← Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis
Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis
The President’s Important Agenda, Eric Trump on His Family’s Fight to Save the Nation, Disney’s Handling of Jimmy Kimmel & Leland Vittert on Overcoming Autism
00:39:32
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- [00:00]
Eric Trump
Mint is still $15 a month for premium wireless.
- [00:03]
Bill O'Reilly
And if you haven't made the switch.
- [00:04]
Eric Trump
Yet, here are 15 reasons why you should. One, it's $15 a month. Two, seriously, it's $15 a month. Three, no big contracts. Four, I use it. Five, my mom uses it.
- [00:16]
Bill O'Reilly
Are you, are you playing me off?
- [00:18]
Eric Trump
That's what's happening, right? Okay, give it a try. @mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 per three month plan.
- [00:24]
Bill O'Reilly
$15 per month equivalent required. New customer offer first three months only. Then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra.
- [00:29]
Leland Vittert
See mintmobile.com foreign.
- [00:44]
Bill O'Reilly
Here. Welcome to the no Spin News. Tuesday, September 30, 2025 I believe it is years coming to a close fast. Stand up for your country. So who does President Trump listen to, really? Anybody? Anybody around him give him advice that he acts upon? Well, we have his son Eric Drupp on a couple of minutes. We'll ask him that question and a bunch of others. He's got a book out. But I really like to know who the president favors in the advice department at this point. Talking Boys memo is another hectic day for Mr. Trump. So he begins. Quantico, Virginia, that's the headquarters of the Marines. FBI is there, too, outside of D.C. of course. And he and secretary of war is not defense secretary anymore. Pete Hagseth telling the generals they can't be fat, got to be in shape. And no more political correctness and no more DEI and no more anything. Okay. And you know, anybody surprised by this, you shouldn't be. Donald Trump does not like the woke stuff and either does Secretary Haig. Seth, so I'm going to play you one sound bite on this. It's not that controversial. I'm looking to see if there's any subversion about this message and we'll have that tomorrow. But here's what the president said today. Go. We're bringing back a focus on fitness, ability, character and strength. And that's because the purposes of American military is not to protect anyone's feelings. It's to protect our republic. And it's the republic that we dearly love. It's to protect our country. We will not be politically correct when it comes to defending American freedom. And we will be a fighting and winning machine. Okay. So then the president goes back to the White House and makes an announcement that's fairly important about lowering drug prices. So this, particularly for senior citizens, is a big, big issue. And Trump has made a deal with Pfizer. There's going to be Some kind of Trump R X thing. You can get all this on the Internet and all of that, but you're going to be able to buy prescription drugs in particular for a lower price, according to President Trump. Roll it. You know, the United States is paying sometimes 10 times more than other countries for drugs. And a lot of excuses were made for that, but went on for many years. Many, many years. Decades. And it's not going on any longer. We're going to be paying the lowest price now. Well, we'll see. And I hate to use that cliche, we'll see. That's what all the pinheads on television. Oh, see? We'll see, we'll see. But I don't know. I mean, I don't know if it'll work or not. I think it might. And that's big. President Trump can slash those drug prices, but remember, he's on a clock. He doesn't have three years to do it. He's got one year to do it because the midterms loom. And that's for sure. Same thing with the food prices and the groceries and all that. Got a year quick. Now, in addition, the Gaza 20 point plan, and again, you can go and look at it. I don't have time to go over 20 points, but I'll summarize it for you. For you is in motion. And Hamas announced today that they're looking at it or whatever. Got to understand one thing. The Hamas terrorists that live in Gaza and control that area of Palestine, Hezbollah controls the West Bank. So there's two terror operations that have the Palestinian people, they're holding them hostage. Because if you're a Palestinian, you live in west bank, you live in Gaza and you say, hey, I don't like you, Hamas, you're dead. That's it. So the Hamas people run Gaza. They don't want to stop the fighting because then the money from Iran stops. If there were peace and Hamas terrorists are out of business. I open my book, confronting evil with the October 7th attack, which is coming up. Okay. And I put you right in the middle of that thing so you understand the mindset of evil. Hamas evil. That's how we open the book. But we put you right there. Hamas does not want to stop this. And there's not a lot of outside pressure on Hamas to stop it. So I'm not pessimistic, I'm agnostic. I don't know what the next step will be. Here's what I do know. This was a nice try by President Trump. And for those who hate him, particularly in the Jewish community. I mean, the man's trying. Biden never tried, ever. And Netanyahu is in a win, win position here. Netanyahu had to go along with this. But if Hamas rejects this, then Netanyahu is going to go in and kill them all. And that's going to mean a lot of civilians are going to get killed because the Hamas people hide behind and you know the drill. Okay? So Netanyahu either gets a deal or he gets to eliminate the rest of Hamas. No downside for him. Now, there are two main things within 72 hours of a peace agreement, a cease fire. All the hostages and the bodies of the dead hostages have to be released. 72 hours, okay? And then Gaza is to be rebuilt under an international commission headed by President Trump with an assist from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. So they're going to set up like a corporation. And Trump's vision has always been, and he ran this by me shortly after he was elected last November, to make it a tourist destination because it's right on the Mediterranean, and to have all this Arab investment money coming in from the Gulf to build these big hotels and to give a structure to the Palestinian people so they can earn a living. And it is a good vision. Okay? If you travel to the Middle east, there are resorts on the Red Sea. Alexandria, Virginia, is trying to ramp up in that area. Malta, the island of Malta in the Mediterranean, you can do that. Turkey's got a very nice tourist coastline, and that's Trump's vision. Now, whether any of it is going to happen, who knows? Because again, terrorists are terrorists. That's what they're named for. They hate Jews. They want to kill Jews. And as some memo. All right, so here's an update on federal authorities going to cities. Governor of Louisiana Jeff Landry has asked for a thousand National Guards people to be sent to Louisiana to fight crime. Now, why would the governor ask for that when he could do it? Can you answer that question? So Landry, Governor Landry, he could. He has control over Louisiana National Guard. He could do it. Why doesn't he? Why is he asking the feds? Because if he asks them and they say, okay, federal government pays for it. If he doesn't and he sends them in, state of Louisiana pays for it. Bet you didn't know that. Anyway, Landry has got a problem with New Orleans that's been perennial 50 years. If you know New Orleans as I do, it's a very segregated city. It's not segregated in an organized way, but, you know, there are like the Ninth Ward. Very, very dangerous places. A lot of drugs and a lot of tourists walking around. They're loaded on Bourbon Street. They get drunk and then they get rolled. They get mugged. And stats are there. I mean, Louisiana has a 45% higher crime rate than the rest of the country. That's pretty bad. 31% property crime. That means people whose houses and cars being broken into. Homicides are down in New Orleans. But still dangerous place. You got to watch it. It's the eighth most dangerous place in America according to US News and World Report survey. So the guard will be going down to Louisiana. I'm sure that Trump will okay it. Portland, not much going on because the federal authorities aren't there yet. But they're coming this week and then we'll see what antifa does. That's an antifa play in Portland. In Chicago, there's still a controversy. ICE is there rounding up. ICE says is criminal aliens. Of course, the Trump haters, the Democrats say no, they're sweeping up everybody. And there have been 16 arrests of protesters. Now, here's the rub. In Chicago, lots of people don't understand. This isn't the local police arresting you here. These people are being arrested by federal authorities. You have to go to federal court. That's a lot different than local court. Let's just throw it out. And won't prosecute you. Federal court will. So if you're a protester, you want to get arrested, you better be careful. Now Pritzker JD the worst governor by far in America. He's still screaming about everything. Roll it. Donald Trump and Kristi Noem and Tom Homan said they were targeting the worst of the worst criminals.
- [11:21]
Eric Trump
They lied.
- [11:22]
Bill O'Reilly
And they continue to lie. 60% of the individuals that ICE has taken in Illinois this year have no criminal convictions of any kind. ICE is running around the loop harassing people for not being white. Just a year ago, that was illegal in the United States. They're not being white. And what Pritzker fails to mention is that the majority, vast majority of people who have been detained in Chicago have orders to be removed. They have removal orders signed by judges. So they may not be criminals, but there's a piece of paper going, you're not to stay in the United States. Prince can never tell you that. I mean, not an honest man. Power politics and the people behind the headlines. Our country's back. We're really back. Candid conversations with the people making the rules and changing the game. Can you see yourself as president one day? I don't think about that. We just had an invasion over our southern border. My husband is in the corner, for the record, pumping his fist right now that you're asking this question. This is real talk with lawmakers, newsmakers and political disruptors.
- [12:44]
Eric Trump
I think Elon's port probably pinches more of a Viking.
- [12:49]
Bill O'Reilly
I think I'm more of a ninja. Join me, Miranda Devine, host of podforce One, for insightful talk, news making moments and behind the scenes peeks at what makes America's greatest minds tick. Find podforceone on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Your ratings are very good and I want to congratulate you.
- [13:14]
Eric Trump
Hey, it's Sean Spicer from the Sean Spicer show podcast reminding you to tune into my show every day to get your daily dose inside the world of politics.
- [13:22]
Leland Vittert
President Trump and his team are shaking.
- [13:24]
Eric Trump
Up Washington like never before. And we're here to cover it from all sides, especially on the topics the mainstream media won't. So if you're a political junkie on a late lunch or getting ready for the drive home, new episodes of the Sean Spicer show podcast drop at 2pm East coast every day. Make sure you tune in. You can find us at Apple Podcasts.
- [13:43]
Leland Vittert
Spotify or wherever you get your podcast.
- [13:48]
Bill O'Reilly
Anyway, that's an ice driven thing in Chicago. So we are going to monitor this. This is a big story. This is a big story that the federal government is now controlling crime in local situations and immigration. And the left wing TV media is absolutely going absolute nuts. They're going crazy raging about it, which you would expect, of course. Joining us now is a man who knows the president of the United States pretty well because he's his father. Eric Trump is a new book. It's out October 14th, under siege, my Family's Fight to Save Our Nation. And he joins us now from Palm Beach, Florida. All right, here's my first question for you. Does your dad listen to you when you give him an opinion?
- [14:47]
Eric Trump
He listens to everybody when you give an opinion. That's amazing thing about Donald Trump. I saw this bill starting on construction sites when I was a little kid. He'd go up to the electrician who was putting an outlet in the wall. He would ask him his opinion, right? Then he'd go to the head of the construction company, ask his opinion, and ultimately he would formulate his own based on kind of the opinions of a lot of people and who he thought was credible and what great ideas kind of, you know, rose to the top. And it's one of the things that makes the guy amazing.
- [15:11]
Bill O'Reilly
All right, so I assume that you discuss politics with your father, Correct?
- [15:18]
Eric Trump
Often.
- [15:19]
Bill O'Reilly
And then your wife Laura, very outspoken. She. You guys discuss. What percentage of the time do you think he listens to you? 80, 40?
- [15:32]
Eric Trump
I called him the morning of. You know, and I'm in a unique position. You know, he asked me to run the company when I was 33 years old. And I want run one of the great real estate empires anywhere in the world. But, you know, I called him the morning of November 6th. I go, Pops, I love you to death. I've been there since you came down the escalator. I've stood on that stage every single time. I've done thousands of speeches. And I'm gonna get the hell out of politics at this point. I'm. I'm retiring. Congratulations. We won the Super Bowl. And you know, you're going to do a great job for the country. I'm going to do a great job for the company. But no, listen, there's. There's certain people in his inner circle that he listens to. I express my opinions all the time. And, you know, we certainly share the same DNA in terms of how we think about these issues. I mean, you're talking about crime in these cities. Look what a great job he did in Washington, D.C. cleaned up the crime in about two seconds flat. And then he's walking around the parks talking about how he wants to replace the grass to make it look beautiful, to make Washington D.C. look like one of our golf courses. I think that's a beautiful thing for the country and a beautiful thing for the nation.
- [16:24]
Bill O'Reilly
Yeah, it would be, but last time I was there, I got sprinkler on me because now I'm just. Okay, now look, I'm going to ask you this question. You don't have to answer it. I don't want to embarrass you for your father, but do you ever disagree with him? You ever say, hey, dad, maybe that's a little bit too much as you're doing here? Maybe we don't want to take over Canada. Maybe that's planned.
- [16:52]
Eric Trump
Bill, in all fairness, I love the idea of taking over Canada. I also like the idea of taking Greenland. Right. There are other countries you can. You can keep that are neighbors of ours, but. No, I will. I do think Canada should be the 51st state. I certainly think green. Listen, I think, you know, joking aside, I think, you know, every. Every child has probably slight disagreements, you know, with, With. With parents and philosophies and other things. But I've got to say, this guy's the most transformational person. I mean, the reason I stood on the stage is not Bill. The reason I've stood on the stage is not because I need this job, believe me. It's because I care. Deep. I think the guy's doing a phenomenal job, as you saw today when he talked to every single general about not having Admiral Rachel Levine as the Secretary of Health and Human Services or whatever the hell she was when she couldn't do a pull up and having a guy like Pete Hegseth in there, who's strong, who's charismatic, who delivers a strong message, who's actually inspirational. You see the recruiting in our military going through the roof because of him. I know. I'm very proud of everything he's done. Really, I am.
- [17:51]
Bill O'Reilly
Okay. Now, you know that he talks to me occasionally and I'm not as bullish as you are. And I always, no matter what who it is, when they ask me my opinion, and I never volunteer opinion to the President, he has to ask me. I'm not intruding on that level. But when you say that you're in favor of annexing Canada as a 51st state, you know that's not going to happen. And number two, tourism is down because Canadians are so teed off they're not visiting here. So there was a downside to that thing that would never happen. That's what I'm talking about here, that kind of a discussion.
- [18:34]
Eric Trump
Yeah, I don't think so. I mean, I think if you kept a couple of the cities, I think Canada would probably go for us by about 85%. Right. I just got back from Canada last week. I was. I was in the Yukon. I was in Whitehorse. And I can't tell you how much love there is coming out of Canada. But listen, irrespective, I think. All right, first of all, Bill, we'd be unstoppable in the Olympics. Let's just start there, especially the Winter Olympics. I think that'd be a great benefit to taking Canada.
- [18:59]
Bill O'Reilly
You know, I've been to Whitehorse myself. There's eight people there. But it's really an adventure to go. All right, now. Getting revenge. So your whole book is. And it's a very interesting book, and I hope people check it out, that your family has just been battered for the past nine years. And I know that I'm an eyewitness to that because I did the first interview with the President when he declared his candidacy, as you may remember. And I've Seen the Trump hatred evolve into hysteria in this country. So I'm perfectly understanding the situation. But others may not know how intense it has been for your family. But there is a point where a revenge play, as I just pointed out, in Canada with a lower tourism now, might come back to hurt the country. So you got to pick your targets now, Comey, I'm fine with Comey. I don't know whether you read my column on Sunday, but I'm fine with indicting him. I got no problem with that. And I'm fine if he gets acquitted, if a jury acquits him. That's our system. But he's a bad guy. I can document his badness and he should be held accountable. But some others, I think you got to be careful that you don't want to go too far in the retribution revenge area. Am I wrong?
- [20:30]
Eric Trump
So. So, no, you're not wrong at all. Bill, how long you've known me for? Probably 20 years, right? You've seen me. I became the most appenant person in American history. I had 112 subpoenas. And I.
- [20:39]
Bill O'Reilly
That's amazing. I didn't know that. I did not know that. Right.
- [20:43]
Eric Trump
And you know why? And Bill, you know why they did that? Because you know, my father had constitutional protections being. Yeah, the. The President of the United States. Guess who didn't have constitutional protections? His son, who ran his entire empire and everything that he had ever built. They impeached my father twice. They raided our home. They weaponized the doj. They weaponized the FBI. They took my father off of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. They gag ordered him more times than you can count. I was getting a subpoena every single day. I was in a deposition every single day. They took him off the ballot in Colorado. They took him off the ballot in Maine. They fined us $560 million for never missing a loan payment and being a perfect company. They did everything they could to break up our family. They to de bank us, to de platform us. I mean, that's the whole concept of under siege. And despite the fact that we had what, negative 98% media coverage, meaning favorability wise toward our family, toward my father, toward the movement, we beat these guys. And that's under siege, Bill. And so when the liberals cry about Comey, who very apparently lied in front of Congress, lied to Ted Cruz. Right. I mean, I think we all saw it. And, and by the way, this is an FBI director who is literally leaking memos to the, to the FBI.
- [21:57]
Bill O'Reilly
Let the court, let the Justice Department prove that before we convict them here. But what's fascinating and beyond any challenge is that you were hauled into court, as you say, almost every day. Who paid for that? Who paid for your attorney? Your family paid for that.
- [22:15]
Eric Trump
It probably costs us $400 million in legal fees because they wanted to make up sham cases. Look at the Russia hoax.
- [22:23]
Leland Vittert
I was the guy that got the.
- [22:24]
Eric Trump
Call from the FBI saying, hey, I hear you have secret servers in the basement of Trump Tower communicating directly with the Kremlin. And guess what, Bill? We didn't have any secret servers in the basement of Trump Tower. We're largely a cloud based computer.
- [22:36]
Bill O'Reilly
So you don't have to convince. You don't have to convince me or my audience that they went after you in a unprecedented way. Only Aaron Burr, who deserved everything he got from Thomas Jefferson. He's the only one close to what you went through. So you got Don Jr. Who's a simpatico with you. I mean, it's the same thing. But Ivanka, your sister, very smart. She's kind of withdrawn from all this. She got out. Why?
- [23:08]
Eric Trump
Well, I think Ivanka wants to be a mom. She lived in. She lived in Washington for four years. She battled like hell. Ivanka is an amazing person. I'm incredibly close. I mean, I think, you know how close our entire family is. And, you know, I think she got, you know, kind of done with the political charade. Frankly, I did as well. The one thing I think I needed to materialize for not only my kids, but also for history and for everybody who got attacked in the maga movement was exactly what I wrote in this book. I mean, what they tried to do, how they tried to do it, the way they came after us, you know, the 99% that no one actually saw on the front page of the New York Times. And. And so, you know, honestly, I kind of got out of politics too, once. Once we won, you know, in November 5th.
- [23:48]
Bill O'Reilly
Yeah, I know. You and Don.
- [23:49]
Eric Trump
June, I retired from politics because there's no place for me to run.
- [23:52]
Bill O'Reilly
But you really haven't because your wife's involved and you wrote this book. Final question. Have any of the networks invited you on to talk about book?
- [24:01]
Eric Trump
Yeah, I mean, listen, we went to number one on Amazon almost instantaneously in every category. And by the way, I'm right next to you. Your book's doing phenomenal. So congratulations, my friend.
- [24:09]
Bill O'Reilly
Thank you.
- [24:09]
Eric Trump
You know, shockingly, shockingly, they have. I mean, I can't imagine New York Times is gonna.
- [24:14]
Bill O'Reilly
Yeah, no, I can't imagine New York.
- [24:16]
Eric Trump
Times is gonna be a thrill to put me at the top of the list, which I clearly deserve, and I think the numbers will get me there. But. But no, I mean, listen, CNN was one of the first to call it.
- [24:25]
Bill O'Reilly
You're gonna have to fight it. Yeah, you're gonna have to fight it out with Kamala. But what network invited you on to talk about your book?
- [24:32]
Eric Trump
Well, I mean, I think I've gotten probably outcoming from just about every network I listen. The main ones. Am I. Am I waiting for abc? No, I can't imagine they're gonna reach. That's what I tell you. The amount of. The amount of coverage for the book has been amazing.
- [24:45]
Bill O'Reilly
And. No, I know. You know, I mean, you're a big guy.
- [24:47]
Eric Trump
It's going to. It's going to hurt a lot of feelings, Bill, and it deserves to hurt a lot of feelings, because a lot of feelings deserve to be hurt on that side. I mean, the media in this country is, you know, better than anybody in Europe, you know? You know, they were. They were the, you know, PR arm of the Democratic Party for the last 15 years, and they've lost all their independence, and it's why, you know, independent voices like yours has really kind of.
- [25:08]
Bill O'Reilly
Yeah, it's been longer than 15 years. About. About 30 years. Yeah. All right. The book is Under Siege, will be out October 14th, which you can, you know, order it in advance on Amazon. That will send a message, and we appreciate it, Eric, you're welcome anytime here. Thanks very much.
- [25:25]
Eric Trump
Thanks, Bill.
- [25:26]
Bill O'Reilly
Okay, let's go to YouTube. Having to pay the president $24.5 million. So this is the fifth time. Hey, Mike Baker here, host of the President's Daily Brief podcast. If you want straight talk on national security, foreign policy, and the biggest global stories going on of the day, this is the show for you. We publish twice a day, Monday through Friday, once in the morning, again in the afternoon, and on the weekend, we go longer with the PDB Situation Report with excellent guests including national security insiders and foreign policy experts. Check us out on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. Also on our YouTube channel at PresidentsDaily Brief.
- [26:12]
Eric Trump
I'm Piers Morgan, the host of the.
- [26:13]
Leland Vittert
Piers Morgan Uncensored podcast.
- [26:16]
Eric Trump
We do big interviews and we do.
- [26:18]
Bill O'Reilly
Big debates about whatever's getting people talking.
- [26:21]
Eric Trump
We make news, we make noise, and.
- [26:23]
Leland Vittert
We make a little bit of trouble, too. If you want to see what all.
- [26:26]
Eric Trump
The fuss is about, you can listen.
- [26:28]
Leland Vittert
To Piers Morgan uncensored on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get.
- [26:33]
Eric Trump
Your Podcasts.
- [26:37]
Bill O'Reilly
That a big media operation has paid Donald Trump a lot of money. This One was that YouTube took Trump off the band after a January six riot and the Trump Organization sued and YouTube settled. 24.5. I. I did not know this, but the money is going to go to a national trust to benefit the National Mall in D.C. and some improvements to the White House. That's where this money is going to go. Other people who have settled, ABC News, Meta x Paramount Global, YouTube just settled. Okay. Two are outstanding. The New York Times, the Trump Organization is suing them. And the Epstein suit against the Wall Street Journal. So Jimmy Kimmel, he got 6 million to watch him after he came back, and now he's dropped 64% of that. That's not a slap at Kimmel. Anybody would. I mean, lawless curiosity. And then he's down, not quite to where he was below 2 million, but he will be soon. He averaged 1.6 million. That's about what Jimmy's going to do. But here's the real story here. I told you last week, one week ago, September 23rd, that this wasn't about freedom of speech or, or car, the FCC. None of this Kimmel stuff was being reported accurately. What this was about, Kimmel's reinstatement by Disney, ABC was threats, okay? Threats from the entertainment industry against Disney. Here's what I said. Go. ABC is a big loser here. And the Disney Corporation, they're evaporating right before our eyes. Is there one person in the 77 million who voted for Donald Trump liking the Walt Disney Company? 1. And the reason they folded Disney is because the ACLU wrote a letter that was signed by 400 entertainment people. And that's why Kimmel was put back. Yesterday the Wall Street Journal picked up on my reporting and wrote this quote. Bob Iger's phone was buzzing. The message was clear. You made a mistake. Hollywood's most powerful agents, including Creative Artists Agency managing partner Brian Lord, senior leaders at William Morris and United Talent Agency were warning the Disney boss and his top lieutenants. Taking Jimmy Kimmel off the air had damaged his legacy and his company's reputation. Top talent, they said, were considering not working with Disney. And that is why Bob Iger, the CEO of put Kimmel back. I had it first. I reported it first. I know what I'm talking about. There's another book out to that you should know about. It's called Born Lucky. Okay? A dedicated father, a grateful son. My Journey with Autism, written by my pal Leland Vittert, who works at News Nation. I was on his program last night. He always gets big ratings when he puts me on. That's why Lillian does it. But Leland was born with autism, and it's a harrowing story. I read it, the book, I blurred the book because it gives hope. This book gives hope to millions of American parents in the same situation. May not be autism, but disabilities with children. Almost every parent has to deal with this somehow, somewhere. Leland Vitter joins us now from New York City. So the book's out today. Congrats on that. It's number 20 on Amazon right now. After this interview, it'll zoom probably to number one. It's a really good book, Leland. And you know me. I wouldn't say that if it weren't. We did a special on Sunday night on News Nation. You can access that on News Nation and on billow reilly.com it's well worth watching. But the first question is for you. Your father is the hero of the book. He saved you. But he didn't want me to interview him with a book. Why?
- [31:08]
Leland Vittert
He doesn't like being called a hero. He's very uncomfortable with it, Bill. And he says that he was just doing what any loving father would do, which is try to help his son and do everything he could and everything in his power. And the stories in Born Lucky are that of him working on an hourly basis to keep me from falling apart because of the bullying and the isolation and the difficulties I was going through, but also to adapt me to the world, to teach me the social skills and emotional interaction that comes so easily to most everyone that I didn't understand in any way, shape or form. And in Born Lucky, we take you through those lessons.
- [31:52]
Bill O'Reilly
Now, how old were you, if you can remember, how old were you when the bullying started because you were different from all of the other kids?
- [32:01]
Leland Vittert
And when, you know, it started when I was, when I was 4, 5, 6, 7, as soon as kids interacted with each other, I didn't fit in. It was very simple. But I want to just follow up on what you asked and just finish the question about what with my dad. The reason this book is Bills, because I said to him, I'm gonna write this, and if you don't like it, I'm not gonna put it out. And before I turned it into HarperCollins, I handed him the manuscript and he read it. And he was very uncomfortable with it because it's so personal. It is the deepest and darkest parts of my life. And his emotions, it's some really emotional stuff. And he was very uncomfortable. And I said, how about this, dad? If when I was diagnosed at 5, the woman who diagnosed me hadn't said, there's nothing you could do. She hadn't said, he's just the way he is and we don't really understand what's happening in his mind. But instead it handed you Born Lucky. What would you have thought? He said, I would have read it every week because it would have given me hope that I could make an enormous difference in your life and how to do it.
- [33:04]
Bill O'Reilly
No newspaper is more iconic than the New York Post, so why not start your day with me telling you our best stories? I'm Caitlin Becker, host of the New York Postcast. Every weekday morning, I'll break down the headlines that matter to you and the stories you're going to want to talk to your friends about. It's a mix of politics, business, pop culture, basically everything you expect from the New York Post. Ask your smart speaker to play the NY Postcast podcast, listen and subscribe on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, the the narrative of the book and the reason it's born Lucky is that Leland's nickname is Lucky. And the reason his nickname is Lucky is because he almost died at birth because he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his throat. Now, I don't want to give it any more away. I want people to read the book. But you experience an enormous amount of pain from maybe age 5 all the way through to college when you went to Northwestern. But you were diagnosed as having a very high IQ academically, all right, you could absorb information, but on the social front, you were not able to communicate with other kids. Is that about it?
- [34:23]
Leland Vittert
Yeah, that's true. Although also when they did this IQ test, there were parts of my IQ that were very high and parts that were, in the parlance of the day, mentally retarded. I had a 70 point IQ spread between the two halves of the test. 20 points represents a learning disability. So they said to my parents, we've never seen a kid like this. We've never seen this kind of spread. And what that meant was I had severe problems learning, writing, articulating myself, these issues. And my dad said, there will be no special accommodations. I didn't get extra time on tests. I didn't get into special classes. I didn't get a quiet room to take my test or to study in any of that kind of stuff because my dad said, I have to adapt you to the world. I can't adapt the world to you because if I Do you're going to not only define yourself by this issue, but you're going to use it as a crutch. If you use it as a crutch in school, you're going to want to use it as a crutch later in.
- [35:18]
Bill O'Reilly
Life that he wanted to toughen you up. You were going through basic training to be, I don't want to use the word normal, but a regular person. Your father actually, your father actually quit his job so he could be there with you throughout the days. He actually walked away from his profession. Right?
- [35:40]
Leland Vittert
He did. And look, you know, inborn Lucky, you know, the day that a teacher in front of the entire art class, because I wasn't Picasso said, hey, look, Lucky, you know, if my dog was as ugly as you, I'd shave its ass and make it walk backwards. It was my dad waiting at the driveway at 4:20 every night to put me back together, which he did every day. And he, he ended up crying by himself in the living room oftentimes after he'd said goodnight to me. But I think, Bill, what you're getting at is an important question because people can easily read Born Lucky or see the show here and say, hey, look, it's great that Vidard's dad quit his job. He was an entrepreneur. Great that he turned into a cable news anchor. I asked my dad, hey look, dad, what would you have done if you couldn't quit your job? He said, I would have worked the night shift and been there in the morning when you left for school and slept and been there when you got home. He said, I knew your only chance was me being there and me helping you because you were all I, you know, I was all meaning, you know, my dad was the only thing I had.
- [36:43]
Bill O'Reilly
You know, it's an amazing book, an amazing story, but again, the reason that it's so important. And Leland will tell you then how he got into broadcast journalism and how he worked for Fox News in the Middle East. Very dangerous assignment. And then now he's one of the main anchors at News Nation. He goes through that. But the real importance nationally for this book is anybody with a child who's having difficulty will get hope from reading this book. And that is very, very rare. So very good for you to write this book. Your father for obviously a hero. I know he doesn't want to hear it again. There is a documentary. You can go to News nation. Was it newsnation.com and they'll just punch something. We have it on billoriley.com as well. So Leland very good. It's going to do very well and we really appreciate it.
- [37:41]
Eric Trump
Thanks, Bill.
- [37:41]
Leland Vittert
Appreciate it.
- [37:42]
Bill O'Reilly
Onward. All right. I'm going to take a quick break. We've had a good show here, a couple of interesting interviews, and we'll be back with Final THOUGHT in a moment. Here is the final thought of the day. October 9th, Thursday night, 8 Eastern Time, Q and A live for Concierge Premium members on Confronting Evil. So my co author, Josh Hammer going to make an appearance with me. We'll answer your questions. We'll have a good time, and we want you to submit your questions@billoriley.com live billoriley.com live October 9, 8pm Eastern Time. Concierge and Premium members, if you're not a member, please sign up. Get humongous discounts on all our stuff and Confronting Evil Free or any of my other books. What more can we do? It's going to be a rollicking good time. Okay. That is it for us today. Hope you enjoyed the program. I'm Bill O'Reilly. We'll see you again tomorrow.