Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Let's get started right out the gate, y'all, with my
first guest. He's a political commentator, doesn't call himself conservatives.
He says he's independent. On television and radio, he's a
personality there as well.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
He's an author who is.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Probably best known as host of his former show, The
O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel. You can catch him
every weeknight at six pm Eastern on the No Spin News.
Please welcome the man himself, the one and only Bill O'Reilly.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome to the show. Sir, how are you?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I'm the same, which is tragic for everyone, but consistency
there is something to be said for it.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
How would you describe yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Let me just start out there right when you say
I'm the same, much of the chagrine of everyone.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
What would you describe yourself as being? Bill O'Reilly?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Independent, thinker, bloviator, provocateur at times, okay, judgmental and very
Irish American.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
You do know that when you say you're an independent,
a lot of people say, you know what, Steven, and
when you're gonna ask that man win the last time
he voted for a Democrat because they can't see you
vote for a Democrat when they when you say you're
I like you said that independent thinker, but usually you
just say independent. And what I'm saying is is that
you know what he says, he's an independent. I'm going
to believe him. I call myself an independent. Let's not
(01:29):
grow skepticism this man's way. But could you see yourself
voting for a Democrat? Have your voted for a Democrat
in recent memory?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Bill o Roddy, I voted if it's Swazi in November. Okay,
Congressman the third district. He's a Democrat, and know him well.
I think he's an honest man. I voted for him
because the Republican didn't really advance anything. In my eyes,
that overrode what I know about Swashing. Look, the people
(02:00):
try to pigeonhole me. Don't know anything about me. They
don't know how I analyze the news. They don't understand
my philosophy because they believe what they want to believe.
And I'm used to it.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
But let me interject.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I get the part about they want to believe what
they want to believe. But you can't say they don't
really know you. I mean, Bill, You've been on the
after how many years? How many days we know you little.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Bit as fifty how they don't know you, Bill, But
it's a segmented audience. We had an enormous audience and
we do today. Millions and millions of people every every
day watch me in some capacity and on Fox record
number sixteen years consecutive number one. But the audience that
(02:51):
will devote time to listening to me is primarily traditional,
not conservative. The far right. They don't like me at all.
They attack me all the time, but it's a traditional
audience because they know where I'm coming from. The liberal
audience we had about because we did analytics. When I
(03:12):
was at Fox, it was sixty percent traditional, twenty percent
non aligned in twenty percent liberal that would watch us
on a daily basis. Now it's ninety five conservative traditional
at Fox. They've lost that. So we know that most
(03:34):
liberals they don't want to listen to O'Reilly, and they
believe what they want to believe. But here's a good
and interesting point for you. When I do shows like
John Stewart, there's an enormous audience on the left for
those shows, and they don't come out of it hating me.
In fact, my last apparent's on David Letterman. I got
(03:55):
a standing oh for Letterman, who did his best to
try to make me look foolish, A standing oh. It
shocked him. So I think that I have a broader appeal.
But I agree with you that a lot of people
think that I'm some kind of conservative ideo loge.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Who dislikes you more the left, or the extreme left
or the extreme right.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
No, the left for sure, okay, because I have very
little tolerance for the woke people. The extreme right is
much narrow, It's a much more narrow crew than the left.
The left has really made in roads in this country,
(04:42):
and they control the Democratic Party. The far left does
at this point, whereas the right has not done that.
You know, Donald Trump's not an idea log He couldn't
give you any kind of verse about the Republican Party
or ideology. He's more of a deal maker. But his
audience maga, and so he plays to that audience.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
You know, when we think about you know this Sunday, Westbury,
New York, three pm Eastern Standard time, You're going to
have the Three Americans Live event, myself, you and the
one and only Chris Cuomo.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
You see the promo right there.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yes, I have been I have been promoting it every
single day, every single show, Bill O'Riley, as I've been
instructed by someone who will remain nameless, but it's sitting
right in front of me. The point that I'm saying, Bill,
is this, when we see this event coming up, what
do you believe and what would you articulate to the
audience that we're going to give them that they haven't
(05:38):
seen before.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Excellent question. So I did this as an experiment to
see if we could meld three different audiences into one
enjoyable afternoon. And I'm not sure whether we're going to
succeed or not. We'll succeed as far as capacity in
(06:01):
the theater. We sold a lot of tickets, but will
the audiences get along, will there be an equal amount
of different thinkers. I don't know, but I did it
because I am tired of the choir. One of the
reasons that you are successful both in sports and now
(06:22):
you're making a move into policy is because people don't
know what you're gonna say, and you say I with passion,
and so that unpredictability about Steven A. Smith attracts an audience.
Same thing with me, Cuomo A little bit more, Doctor
Naire left, although he's changed a little bit. When you
say the one and only Chris Cuomo, I almost applauded.
(06:45):
We really don't need another one. But he's there and
we are going to listen to what he has to say.
But I want to show the country. We're going to
shoot this, by the way, for TV. I'm not going
to run it. It's more of a pilot situation. But
you have to come see us if you want to
see what we do. But I'm hoping that we can
meld this so that everybody has a good time, even
(07:09):
if you disagree or you are a different mindset than
the person sitting next to you in the theater, that
you all come out and have a good time and
learn something because I'm going to bring it as I
always do. So it is a very interesting experiment because
if you watch television now, it's all choet, it's all
right wing, left wing. They're horrible. Whatever we do is great,
(07:34):
and that's boring to me, and I don't like that.
I like robust debate. I like hearing different points of view.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Absolutely, And I'll give you credit for that because a
lot of people would look at you and they'd see
you hosting on Fox News years ago. They'll see you
hosting your show now and they wouldn't get that impression.
And they look at me, and you'll come to me
like you did last week. Get out your phone or
your notebook and take these notes down. And you brought
up the Yolta conference at all of this other stuff. Yes,
I've been reading up on it. Bill, by the way,
I've been reading up on it, and you have people
(08:03):
that had an attitude, and I said.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
WHOA, I like Bill o'reiley. I know that might shock you,
but I like him.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I think he likes me, and we like going at
each other in our own in our own way. I
know that I don't know as much as that man,
humble yourself, the man been covering politics for fifty years.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I'm just getting started. I think he would have a
head start.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Get over it for crying out loud, But the world
that we live in, I think one of the reasons
you came up with this idea is because you are
lamenting the fact that we can't have reasonable, sensible and
respectful discourse, and you believe that's something that will transpire
this weekend.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
To that you say, what I don't want tribalism in
this country. Tribalism is a weakness, not a strength. I
don't like the tribes. So about ten years ago, I
went to a concert the Eisley Brothers and Frankie Mays
and time all black audience at Jones Beach. Okay, yep,
(09:04):
I walk in. I'm the only white guy in a
place except for the security cards. So my date goes,
she's looking at me. She goes, are you sure this
is a good idea? I said, this is gonna be great.
So I was sitting right down front, and so I
(09:26):
walked down to the seats. Everybody sees me. It's an
outdoor venue, and half the crowd knew it was me,
and I'm just I'm waving. Everybody's waving at me, and yeah,
you're gonna everybody want pictures with me. It was and
that's the America that I like. Now. They don't agree.
(09:49):
I'm sure that most people at the concert, particularly Ronald Isley,
I don't agree with my point of view about life.
But it was good nature and that's what I want
to get back to. And that's why I'm doing this show.
It's my production company, as you know, and I hope
We're treating you well. You are, and I'm gonna try
(10:11):
to market this into something bigger. I don't know whether
I'll be able to succeed.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Oh you probably. You'll probably succeed because you got me.
You got me. We ain't losing Bill. We ain't try
to lose it. It's just the way that it is.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Let me get to some issues that that that I
have to I have to approach with you right now.
I want to get right into the headlines around the
Donald Trump in this new administration featuring Elon Musk. Last week,
Steve Bannon was on Cuomo on News Nation and said
that Trump will run again at twenty twenty eight and win.
When pressed by Cuomo that Trump is termed out, Bannon said,
the team is developing ways to elect Trump a third time.
(10:45):
You wrote it off. I did not take Conley to
that Bill, O'Reilly. I want you to explain yourself as
to why you wrote it off, man.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Because in the constitution it says you can't do it.
What is that I'm gonna do? Have a vote to
two thirds of the state to overturn the constitutional amendment.
Look at the map. You're not gonna get two thirds
of the States to do that. It's ridiculous. It's what
they always do, all right. You have to understand if
you read The United States or Trump, which is by
(11:15):
far the best book ever written about Donald Trump by me,
your humble correspondent, It's all about provocation. It's all about
putting your opposition off balance, getting them annoyed, getting them emotional.
And that's what these maga people do. Betten knows is
(11:37):
no way that Donald Trump's gonna run for a third term.
Trump knows it, everybody knows. But they just throw the
hander inad out hoping that some nit wit on CNN
will get upset and rant and rave. This is a
hobby for them. They enjoy this, okay, But what does
(11:57):
it do like that? It's just today.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
If example, if somebody or CNN or MSNBC goes off,
what and they provoke somebody to do that, what is
the what is the fallout from it? In the eyes
of a Trump abandon et cetera.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
There isn't any those people are going to vote for
him anyway, so they don't have any downside to it.
It's like a heckler in the dugout or on the
bench in a basketball game. Or football game. You try
to throw your opposition off balance. You try to confuse
them by throwing in all of this stuff and calling
(12:34):
them names or whatever you do. And that's what the
prime administration does. They throw out all of this stuff.
About twenty percent of it is real and the other
eighty percent is what they call hyperbole. And so Trump
will go, oh, Joe Biden is the worst president of
all time, and everybody go, yeay, well he's not. He's
(12:58):
the second worst, right, not that he is worse than
James Buchanan, But he doesn't care. He's going for the headline.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I don't think he's just going for the headlines.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I think it's it's the ol bait and switch, coax
them or provoke them in the singing and doing something
stupid that resembles, resembles the rhetoric during the campaign, and
as a result, you're able to point to them being crazy,
et cetera, et cetera. And that's why you need to
vote for me, because you can't trust the liberals. I
think that's what he's doing. But let me get to
my next question, because I'm still on President Trump's administration.
(13:32):
This comment's about featuring Elon Musk, the world's richest man.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
As a chief advisor. Musk has been given up.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Presidented access and all the private citizen has ever received.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Why should we, as the American people be okay with
this bill? O'Reilly?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
You don't have to be okay with it. I don't.
I'm not telling any American you should be happy with
Elon Musk there because I don't know. So last Monday,
Saint Patrick's Day, I was in a cabinet meeting in
the White House. I was invited there by the President,
(14:06):
who occasionally asked for my presence because he knows that
a lot of people will only tell him what he
wants to hear, and I, knowing him thirty five years,
will tell him what I think and try to back
it up and he likes that. So I'm there and
(14:28):
sitting right next to me is Elon Musk, who I
met one time before in Hollywood and didn't talk to him.
I just said, hey, how you doing, and he said
about that. I had a twenty minute conversation with him,
and my son witnessed it because my son was on
my left flank, and in the conversation he asked me
(14:49):
about what he might improve on in his presentation, and
I told him my opinion, but I've been in a
TV business fifty years. I know how to present. He
listened and that was it. Now I'm neutral on Elon Musk.
So I am bullish on wasteful spending and getting rid
(15:14):
of it, but I don't want people to get hurt unnecessarily.
So I want a very deliberate, methodical machine to downsize
the federal government. I admire must success. Everybody should. He
brought those astronauts down, and the media didn't give him
nearly as much credit. That was a brilliant, brilliant operation
(15:36):
to get those two astronauts down, and Musk was behind that.
So I admire his success, but I'm neutral on him
because I don't really know him very well, and I
think that's a fair way to play it at this point.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
I'm looking at Trump right now with Musk, and I'm
seeing suggestions about oddly cutting waste, fraud, etc. And I
remember a friend of mine sent me a video because
he's a Republican, and he was saying, Stephen A Before
you want to sit up there and excoriate Trump and
Musking what they're doing. He sent me videos of Nancy
(16:11):
Pelosi and Chuck Schumer back in twenty and twelve. I
remember correct that. I think it's twenty ten, And then
it was again in twenty twelve, literally using the same
words fraud, waste, et cetera. We're going to have to
cut medicare. This is what they were saying at the time.
So again, once again we point to some hypocrisy considering
(16:32):
that reality, as you look at Trump and how he's
marched forward, how would you judge his first few months
in the White House? In his return to the White House.
It's one thing to talk about doing stuff. It's another
thing to actually look at what he's doing. As the
man who's known him for thirty five years, how would
you label the job that he has done us far?
(16:53):
Critique the job that he has done us far? The
positives and the negatives?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Well, I have to break it out, just do one uniform.
So on the border A plus all right, knocked out
the open border in record time, ninety four percent intrusions
less than Biden had. That is an incredible achievement. Incredible.
(17:18):
As far as the migrants inside the United States, I
just talked to Tom Homan. I have a pretty good
idea on what the strategy is going forward, and I'm
supportive of it. You have to get the dubious people out,
and if a criminal alien is dating an alien that
doesn't have a criminal record, they both go. The Homeland
(17:40):
security is not going to delineate at that level. So
I'm with him. On the economy. The tariff thing was
too much, too soon, and it shook the market. Now
I think the market is going to come back, but
I don't know, and that was not a good thing
for the Trump administration because people get nervous when you
see that kind of a drop that fast. And I
(18:02):
don't know why he had to do all the tariffs
at once. You could just piece it out a little bit.
I don't think she'd be invading Canada or Greenland or Panama.
I think when you can get what you want without
rattling their cage to that extent, but it's the same thing.
Rattle them up, keep them of balanced. It'll be easier
(18:23):
to get what we want. So Trump is trying to
get better economic deals. He wants more companies to move
back to the United States. That seems to be happening
with Putin. I'm optimistic that there is going to be
a cease fire, but Putin will drag it out as
long as he can. But I'll tell you this, and
(18:44):
I know this to be true, and this is the
most important thing We'll probably have on a Stephen A.
Smith podcast tonight. If Putin makes Trump look bad, Trump
will hurt him. Knows that. How you shut down all
the banking to Moscow, Wow to me bank that does
(19:09):
business with Russia, and that'll that'll be it for Putin.
All the Oligarusic will turn on them, military will turn
on him. The only reason Putin's in power is because
he buys the military and the very, very wealthy criminals
who run Russia. You shut off their banking. Nobody wants
the ruble. They can't get dollars. It's over for Putin.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Getting back to Elon Musk some of the waste, fraud,
et cetera. Department of Education, what Trump's want in terms
of it's eradication. Your thoughts about federal employees losing their jobs.
I mean, you know this is these are real lives
that are being affected. People bring that up a lot
of times when folks on the right get critiqued. The
(19:52):
belief is they don't care enough about the working class,
but the left does, even though we now know that
the left has lost lost the working class, and Donald
Trump won an election because the working class have more
faith in him than they did in the left. Your
thoughts about the Trump administration and their position on that
federal jobs people losing their jobs right now in terms
of cutting cost.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
I mean, look, I'm very sympathetic to anybody who's honest
in making a living and trying to improve the nation.
Some people are gonna get let go that shouldn't get
let go. And I am calling for the Trump administration
to be as precise in its cuts as it can be.
There's a lot of waste, there's a lot of people
(20:33):
not doing what they should do. The federal government has
to be downsized. It has to be. You can't carry
a thirty six trillion dollar debt. I mean, we're going
to run out of money in July according to Federal Reserve,
And I mean that you think the stock market is
wobbly now? If the United State SUTs a default on
its debt, can't pay its interest on a saving response,
you're looking at a depression situation here. So you've got
(20:56):
to downsize it and win any downsize and good people
are gonna use lose their jobs. But the good news
is there plenty of jobs in a private sector, plenty
of jobs. You can make a good living in this
country if you're honest in and work hard and have skills.
It's not like you're going into the desert. You're not.
It's opportunities Bill at this point.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
At this point, you gotta be your life.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
You got to be fair as you can about it at.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
This point in your life. And I'm not talking about
you in terms of how you're living. I'm talking about
your knowledge of how Americans can and should live from
your prism. When we think about a thirty six trillion
dollar debt, when we think about the state and the
plight of this country, particularly on.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Those terms, who's more culpable? Is neither party?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Is one party significantly more culpable than the other, or
is it a combination of them all. I think about
a thirty six trillion, thirty six thirty seven trillion dollar debt,
I'm saying, wait a minute. Reagan was in office, HW
had a term. Reagan had two terms, W had two terms.
Trump's now back for a second time. I understand Obama
and Clinton was in the mix day into up to
the proceedings per se. But you had both parties up
(22:03):
in there. When you think about our thirty seven trillion
dollar debt, who's most culpable for that bill?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
O'Reilly?
Speaker 3 (22:08):
All of them? I mean, vote buying is just a scandal.
We'll give you this, we'll give you that. We'll give
you this, we'll give you that, we'll give you this.
You can't you at the money. Capitalistic nation. This isn't Sweden. Okay,
we don't do cradle the grave entitlements here. The Democratic
Party wants that kind of a system. That's why Bernie
(22:31):
Sanders and a constant cortezro on the tour now to
convince Americans to do socialism that will take care of you. Okay,
we'll spend on you and we'll take the money from
O'Reilly and Stephen A. Smith and we'll give it to you.
That's what they do. But the Republicans, they had no
interest in cutting anything, none, because it's too hard. Then
they ah, yeah, we'll get it any it. Ah, we'll
(22:53):
give it to him. We'll do this, we'll do that.
We got much money the Pentagon waste. I mean, it's ridiculous.
How much money they waste. They don't discipline their buys,
they don't supervise their bills. They waste money because it's
an endless figot. It's not like you're running a household budget.
All right, Oh yeah, we need more money. Come out
and they'll give us more money. It's called pork po RK.
(23:17):
And the main job of the congress people in SATU
is bring the poor homb to the state. And that's
got to be revised. We get out of money bill.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
If politicians who are not known to be business folks,
who aren't who aren't considered individuals that pride themselves on
making deals, have been excessive with the use and the
exploitation of pork, why in God's name should anybody believe
that Trump is going to be a better option than
(23:50):
those individuals that preceded him that contributed to the deficit.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
But he's doing it. That's why, bread my skin. He's
doing it. He's going We're gonna pype out a lot
of the unnecessary spending. He's doing it. He didn't do
it in the first term because COVID wrecked everything. They
had to pay the federal government. I paid so much
money in these pharmaceutical companies to get these vaccines that
(24:14):
he just blew everything up. But now he's doing it now.
I don't know whether he can get through the swamp.
I think he's going to make an improvements on that.
He's got to go into the Pentagon, has to and
I believe that'll be coming. But we do need to
compete with China's military. We got to build more ships.
That's going to cost a lot of money. But there
(24:36):
are ways to do it. You have to want to
do it. And in the past ninety percent of American
politicians in both parties don't want to supervise spending. It's
the last thing on their minds. Steven A. It's boring,
it's numbers on a sheet. They don't want to do it.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Last two questions before I'll let you get on out
of here and thank you for your time. Number one,
do you give and Bernie Sanders any snowballs chance in
hell of resonating with the vast majority of American citizens
once before the election?
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I would tell you hell no.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
But these things could be a bit cyclical, they could
be a bit mobile. And if you're disgusted with Trump
and Musk or whatever, who knows what chance do you
give them for resonating as faces for the left in
the next couple of years moving forward, particularly before the midterms.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
O Sanders is eighty three, so he's not going to
do anything. Cassio Cortez is a socialist, hardcore maybe a communist.
If you hear anybody say they believe in a wealth
tax where the government would come into your home and
take stuff from you, that's communism, that's confiscation. And I
believe Ocassio Cortez supports that Sanders does. So I don't
(25:49):
think Americans want that kind of oppressive government. Maybe twenty
twenty five percent do. And that's the crew that these
people play for. But here's the rub. The corporate media
loves those people, even though they're the biggest greed heads
in the world. The corporate media. You can't get more
greedy than them. It's all about money. I mean, else
(26:12):
cut your throat. They'll cut my throat for money, the
corporate media. But they like Sanders into Acrossio Court does.
It's one of the great anomalies of all time. And
so they get a free ride, these two. But the
American people you mentioned season your private property. I don't
think they're gonna get anywhere on that.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Before we get on out of here Sunday, Three Americans Live.
You me, Chris Cuomo, I know what you're hoping for.
What should they expect?
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Well, it give me a lot of laughs. Number one,
it's gonna be very funny. And then the Q and
A with the audience I think is going to be
the most fascinating part. We're going to have the second
half of the show the audience at Westbury Music Fair
and again, you go to Bill O'Reilly dot com, you
go to Stephnasmith dot com. We'll link you right over
(27:10):
to the box office. So you go to Ticketmaster, a
call a theater VIP sold out fast, so we put
fifteen more out and then we're putting extra sections in
two So there's a big demand for the show at
this point. But the Q and a's are going to
be fascinating about what the folks want to know from us,
(27:30):
and they can direct a question to any of the three.
So I'm looking forward to it. I just think it's
going to be a two hour, fifteen minute show that
you remember the rest of your life. And the most
important thing about the show is it's authentic. I would
not do a show with Phony's so Cuomo and Steven
Ada are not Phony's me. It's almost horrifying on the
(27:56):
way I am so. I think that the audience is
going to get bang for their buck and remember what
they see.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I would like to state this for the record. I'm
pretty oppressed. It looks the suit that you have on
now looks pretty sharp. But you know you're gonna have
to do better Sunday. Right, You're gonna have to up
your game and elevate your you elevate your style to something.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
You do understand that, Bill Rally right, You do get
that it's gonna be tight.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
I was down on Palm Beach this weekend. I bought
a Brioni tie for the occasion. I had a trade
in my car to buy it. But okay, no matter
what kind of pink jacket you show up with, what
kind of little pocket hanky you have, it's not gonna
(28:46):
top this Brioni tie.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
All right, man, I'll see you Sunday, buddy. It looks
it's good talking to you.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Man.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Take it these Bill, we'll talk.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
So thanks having me, Steve it ay all right. Three
Let's get started right out the gate, y'all, with my
first guest. He's a political commentator, doesn't call himself conservatives.
He says he's independent. On television and radio, he's a
personality there as well.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
He's an author who is.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Probably best known as host of his former show, The
O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel. You can catch him
every weeknight at six pm Eastern on the No Spin News.
Please welcome the man himself, the one and only Bill O'Reilly.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome to the show. Sir, how are you?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I'm the same, which is tragic for everyone, but consistency
there is something to be said for it.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
How would you describe yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Let me just start out there right when you say
I'm the same, much of the chagrine of everyone.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
What would you describe yourself as being? Bill O'Reilly?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Independent, thinker, bloviator, provocateur at times, okay, judgmental and very
Irish American.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
You do know that when you say you're an independent,
a lot of people say, you know what, Steven, and
when you're gonna ask that man win the last time
he voted for a Democrat because they can't see you
vote for a Democrat when they when you say you're
I like you said that independent thinker, but usually you
just say independent. And what I'm saying is is that
you know what he says, he's an independent. I'm going
to believe him. I call myself an independent. Let's not
(01:29):
grow skepticism this man's way. But could you see yourself
voting for a Democrat? Have your voted for a Democrat
in recent memory?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Bill o Roddy, I voted if it's Swazi in November. Okay,
Congressman the third district. He's a Democrat, and know him well.
I think he's an honest man. I voted for him
because the Republican didn't really advance anything. In my eyes,
that overrode what I know about Swashing. Look, the people
(02:00):
try to pigeonhole me. Don't know anything about me. They
don't know how I analyze the news. They don't understand
my philosophy because they believe what they want to believe.
And I'm used to it.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
But let me interject.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I get the part about they want to believe what
they want to believe. But you can't say they don't
really know you. I mean, Bill, You've been on the
after how many years? How many days we know you little.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Bit as fifty how they don't know you, Bill, But
it's a segmented audience. We had an enormous audience and
we do today. Millions and millions of people every every
day watch me in some capacity and on Fox record
number sixteen years consecutive number one. But the audience that
(02:51):
will devote time to listening to me is primarily traditional,
not conservative. The far right. They don't like me at all.
They attack me all the time, but it's a traditional
audience because they know where I'm coming from. The liberal
audience we had about because we did analytics. When I
(03:12):
was at Fox, it was sixty percent traditional, twenty percent
non aligned in twenty percent liberal that would watch us
on a daily basis. Now it's ninety five conservative traditional
at Fox. They've lost that. So we know that most
(03:34):
liberals they don't want to listen to O'Reilly, and they
believe what they want to believe. But here's a good
and interesting point for you. When I do shows like
John Stewart, there's an enormous audience on the left for
those shows, and they don't come out of it hating me.
In fact, my last apparent's on David Letterman. I got
(03:55):
a standing oh for Letterman, who did his best to
try to make me look foolish, A standing oh. It
shocked him. So I think that I have a broader appeal.
But I agree with you that a lot of people
think that I'm some kind of conservative ideo loge.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Who dislikes you more the left, or the extreme left
or the extreme right.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
No, the left for sure, okay, because I have very
little tolerance for the woke people. The extreme right is
much narrow, It's a much more narrow crew than the left.
The left has really made in roads in this country,
(04:42):
and they control the Democratic Party. The far left does
at this point, whereas the right has not done that.
You know, Donald Trump's not an idea log He couldn't
give you any kind of verse about the Republican Party
or ideology. He's more of a deal maker. But his
audience maga, and so he plays to that audience.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
You know, when we think about you know this Sunday, Westbury,
New York, three pm Eastern Standard time, You're going to
have the Three Americans Live event, myself, you and the
one and only Chris Cuomo.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
You see the promo right there.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yes, I have been I have been promoting it every
single day, every single show, Bill O'Riley, as I've been
instructed by someone who will remain nameless, but it's sitting
right in front of me. The point that I'm saying, Bill,
is this, when we see this event coming up, what
do you believe and what would you articulate to the
audience that we're going to give them that they haven't
(05:38):
seen before.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Excellent question. So I did this as an experiment to
see if we could meld three different audiences into one
enjoyable afternoon. And I'm not sure whether we're going to
succeed or not. We'll succeed as far as capacity in
(06:01):
the theater. We sold a lot of tickets, but will
the audiences get along, will there be an equal amount
of different thinkers. I don't know, but I did it
because I am tired of the choir. One of the
reasons that you are successful both in sports and now
(06:22):
you're making a move into policy is because people don't
know what you're gonna say, and you say I with passion,
and so that unpredictability about Steven A. Smith attracts an audience.
Same thing with me, Cuomo A little bit more, Doctor
Naire left, although he's changed a little bit. When you
say the one and only Chris Cuomo, I almost applauded.
(06:45):
We really don't need another one. But he's there and
we are going to listen to what he has to say.
But I want to show the country. We're going to
shoot this, by the way, for TV. I'm not going
to run it. It's more of a pilot situation. But
you have to come see us if you want to
see what we do. But I'm hoping that we can
meld this so that everybody has a good time, even
(07:09):
if you disagree or you are a different mindset than
the person sitting next to you in the theater, that
you all come out and have a good time and
learn something because I'm going to bring it as I
always do. So it is a very interesting experiment because
if you watch television now, it's all choet, it's all
right wing, left wing. They're horrible. Whatever we do is great,
(07:34):
and that's boring to me, and I don't like that.
I like robust debate. I like hearing different points of view.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Absolutely, And I'll give you credit for that because a
lot of people would look at you and they'd see
you hosting on Fox News years ago. They'll see you
hosting your show now and they wouldn't get that impression.
And they look at me, and you'll come to me
like you did last week. Get out your phone or
your notebook and take these notes down. And you brought
up the Yolta conference at all of this other stuff. Yes,
I've been reading up on it. Bill, by the way,
I've been reading up on it, and you have people
(08:03):
that had an attitude, and I said.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
WHOA, I like Bill o'reiley. I know that might shock you,
but I like him.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I think he likes me, and we like going at
each other in our own in our own way. I
know that I don't know as much as that man,
humble yourself, the man been covering politics for fifty years.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I'm just getting started. I think he would have a
head start.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Get over it for crying out loud, But the world
that we live in, I think one of the reasons
you came up with this idea is because you are
lamenting the fact that we can't have reasonable, sensible and
respectful discourse, and you believe that's something that will transpire
this weekend.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
To that you say, what I don't want tribalism in
this country. Tribalism is a weakness, not a strength. I
don't like the tribes. So about ten years ago, I
went to a concert the Eisley Brothers and Frankie Mays
and time all black audience at Jones Beach. Okay, yep,
(09:04):
I walk in. I'm the only white guy in a
place except for the security cards. So my date goes,
she's looking at me. She goes, are you sure this
is a good idea? I said, this is gonna be great.
So I was sitting right down front, and so I
(09:26):
walked down to the seats. Everybody sees me. It's an
outdoor venue, and half the crowd knew it was me,
and I'm just I'm waving. Everybody's waving at me, and yeah,
you're gonna everybody want pictures with me. It was and
that's the America that I like. Now. They don't agree.
(09:49):
I'm sure that most people at the concert, particularly Ronald Isley,
I don't agree with my point of view about life.
But it was good nature and that's what I want
to get back to. And that's why I'm doing this show.
It's my production company, as you know, and I hope
We're treating you well. You are, and I'm gonna try
(10:11):
to market this into something bigger. I don't know whether
I'll be able to succeed.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Oh you probably. You'll probably succeed because you got me.
You got me. We ain't losing Bill. We ain't try
to lose it. It's just the way that it is.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Let me get to some issues that that that I
have to I have to approach with you right now.
I want to get right into the headlines around the
Donald Trump in this new administration featuring Elon Musk. Last week,
Steve Bannon was on Cuomo on News Nation and said
that Trump will run again at twenty twenty eight and win.
When pressed by Cuomo that Trump is termed out, Bannon said,
the team is developing ways to elect Trump a third time.
(10:45):
You wrote it off. I did not take Conley to
that Bill, O'Reilly. I want you to explain yourself as
to why you wrote it off, man.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Because in the constitution it says you can't do it.
What is that I'm gonna do? Have a vote to
two thirds of the state to overturn the constitutional amendment.
Look at the map. You're not gonna get two thirds
of the States to do that. It's ridiculous. It's what
they always do, all right. You have to understand if
you read The United States or Trump, which is by
(11:15):
far the best book ever written about Donald Trump by me,
your humble correspondent, It's all about provocation. It's all about
putting your opposition off balance, getting them annoyed, getting them emotional.
And that's what these maga people do. Betten knows is
(11:37):
no way that Donald Trump's gonna run for a third term.
Trump knows it, everybody knows. But they just throw the
hander inad out hoping that some nit wit on CNN
will get upset and rant and rave. This is a
hobby for them. They enjoy this, okay, But what does
(11:57):
it do like that? It's just today.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
If example, if somebody or CNN or MSNBC goes off,
what and they provoke somebody to do that, what is
the what is the fallout from it? In the eyes
of a Trump abandon et cetera.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
There isn't any those people are going to vote for
him anyway, so they don't have any downside to it.
It's like a heckler in the dugout or on the
bench in a basketball game. Or football game. You try
to throw your opposition off balance. You try to confuse
them by throwing in all of this stuff and calling
(12:34):
them names or whatever you do. And that's what the
prime administration does. They throw out all of this stuff.
About twenty percent of it is real and the other
eighty percent is what they call hyperbole. And so Trump
will go, oh, Joe Biden is the worst president of
all time, and everybody go, yeay, well he's not. He's
(12:58):
the second worst, right, not that he is worse than
James Buchanan, But he doesn't care. He's going for the headline.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I don't think he's just going for the headlines.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I think it's it's the ol bait and switch, coax
them or provoke them in the singing and doing something
stupid that resembles, resembles the rhetoric during the campaign, and
as a result, you're able to point to them being crazy,
et cetera, et cetera. And that's why you need to
vote for me, because you can't trust the liberals. I
think that's what he's doing. But let me get to
my next question, because I'm still on President Trump's administration.
(13:32):
This comment's about featuring Elon Musk, the world's richest man.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
As a chief advisor. Musk has been given up.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Presidented access and all the private citizen has ever received.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Why should we, as the American people be okay with
this bill? O'Reilly?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
You don't have to be okay with it. I don't.
I'm not telling any American you should be happy with
Elon Musk there because I don't know. So last Monday,
Saint Patrick's Day, I was in a cabinet meeting in
the White House. I was invited there by the President,
(14:06):
who occasionally asked for my presence because he knows that
a lot of people will only tell him what he
wants to hear, and I, knowing him thirty five years,
will tell him what I think and try to back
it up and he likes that. So I'm there and
(14:28):
sitting right next to me is Elon Musk, who I
met one time before in Hollywood and didn't talk to him.
I just said, hey, how you doing, and he said
about that. I had a twenty minute conversation with him,
and my son witnessed it because my son was on
my left flank, and in the conversation he asked me
(14:49):
about what he might improve on in his presentation, and
I told him my opinion, but I've been in a
TV business fifty years. I know how to present. He
listened and that was it. Now I'm neutral on Elon Musk.
So I am bullish on wasteful spending and getting rid
(15:14):
of it, but I don't want people to get hurt unnecessarily.
So I want a very deliberate, methodical machine to downsize
the federal government. I admire must success. Everybody should. He
brought those astronauts down, and the media didn't give him
nearly as much credit. That was a brilliant, brilliant operation
(15:36):
to get those two astronauts down, and Musk was behind that.
So I admire his success, but I'm neutral on him
because I don't really know him very well, and I
think that's a fair way to play it at this point.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
I'm looking at Trump right now with Musk, and I'm
seeing suggestions about oddly cutting waste, fraud, etc. And I
remember a friend of mine sent me a video because
he's a Republican, and he was saying, Stephen A Before
you want to sit up there and excoriate Trump and
Musking what they're doing. He sent me videos of Nancy
(16:11):
Pelosi and Chuck Schumer back in twenty and twelve. I
remember correct that. I think it's twenty ten, And then
it was again in twenty twelve, literally using the same
words fraud, waste, et cetera. We're going to have to
cut medicare. This is what they were saying at the time.
So again, once again we point to some hypocrisy considering
(16:32):
that reality, as you look at Trump and how he's
marched forward, how would you judge his first few months
in the White House? In his return to the White House.
It's one thing to talk about doing stuff. It's another
thing to actually look at what he's doing. As the
man who's known him for thirty five years, how would
you label the job that he has done us far?
(16:53):
Critique the job that he has done us far? The
positives and the negatives?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Well, I have to break it out, just do one uniform.
So on the border A plus all right, knocked out
the open border in record time, ninety four percent intrusions
less than Biden had. That is an incredible achievement. Incredible.
(17:18):
As far as the migrants inside the United States, I
just talked to Tom Homan. I have a pretty good
idea on what the strategy is going forward, and I'm
supportive of it. You have to get the dubious people out,
and if a criminal alien is dating an alien that
doesn't have a criminal record, they both go. The Homeland
(17:40):
security is not going to delineate at that level. So
I'm with him. On the economy. The tariff thing was
too much, too soon, and it shook the market. Now
I think the market is going to come back, but
I don't know, and that was not a good thing
for the Trump administration because people get nervous when you
see that kind of a drop that fast. And I
(18:02):
don't know why he had to do all the tariffs
at once. You could just piece it out a little bit.
I don't think she'd be invading Canada or Greenland or Panama.
I think when you can get what you want without
rattling their cage to that extent, but it's the same thing.
Rattle them up, keep them of balanced. It'll be easier
(18:23):
to get what we want. So Trump is trying to
get better economic deals. He wants more companies to move
back to the United States. That seems to be happening
with Putin. I'm optimistic that there is going to be
a cease fire, but Putin will drag it out as
long as he can. But I'll tell you this, and
(18:44):
I know this to be true, and this is the
most important thing We'll probably have on a Stephen A.
Smith podcast tonight. If Putin makes Trump look bad, Trump
will hurt him. Knows that. How you shut down all
the banking to Moscow, Wow to me bank that does
(19:09):
business with Russia, and that'll that'll be it for Putin.
All the Oligarusic will turn on them, military will turn
on him. The only reason Putin's in power is because
he buys the military and the very, very wealthy criminals
who run Russia. You shut off their banking. Nobody wants
the ruble. They can't get dollars. It's over for Putin.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Getting back to Elon Musk some of the waste, fraud,
et cetera. Department of Education, what Trump's want in terms
of it's eradication. Your thoughts about federal employees losing their jobs.
I mean, you know this is these are real lives
that are being affected. People bring that up a lot
of times when folks on the right get critiqued. The
(19:52):
belief is they don't care enough about the working class,
but the left does, even though we now know that
the left has lost lost the working class, and Donald
Trump won an election because the working class have more
faith in him than they did in the left. Your
thoughts about the Trump administration and their position on that
federal jobs people losing their jobs right now in terms
of cutting cost.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
I mean, look, I'm very sympathetic to anybody who's honest
in making a living and trying to improve the nation.
Some people are gonna get let go that shouldn't get
let go. And I am calling for the Trump administration
to be as precise in its cuts as it can be.
There's a lot of waste, there's a lot of people
(20:33):
not doing what they should do. The federal government has
to be downsized. It has to be. You can't carry
a thirty six trillion dollar debt. I mean, we're going
to run out of money in July according to Federal Reserve,
And I mean that you think the stock market is
wobbly now? If the United State SUTs a default on
its debt, can't pay its interest on a saving response,
you're looking at a depression situation here. So you've got
(20:56):
to downsize it and win any downsize and good people
are gonna use lose their jobs. But the good news
is there plenty of jobs in a private sector, plenty
of jobs. You can make a good living in this
country if you're honest in and work hard and have skills.
It's not like you're going into the desert. You're not.
It's opportunities Bill at this point.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
At this point, you gotta be your life.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
You got to be fair as you can about it at.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
This point in your life. And I'm not talking about
you in terms of how you're living. I'm talking about
your knowledge of how Americans can and should live from
your prism. When we think about a thirty six trillion
dollar debt, when we think about the state and the
plight of this country, particularly on.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Those terms, who's more culpable? Is neither party?
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Is one party significantly more culpable than the other, or
is it a combination of them all. I think about
a thirty six trillion, thirty six thirty seven trillion dollar debt,
I'm saying, wait a minute. Reagan was in office, HW
had a term. Reagan had two terms, W had two terms.
Trump's now back for a second time. I understand Obama
and Clinton was in the mix day into up to
the proceedings per se. But you had both parties up
(22:03):
in there. When you think about our thirty seven trillion
dollar debt, who's most culpable for that bill?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
O'Reilly?
Speaker 3 (22:08):
All of them? I mean, vote buying is just a scandal.
We'll give you this, we'll give you that. We'll give
you this, we'll give you that, we'll give you this.
You can't you at the money. Capitalistic nation. This isn't Sweden. Okay,
we don't do cradle the grave entitlements here. The Democratic
Party wants that kind of a system. That's why Bernie
(22:31):
Sanders and a constant cortezro on the tour now to
convince Americans to do socialism that will take care of you. Okay,
we'll spend on you and we'll take the money from
O'Reilly and Stephen A. Smith and we'll give it to you.
That's what they do. But the Republicans, they had no
interest in cutting anything, none, because it's too hard. Then
they ah, yeah, we'll get it any it. Ah, we'll
(22:53):
give it to him. We'll do this, we'll do that.
We got much money the Pentagon waste. I mean, it's ridiculous.
How much money they waste. They don't discipline their buys,
they don't supervise their bills. They waste money because it's
an endless figot. It's not like you're running a household budget.
All right, Oh yeah, we need more money. Come out
and they'll give us more money. It's called pork po RK.
(23:17):
And the main job of the congress people in SATU
is bring the poor homb to the state. And that's
got to be revised. We get out of money bill.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
If politicians who are not known to be business folks,
who aren't who aren't considered individuals that pride themselves on
making deals, have been excessive with the use and the
exploitation of pork, why in God's name should anybody believe
that Trump is going to be a better option than
(23:50):
those individuals that preceded him that contributed to the deficit.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
But he's doing it. That's why, bread my skin. He's
doing it. He's going We're gonna pype out a lot
of the unnecessary spending. He's doing it. He didn't do
it in the first term because COVID wrecked everything. They
had to pay the federal government. I paid so much
money in these pharmaceutical companies to get these vaccines that
(24:14):
he just blew everything up. But now he's doing it now.
I don't know whether he can get through the swamp.
I think he's going to make an improvements on that.
He's got to go into the Pentagon, has to and
I believe that'll be coming. But we do need to
compete with China's military. We got to build more ships.
That's going to cost a lot of money. But there
(24:36):
are ways to do it. You have to want to
do it. And in the past ninety percent of American
politicians in both parties don't want to supervise spending. It's
the last thing on their minds. Steven A. It's boring,
it's numbers on a sheet. They don't want to do it.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Last two questions before I'll let you get on out
of here and thank you for your time. Number one,
do you give and Bernie Sanders any snowballs chance in
hell of resonating with the vast majority of American citizens
once before the election?
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I would tell you hell no.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
But these things could be a bit cyclical, they could
be a bit mobile. And if you're disgusted with Trump
and Musk or whatever, who knows what chance do you
give them for resonating as faces for the left in
the next couple of years moving forward, particularly before the midterms.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
O Sanders is eighty three, so he's not going to
do anything. Cassio Cortez is a socialist, hardcore maybe a communist.
If you hear anybody say they believe in a wealth
tax where the government would come into your home and
take stuff from you, that's communism, that's confiscation. And I
believe Ocassio Cortez supports that Sanders does. So I don't
(25:49):
think Americans want that kind of oppressive government. Maybe twenty
twenty five percent do. And that's the crew that these
people play for. But here's the rub. The corporate media
loves those people, even though they're the biggest greed heads
in the world. The corporate media. You can't get more
greedy than them. It's all about money. I mean, else
(26:12):
cut your throat. They'll cut my throat for money, the
corporate media. But they like Sanders into Acrossio Court does.
It's one of the great anomalies of all time. And
so they get a free ride, these two. But the
American people you mentioned season your private property. I don't
think they're gonna get anywhere on that.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Before we get on out of here Sunday, Three Americans Live.
You me, Chris Cuomo, I know what you're hoping for.
What should they expect?
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Well, it give me a lot of laughs. Number one,
it's gonna be very funny. And then the Q and
A with the audience I think is going to be
the most fascinating part. We're going to have the second
half of the show the audience at Westbury Music Fair
and again, you go to Bill O'Reilly dot com, you
go to Stephnasmith dot com. We'll link you right over
(27:10):
to the box office. So you go to Ticketmaster, a
call a theater VIP sold out fast, so we put
fifteen more out and then we're putting extra sections in
two So there's a big demand for the show at
this point. But the Q and a's are going to
be fascinating about what the folks want to know from us,
(27:30):
and they can direct a question to any of the three.
So I'm looking forward to it. I just think it's
going to be a two hour, fifteen minute show that
you remember the rest of your life. And the most
important thing about the show is it's authentic. I would
not do a show with Phony's so Cuomo and Steven
Ada are not Phony's me. It's almost horrifying on the
(27:56):
way I am so. I think that the audience is
going to get bang for their buck and remember what
they see.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I would like to state this for the record. I'm
pretty oppressed. It looks the suit that you have on
now looks pretty sharp. But you know you're gonna have
to do better Sunday. Right, You're gonna have to up
your game and elevate your you elevate your style to something.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
You do understand that, Bill Rally right, You do get
that it's gonna be tight.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
I was down on Palm Beach this weekend. I bought
a Brioni tie for the occasion. I had a trade
in my car to buy it. But okay, no matter
what kind of pink jacket you show up with, what
kind of little pocket hanky you have, it's not gonna
(28:46):
top this Brioni tie.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
All right, man, I'll see you Sunday, buddy. It looks
it's good talking to you.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Man.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Take it these Bill, we'll talk.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
So thanks having me, Steve it ay all right. Three
Host
Stephen A. Smith
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