Bill O’Reilly on Confronting Evil and Bill Maher on Kimmel’s Return to Late Night

Summary

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The Stephen A. Smith Show

Episode: Bill O’Reilly on Confronting Evil and Bill Maher on Kimmel’s Return to Late Night

Date: September 25, 2025
Host: Stephen A. Smith (with Co-host/Commentator)
Notable Guests: Bill O’Reilly, Bill Maher

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Episode Overview

In this politically charged and highly topical episode, Stephen A. Smith continues to flex his political muscles on Straight Shooter, diving deep into recent media controversies, free speech debates, the current state of American politics, and the rise of what he and his guests refer to as "evil" in society. Smith navigates interviews and call-in discussions with his signature blend of independence, bluntness, and strategic insight.

Key focal points include Jimmy Kimmel’s controversial suspension and return to late night TV, government and media overreach narratives, polarization, hypocrisy in political discourse, effective leadership, and candid conversations with Bill O’Reilly and Bill Maher about culture, free speech, and the future of the country.

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Table of Contents

• Opening Theme: Independence and Principle
• Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension: Media, Government, and Free Speech
• Donald Trump and Political Strategy
• Callers on Candidates, Partisanship, and Everyday Concerns
• Interview: Bill O’Reilly on "Confronting Evil" (23:37-45:48)
• Leadership, Hypocrisy, and Political Cynicism
• Interview: Bill Maher on Media, Democrats, and Political Reality (77:10-90:38)
• Late Segment: More Listener Calls and Final Thoughts

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Opening Theme: Independence and Principle

Stephen A. Smith opens reflecting on the fallout from voicing unpopular opinions and the loneliness that comes with holding independent views:

• He’s lost friends due to his willingness to speak his mind on political issues.
• Reiterates commitment to non-monolithic, non-partisan thinking, "I'm going to be me..." (03:49).

Key Quote:

"It could be a very, very lonely existence when you decide to stand on certain principles... when I think about the issues we're going to talk about today... people want you to have monolithic thinking..." — Stephen A. Smith (02:08-02:54)

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Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension: Media, Government, and Free Speech

The Incident

• Jimmy Kimmel was taken off-air for four days after remarks post-Charlie Kirk's assassination.
• Protests followed, with subscriber backlash and media attention.

Media and Political Backlash

• Howard Stern defends Kimmel and denounces government interference (05:18):

  "When the government says, I'm not pleased with you so we're going to orchestrate a way to silence you, it's the wrong direction for our country." — Howard Stern (05:30)

• Concerns about government overreach under the Trump administration, especially with the Pentagon trying to pre-screen information.

• Smith and team highlight hypocrisy: When Tucker Carlson was pulled, or liberal administrations pressured social media, was outrage consistent?

Stephen A. on Hypocrisy:

"...if you are able to point to the other side doing the same thing... then it becomes a bit more alarming... hypocrisy comes into play." (08:00)

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Donald Trump and Political Strategy

Smith analyzes Trump's political resilience and the persistent focus on him by opponents:

• Despite legal battles and scandals, Trump retains the young vote, black vote, and even wins swing states and possibly a historic popular vote.
• Criticizes the narrative that attacking Trump equates to attacking his voters (11:12).
• Stresses the need for strategy, not just outrage, from Democrats and progressives.

Quote:

"He was still allowed to run for president. And he was still allowed to secure the Republican nominee, the GOP nominee. And he was still allowed to ultimately win the presidency..." — Stephen A. Smith (10:45)

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Callers on Candidates, Partisanship, and Everyday Concerns

[18:04-20:59]

• Mark from Wisconsin: Worried about who to support, not sold on Gavin Newsom.

  • Smith endorses Josh Shapiro (PA) and Wes Moore (MD) as his favorites, criticizes Newsom's record on affordability and business climate.

  Quote:

  "He looks so presidential. Right? ...but when you are in office, you have to say no sometimes, and it doesn't seem to be his gift." — Stephen A. Smith (19:17)

• Adam from Chicago: Argues for bridging communication gaps and shared facts.

  • Smith counters with realism: Americans vote based on personal need, not deep policy analysis.

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Interview: Bill O’Reilly on "Confronting Evil" (23:37-45:48)

Focus: O’Reilly’s book and worldview on evil in modern society.

Defining Evil and Its Rise

• O’Reilly: "If you hurt another human being intentionally... and have no remorse... that's evil." (24:12)
• Cites the rise of public disorder, narcotics, and violence in America’s major cities as evidence.
• Puts Putin on his book’s cover to signal the current global crisis.

Evaluating Presidents

• O’Reilly asserts no president in his lifetime has been "evil," not even Trump or Biden, though Biden is "the second worst president" (29:20).
  • "He was lucky he got second because the Civil War is pretty big. But Biden was...boy, he was bad." (29:20.

On Trump, Putin, and Changing Threats

• Trump contained Putin during his first term; now Putin is "a flat-out sociopath."
• O’Reilly gave Trump his book to warn him about Putin's current dangerousness.
• China is described as the top geopolitical threat.

Quote:

"If Russia uses a nuclear weapon, then everybody in the world suffers, including China..." — Bill O’Reilly (34:56)

On Jimmy Kimmel and Free Speech

• O’Reilly argues government should have standards for broadcast networks using public airwaves; says Kimmel crossed lines by making partisan, inflammatory comments.

• Critiques Kimmel’s partisan skew and lack of ideological diversity on his show.

  Quote:

  "Kimmel is the violator of free speech. He's not the victim..." — Bill O’Reilly (41:01)

On Kamala Harris and Democratic Politics

• O’Reilly dismisses Harris’s book attacks as attempts to sell books, calls her political career over. Says, "If she were president right now, we'd all be in so much trouble. Oh, my God." (43:43)

On His Book's Adaptation

• Confronting Evil is being adapted into a TV series. (44:15)

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Leadership, Hypocrisy, and Political Cynicism

• Smith highlights hypocritical shifts in positions by politicians and regulators (FCC, both under Trump and prior Biden admin).
• Sees polarization as aggravated by both left and right—calls for effective, adult leadership.
• Returns to his theme of non-partisanship: supportive of both liberal and conservative candidates based on issue, not label.

Quote:

"I don't trust none of them [politicians]... the American people have been used as pawns for far too long." — Stephen A. Smith (53:11)

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Interview: Bill Maher on Media, Democrats, and Political Reality (77:10-90:38)

Smith and Maher have their expected sharp, comedic, and candid rapport.

On Kimmel and the Bubble

• Maher clarifies: Kimmel didn’t insult Charlie Kirk but went after MAGA; says late night shows are failing because they dismiss half the country. (77:40)

  Quote:

  "They arrogantly dismiss half the country. They don't speak to them, let alone for them. And that's a problem." — Bill Maher (77:40)

On Free Speech and Political Violence

• Maher sees both left and right as guilty of undermining free speech values.

  "Once you start with, yeah, but you know, what he said was terrible. I don't care. Irrelevant. ...we don't shoot each other in this country." (79:54)

On Trump, Democrats, and Political Strategy

• Maher is most alarmed by Trump now "doing it"—removing officials, weaponizing government.

• Says Democrats need a true outsider, a "ghost brand" relaunch: "People have lost faith in the Democratic Party for very good reasons." (84:34)

• Praises Gavin Newsom’s talents but doubts any far-left figure could win nationally.

  "I'm not a Democrat now. I'm an independent. I don't have a home, a pucks on both your houses because what has been delivered to my children and to my grandchildren nobody should feel good about." — Crystal, caller (93:29)

• Warns Republicans may cling to power regardless of vote outcome.

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Late Segment: More Listener Calls and Final Thoughts

• Continued themes: Voters’ weariness with polarization (“I feel like you are the adult in the room...”), fears about generational leadership, lack of strategic vision by the left, the alienation of the middle.
• Smith repeatedly calls for adults in the room and for both parties to stop "using the American public as pawns."
• Takes on the Israel-Gaza issue, noting its complexity and dangers of incomplete narratives.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|--------------|-------| | 05:30 | Howard Stern | "When the government says, I'm not pleased with you so we're going to orchestrate a way to silence you, it's the wrong direction for our country." | | 24:12 | Bill O’Reilly| "If you hurt another human being intentionally, you know you're hurting them, and then you have no remorse. That is evil." | | 41:01 | Bill O’Reilly| "Kimmel is the violator of free speech. He's not the victim..." | | 77:40 | Bill Maher | "They arrogantly dismiss half the country. They don't speak to them, let alone for them. And that's a problem." | | 79:54 | Bill Maher | "We don't shoot each other in this country. And anybody who said anything that was mocking his death or anything like that, abhorrent, but not illegal." | | 84:34 | Bill Maher | "People have lost faith in the Democratic Party for very, very good reasons..." | | 93:29 | Crystal, caller| "I'm not a Democrat now. I'm an independent. I don't have a home, a pucks on both your houses because what has been delivered to my children and to my grandchildren nobody should feel good about." |

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Episode Structure, Key Timestamps

• 00:51–03:49 Opening, show purpose, Stephen A. informs listeners about independence and recent fallout
• 04:57–06:15 Howard Stern clip about Kimmel’s suspension
• 08:00–11:34 Smith on Trump, political strategy, and monolithic thinking
• 18:04–21:02 Callers discuss presidential choices, Newsom, and everyday voter concerns
• 23:37–45:48 Bill O'Reilly interview: confronting evil, U.S. leadership/presidents, Trump, Putin, free speech
• 50:13–54:57 Smith on partisanship, hypocrisy, independence, and media
• 77:10–90:38 Bill Maher interview: late night TV, Trump, media partisanship, future of Democrats
• 91:10–98:54 Listener calls: polarization, strategic vision, generational anxiety, Israel-Gaza complexity

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Tone & Style

• Candid, fiery, and strategic. Stephen A. maintains his signature mix of sharp analysis, relatable language, and unvarnished opinions.
• Direct engagement with tough subjects: "What are you gonna do? ... Think about strategy. How are you going to beat him?" (59:01)
• Atmosphere in the interviews: frank, mutual respect, with playful banter (e.g., Maher and Stephen A. on running for president).

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Summary Takeaways

• Free Speech & Media: The episode uses the Kimmel scandal to lay bare contradictions on both sides of the aisle regarding censorship, government overreach, and inconsistent standards.
• Polarization & Hypocrisy: Smith and guests argue that both the right and the left have at times abused power or principles, leaving American voters feeling used and disillusioned.
• Leadership & Strategy: There’s a clarion call for the emergence of "adults in the room," for real strategy over venting, and for leaders who can unite, not just inflame.
• Voters & the Middle: The podcast and its callers underscore the longing for pragmatic, independent thinking—most Americans are not polarized extremists but practical centrists.
• Future Uncertain: Both Maher and O'Reilly, as well as Smith, express deep concerns about the future of the country, the Democratic Party’s viability, and the Republican Party’s loyalty to power.

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Closing

Stephen A. leaves listeners with an open line (866-967-6887), encouraging real dialogue, promising more of the same energetic, hard-hitting explorations on politics, media, and what’s next for America—always, as he says, "Straight Shooter with Stephen A."

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Transcript

[Narrator]

The Golden Bachelor is finally back. This season our leading man is 66 year old Mel Owens, father of two and former NFL star looking for his second chance at love. And the women are in a league of their own. Ranging in age from 59 to 77, these fearless women are hoping to make a connection with Mel and prove that you're never too old to fall in love. The Golden Bachelor all new Wednesdays at 9, 8 Central on ABC and stream next day on Hulu.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Straight Shooter with Stephen A.

[Co-host/Commentator]

What's up everybody? Welcome to the latest edition of Street.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Straight Shooter with yours truly, Stephen A. Over SiriusXM airwaves POTUS radio channel 124. Number to call up as always is 866-967-6887. That's 866-967-6889 and of course 86696 POTUS is a simpler way to go about it. I could not wait. I actually have to confess to you that I'm upset that I had to wait a full week to do another show. I thoroughly enjoyed my debut Last last Wednesday, September 17th is the first time that I've ever hosted my own political show. Can't thank Sirius XM enough for the support that they have given me. First class all the way. Some exceptional, exceptional people working for this company and I can't thank them enough. I can't thank you all the listeners who tuned in and sent me comments throughout the week for your love and support for this show. I thank you from the bottom of my heart and keep it coming. And I'm going to keep on coming because I'm thoroughly enjoying this and I know that that's bad news for some people, that I'm having a good time doing this. That means I'm not going anywhere. To give you some insight into what my life has been like for the last week because of this show and views that I expressed on this show. I've lost a few friends. There were some people that I thought were friends that had love for me that I found out that was not the case. It could be a very, very lonely existence when you decide to stand on certain principles. And I'm here to tell you something, as sad as that would make most people, me personally, Stephen A. Smith could give less than a damn. Not even a little bit. Because when I think about the issues that we're going to talk about today, when I think about the people like Bill O'Reilly and Bill Maher who are both going to be on the show tonight, when I think about the people that I spoke to last week, and Governor Josh Shapiro, Democrat out of Pennsylvania, when I think about the Governor Spencer Cox, the Republican out of Utah, when I think about the Republican senator like Lindsey Graham, if I thought how everybody wanted me to think, I would not have spoken to at least three quarters of the people that I just mentioned, nor the people that I'm going to live with, that I'm going to talk to in the future. Because you see, what happens is, is that people want you to have monolithic thinking. They talk about being open minded, having a free spirit, a free mind and the will and the ability to think as you will based on the facts that are presented to you. And we'll go from there.

[Co-host/Commentator]

But that's not what they mean. That's not what a lot of people mean. What they mean is, is that they expect you to be equally yoked that you need to think like they think, parrot their speech, go along with what they want you to think. Because to do anything different in my.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Case makes you a sellout. I apologize to Sirius XM for what I'm about to say to those people. You can kick rocks. I don't give a damn how you feel. I'm going to beat me and I'm going to go right down the list, giving you the latest examples of exactly who it is that you're listening to to move forward. So the latest news, the brouhaha involving Jimmy Kimmel taking off the air for four days because of remarks that he made in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's murder. Assassination in the eyes of many, because it was a political assassination. And in the aftermath of Jimmy Kimmel being taken off the air, you had folks protesting outside the corridors of Disney headquarters, whether it be in New York City and Burbank or any place in between. You had people unsubscribing the Hulu and Disney and all, all of this other stuff. You had people making a whole bunch of noise.

[Co-host/Commentator]

I mean, one of those people making noise was Mr. Howard Stern himself. The face, the voice, the preeminent voice of SiriusXM. I don't care who's on Sirius XM. All of us bow at the altar of Howard Stern when it comes to SiriusXM. He spoke on this issue. Listen to what he had to say at the time. Check it out.

[Howard Stern]

As you know, ABC3 threw Jimmy off the air. I don't know what their plan is, but it looks like they might be firing her. And then I read sometimes that they're not going to fire him. I don't know, I have spoken to Jimmy. I didn't ask him these questions. I just asked him how he was doing personally. I just know when the government begins to interfere. When the government says, I'm not pleased with you, so we're going to orchestrate a way to silence you. It's the wrong direction for our country. And I should know. I've been involved in something like this. And now ABC is put in the same position. And it's unfortunate that ABC even has to be in this position. They shouldn't have to be in this position. I feel for them, too, in this. But that someone's got to step up and be fucking saying, hey, enough. We're not going to bow. Now, it might sound stupid, but the thing I did this morning, I'm canceling my Disney Plus. I'm trying to say with the Pocketbook that I do not support what they're doing with Jimmy.

[Stephen A. Smith]

No harm there. No harm there whatsoever.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Howard Stern was right about what he was saying, because it is clear that.

[Stephen A. Smith]

There is some overreach going on with the Trump administration.

[Co-host/Commentator]

It is clear that they are flexing a little bit too much and a bit too excessively. I mean, my God, we even have the Pentagon himself, led by Mr. Pete Hegseth, you know, the former host of Fox News on the weekends, that all of a sudden became the Defense Secretary of the United States of America. You see what the Pentagon is doing in terms of wanting even unclassified information to go through them before it's published or printed for public consumption. Talk about infringing on First Amendment rights. There is no question that that is an argument that could be made very vociferously against the Trump administration and everything under it and everything associated with it. I'm very alarmed by it, and I.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Agree with Howard Stern.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Here's the problem.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Did we say that when Tucker Carlson was pulled off the air by Fox News? Did we say that? Did we say that?

[Co-host/Commentator]

Or would we say that if Gutfield.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Was pulled off the air by Fox News?

[Co-host/Commentator]

Government overreach. The Biden administration and what they were doing when it came to Facebook and X. Were we as outspoken then as we were over the last few days? Because you see on this show, we're talking consistency. This is why I call myself an independent. This is why I call myself a centrist. Because what I want to do is I want to be able to look at you based on the facts and say, you're right or you're wrong, and that's it. But when you're able to point to the other side doing the same damn thing preceding you, by the way, and what you're doing, then it becomes a bit more alarming because the word hypocrisy comes into play and you're able to look at it and say, yo, the other side did the same thing. So why are we, why are we engaging in partisanship here? I was very disgusted when Charlie Kirk got murdered. And the first thing we heard out of the President's mouth is, the left did it. How irresponsible can you be? How polarizing can you be? How alarming can you be? You've contributed as the President of the United States to alarming excessiveness from a behavioral standpoint permeating throughout this country, and you don't seem to care. Hell, yeah, it's a problem. You're damn right it is.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right up until the moment you're able to point to what the left was doing too. Which brings us back to Kimmel. Why is that relevant to Kimmel?

[Co-host/Commentator]

You know why it's relevant to Kimmel? Because the issue with Kimmel wasn't the.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Jokes or the non jokes that he.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Was articulating and what he said. It's the fact that it's repeatedly been one sided. Back in the days of a Johnny Carson or Jay Leno or David Letterman or an Arsenio hall, nobody was safe. Both sides were undressed. Both sides were ridiculed and parodied. And it was universally understood. This is why I came out and I said, excuse me, the man is coming. The man is coming. You threw felony cases at him. You convicted him as a felon on 34 counts. You impeached him twice. You did everything but make sure he couldn't run for president again. Back then, a few years ago, when this man was in court for one case after another, losing civil cases for $454 million, what did I say? I said, you better get him. You better get him because he's going to come for you. That's who he is. Don't do all of this if you ain't going to get him. And what they do, they kept going after him. They kept going after him.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And he was still allowed to run for president. And he was still allowed to secure the Republican nominee, the GOP nominee. And he was still allowed to ultimately win the presidency. And not only did he win it, he got the young vote. He got more young voters than usual, more black voters than usual. Oh, by the way, the first Republican candidate to win the popular vote since 2004 won the electoral College vote.

[Co-host/Commentator]

And won every damn swing state. And we just gonna ignore the fact that you're talking about him.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But when you talk about him and.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Then you label somebody like Mago or anybody else, you're forgetting the fact that that basically compiles 77 million plus people who voted for him, who automatically and instinctually are going to believe if you're talking about him that way, you're really talking about them.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And that's going to provoke progress in our country. And because I have the temerity, the unmitigated goal to bring up the fact that he's coming, adapt accordingly. I'm somebody that shouldn't be listened to.

[Co-host/Commentator]

You don't believe me.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You know Van Lathan, who used to work for tmz?

[Co-host/Commentator]

Did you see what he had to say about me? Play that clip, please.

[Stephen A. Smith]

The man is coming and you have to adjust accordingly. Don't listen to that. Don't listen to none of that. I want you to think of anybody ever that you've respected. Think about Tubman, King, Chisholm, Baldwin, X Evers, Baker, Rustin, whoever it is. Think about the people that you've respected and the way they reacted to the American political reality. They never acted accordingly. Lies. Respectfully, because I like Van Lathan and I respect that, brother. But that's not true. Martin Luther King adapted. Malcolm X adapted. Mega Evers adapted. The list goes on and on and on. Look at the Civil Rights movement and some of the things that provoked it.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Look at Rosa Parks refusing to give.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Up her seat on a bus that was planned and orchestrated because they recognized what kind of fallout would emanate from that which would help spearhead the Civil Rights movement.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Folks knew exactly what they were doing. They knew what they were up against and they strategized. That's all I meant. Van, adapting doesn't mean capitulating. It doesn't mean surrendering. It doesn't mean tolerating quietly, with no resistance whatsoever the shrapnel of bigotry, racism or anything else that might come our way. It means strategizing and operating according, accordingly. That's how you win. That's how things get done. When I brought up Kimmel, why did I bring it up?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Because he works at Disney.

[Co-host/Commentator]

And by the way, most of y'.

[Stephen A. Smith]

All out there speculate about Disney. I have worked for Disney for 23 years. You're guessing. I know. And I'm an on air talent under the Disney umbrella. Who knows? ABC has local affiliates like nexstar and.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Sinclair with tens of stations around the country soon to be hundreds if not there already that can pile over 22% of the television market. Late nights already losing money across the board, across the business. And the local affiliates ultimately are going to raise hell because of the monologue that Jimmy Kimmel gave that particular moment. You're abc. You know it. They yank you from the air as everybody point the finger at abc. ABC brought Jimmy Kimmel back last night.

[Stephen A. Smith]

The next star.

[Co-host/Commentator]

The Sinclair in places like St. Louis, New Orleans and beyond. Is he seen there? Didn't he acknowledge in his opening monologue that 22% of the markets, if not more, are not airing his show? You think that equates to less money or more money? And if it equates to less money, how are people going to get paid? See, we want to chirp. We want to talk. We don't want to look at what the situation truly, truly is and how to strategize to maneuver our way through it. Instead of bitching and moaning all the time, how about folks standing up and strategizing so the Dems could win the midterms and the Dems could have somebody to go up against, a J.D. vance, a Marco Rubio, or dare I say a Governor DeSantis in Florida come 2028, assuming Trump doesn't circumvent the 22nd Amendment and gets and tries to run for a third term. But far be it for Stephen A. To bring that up and to say let's talk about strategy instead. Everybody want to complain and just complain. Trump don't care. He's gonna do what he's gonna do.

[Stephen A. Smith]

What are you gonna do? I'll give you a second to think about that before I get back to you. You know the number to call up? 866-967-6887. That's 866-966-POTUS. Like I told y' all before, I'm not hard to find. You were looking for me? Here I am. Your call's up next. Maybe before I get to Bill O'Reilly, I don't know. During the commercial break, I might come up with even more to say. Cause that's the kind of fire I'm feeling, whether you like it or not. Backward more A straight shooter with Stephen A. In a minute, 23 minutes past hour, number one back here on Straight Shooting, Stephen A. Courtesy of Siri sir, SiriusXM POTUS channel 124. Number to call up, as always, is 866-967-6887. That's 86696, POTUS. That is the number to call up. I got more to talk about with Jimmy Kimmel. And I'll get into it as the show progresses. I'm gonna get to Bill O'Reilly in just a few minutes who's here to promote his new book. The man is just outstanding. He's an automatic nonfiction bestseller. It's just what he is. Okay? And don't think for one second that I am not going to get into former Vice President Kamala Harris and her book tour.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Oh, don't you. Oh, don't you think for one second I'm gonna forget about that and I'm gonna revisit Charlie Kirk as well, because.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I got something to say about what transpired at his memorial service this past Sunday as well. So all of that's coming up on the show.

[Co-host/Commentator]

But before I do that, let me.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Take a call for the first time right here on Straight Shooter with Stephen A. Let's go to Mark in Wisconsin. You're live with Stephen A. Real quick, Mark, go ahead.

[Caller]

Hey, Stephen, A lifetime live here, but I'm having a hard time.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I don't know who we're gonna root.

[Caller]

For in the upcoming election.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's looking like it's gonna be Gavin Newsom.

[Caller]

I'm not totally sold on that.

[Co-host/Commentator]

You shouldn't be.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You shouldn't be.

[Co-host/Commentator]

You shouldn't be.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Gavin, let me tell you something right now. First of all, I got two candidates for you. They're two of my favorites. Now, I'm not telling you to vote as I vote. I'm just being honest and open with you about who are my two favorite candidates.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Okay?

[Stephen A. Smith]

I love Governor Josh Shapiro for Pennsylvania and Governor Westmore for Maryland. Those are my two, and not necessarily in that order. Governor Westmore is the real deal. Make no mistake about it. I doubt he'll run, but he is the real deal. When you talk about somebody that can walk and communicate, both across the aisle and fixated on getting things done, Wes Moore is somebody that I would strongly, strongly advise you not to ignore. You better pay attention to this man. As for Gavin Newsom, I like Gavin Newsom. The look, boy, does he look my boy. Jeff always says, boy, does he look great in those blue suits. He looks so presidential. Right? And Gavin Newsom is smart, he's articulate, he's bright, he's very polished, and he could debate with the best of them. Here's the problem. I believe that when it comes to a general election, all anybody's going to do is is point to the cost of living in California, the economy in California, affordability, Issues, obviously, I just said, okay, homelessness. They're going to point to a lot of different things that have ravaged that state. And they're going to look at businesses that have fled the state to go elsewhere because of the cost of living there. And I think ultimately that's going to hurt him in a general election. And it really, really comes down to this, Mark. Gavin Newsom is a kind man whose heart is in the right place, and he just doesn't want to say no to everybody. But when you are in office, you have to say no sometimes, and it doesn't seem to be his gift. I appreciate the call, Mark. Call me back another time. Let's go to Adam in Chicago. You're live with Stephen A. Straight shooter with Stephen A. Go ahead, Adam. Go ahead.

[Caller]

Hey, Stephen A. Just wanted to touch base and really talk about you say you want to know this person's position, that person's position, and figure out who the winner is and the loser is. And I think too much of our division is caused by people sitting in judgment rather than trying to find win win solutions, bringing people together.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Hold on, Stop right there.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Stop right there, Adam, when you say people sitting in judgment trying to define winners and losers, are you talking about politicians, voters, or just the average American citizen bantering back and forth about the issues?

[Caller]

I'm talking about the lack of critical thinking in developing a set of agreed upon facts. We can't even agree upon a foundational basis for a conversation.

[Stephen A. Smith]

All right?

[Caller]

So I think we need to bridge that communication gap.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Adam, can you hear me? Adam? Because I want to make sure you can hear me. Yes, I don't disagree with you. I just think that your premise is unrealistic. The average American citizen out there. When you talk about the median household in the United States of America, I forgot where the number is at this particular moment. Time. I'll look it up, but it's not that high. It's not even $70,000. And so when you look at it from that standpoint, you have everybody out here struggling to make ends meet. People want to be able to pay their bills. They want affordability issues resolved and they want to feel safe. My man Charlemagne of God always says that, and he's absolutely right. So knowing that that's a reality and knowing that you have to work hard, you got two types. I'm not talking about folks on the fringes or folks who are aficionados, Adam, or even somebody like yourself who might be astute about a bevy of issues, et cetera. I'm talking about the average American citizen out there. They vote according to what their specific need is. They're not paying attention to the vast majority of issues that also affect this country, and they don't have the time. And most importantly, their spirit is compromised when they make the time because they're so draped with negativity that they don't want it to overwhelm them and ruin whatever little bit of happiness they can gather for themselves over something they absolutely, positively are not going to be able to control. And that's what you're dealing with, Adam. You're dealing with that challenge. So I'm saying all of that to say even though you're not wrong, you're never going to have it like you want it. And that's what I got to tell you. I got to run right now. Adam, please call back another time. Thank you for the call. I really, really appreciate it. But we got to take another quick break right here on Straight Shooter with Stephen A. Because the one and only Bill O'Reilly is up next as a guest on this show. Honored to have him. Looking forward to talking to him. We'll be right back with Mr. Bestseller himself, the one and only Bill O'Reilly, back with Stephen A. Straight Shooter with Stephen A. In a minute, 31 minutes past Alba number one, back here on the Stephen A. Smith show. Or as far as a Straight Shooter with Steve A. Smith, my guest, I couldn't wait to get to him. He is an award winning commentator, journalist, television host and founder of no Spin News. He's also an historian whose latest New York Times bestseller is called Confronting Evil, Assessing the Worst of the Worst. The man has 20 number one New York Times best sellers. I mean, it just doesn't get any better than this man right here, the one and only Bill O'Reilly.

[Co-host/Commentator]

What's going on big time. How are you, sir?

[Stephen A. Smith]

How's everything?

[Bill O'Reilly]

Everything's all right. We're very pleased to open this Sunday at number one. And that's a world record. I don't think anybody's going to beat it. Second is Bob Woodward. He's got 14, but he's 84 now, I think. And people don't read as much as they used to. And it's nice to be on your program. Stephen A. Thanks for the invitation.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Honored to have you. You know that this, this book is timely in light of the state of the country. You know this you say evil is on the rise in America and overseas. Explain your definition of evil and why you believe it's on the rise.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Very simple definition if you hurt another human being intentionally, you know you're hurting them, and then you have no remorse. That is evil. And if you do it over and over and over, then you become an evil person in every way, shape, or form. There's no getting around it. That is the litmus test. You cannot hurt another person intentionally and have no remorse about it. That's evil.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm looking at this and I'm wondering what made you decide to write this book at this particular time? Confronting Evil. Why this right now?

[Bill O'Reilly]

It's. It's a good question. Because a year ago. It takes a year to research and write these books. I was coming off confronting the President's big success, so I had to follow it. And I notice a rise in evil in the United States and around the world. Putin is the poster boy for that. He's on the COVID of Confronting Evil with Ayatollah Khomeini, Hitler, and Mao. I put Putin's front and center to send the message that this isn't just a history book, this is happening now. And the book came out September 9th and September 10th, my birthday, I wake up and Putin lobs missiles into Poland. Extremely dangerous situation for the world. And a few hours later, we have the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And an interviewer said to me, that's just eerie, the timing. But I knew a year ago that evil was on the rise the world over. And I knew it because I have eyes. I can see. And I'm watching social disorder in la, New York, Chicago, all the big liberal cities right in front of you. I'm watching conduct that never would have been accepted even 15, 20 years ago. Never. You couldn't openly sell narcotics in the street. You would have been dealt with. Not anymore. So people are looking away from evil. And when you do that, and every society proves it, evil then rises and gains power.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Would you consider our president evil?

[Bill O'Reilly]

No. Evil is an intentional infliction of pain and suffering. Donald Trump is a flawed man because we all are flawed men and women. There's no doubt that he wears his personality, his bombastic personality on a sleeve a lot like you do. A lot like I do. We can identify with him because we're people in the arena who pretty much speak our minds. I don't believe he's a bad man. I've known him 35 years. I don't hang around with evil people. With the exception of Chris Cuomo. I had to do that. That's a joke.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's a joke. It's a joke.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But Trump, in his private moments And I'm there for some of them, is very concerned about the suffering of other people. He wants to stop the Ukrainian war in all the blood. He sincerely does. So to call him evil would be like calling him a Nazi or whatever they're calling him today. Wrong and insulting.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You also said those who turn away from evil don't confront it. Not just somebody who's not evil, but also somebody who's turned, who doesn't turn away from it. Do you believe he turns away from it enough, or do you believe he confronts it to your satisfaction?

[Bill O'Reilly]

I don't have the data to answer that question with any authority. I don't follow him. According to Around.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Got it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I know that he's the president. I know the other presidents, four of them, fairly well. They have to pick and choose what causes they take on. Trump has obviously selected migration as his number one crime as number two. And a lot of his supporters believe he's done a lot of good in those areas. His attractors don't. That's our country. But I think that, on balance, in my lifetime, there isn't a president that has been evil in my lifetime. I think that James Buchanan, who was a coward and allowed the south to rise in ferocity, bordered on evil because he knew people were going to die, slaves were getting hammered. He knew all that, did nothing. And there were a few other presidents that were wicked, Harding wicked. But in my lifetime, most of the presidents have tried to do the right thing, perhaps because of expediency for themselves, not saying they were noble. But I hadn't seen anybody in the office that I would. Even Biden, who was a terrible man.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I was getting ready to go there, ask you about Biden.

[Co-host/Commentator]

You're talking about Biden because you had him as your second worst.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You had him as your second worst president. Is that correct?

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah. And he was lucky he got second because the Civil War is pretty big. But Biden was. And you're going to see over time how bad he actually was. Now he's going to have an asterisk next to him, his name, it's going to say, well, he might not have known what he was doing, and that's a medical condition. And that might be an excuse, but, boy, he was bad.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You also write about the Mexican drug cartel in this book, speak about their impact on society in your estimation.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Well, we're looking at a country totally out of control. Mexico, it's run by criminals who make billions of dollars selling poison and kill millions of people all over the world. Fentanyl kills Millions of people and hundreds of thousands in the United States. And these people have no remorse. That's another designation of evil. They never have remorse, and they make so much money and they abuse people. So we focused in on two of them, one Mexican, one Colombian. And we tell you about how they live their lives, what they do, how. It's just astronomical. But the Mexican government enables that. They know what they're doing because they have, you know, 200,000 homicides in Mexico over the past couple of years, 200,000 murders. And you're going, well, why are you permitting that? And then when Trump offers to help Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico, she turns him down. That's just crazy. But drug dealing at any level, street level, cartel level, whatever, is evil. That's it. It's evil, and you cannot justify it in any way.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Before I go to my. I had another question for you, but I wanted to go back to Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, and you speak about him being an evil man. The reasons are obvious. He's considered a mass murderer in the eyes of yourself and many, many others. It happens to be factual in a lot of people's eyes. When we consider what's transpiring in Ukraine, a war that he clearly instigated somehow, some way, we've seen Trump take a turn when it comes to how he speaks about the Ukraine, Russia war compared to what he did months ago. Why do you believe that shift has taken place? And do you believe that it may be too little, too late? Because Trump wasn't forceful enough in the beginning?

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right, so in his first term, Donald Trump contained Putin. He was able to reason with him. Putin still misbehaved, but not on any level like this. Putin changed. Evil always makes it worse. If you embrace evil, you get worse and worse and worse and worse. And in five years, Putin became a flat out sociopath and a psychopath. He enjoys killing women and children. He targets hospitals in Ukraine. He targets small towns. He likes it. That's a different cat than Trump dealt with the first time around. Donald Trump didn't realize that he thought he was getting the same Putin. Now, you may have seen the pictures of me and President Trump at Yankee Stadium on 9 11.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yes.

[Bill O'Reilly]

The president invited me to go there, and I knew there was a reason. It wasn't a social occasion. And when I was sitting next to him at his request, and I handed him my book, Confronting evil eyes, and. Mr. President, look, I know you're busy, but you got to read the Putin chapter. You have to, because this is not the same man that you were dealing with. And this chapter explains where he is. He would use nuclear weapons. Putin.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I don't doubt you, Bill.

[Co-host/Commentator]

I'm just saying we kind of knew this before now. How is it that Donald Trump didn't know? I mean, you invited him. Not last night.

[Bill O'Reilly]

It's not a matter of knowing.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Okay, go ahead.

[Bill O'Reilly]

It's not a matter of knowing. Trump tried to get Putin to be reasonable, and that's what Alaska was all about. He tried, and I don't fault him for that. You know, he did everything he could to get this guy to be sane, and the guy just gave him the middle finger. So now it's going to change. 24 hours after I gave the President my book, I got a text, went, whoa. Okay. So I know he read the book, and then at the UN and other statements, he's rallying now to really put a big hurt on Moscow. But the key to this all is China. If China would stop enabling Putin, then Putin couldn't do what he's doing. And I think that Donald Trump is working that angle very, very hard. So it's not simplistic, too little, too late. It's not letting them do too much. It's overall strategy. And I think we're in another zone now.

[Stephen A. Smith]

So in that way, piggybacking. I mean, I know you a little bit since I've been around you, the Three American Store, myself, you and Chris Cuomo, we've been doing it and having a blast doing it. And we're gonna be at the Kennedy center in the nation's capital October 15, doing that in courtesy of you. We're expecting the president to show up because we all know he wouldn't be there if it wasn't for you.

[Co-host/Commentator]

You.

[Stephen A. Smith]

So let's get that out the way right now. Having said all of that, I guess what I'm thinking about now is what I've heard you say on numerous occasions, and I want you to reiterate it to my audience. You consider China to be a bigger threat than Russia, do you not?

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah. I mean, China is. If Russia uses a nuclear weapon, then everybody in the world suffers, including China. See, when I went to Beijing at the Chinese government's request in May, that was the message I brought them. What are you doing with Putin? Why are you in the Putin business? If he does something irrational, then you're going to suffer. Your 1.5 billion Chinese citizens got to eat every day. They don't have 401ks over there, Stephen A. They don't have refinancing of the mortgages over there. They got to eat. And Putin is endangering the world. Therefore, you should throw in with us, you, the Chinese government, because we are trying to negate Putin. They got my message loud and clear. Whether they'll do it or not, who the hell knows? But I did my duty as a citizen and I didn't go there under the aegis of Donald Trump or any administration. They invited me because they watch me on YouTube and they know I'm a straight shooter like you.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And they wanted. And they know that I've known Donald Trump for 35 years and have some access to him. So that's why I was invited. China is the most powerful, second most powerful nation by far. They could crush Putin in two weeks.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And you've been trying to convince the president, whether directly or indirectly, that collaborating or working with China and getting China to see your way of thinking, the combination of China and the United States can bring a level of peace to this world and has the best shot at conquering evil if we collaborate with one another more than anything else on this, on God's green earth at this particular moment in time.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But I didn't have to convince. I didn't have to convince Donald Trump. I wrote up a proposal called the Partnership for Peace and Prosperity, and I gave it to both the US Government and the Chinese government. And you're exactly right. If we're never going to change, the Chinese, they're always going to be communists. The Chinese people have never known a day of freedom in their entire lives. The country's never had a day of freedom, Never one day not changing. But they can cooperate with us and vice versa to make the world a safer, more prosperous place. So why wouldn't you do that?

[Stephen A. Smith]

So let's get back to American soil here. And there's two stories that's been permeating and sifting throughout this country right now. One of them would be what happened with Jimmy Kimmel coming off the air, Neckstar and Sinclair pulling him off the air. ABC obviously yanking him for about four days or so before he returned to the airwaves last night. And then in the aftermath of all of that, Neckstar and Sinclair still haven't put him back on in their markets, but things seem to be better than they were a week ago. What did you make of that? And what did you make about how the President reacted and the FCC chairman has reacted as somebody that's been known to speak your mind and all about free speech? How have you felt about this? Whole brouhaha involving Jimmy Kimmel.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Well, I gave advice to both President Trump and Jimmy Kimmel today on the no Spin News, which is my daily television broadcast. Get it? Ability o'reilly.com and it's everywhere. Okay? My advice to President Trump was stay out of it. You got much bigger things to deal with than Jimmy Kimmel, okay? So it doesn't get you anywhere to weigh in on this at all. My advice to Kimmel was stop being a zealot. You don't know enough about the world about what's going on. You're coming across as a fanatical leftist, a progressive who hates everybody who isn't progressive. Now, the real story isn't Jimmy Kimmel and silencing of him. Government has a right to have standards for abc, NBC and CBS because they use the public Airways, those networks and only those networks. Not you and me, Stephen. A. Not cable, not News Nation, none of that. We don't come under that. Those three networks have to broadcast in the, quote, public interest. Let me ask you a question. Is it in the public interest for a comedian to come on national television and say that MAGA participated in the assassination of Charlie Kirk?

[Stephen A. Smith]

No, it is not.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Is that in the public interest?

[Stephen A. Smith]

No, it is not. And I already said. I already stated that, sir.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right, so when you understand that is not in the public interest, then the head of the FCC has a perfect right to call you out, does he not?

[Stephen A. Smith]

He has a right. But to sit up there and say, we could do this easy way or we could do this the hard way.

[Co-host/Commentator]

All right, A set of attention sounded like, well, it matters though, Bill, especially from his perch, it does matter. Because if he said, somebody says something like that to you, you're going to take it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You're going to take it differently. I understand that.

[Co-host/Commentator]

I understand what you're saying.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But he's got to watch how he says, too.

[Co-host/Commentator]

And by the way, it was somewhat.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Inconsistent with his positioning when he was.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Under the Biden administration. He wasn't in the position that he's.

[Stephen A. Smith]

In now, but he was still working for the FCC and he was singing a different tone under a different administration. We got to acknowledge that, too.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Look, I don't care about Brendan Carr's rhetoric. I care what he does. He didn't do anything. All right? Kimmel was taken off the air not because of Trump, not because of Carr, but because the affiliated stations, Nextar and Sinclair had so many complaints in their local areas, so many people furious. They had to do something. They had to and they did. Now nexstar is putting Kimmel back. So it'll be Sinclair and they'll put him back because ABC is threatening him with lifting Monday Night Football and ABC is a whole nother story. But Kimmel is the violator of free speech. He's not the victim. Kimmel has not put on a non liberal voice in more than than three years on his program. Three years.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Wow.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I can't get on Kimmel's program. Before Trump, I was on five times. I was on late night, I was on morning shows. I was everywhere. Well, now not only me, but no one who's not a liberal gets on any of these shows. Well, that is a violation of freedom.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm not a staunch conservative, but I'm certainly not a liberal. Liberally then I, I've been on the show. I, I just want to throw that out there. I've been on this show.

[Co-host/Commentator]

I'm just playing.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Bill, your profile, your profile is in politics, though.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's true. That's, you know, you're, that's, you know.

[Bill O'Reilly]

You'Re just dipping the toe in now. Your profile of sports. And look, I'm just, I want it. I, I'm glad that Kimmel is back. I'm not a cancel guy. I don't want to see him banished. But he needs to wise up. Stephen A. The man needs to wise up and understand that if you are a zealot, that is not going to lead you to success.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I will say this, though. I've been on the record for saying this. Listen, be fair and if you're going to parody, you're going to mock, you're going to make fun of one side, make sure you do it to the other. That's what Johnny Carson used to do. That was what David Letterman and Jay Leno used to do. But Kimmel and I don't have the.

[Bill O'Reilly]

They don't do that.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I don't have the specific quote of what Kimmel said in front of me. But I get where you're coming from. Let me transition to the former vice president and the Democratic nominee for the presidency of the United States, Kamala Harris, who's on her book tour. In it, she calls out Governor Josh Shapiro, Governor Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg, the Obamas. She didn't seem to hold back anything. I just think it wasn't wise. And I've been on the record saying.

[Co-host/Commentator]

I think her political career is over.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's where I stand with it. What does Bill O'Reilly say about what he has seen from the former vice president on this book tour.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All I know is that Kamala Harris can get on any program she wants. She can get on your program, my program, any program. She didn't have those problems. I don't know why the former vice president said what she said in the book. I suspect it was to make. Make money. All right? She didn't want to write a tedious book. They all write these boring books. Nobody buys them. She wanted to shake it up a little bit. I think she's angry that she lost and she doesn't feel that she got the support from certain people she should have. And that might be true. I don't know. I'm not in that world. But I'll tell you this about Kamala Harris. If she were president right now, we'd all be in so much trouble. Oh, my God.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Because real quick.

[Bill O'Reilly]

And the Chinese would have walked all over her. You know, she does not understand the world, doesn't understand immigration, doesn't understand the economy. We would all be in deep. You know what?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Before I let you get on here, the very last question. Confronting Evil. This book, the latest New York Times number one bestseller by yours truly, Bill O'Reilly, number 20, by the way. This is what you've done. Confronting Evil is being adapted into an unscripted series. What can you tell us about that real quick?

[Bill O'Reilly]

Well, the people that did my four other movies, killing Kennedy, Killing Lincoln, Killing Jesus, and killing Reagan, they formed a new company. They used to work for Ridley Scott. You know, Ridley Scott, Gladiator and Big, very talented guy. Well, they formed their own company and they bought Confronting Evil. And we're. They're developing it now, and we're very hopeful it'll be a series because there's 15 of these miscreants and they're all, you know, worthy of a big look on television. That's for sure. I want to tell you something that may help you because that's why I'm on the planets, to help Stephen A. Smith.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Nothing wrong with.

[Bill O'Reilly]

There is a song called Straight Shooter by the Mamas and the Papas. Do you remember them?

[Stephen A. Smith]

I do not, Bill. I do not. I'm sorry to tell you that.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Really? Really. Mamas and the Papas, huge 60s group. Huge. Okay. Straight Shooter. I think if you listen to it, you'll like the song. You may adapt it a little bit There. Fits right into your. Yeah, there you go.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Bill O'Reilly, appreciate you, my man. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. I'm looking forward to seeing you October 15th when we're at the Kennedy center in the nation's capital. Myself, you, Chris Cuomo, the three Americans tour with the President Donald Trump himself in attendance, expected to be in attendance as well. Congratulations on your latest number one New York Times bestseller, All the best to you. And thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule, man. I really appreciate it. You take care. Right.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Thanks for having me. And Steven, I will see you soon.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Absolutely. One and only. Bill O'Reilly, my thanks to that man. Confronting Evil, Assessing the Worst of the Worst is available wherever you buy your books. You heard what he had to say. You respond in kind. 866-967-6887 is the number to call up. It's 86696, POTUS. Let's get back to the phones. Let's go to Carlos in Florida. You're live with Stephen A. What's up, Carlos? How are you?

[Caller]

Hello, STEPHEN A. How are you doing today?

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm doing all right. Let's go. You live on the air, buddy. What's up?

[Caller]

Let's go. Yeah, I think that the whole thing with Jimmy Kimmel, I agree with you that comedy should be even handed and that it was not. Do you think that after the Trump presidency there should be a return to normal?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Absolutely. I think there should be a return to normalcy. Now, I'm disappointed in our president on how he stokes the flag flames to some degree. I'm not sitting up here being an apologist for him. I don't like the fact that he instantly blamed the left once Charlie Kirk was assassinated. I don't like that he went to that same old stuff leading, contributing to the polarization that exists within this country because I believe the rest of us are the suckers. We're the ones that are used as pawns going at the one another. Sure, there's differences that exist, a race, race, you know, racial ethnic differences, you know, just your lifestyle, how you grew up, the kind of cultural background that you may have, et cetera, et cetera. We have our differences, but when people are flourishing in our society, we look out for one another. You understand? And no matter what problems may exist in this nation, there's nothing compared to what exists elsewhere. That's why we call this the greatest country in the world. And I'm of that mindset that if politicians showed a level of decency, got along, showed the ability to disagree without being disagreeable, we'd all be in a better place. So I'm very disgusted with our president that he contributes to that. And I'm very disgusted at his surrogates who all contribute to that with the way. Not necessarily Senator Marco Rubio, but when I think about what The Vice President J.D. vance says from time to time, when I think about Pam Bondi and her rhetoric, don't get me started with Kristi Noem and what she says. The list just goes on and on. And Pete Hegseth and how he's acted. Sometimes I'm concerned about that. The flip side to it, however, is that I don't like what Jasmine Crockett says. I don't like how AOC elects to go at things from time to time. I don't necessarily like everything that Governor Gavin Newsom is doing. I understand it and I applaud it to some degree because sometimes you do.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Have to fight fire with fire.

[Stephen A. Smith]

If you want to resonate and you want to have an impact. Okay, I get that part. But there does come a point in time where adults are supposed to show up in the room. And especially when it comes to our.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Leaders, we should expect that. We shouldn't hope for it, we shouldn't wish for it, we shouldn't have to pray for it. We should anticipate and expect it. Because they volunteered. We didn't ask their asses to do this. They volunteered. And if you volunteer to do something like this, to be a leader in this nation, then dammit, lead. And don't lead a cult, don't lead a clique, don't lead a group. Lead everybody. This is America. It's America and you're supposed to be thinking about everybody, not just a select few constituencies who voted for you or representatives who co signed on your policies and all of this or people who are patting your coffers. You're supposed to be thinking about all of America, all of us. And anybody who thinks differently than that don't need to be in office.

[Stephen A. Smith]

In my humble opinion. I want them removed through the voting board booth, not through violence. 866-967-6887 is the number to call up. That's 86696 POTUS. You're listening live to Straight Shooter with Stephen A. Our number one is up, Bill Ma for real time with Bill Ma on hbo. He's coming on in our number two. Can't wait to talk to him about some of the stuff that's been going on. Looking forward to that conversation. Thanks again to the one and only Bill O'Reilly for being on with us. I'm going back to your phone call calls and I'mma touch on the vice president, former Vice President Kamala Harris as well. Oh, Stephen ain't going nowhere. Straight Shooter with Stephen A. In the house show number two. Oh yeah.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Four minutes past hour number two back.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Here on Straight Shooter with Stephen A. The second attempt edition of Straight Shooter with Stephen A. I debuted last Wednesday night courtesy of SiriusXM POTUS radio channel 124. I just can't tell y' all how happy I am. I love doing the show. I'm excited about it. Once a week is a struggle cuz I got something to say every day. Once a week is a struggle for me to have to hold it for another six days before I come on the air with it. But it's cool. It's cool. Number to call up, as always is 866-967-6887 at the that's 866-967-68 87. That's the number to call in 86696 POTUS. To simplify it for you, that's 86696 POTUS. I want to get back to how I started off the show by acknowledging that I've lost some friends over the last few weeks and I don't give a damn. They can kiss off. I don't care if I ever speak to them again. And they know who the hell they are. Because this notion that I have to subscribe to somebody's level of thinking in order to be your friend, that's not the friend I want, ladies and gentlemen. Contrary to what people are trying to put out on social media and stuff like that, I am not a Republican. I am not a member of the gop. I have some conservative views. It's very, very simple. I'm fiscally conservative. I can't stand high taxes, can't stand it, can't stand it. But I'm socially liberal. Now, you might think because of my positions on immigration and how I wasn't a proponent of open borders that make then that makes me a conservative.

[Co-host/Commentator]

No, it means that I didn't support Biden having open borders. I supported what Obama did when he was in office, when he deported over 4 million people who by the way, deported more people than Trump. He didn't stick out his chest and brag about it. He wasn't aloof and dismissive and indifferent when it came to separating children from their parents, but he wasn't a conservative either. Obviously, I have liberal views. I have conservative views. I wouldn't hesitate to vote for Westmore, governor of Maryland. I would strongly, strongly consider because I like Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, but I also like Marco Rubio and if Ron DeSantis didn't open his mouth and tried to give explanations for slavery, I wouldn't have minded him either. I'm not married to one side or the other.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I don't trust none of them. Excuse the double negative, grammatically incorrect, but it's necessary here. I don't trust none of them because the American people have been used as pawns for far too long.

[Co-host/Commentator]

And one of those people that I don't trust is somebody that I expect to see at the Kennedy center come October 15th. That would happen to be our president, Donald Trump. Could y' all put up his full statement in the aftermath of Jimmy Kimmel being allowed back on the air? Listen to this. Ladies. Ladies and gentlemen. I can't believe ABC Fake News gave.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Jimmy Kimmel his job back.

[Co-host/Commentator]

The White House was told by ABC that his show was canceled. Something happened between then and now because.

[Stephen A. Smith]

His audience is gone and his talent was never there.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Why would they want someone back who.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Does so poorly, who's not funny, and.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Who puts the network in jeopardy by.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Playing 99% positive Democrat garbage?

[Co-host/Commentator]

He is yet another arm of the dnc, and to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major illegal campaign contribution.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I think we're going to test ABC out on this.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Let's see how we do.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 million. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers. Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad ratings. Well, Mr. President, why don't you let him rot in his bad ratings? Why do you have to have something to say about it? Why do you have to have something to do with it? You don't have better things to do? Is it the war between Ukraine and Russia still going on? All the hostages that Hamas grabbed on October 7, 2023, have they been returned?

[Co-host/Commentator]

These $15 trillion in pledges from these.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Companies, do we have proof that they're actually going to do it or that they've begun to do it?

[Co-host/Commentator]

Huh? Do we really need the National Guards in Memphis? I'm not gonna complain about it because elected officials there said they support the.

[Stephen A. Smith]

National Guard being there. So I get that part.

[Co-host/Commentator]

And you have every right to do it in Washington, D.C. because that's federal.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Territory, not state rights.

[Co-host/Commentator]

But what were you doing threatening Baltimore for. What were you doing that for? Why'd you send them in to Los Angeles under the guise of protecting federal property when there was only issues in a. In a two block radius that the LAPD said they were fully capable of handling?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Although a Sheriff did open their mouth and say they needed some help.

[Co-host/Commentator]

I mean, if, if, if, if Jimmy Kimmel is that bad, which he is.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Not, by the way, then he'll fall.

[Co-host/Commentator]

On his own right. Late night television's losing money. He'll fall on his own right. This is the same Donald Trump that said free speech was incredibly important and we needed to protect the rights of those to have free speech in this country. It's our First Amendment constitutional privilege. And now that he's been in office, that's in reverse mode. BRENDAN Carr FCC CHAIRMAN all of a sudden he's singing a different tune under the Trump administration than he was singing when he was working for the Biden administration. You see the hypocrisy, you see what gets on my damn nerves. So, yo, Van Lathan, when I was talking about adapt accordingly, I wasn't talking about capitulation, I wasn't talking about bowing, I wasn't talking about being quiet. I wasn't talking about ignoring one executive order after another where it seems like this present administration is trying to curve back civil rights history, black history, and trying to eradicate it in such a way to gloss over the iniquitous acts committed by forefathers and predecessors in this country. Ladies and gentlemen, when we talk about racism, when we talk about things like that, understand, if you are a white person in America and you're not racist, you're not a bigot, you don't wish violent evilness upon your fellow citizen, we're not talking about you. We're talking about a system that has religiously showcased that when white folks catch a cold, black folks catch pneumonia. No matter how bad it is for white folks in America, it's always worse for black people. Unemployment rates at 4% in the white community, it's at over 6% in the black community, at over 7% amongst black men, and significantly higher when it comes to young black men. It's always been that way. It's always been that way. And I'll be damned if I'm going to ignore it. But in the same breath, what I'm not going to do is listen and hear people talk about a president. And you're pointing out those things, but you don't point out how he gave.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Over $500 billion recently to HBC. He use.

[Co-host/Commentator]

You don't point out how some of that money came from what usually goes to predominantly white institutions. Fair is fair. What he's wrong about, say so. What he's right about, say so. It applies to me, it applies to comedians, it applies to news reporters, it applies to pundits, to commentators, everybody. That's how it goes. That's how it's supposed to go. And by doing otherwise, by being partisan and overly focused on negative stuff towards him, you gave him fodder to play the victim. Who's played the victim to his constituency better than Donald Trump? Are we playing chess or checkers? Are we trying to win? Or do we just want to hug one another, sing Kumbaya and embrace a victim's mentality? I'm talking strategy. How are you going to beat him?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Because he's not coming out of office before 2028. How you going to beat him? How you going to win the midterms?

[Co-host/Commentator]

How are you going to neutralize his administrative agenda? Dare I say, how you going to pull that off? You, Jasmine Crockett, you're calling them everything under the sun. How's that going to work if it serves to alienate folks? Because they're saying you're just him on the other side of the aisle acting the same way you're accusing him of acting. And then you get dismissed. Aoc, I believe, can win the Senate seat in New York over Chuck Schumer.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I don't think she'll win the presidency.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Gavin Newsom's talking about potentially running for the president.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Actually, he's not talking about it.

[Co-host/Commentator]

He's trying to avoid talking about it. But we all know what he's doing because he has to leave the gubernatorial seat in 2026. The governor seat is 2026. We know what he wants. You going to pull it off with the record that took place in California all of these years under your stewardship? It's nice to see him sticking his chest out and going off. You think they don't have clips of how you invoke you. You embraced extreme leftist policies during the whole WOKE movement and cancel culture and everything else? You think they don't have those clips? You think they didn't see people getting arrested and let out of jail the same day? You think they don't have footage of crime ravaging the streets of Los Angeles or homelessness? You think they don't know about the cost of living and how it's the highest in this republic right now? Let's talk. Let's talk. 866-967. 6887 is the number to call it. That's 86696. POTUS. You wanted something. I'm here. I don't pretend to know. I'm just an American citizen and a conscientious observer that's able to read and deduce what the hell is happening to some degree. I don't have all the answers, but damn it, the people who do, what good are you if all you're going to do is spew vitriol and alienate one side? With 77 million voters that are going to look at him and embrace the victim or the victimhood that he's embracing, how do you serve to convince them to swing your way? Because somebody needs to. How you going to convince people to go to the polls? You, Kamala Harris. What the hell you think this book tour is doing? Your political career is over. It's over. I don't say that with a smile on my face. I don't say that proudly. I say it with utter disgust because I wished better for you. But when we talk about you in this book, we're talking about you calling out Josh Shapiro and Pete Buttigieg and the Obamas and Tim Waltz and Joe Biden. Everybody but you. Where's the accountability?

[Stephen A. Smith]

And in the midst of doing all of that, we got the nerve to talk about Trump being a threat to our democracy. It makes sense if you're on the left. I'm not refuting it personally because I don't like what I'm seeing them do. But let's not be hypocritical. Kamala Harris, you bypassed the Democratic primary a year before that June 27 debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. I was on the airwave saying, he looks done. Don't come to me. He looks done.

[Co-host/Commentator]

We need a new president. Go back to Stephen a. Smith, my YouTube page. Back then I said, we need a new president. I ain't going to even tell y' all about the bevy of people who called me from the left asking me to be quiet because we don't want Trump in office. Well, I don't want somebody who's ill equipped to do the job on the left, either.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Everybody knew Biden needed to go. Based on everything we've heard since, it appears his exodus was delayed long enough. So once he finally stepped away, Kamala Harris could be placed and inserted right into the mix with no resistance. Because it was too late to have opposition on her own side of the aisle, where she'd have to compete for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States. This is not me talking to the right. Not just to Trump supporters, to DeSantis supporters, to Ted Cruz supporters, to Marco Rubio supporters, to all of these supporters, J.D. vance, and everybody in between to them, that's circumventing the process that's being a threat to democracy. Can we honestly sit here and say they were 100% wrong in saying that? Now that we know what we know, and if you're poor little old me in the middle just trying to find.

[Co-host/Commentator]

The best candidate for the country, the best leader for the country, what the.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Hell am I supposed to say? When you come out talking about somebody being a threat, when you were willing to circumvent every rule imaginable just to get your person in power, it comes across as you being no better than them. And that's why I have a damn show on politics. Because rather than pick one side or another, somebody got to stand up and say both of y' all are full of it. When both of you are full of it. 866-967-6887 is the number to call up. That's 86696. POTUS, you're listening live to the Stephen A. Smith show or rather Straight Shooter with Stephen A. I apologize. Straight Shooter with Stephen A. SiriusXM POTUS Ray Channel124 back with your calls and the one and only Bill Maher in just a few Stephen A. In the House. Don't go away. Cause I'm not leaving.

[Co-host/Commentator]

22 minutes past hour number two back.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Here on Straight Shooter with Stephen a. Courtesy of SiriusXM POTUS radio channel 124. Number the call up as always is 866-967-6887. That's 8669-676887-86696. POTUS to simplify it for you, let's go to the phones before Bill Maher of Real Time with Bill Maher comes on the show. The go to Steve in Pennsylvania. You're live with Stephen A. Good afternoon. Good evening, Steve. How are you?

[Caller]

Hey, good to talk to you. Matter of fact, hey, the first time I heard of your name, I was listening to Sean Hannity. Always has you on there. And I this, I'm a first time caller for your show and matter of fact, first time listener and I cannot believe the compassion you put into your show. I appreciate it. But I don't know if you're left or right or independent, but I'm independent.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm independent.

[Caller]

I am as well. And I tell you what, I'm totally impressed of what you're saying. I did vote for Trump. I did vote for Obama. So I did a left and right kind of thing trying to get a balance of the, you know, our Government.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right.

[Caller]

And I'm just truly impressed to listen to your show. I think you're, I think you're doing a fantastic job. I really do.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Stephen, thank you so much. I appreciate it, Steve, it means a lot to me. Thank you so much. And feel free to call back anytime. Thank you. Let's go to Cedric in Pence in, in Virginia. You're live with Stephen A. What's up Said. How are you, man?

[Caller]

Hey, how you doing, sir? Actually, it's Frederick. How you doing, sir?

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm sorry, it said Cedric. I apologize. Frederick, how are you, man? Go ahead.

[Caller]

No, no, no problem. A big fan, 20 plus years. I know you get to the point person, but let me get. Hurry, hurry up. My co worker actually took a picture of you, a selfie when he was in dc. I have to send it to you next. But anyway, I need you to help me out with something. 22 year vet from the army, retired African American male, 52 years old. You know, I am, you know, racism is used too much a lot of the times. Help me out with something. Speaking of Mr. Charlie Kirk, and I was listening to Bill O'Reilly while we were on here and we talk about this. Charlie Kirk is not a racist, okay? Neither is Donald Trump. But when your policies, your rhetoric, your positions, et cetera, negatively affect a minority group or protected group, isn't that basically a cover up to basically say that you might have racist ideology?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Absolutely, Absolutely. I think it's fair to say that. I think it's fair for those who are victimized by those policies to make that assertion because they're the ones feeling the actual brunt of the pain. Getting back to Charlie Kirk, let me say this because it's very, very important that I, that I echo this, this sentiment. You know, I've never listened to Charlie Kirk. I didn't know what he had said. And when I was alerted to some of the things that he said, I have to confess to you, I was very alarmed. You know, you gotta remember Charlie Kirk was on the record saying that civil rights, the Civil Rights act was a mistake. There are black people that are going to find that incredibly offensive. Now, did he say that black people were better off as slaves because they committed fewer crimes? No, according to my research, that's not exactly what he said. And he repeatedly talked about acknowledging that racism and prejudice and stuff, these are evil and bad things and what have you. But in the same breath, he did downplay the brutality of Jim Crow laws. So you're gonna have black folks that definitely have a problem with him on that front. And even though he didn't say black women don't have the brain processing power to be taken serious, he did bring up Joy Reid, formerly of msnbc, Michelle Obama, Sheila Jackson Lee, a former Rep. And Ketanji Brown Jackson, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, accusing them of benefiting from affirmative action at the expense of more qualified candidates. The quote that he said is, this is how arrogant Joy Reid and Ketanji Brown Jackson and Michelle Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee are. Yeah, we know you do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You have to go steal a white person's slot to be taken somewhat seriously. That's what my research shows. That he said. That is highly offensive. That is highly offensive. And any black person that, that. That took issue with that, I have no problem with it whatsoever. I didn't know he had said those things. What folks don't realize, however, is that even had I known that he said those things, I still would have taken the position that I took, which is when he got assassinated. That ain't the time to be talking about that. It ain't the time to be talking about that. Giving the impression that his rhetoric is what ended up getting him killed. It could be somebody who was just sick and demented. It could be somebody who wanted to create that kind of mayhem and wasn't offended by it at all. You know what? We can speculate about all of those things. What we don't want to do as a society is come across as somebody who's given even tacit approval of such a heinous act ever taking place in this country or anywhere. It's about our humanity. And what I'm saying is that even knowing that he may have said those things, and I personally don't like it and find it offensive, and I don't have a problem with a black person who does. It still was not cause for people to be online celebrating the fact that he got killed or acting like it was okay because they didn't like his rhetoric. He went from college campus to college campus willing to debate his ideology and his beliefs with all comers. And when you talk about free speech and the right to debate without fear of violence, that's one of the premises our country was found upon. And to violate that in any way should force us all, should compel us all to stand up in unison together and say, nah, we don't want that. We're not tolerating that. That's all I was saying, and I stand by that, while still abhorring some of the things that I just read. Just want to say that. 866-967-6887. The number to call, that's 86696, POTUS. That's the number to call into Straight Shooter with Stephen A. Up next, the one and only Bill Maher from Real Time with Bill Ma. He's blessing me with his presence on this particular evening. Can't wait to talk to him in just a few minutes. The one and only Bill Ma with yours truly. Back with more Straight Shooter in a minute.

[Co-host/Commentator]

32 minutes past hour number two, back.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Here on the second edition, second installment of Straight Shooter with Stephen A. Right here over the airwaves of SiriusXM POTUS radio channel 124. Number to call up, as always is 866-967-6887. That's 86696, POTUS. It's my honor and privilege to have my next guest on. I've been on his show on several occasions, Real Time with Bill Maher. I've been on, I've been on, I've been on his podcast as well, Club Random, which is a fabulous podcast. A matter of fact, I joked I got a contact high hanging with him because we sat down for nearly two hours and he was smoking weed the whole time. And, and, and, you know, I haven't, you know, I don't smoke weed. So, you know, I get it. He'll be with us in just a few minutes or so. My team will alert me to when he shows up. And when he shows up, we'll get right to him again. The number to call up is 866-967-6887. That's 8669-676887-86696. POTUS. That is the number to call right here on SiriusXM straight shooter with Stephen A. Smith, POTUS radio channel 124. Getting back to what I was saying before, if you're Kimmel, you want to cover yourself by making sure you go after both sides. I understand that Trump in his eyes is significantly more of a threat than somebody else on the left would be. But in that position, doing late night television, got to take a side as Bill I'm sorry, you can't take sides. Bill O'Reilly highlighted how ABC, NBC, CBS, those are the three major networks in the United States. I thought Fox would be a fourth, but those are free airwaves, public service that comes into play, which gives the FCC more clout when it concerns them than it would most others. We have to pay attention to that as well. So in thinking about those things, you have to touch on it, and you have to touch on it in a manner that says, hey, not only do we have to watch what we're saying, we got to make sure we're doing what we got to do. Anyway. Is Bill Maher there? Asking my producers, disrupting my flow, to make sure. Is he sitting down yet? Let me know. He's not. He's not there yet, but he'll be there any second. In the meantime, I'm going to go to Benny Rosenberg. You're live with Stephen A real quick until Bill comes on. Go ahead, Benny. Floor is yours. Go ahead, Benny.

[Co-host/Commentator]

You live on air.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Go ahead.

[Caller]

Cool, cool.

[Co-host/Commentator]

How's it going, man? Who cares how I'm going? Go ahead and make your point, bro. You're live on the air.

[Caller]

Okay, go ahead. I'm calling in. Okay. I'm calling in because I have some concerns over the FCC chair and how, like, he handled everything with Jimmy Kimmel. And I'm Canadian, I'm from Toronto, so this doesn't affect me as much, but the states are supposed to be a leader in these sort of things. And when I see that, when I see that they're restricting rights on free speech, it makes it seem like that might be something going ahead for Canada, because a lot of our media is being funded.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Well, we gotta be sure that it's. Listen, do I suspect that's what Trump's trying to do? Particularly when we see what Pete Hegseth is doing with the Department of Defense, trying to police through the Pentagon what people report, getting access to what they're gonna report before they actually report it, even if it's unclassified. The nerve of them. They don't have the right to do that.

[Co-host/Commentator]

That's wrong.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That shouldn't be allowed to happen. So when you see something like that transpiring within the Trump administration, we have every right to be concerned about free speech and First Amendment privileges in this country when we hear about that kind of nonsense going on. The flip side to it is that let's not act like the left didn't engage in it when they were calling Facebook and social media platforms and restricting what they would say and what they would allow to be disseminated over, you know, over their platforms. You know, they engage in that kind of behavior, too. So again, Benny, if you had a problem, if you have a problem with it now, did you have a problem with that then? And that's what. That's what folks on the right are going to ask because they're going to want that level of consistency. But I'll get back to you later, Ben. Right now, I got to get to my next guest. Oh, he's an actor, a comedian, a producer, a writer, and host of the hit HBO political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher. The one and only Bill Maher is with me right now. What's going on?

[Co-host/Commentator]

Big time. How are you, sir?

[Stephen A. Smith]

How's everything?

[Bill Maher]

I'm not an actor. Don't ever call me an actor.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I apologize.

[Bill Maher]

I'm the opposite of an actor like you. Actors are avoiding the truth and playing parts. We're real and telling what's real.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Well, thank you so much. I appreciate. I. I correct myself. Thank you for the reminder.

[Bill Maher]

First of all, I'm just messing with.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I know, I know. It's good to see you, buddy. First of all. Secondly, Jimmy Kimmel returned to the airwaves last night. Your thoughts on his opening monologue?

[Bill Maher]

Well, first of all, Jimmy did not insult Charlie Kirk. He insulted maga. That's different. And he didn't lie. He said what he thought was true, which I disagreed with. I mean, I gave my spiel about it on the show last week, and, you know, it was basically saying something very different than what Jimmy said. I don't think he got it right. I think he's, quite frankly, in his liberal bubble, which is why, let's be real, those shows are struggling is because they, I think, arrogantly dismiss half the country. They don't speak to them, let alone for them. And that's a problem. And in. In the liberal bubble, it had to be someone who was also maga, who shot a MAGA guy. You know, my piece was just about how you can't even try to make sense politically of a lot of these people who committed these political atrocities because they're just crazy. And it's. It's. I wish it was politics. That would make it a lot easier. It's actually nihilism. They don't believe in anything. They're all over the map politically. They just want you to hurt like I do. And that's where that was. Jimmy had a different take. He's allowed to have a different. He's allowed to be wrong. So, you know, some of this stuff gets put out there, and then it becomes like the narrative. He lied. He didn't lie. His cheque was just wrong, in my view. And he didn't insult the person that they were worried about getting insulted. And on that score, yes. I mean, I've Been always clear about what I think about. You do it. There's no quarter for people who forgive any kind of political violence. Once you start with, yeah, but you know, what he said was terrible. I don't care. Irrelevant. If you think, whatever you think of it, we don't shoot each other in this country. And anybody who said anything that was mocking his death or anything like that, abhorrent, but not illegal. And the person who understood that very well was Charlie Kirk.

[Stephen A. Smith]

How did you feel about. How did you feel about Trump's reaction to Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off the air and his reaction. I mean, when Charlie Kirk got assassinated, the first words that came out of Trump's mouth is that it was the left. And obviously when Jimmy Kimmel said what he said, Trump wanted him pulled off the air, even though it was the FCC chairman that really, really went about the business of making threats along those lines. What were your thoughts about all of that?

[Bill Maher]

Unsurprised. Come on, Donald Trump's been on the stage a long time. You always know he's going to go 100 miles an hour in that direction. You know, he is an actor who commits to the part. Man, does he talk about actors as long as we're on that.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's right. That's right.

[Bill Maher]

He commits to the part. Do I think he believes a lot of things? Stuff I do not. But when he gets on the public stage this, he only goes one place at one speed, all the way to the end, as fast and hard as he can. So of course that's what he's going to say. And of course it's very wrong. And of course we're tilting toward autocracy if we're not already there. And I mean, their hypocrisy on free speech on the right is just breathtaking. The way we work went just like the snap of a fingers to. They were defending it. And again, if you read Charlie Kirk's own statements about free speech, it's exactly what I have always believed. I was never a believer in the concept of hate speech or hate crimes. Those are thought crimes. A crime is a crime. And, you know, we shouldn't be looking into people's minds. We should just prosecute them when they do horrible things.

[Stephen A. Smith]

As somebody that's over there was highly successful show HBO Real Time with Bill Maher. One of my favorite things was on my bucket list to appear on your show. And you've had me on twice, so I thank you for that. I've thoroughly enjoyed myself as the best political show on television. I Don't care what anybody says. But I will ask you this. When you look at Trump and some of the things that he says, what are you more concerned about in this day and age, Bill? Is it how the right feeds off of what he says, or is it how the left reacts to what he says? What has you more concerned at this particular moment in time as we just purview the landscape, look at our country and the state of affairs that's going on around here.

[Bill Maher]

Well, I love it that you always like what I. What you were just saying before I came on about free speech. And you said, well, you know, let's be honest, the left sort of recorded this a little bit because they weren't exactly champions of free speech. So you always have to look at that. I mean, I know that the woke people don't like it that I do that, and maybe they don't like it that you do it either. But that is the reality, and I think we should all do it a lot more is just be honest about both sides. I mean, what worries me about Trump the most is that the same people who have been saying for a very long time, oh, you know, Bill, you're so alarmed about Trump. He just says a lot of stuff. He talks a lot. Well, now he's doing it. You know, let's get real. The talk. A lot of stuff is that phase is over. He just fired the person who was investigating Letitia James. Right. And Comey and Adam Schiff and certainly in the James case just said, yeah, I looked into it. This is the mortgage fraud, you know, a made up, you know, your tail light is out kind of crime. And he said, there's not enough evidence to proceed. Trump fires him and puts in his mall lawyer. Now, I mean, this is just, you know, this is it. This is not talking about it. You're doing this. You are actually not just talking about weaponizing the Justice Department. Department to punish your political enemies. You're doing it. That worries me.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That does worry me as well. But what also worries me, Bill, is I'm sure it worries you who's the candidate on the left that can somehow derail him? Because I don't see anybody with a national presence that can pull that off. Where are you on that?

[Bill Maher]

I see somebody right here in my zoom camera. And by the way, only for you. Zoom. I hate zoom, but for you. But what? Where? Where's the Stephen A. Smith presidential bubble?

[Stephen A. Smith]

No, no, no. I'd have to give up too much money, Bill.

[Co-host/Commentator]

I'd have to give up too Much money. I'm not giving up my money, man. I'm not giving up my money yet.

[Bill Maher]

Money. They'll give you a free plane from Qatar. Are you kidding? Don't worry about money. You don't need money when you're the president. You think the president carries money?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Not for eight years, probably after that.

[Bill Maher]

Well, but go ahead with the Democrats. The reason why, you know, I'm taking you a little more seriously for this is because the Democrats definitely need an outsider. I mean, I'm gonna give you a little preview of something I'm working on that'll be on our show one of these weeks. At the end, as an editorial is. To me, the Democratic Party is a ghost brand. You know what a ghost brand is? It's like Sears or, you know, General Electric. You know, it's still a company, Abercrombie and Fitch. But they. They've really fallen off hard times. Yeah, but this. But they've been around for a long time. So there is value in. It's an asset. Right. Because there are still people who know of the company. And, and if. And if you could have somebody take it over who's not sentimental about that company and, you know, relaunch it, rebrand it. But it would have to be somebody who is unapologetic about calling them out. People have lost faith in the Democratic Party for very, very good reasons. And, you know, you're the only one I hear who, like, doesn't look like he cares what the other Democrats will say.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I don't care. I really don't.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I don't give a damn what they say. I really.

[Bill Maher]

I know. And it's somebody. I don't either. I'm. I'm right where you are. We're very close on all these things. And I think somebody with that kind of abandon is the only person who is going to win back former Democratic voters who have switched over.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But you also have faith in California Governor Gavin Newsom. Did you not.

[Bill Maher]

I love him as a candidate. Yes. I mean, you're right. He is. He's not exactly what I'm describing now. I think he'd be a great candidate. He has shown in recent months the ability also to move to the center. He would have to do it a lot more. But as a candidate, he's, you know, he looks great.

[Stephen A. Smith]

He.

[Bill Maher]

Great speaker, very forceful, can be mean, which is really important, and he can do it. He also has the backing, or certainly should, of the. Where the energy is in the Democratic Party, the far left, because, you know, he's Been out front on a lot of very liberal issues, which I think is great. Gay marriage here in California and stuff like that. Pollution, all sorts of stuff that we believe in. But, you know, he does have a long trail to lose the baggage of governor of the most liberal state in the country. And, you know, I told him, I tell him face to face. I've said it on the show. He went too far left for me often. But it is encouraging to me that in at least three places I could think of, he has moved it back to the center. But he's got a long way to go if he wants to do that.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Do you think a far lefty can win a national election in this day and age, a presidential election?

[Bill Maher]

Do you think that far left, you mean like aoc?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yes. I'm just.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Whether it's, it's, it's what you said.

[Stephen A. Smith]

About Newsom, whether it's an aoc. I mean, do you think somebody like that can win a general election for the presidency of the United States in this day and age? I don't think so.

[Bill Maher]

I don't think so either. I mean, that's, you know, anything is possible. And possibly it would excite a certain group, people who have not voted. And I mean, what if 80% of Gen Z voted? Could then a Mandami like candidate win? I guess so, but I'm not expecting that to happen. And I don't think it's the smart bet for the Democrats. There was an article in the Atlantic this week about, well, the Democratic leadership keeps saying the Democrats should change course, you know, away from the far left. But they're not doing it right. They should all read that article.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And to me, if they're not doing it, they're not paying attention to what's going to win. They just want to vent. I'm listening to Jasmine Crockett. I'm like, that verbiage ain't gonna work. AOC could win the Senate seat and take it from Chuck Schumer in New York City, but that's not gonna win a general election. So Rahman, Donnie might win the mayor's seat in New York City, and Trump and his acolytes may be scared to death that it's gonna permeate throughout the country because of what happens Minnesota, what's happening in New York City, what potentially could happen in California, but that's not the entire country. So for me, I'm very, very worried about the left because you should be focusing on trying to win the midterms. And I don't see that happening. Do you see any light at the end of the tunnel for the Democratic Party for 2026 or 2028? My last question to you.

[Bill Maher]

I think they can win those elections. I don't think the right, as long as they appear nutty to the right, and there is a lot of nutty on the far left, as long as they appear that way to those Republicans, it doesn't matter if they win the election. The right is not going to give up power. That's my prediction. I mean, they've already shown they are perfectly comfortable with not. Trump has, still has not conceded the 2020 election.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right.

[Bill Maher]

You know, it's as Stalin said, it's not who wins the, the most votes, it's who counts the votes. And so if the right still thinks that the left is an existential threat to this country because they want to rewrite all the rules of human nature and then have nobody debate them. Yeah, I don't, I don't think it matters if the Democrats win. The Republicans will just find a way to say, no, actually, that's not gonna happen.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And you're actually right, because years ago you said that Trump wasn't gonna walk away easily. He was gonna fight. You called it before anybody else did. And you've also pointed out that and Gavin Newsom has now jumped on that bandwagon. They don't think, they think he's gonna try to circumvent the 22nd Amendment, courtesy of Steve Bannon and others, circumvent the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution. And he's going to stay after 2028 in some capacity. So all of that is stuff that we could get into at a later date. Bill Maher, host of Real Time with Bill Ma on hbo. Man, I love your show. It's the best political show on television. You're the best in the business. Thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to join me. I really appreciate it.

[Bill Maher]

My man. Always great to see you, Mr. President.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Take it easy, Bill. Take it easy. That's the one and only Bill Ma. You, by the way, you can catch him.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I listen HBO every Friday night. Real Time with Bill Maher. I'm telling you, it's must see television for anybody that cares about politics. I know. I don't miss it. Let's get back to the phones at 866-967-6887. That's 8669-676887-86696, POTUS. Back to the phones we go. Let's go to Brett in Minneapolis, you're live with Stephen A. What's going on? I'm in the Celtic rather. Go ahead.

[Caller]

Hello, Stephen. I am very impressed with your. Your good medicine. You speak. Speak the truth, that's for sure.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Thank you.

[Caller]

I wish we could get a good dose of you every morning and put people on the right track because it is extremely difficult out here to try to have a conversation with somebody when the first thing they do is pick their political side.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Absolutely correct.

[Caller]

Whatever you're talking about, they only try to spin it to get their point across.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's disgusting. I mean, you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. It's totally disgusting. That's exactly how most people are acting. It really gets on my last damn nerves, to be honest with you. It really does. But go ahead. I'm sorry to interrupt.

[Caller]

I mean.

No, that's fine. I mean, as far as, you know, as far as adult in the room, you nailed it. I mean, it seems like you are the adult in the room. How do we get you in that room and, you know, slap these people into the direction they need to be? Because to me, I feel like you want to.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Well, it starts with this show.

[Caller]

The 20% on the right, 20% on the left, 60% in the middle go.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Well, it's actually a grand total of 20% with 10 or 10 on the front fringes on either side. So they actually, there's a lesser number of them than that. They just screech the most so they sound the loudest. But they don't dominate the vast majority of Americans who are centrist and are reasonable and understand that compromise doesn't necessarily mean capitulation. It just means the understanding that everybody doesn't get to get everything they want. That's called being an adult. And that's the kind of society that we should be encouraging. And it starts here with this show. I'm going to make sure that I do everything I can to do my part. And I've left the door open. I don't have any intentions of being a politician, running for office or anything like that, but I left the door open for that reason because I would love to be on a debate stage with some of these politicians to try to justify to my face how they've gone about the business of manipulating the American citizen over these last decades. They make me sick. And I'm not talking about any specific individual. I'm just talking about the apparatus of our government in the nation's capital. What they have done to the American citizen has been a fake flagrant disservice to us all and they need to be held accountable for to get their asses out of office. That's what I feel. But I'll leave that for another day. Let me get back to the phones. Let's go to Crystal in Georgia. You're live with Stephen A. Straight shooter with Stephen A. Go ahead, Crystal, floor is yours.

[Caller]

Hey Stephen, it's Crystal. How are you doing? I'm just, I just want to say I just started to listen to you tonight and I feel like I'm, I'm hearing and voice, let me just say I am a 65 year old grandmother. I have kids, I have grandchildren. I'm not worried about me. I am very much worried about my children and my grandchildren. And I would say that, you know, while I do think, and I'm going to be frank, I probably will never vote Republican ever again. But I'm not a Democrat now. I'm an independent. I don't have a home, a pucks on both your houses because what has been delivered to my children and to my grandchildren nobody should feel good about. So my question though is this. Who is doing the most harm? Why are we not in the streets right now? Because if you are indeed an American, not talking about being a Republican, not talking about being a Democrat, where has civility, justice, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, economic opportunity.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Well, Krista, let me say this to you people figuratively and in some cases literally have been in the streets. The problem is confusion because the second you jump on the right, the right is able to point to what the left did, just like the left is able to point to what the right did. So what you're both acknowledging is that you're both screwed over the American citizens and left chaos for us to deal with in terms of what's rained down upon us, which is why you're disgusted. Which is why me being a father of two teenage daughters should be disgusted. Which is why every American citizen should be disgusted. Because we've been used like pawns by elected officials who haven't done the job that we sent them to Capitol Hill to do. When I see somebody as egregious as I think that Trump has been in certain cases, when I see politicians on the left excoriating him at every turn, I'm saying to myself, how are you going to work on behalf of your constituency to get things done when you've done everything you could to alienate him? The fact is we brought you up there to figure out a way to maneuver yourself through this terrain through this maze of mayhem and beyond and figure out a way to get things done. If you're the Democratic Party right now, do this favor for me. If you feel like he can't be talked to and he can't be worked worked with and he's not the art of the deal and all of this other stuff, then at least show me that you have a formidable strategy in place to win the 2026 election.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Because if you reclaim power in the.

[Stephen A. Smith]

House and the Senate, he's going to be limited in what he can do.

[Co-host/Commentator]

And as a result, you will have regained power. But by the way, when you get.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That power, don't abuse it, Crystal.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Don't then all of a sudden focus.

[Stephen A. Smith]

On cancel culture and identity politics and.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Woke instead of focusing on the economy, on our borders, on national security, on affordability, on education, make sure that you're doing those things because that's what the average American citizen can relate to when you do something like that. Crystal, we're going a long way towards.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Being in a better place.

[Co-host/Commentator]

But unfortunately, we got people whistling into the wind just engaging in vitriolic language.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Being acerbic as they can be, because.

[Co-host/Commentator]

They think somehow, some way that's going to appeal to others and that's going.

[Stephen A. Smith]

To get them votes.

[Co-host/Commentator]

It's not going to work.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And that's my point, Crystal. That is my point. I appreciate the call. Thank you so much. John in Atlanta, you're live with Stephen.

[Co-host/Commentator]

A real quick.

[Stephen A. Smith]

John, go ahead.

[Caller]

Yeah. Hi, Steven. Congratulations on your show. I just want to bring up the point about Bill O'Reilly, and we're talking.

[Stephen A. Smith]

About just make it quick because we only got you only got a minute. So I want you to go quick because you only got a minute.

[Caller]

Yeah, I know. Okay, good. Yeah. Intentional evil. Well, what about bombing schools and churches and apartment buildings and Gaza? According to Bill O'Reilly, that's unintentional. But you have a few drones over Poland, and that is intentional evil. I mean, it's ridiculous.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Who are you talking about? Who you talk about? Putin? Who are you talking about?

[Caller]

Bill O'Reilly. I'm talking about Bill O'Reilly.

[Stephen A. Smith]

In terms of what, though?

[Co-host/Commentator]

What about Bill O'Reilly? He didn't say it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I don't understand your call.

[Caller]

He condemned what the Israelis are doing in Gaza.

[Co-host/Commentator]

Got it, got it, got it, got it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You're talking about what the Israelis are doing in Gaza. Well, there's, there's two things. There's two forms of thinking. And I'll end it by saying this as a black man as an African American, when we see people who are displaced and disenfranchised and we see mayhem and death raining upon places like it is in Gaza, that is very, very alarming. And we're hearing people in our country bring up words like genocide, I'm not doing it. That's what they've been doing, okay? The Jewish community or those supportive of Netanyahu and what he is doing would say in return that all is not what it seems, that Hamas is using human beings as human shields, that they're starving their own people, that they're doing a lot of these things and they're lying about the assistance that Israel has provided it. That's a deeper subject for another day. But I will tell you, it's two sides and it gets very, very tricky. So that's a lot to get into, and we can't do it right now because the show ends. Thank you for joining this latest edition of Straight Shooting with Stephen A. I'll be back next week. Until then, peace and love, everybody.

[Caller]

God bless.