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Bill O’Reilly says to ignore polls until late September, But Trump needs better
Leland Vittert
Bill, we live in a cable news world. Every moment now we live in a Twitter world. It’s every second you’re seeing poll numbers and news and everything else.
You went back and looked at this from a historical perspective. If we’d looked at Lincoln’s poll numbers in ’62 and ’63, would we have ever thought that he would be remembered the way he was?
Bill O’Reilly
No, and people should ignore the polls until late September because so many things are going to happen.
But there’s no doubt in my mind that the Trump administration has a messaging problem and that they should have a SWAT team that comes out when there’s a controversy and just gives the facts.
Let me give you an example. The big thing in Minnesota, which drove down the president’s poll numbers, was the violence with the ICE agents that people could see on TV. And then they walk away and they say, “That’s wrong. We don’t like that. We don’t want that.”
But there was no explanation at all about what ICE was actually doing. And if you look at the raw data, 60 percent of the people that ICE took into custody were somewhat involved or deeply involved with criminal activity. And that message never got out. It never got out.
It was the hotel maid, the farmer, the people who have been here 85 years, and dragging grandpa out.
And here’s an interesting thing for the NewsNation audience: a lot of the migrants that are taken into custody by ICE have not shown up for their asylum hearings. You never hear that reported, ever.
Once you are mandated to appear for a hearing, and you’re in the country on an asylum basis, and you don’t show up, then you’re immediately designated for deportation. Right? Never been reported.
Leland Vittert
Okay, I’m not sure how we got back to—so why couldn’t the Trump administration report that? See, that’s what I don’t understand.
Well, they had Kristi Noem and everybody else out there. But I want to get away from immigration.
What does Trump have to do now? You’ve said it on this program: he’s obsessed with his legacy. He wants to be remembered as a great president. You’ve studied the presidents. What does he have to do now to get that reputation solidified?
Bill O’Reilly
Well, he’s got to have some wins and he’s got to explain the losses, and he’s got to cut down on the feuding.
You know, Theodore Roosevelt—who hated to be called Teddy, by the way—he was a king of feuds. He had feuds all day long, but he didn’t make them public. They were intense, but behind the scenes.
Seems every day President Trump is feuding with someone else. That does not help him anymore. It did help him—absolutely helped him—in the beginning when he was looked at as an Avenger, a crusader. But now it’s wearing down a little bit.
So my advice to President Trump is: A, I think he has done very well on the economy. And I think when the people get their refund checks from the big bill, they’re going to be happy with those.
He’s got to get insurance prices down. I actually suggested to him that there be a summit of insurance CEOs at the White House. That’s got to come down, because that’s just killing working people.
And then, as I said, he doesn’t have to do all the messaging. Get authoritative people to put out what is actually happening.
Leland Vittert
Donald Trump is allowing the media that hates—
It’s so easy, though, to book any of his people on cable news, right?
During the whole Minnesota thing, Kristi Noem was out there all the time. Bovino was everywhere explaining themselves. May not be the message you wanted them to spread, but it was the message that they wanted to spread.
When it comes to the economy, I think Bessent’s extraordinarily good. You got Howard Lutnick trying to do stuff on the economy.
When it comes to national security, Rubio is incredibly articulate. Hegseth, people can make their own decisions about.
Does he have the right people around him right now to do what you’re talking about?
Bill O’Reilly
Some of them. But the essential point is this: he is allowing his enemies to define him and reacting to the definition.
That has to change if President Trump wants to be considered a great president.
And all you have to do is go back to Ronald Reagan. You never saw Reagan lash out. Ever.
Yeah, behind the scenes he was ferocious, but he tried out Baker, he tried out another one, and they’d have a whole thing prepared to rebut the attacks.
But Reagan didn’t do it. He could have done it. He was very skilled at being an actor—he could have done anything he wanted.
But Reagan basically had a disciplined approach to reacting to criticism.
Leland Vittert
Okay, well let me give you something, though. Shoes don’t stretch. Men don’t change. As you said, Donald Trump hasn’t changed in the 30 years you’ve known him.
But this is an article written by George W. Bush for The Free Press. George W. Bush:
“What I learned from George Washington: our first leader helped define not only the character of the presidency, but the character of the country. Washington modeled what it means to put the good of the nation over self-interest and selfish ambition. He embodied integrity and modeled why it is worth aspiring to. And he carried himself with dignity and self-restraint, honoring the office without allowing it to become invested with near mythical powers.”
Is that kind of attitude what is required for greatness?
Bill O’Reilly
No. That was Washington’s skill.
And he really didn’t want to be president anymore because Martha was killing him. “He better get back here.” And George said, “OK.” But he didn’t really want—
Now, if John Adams were in the same position, the second president, Adams would have stayed there for 40 years. Okay? So it depends on the individual.
Leland Vittert
Yeah, but we don’t think of Adams as a great president.
Bill O’Reilly
I don’t. I think he was OK. I wouldn’t say he was great.
When you’re reconfronting the presidents, he lost control of the government a few times. The voters didn’t like him, which is why Jefferson beat him.
He was OK. A brave man, a patriot, but not a great administrator.
But Donald Trump has a vision, and the vision is good for the American people. This is what I keep telling everybody: strip away your emotion and look at what the man is trying to do, and he’s being successful.
He brought down the deficit enormously in the first fiscal quarter. The whole thing came down.
I think he got 30 seconds of airtime on television. And he did that by using tariff money to pay off some debts for the federal government.
So what I’m saying to you is: Donald Trump is a very skilled communicator, but he’s not a disciplined communicator. Do you get my point there?
Leland Vittert
No, look, you make a great point—no pun intended—of what it requires to be great as a president. There’s so many different skills.
Bill O’Reilly
Yeah, he goes into areas that hurt him. I mean, nobody cares about Marjorie Taylor Greene. Nobody gives a fig about her. Why give her airtime?
I mean, I’m just going, you know.
Leland Vittert
Yeah, I think there’s a lot of people who do that. And that’s what the press latches onto.
Bill O’Reilly
Yeah, that’s true.
Leland Vittert
All right, Bill, we got to run. Thank you very much. Happy President’s Day.
Bill O’Reilly
Thanks for having me.