. Here we are just a little over a month into his second term with his first full Cabinet meeting. Worth remembering on Doge. Harvard released a poll two days ago. 83% of Americans, including 76% of Democrats and 79% of independents, 83% overall, think we should balance the budget and believe we should do it by cutting government spending. The House Republicans passed a budget resolution that calls for, they say, $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and a $2 trillion reduction in federal spending over a decade. It was nearly party line 217 to 215. The only Republican was Thomas Massie voting against. And he voted against it because it didn't cut nearly enough, which it doesn't, by the way. But big win for Mike Johnson. Johnson, the speaker. Johnson canceled the spending vote last night and then a couple minutes later brought everyone back and they ended up just passing it. It was harder to get the 30 or so moderate Republicans who are in districts that Biden won. But one of them said she received a personal commitment from Mr. Trump to to save health care and make it better. Trump was the one who was able to get this across the finish line again at this time in his first term. Among Republicans, it was a plus 77 approval rating. Today it's even higher, plus 82. If you're a Republican congressman, you do not want to go against Donald Trump. There was another poll that said if the two disagree, who do you support, Donald Trump or the Republicans in Congress, 58% said Donald Trump. Only 22% said Congress. Donald Trump mentioned this two days ago at a meeting with the president of France that Ukraine and the United States are on the one yard line of a mineral rights deal. Ukraine would get the capital to mine their rare earth minerals and then we would get half the profits. The intent is to have Zelensky come to the White House to sign the final deal. Another airport close call. A Southwest plane was landing at Chicago's Midway Airport. It was just about to touch the ground when it pulled up because a private jet crossed right in front of it on its Runway. Two days ago, 94 passengers on a Delta plane had to jump out. The emergency slide crew noticed smoke just after takeoff. 35 minutes they were back on the ground. And last week, of course, that Delta plane flipped on its back when it landed in Toronto. I'm Mike Slater for the podcast Politics by faith. Bill O'Reilly with your message of the day next we finally beat Medicare. He's right.
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Bill O'Reilly
He did beat Medicaid, beat it to death.
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Unnamed Speaker
Joe Biden's legacy for seniors. He raided Medicare, made premiums skyrocket and drove up drug costs. Worse, the Biden pill penalty is already slashing the development of affordable drugs, forcing seniors to pay the price of Biden's failed policy. Biden broke Medicare, but President Trump can fix it. Call Congress and urge them to end the Biden pill penalty.
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Bill O'Reilly
Time now for the O'Reilly update. Message of the day on this Wednesday. Big gamble on the part of President Trump regarding Ukraine. As we have been reporting, the president is not condemning Vladimir Putin because he wants a ceasefire. And Putin can make that happen. No one else can. So instead of lambasting Bad Vlad, Mr. Trump is courting him for what he believes is the greater good, a stoppage of the fighting in Ukraine and a deal for the usa. It's risky, clear thinking. People know the Russian leader is a killer. I will vividly document that in my upcoming book, Confronting Evil. In fact, Putin, a tyrant, shares the COVID with Mao, Hitler and the Ayatollah Khomeini murderers row. But President Trump not only wants Putin to stop the killing in Ukraine, he's also trying to weaken the Russian, China, Iran alliance, obviously an important geopolitical strategy. Now, I don't know if appeasing Putin will work, but opposing him, mocking him, denigrating him, will definitely not stop the madness anytime soon. There is danger playing nice with this guy, but there's also a big potential reward. And that is what President Trump is after. I believe he may get it. I'm Bill O'Reilly. I approve the message by writing it. You can reach me, Billo reilly.com, billoriley.com, name in town if you wish to opine. All right, let's go to the mail. We got Frederick concierge member. Thank you, Frederick. The power propaganda, for the most part, is why folks voted for Kamala Harris. My cousins in the San Francisco Bay Area get propaganda every time they turn on their local news. I had to explain to my cousin that Elon Musk was not going to take her Social Security away. Yeah, but you know, that's pretty far fetched. Your cousin might want to up her intellectual game a little. Go to Jeanine's website. Dan Rosellep, Naples, Florida. O'Reilly, you told us the press is at war with Trump. Absolutely. The Wall Street Journal, certainly no friend of his. This morning they eviscerated doge claims of amounts saved. I get upset when our side is wrong. Well, I don't know what the hour is there. I don't have a side, all right, I'm here to watch out for you. Now, the Wall Street Journal, in my humble opinion, jumped it. You got to wait a while, give them a little time to come up with a clearer picture of government waste. That's fair. Lynn McKinley, El Paso, Texas. Bill, are all the people being laid off from government eligible for unemployment? No. If you take a buyout, which most of them are offered, then you're not. But if you just get axed, you are. You know, federal employees, like everybody else are in a workplace, they're not guaranteed a job. Mark Dawkins, Clay, Alabama, My wife and I started watching you again about a year ago, Bill. You got us through the election. And my question now involves scams like Stacey Abrams, 2 billion to green energy. Any way to get that money back? No. Once the money spent by the federal government, it's gone. Unless somebody commits a crime, then a judge could order restitution. But spent, it's spent. You're not going to claw it. Back in a moment. Something you might not know now. The O'Reilly update brings you something you might not. No. 38 years ago today, President Ronald Reagan faced growing criticism over a global scandal now known as the Iran Contra affair. Here is the story. The policy began in the early 1980s when the White House started selling weapons to the mullahs in Iran. In exchange, the ayatollah would pressure the leaders of Lebanon to release American hostages held by Hezbollah without any congressional oversight. Profits from the arms sale to Iran were then funneled to a Latin America rebel force known as the Contras, a group fighting the socialist government in Nicaragua. The covert operation was a blatant violation of both US and international law. The scheme was exposed to the public in 1986. Leaks from inside the White House revealed key figures, including National Security Council staffer Oliver north, had orchestrated the entire arms affair. Reagan himself denied any knowledge of the incident. In December 1986, Congress launched the Tower Commission, led by former Texas Senator John Tower, to investigate the Iran Contra situation. Two months later, the commission found President Reagan partially liable for the scandal because, quote, he fostered a lax managerial style and aloofness from policy detail, unquote. On March 4, 1987, President Reagan addressed the American people from the Oval Office.
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Ronald Reagan
And tonight I want to share with you my thoughts on these findings and report to you on the actions I am taking to implement the board's recommendations. First, let me say I take full responsibility for my own actions and for those of my administration. As angry as I may be about activities undertaken without my knowledge, I am still accountable for those activities.
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Bill O'Reilly
In the end, few White House officials were convicted of crimes, including national security aide Oliver North. None served any time in prison. Nearly all were pardoned by Reagan's successor, George H.W. bush. Back after this. Thank you for listening to the O'Reilly update. For more news and honest analysis, please go to billoreilly.com I am Bill O'Reilly. No spin, just facts. And always looking out for.