December 17, 2025 • 12 mins
During their conversation, they discuss President Trump’s recent comments about Rob Reiner following his death, which Bill suggests may have been a misstep. Trump’s legacy could fail if he doesn’t win the 2026 midterm elections. Bill believes that while the president does not need to fundamentally change, he should consider modifying his approach.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mark Simone w R.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well Bill o'reiley, the number one TV anchor for decades,
the number one best selling non fiction author on Earth.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
By the way, if you're looking for Christmas presents, his
books Great Idea Book is a great Christmas present, and
his big best sellers. You can get everything at Bill
O'Reilly dot com. Also, you can get his TV show,
the column everything, and make sure you check out his
YouTube channel. A lot of good stuff there, Bill O'Reilly.
How you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
You know I'm wrapping presents? Do you believe that?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Well, don't you get him wrapped at the store. Don't
you get him?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I'm not rapping. I actually hired people to do that
because I can't rap anyway. Even if I could rap,
I can't rap. But you know, it's a crazy time,
as you know, this is our last shot I think
before Christmas. Yeah right, yeah, we're fun.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I don't know. I haven't decided yet.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Oh last minute kind of.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Guy, definitely always so, well will you be around Christmas?
You're going away here?
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah? I like to stay in here. You know. That's
a tradition for my family in Levittown. We had great
Christmases there when I was growing up. Everybody in the
neighborhood got together, and it was a much lighter time
and history than it is now, that's for sure. But
(01:34):
I kind of extended that and so we'll be on
Long Island and hopefully everybody will be happy.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah. Hey, I mean your message of the day. You
go to Bill O'Reilly dot com every day there's a
message of the day. But you're talking about Trump You've
known forever. I've known this guy from millions of years.
I just got used to it. I think you haven't
gotten used to it yet because you said I don't
understand why he likes to walk on the wild side.
That's him, that's part of him.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, but there's a calculation that you have to make.
And I think the President made a mistake with the
Rob Ryiner stuff and not so much a Vanity Fair stuff.
That was just a foolish move. Why bother, Why not
give the time to Mark Simon or Bill O'Reilly. You
know who's going to give you a fair assessment. Why
(02:25):
do you want to go to Vanity Fair out in
Hollywood where they all hate you and you know they're
not going to write anything good about you. I don't
understand that. But there comes a point, and I know
this to be true, where Donald Trump wants his legacy
and history to be cemented in a positive way. Yeah,
(02:47):
and he has got an amazing story to tell. Nobody's
ever done what he's done as far as getting elected,
as far as trying to solve as many problems as
he's taken on. He's got a good story tell. But
it goes over the cliff with the Rob Reiner stuff,
and that is yes, you're correct, he's playing buoyant. He's
(03:10):
going to say he wants to say, and all that
has worked for him. It has all worked for him.
But now he's in a different stage of his life.
That's what I'm trying to get across when we speak. Now,
you've got to start cementing your legacy, and the first
step to that is winning the midterm elections next year.
(03:33):
If you lose, your legacy is going to be damaged.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah. Well, of course, you're one hundred percent right, totally right.
But again, I've known the guy for millions of years
and I've been hearing people say this forever and I
can't tell you why, but this is what he does.
He enjoys it. It's like when you see a normal,
distinguished guy, and every night he goes out and gets
drunk out of his mind. Why does he do it?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
I mean, you know, look, Trump likes the action. Yeah, okay,
he likes just like somebody goes to casino. He's betting
fifteen football games. He likes the action, and he knows
when he throws something out on social media that the
(04:17):
next day or two is going to be dominated by
what he says, and that engages him. Absolutely true, but
there is a selective process. You're can have the action
without hurting yourself. And that's what I'm trying to get across.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Oh, you're right, but I'm you know, It's like I
love to watch the football game and then there's a
guy next to me who bet fortune on it and
he's having an art attack during the game. I don't
know how you can enjoy that, but there are guys
that enjoy that. And that's Trump.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
You like it. No, I mean, look, I'm not a psychiatrist.
All I'm doing is trying to say, look, and this
is my whole career, more than fifty years. And you know,
I was at a media party then. I never go
to these things, but Dan Abrams through it and he's
a good guy, and so I did go. And you know,
I'm the icon no, a last man standing five year old,
(05:10):
fifty years in this business. And the reason I've lasted
so long and continue to do well is because I
want the best for the country. That is what I do.
And I clearly spell out why I say what I say.
(05:34):
And I think that Donald Trump has been a very
good president policy wise, you know. And I understand his
anger because the same thing happened to me at a
much more limited thing. But I've been attacked. You know,
thirty out of the fifty years, first twenty were being
a reporter. So I was attack being a reporter once
(05:55):
I came into the news analysis area. My family, me, everybody,
and you are furious when that happens and bitter, and
that is what Donald Trump is consumed by these people.
Just yesterday, the Grass Leaders Center from Iowa puts out
(06:17):
that there's no probable cause to raid Marlago for the
top secret documents. Then they did it anyway, and nobody
will be held to account. Well, he drives Trump nuts,
and it should He's a human being. I got a
list of people that I like to visit and I
(06:37):
will't be bringing Christmas presents to him, but I'm a
little bit more restrained.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Well, but that's you, and you've always done a great show.
You don't cross the limb. But there I've seen other hosts,
and you know who some of them are. They've always
got to cross the line. They've always got to do
something outrageous. They've always got to get in a little trouble.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
They enjoy it, but that's because they don't have anything else.
They got and die on controversy. That's when they make
their money. But Trump's got other stuff and that's when
we speak. That's what tried to across to him because
he knows that, you know, I wroke in fronting the presidents.
I mean, I didn't rank him, but you can clearly
(07:18):
see which presidents were successful and which presidents weren't. And
then Trump inherent's the second worst president in our history.
Joe Biden, all of that mess he has to deal with,
and he's dealt with it pretty effectively. But you really
need Rob Reiner. You don't need any You can be
in the action without hurting yourself. That is my message.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
That's a good message, but it's not the only guy
I've ever seen change maybe Howard Stern, who was, you know,
always getting himself into trouble and then a couple of
years ago, decided, I'm going to clean all that up.
I'm gonna be woke, I'm going to be That's the
only one of those guys I've ever seen switch and
actually change.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And I don't think Trump has to change. He just
has to modify a little bit. I think it would
be bad for him to change because he gets a
lot done by sheer force of personality, by just his presence.
(08:20):
So why would you change that. I wouldn't, but you
you have a selective menu of things that you can
tweet about, and when somebody's throat is cut, I don't
know if I would go into that precinct.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
No, of course I wouldn't either. But and he should modify,
but let's not hold our breath waiting for it. I
don't think it's good.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Look, it's not my job to be his campaign manager.
I'm not Colonel Tom Parker with help us, Okay. I'm
looking out for the country. And he's a strong president
who's done a lot of and a lot of Americans
will never admit it because they believe what they want
to believe. But he has. He's brought a lot of
(09:10):
different approaches to solving problems and has been successful more
than he's not been successful. So you don't want to
blunt that, I don't think, but creating unnecessary barriers for yourself.
But you're right. I mean again, I mean I can
(09:30):
only do what I can do. I can talk to
guys like you. I can do the No Spin News,
I can go on News Nation, I can write my books.
I can't do any more than that. But I am
I have to tell the truth. I'm compelled to tell it,
and that I think has worked for me.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Well again, you're not wrong, You're not wrong. But it's
always going to be this way with him. Hey, by
the way, Christmas book is a great crit present. You
don't have to go in the store and look for
a book. Is a perfect present your people.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, you know from your life. In this very troubling
age where evil seems to be overwhelming us, people need
to know about how it assembles, how it gains power,
and how what you can do as a human being
a good person to mitigate it. Because as much as
(10:26):
evil in a Bondai beach or Brown University. It's in
your neighborhood and sometimes in your own family, as the
reins found out, and when you see it, you can't
turn away. That's the theme of the book. But what
I've done is to save people money, because I know
money is tight with the insurance payments you got to
(10:47):
make and we all have to make, and the food.
I put all my books together, fifteen of them, thirteen Killing,
two Confronting for a very very reasonable price on Bill
O'Reilly dot com. You give those books away as presents,
you will save yourself hundreds of dollars by doing that.
And these books are in demand. People want them. Sound
(11:10):
like a tie or something, you know, if you give
to me a tie, because in a droid of a
see it again. No, So you know, we're all we
can make a lot more money than we make. But
I'm not in business to do that. I'm in business
to try, as I said, to make the country a
little bit better, a little bit more comfortable.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, well, it's a great Christmass. You get one book,
but the best deal is the fifteen bestsellers, and you
got all your Christmas shopping done right there, Bill O'Reilly
dot com. Bill O'Reilly dot com. Well, Bill O'Reilly will
talk to you, I guess in the new year. Have
a great holiday and thanks for being with us.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, you had a great people should know. Simone had
a great twenty twenty five, very strong ratings, so you
deserve your time off. I hope you have you know,
fun and first thing twenty six.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
We'll be back all right, Bill O'Reilly, thanks for being
with us, Take care, Hey, don't forget coming up at
noon buck Sexton, Clay Travis, great show here on seven
ten WR
Mark Simone w R.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well Bill o'reiley, the number one TV anchor for decades,
the number one best selling non fiction author on Earth.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
By the way, if you're looking for Christmas presents, his
books Great Idea Book is a great Christmas present, and
his big best sellers. You can get everything at Bill
O'Reilly dot com. Also, you can get his TV show,
the column everything, and make sure you check out his
YouTube channel. A lot of good stuff there, Bill O'Reilly.
How you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
You know I'm wrapping presents? Do you believe that?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Well, don't you get him wrapped at the store. Don't
you get him?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I'm not rapping. I actually hired people to do that
because I can't rap anyway. Even if I could rap,
I can't rap. But you know, it's a crazy time,
as you know, this is our last shot I think
before Christmas. Yeah right, yeah, we're fun.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I don't know. I haven't decided yet.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Oh last minute kind of.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Guy, definitely always so, well will you be around Christmas?
You're going away here?
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah? I like to stay in here. You know. That's
a tradition for my family in Levittown. We had great
Christmases there when I was growing up. Everybody in the
neighborhood got together, and it was a much lighter time
and history than it is now, that's for sure. But
(01:34):
I kind of extended that and so we'll be on
Long Island and hopefully everybody will be happy.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah. Hey, I mean your message of the day. You
go to Bill O'Reilly dot com every day there's a
message of the day. But you're talking about Trump You've
known forever. I've known this guy from millions of years.
I just got used to it. I think you haven't
gotten used to it yet because you said I don't
understand why he likes to walk on the wild side.
That's him, that's part of him.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, but there's a calculation that you have to make.
And I think the President made a mistake with the
Rob Ryiner stuff and not so much a Vanity Fair stuff.
That was just a foolish move. Why bother, Why not
give the time to Mark Simon or Bill O'Reilly. You
know who's going to give you a fair assessment. Why
(02:25):
do you want to go to Vanity Fair out in
Hollywood where they all hate you and you know they're
not going to write anything good about you. I don't
understand that. But there comes a point, and I know
this to be true, where Donald Trump wants his legacy
and history to be cemented in a positive way. Yeah,
(02:47):
and he has got an amazing story to tell. Nobody's
ever done what he's done as far as getting elected,
as far as trying to solve as many problems as
he's taken on. He's got a good story tell. But
it goes over the cliff with the Rob Reiner stuff,
and that is yes, you're correct, he's playing buoyant. He's
(03:10):
going to say he wants to say, and all that
has worked for him. It has all worked for him.
But now he's in a different stage of his life.
That's what I'm trying to get across when we speak. Now,
you've got to start cementing your legacy, and the first
step to that is winning the midterm elections next year.
(03:33):
If you lose, your legacy is going to be damaged.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah. Well, of course, you're one hundred percent right, totally right.
But again, I've known the guy for millions of years
and I've been hearing people say this forever and I
can't tell you why, but this is what he does.
He enjoys it. It's like when you see a normal,
distinguished guy, and every night he goes out and gets
drunk out of his mind. Why does he do it?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
I mean, you know, look, Trump likes the action. Yeah, okay,
he likes just like somebody goes to casino. He's betting
fifteen football games. He likes the action, and he knows
when he throws something out on social media that the
(04:17):
next day or two is going to be dominated by
what he says, and that engages him. Absolutely true, but
there is a selective process. You're can have the action
without hurting yourself. And that's what I'm trying to get across.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Oh, you're right, but I'm you know, It's like I
love to watch the football game and then there's a
guy next to me who bet fortune on it and
he's having an art attack during the game. I don't
know how you can enjoy that, but there are guys
that enjoy that. And that's Trump.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
You like it. No, I mean, look, I'm not a psychiatrist.
All I'm doing is trying to say, look, and this
is my whole career, more than fifty years. And you know,
I was at a media party then. I never go
to these things, but Dan Abrams through it and he's
a good guy, and so I did go. And you know,
I'm the icon no, a last man standing five year old,
(05:10):
fifty years in this business. And the reason I've lasted
so long and continue to do well is because I
want the best for the country. That is what I do.
And I clearly spell out why I say what I say.
(05:34):
And I think that Donald Trump has been a very
good president policy wise, you know. And I understand his
anger because the same thing happened to me at a
much more limited thing. But I've been attacked. You know,
thirty out of the fifty years, first twenty were being
a reporter. So I was attack being a reporter once
(05:55):
I came into the news analysis area. My family, me, everybody,
and you are furious when that happens and bitter, and
that is what Donald Trump is consumed by these people.
Just yesterday, the Grass Leaders Center from Iowa puts out
(06:17):
that there's no probable cause to raid Marlago for the
top secret documents. Then they did it anyway, and nobody
will be held to account. Well, he drives Trump nuts,
and it should He's a human being. I got a
list of people that I like to visit and I
(06:37):
will't be bringing Christmas presents to him, but I'm a
little bit more restrained.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Well, but that's you, and you've always done a great show.
You don't cross the limb. But there I've seen other hosts,
and you know who some of them are. They've always
got to cross the line. They've always got to do
something outrageous. They've always got to get in a little trouble.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
They enjoy it, but that's because they don't have anything else.
They got and die on controversy. That's when they make
their money. But Trump's got other stuff and that's when
we speak. That's what tried to across to him because
he knows that, you know, I wroke in fronting the presidents.
I mean, I didn't rank him, but you can clearly
(07:18):
see which presidents were successful and which presidents weren't. And
then Trump inherent's the second worst president in our history.
Joe Biden, all of that mess he has to deal with,
and he's dealt with it pretty effectively. But you really
need Rob Reiner. You don't need any You can be
in the action without hurting yourself. That is my message.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
That's a good message, but it's not the only guy
I've ever seen change maybe Howard Stern, who was, you know,
always getting himself into trouble and then a couple of
years ago, decided, I'm going to clean all that up.
I'm gonna be woke, I'm going to be That's the
only one of those guys I've ever seen switch and
actually change.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And I don't think Trump has to change. He just
has to modify a little bit. I think it would
be bad for him to change because he gets a
lot done by sheer force of personality, by just his presence.
(08:20):
So why would you change that. I wouldn't, but you
you have a selective menu of things that you can
tweet about, and when somebody's throat is cut, I don't
know if I would go into that precinct.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
No, of course I wouldn't either. But and he should modify,
but let's not hold our breath waiting for it. I
don't think it's good.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Look, it's not my job to be his campaign manager.
I'm not Colonel Tom Parker with help us, Okay. I'm
looking out for the country. And he's a strong president
who's done a lot of and a lot of Americans
will never admit it because they believe what they want
to believe. But he has. He's brought a lot of
(09:10):
different approaches to solving problems and has been successful more
than he's not been successful. So you don't want to
blunt that, I don't think, but creating unnecessary barriers for yourself.
But you're right. I mean again, I mean I can
(09:30):
only do what I can do. I can talk to
guys like you. I can do the No Spin News,
I can go on News Nation, I can write my books.
I can't do any more than that. But I am
I have to tell the truth. I'm compelled to tell it,
and that I think has worked for me.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Well again, you're not wrong, You're not wrong. But it's
always going to be this way with him. Hey, by
the way, Christmas book is a great crit present. You
don't have to go in the store and look for
a book. Is a perfect present your people.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yeah, you know from your life. In this very troubling
age where evil seems to be overwhelming us, people need
to know about how it assembles, how it gains power,
and how what you can do as a human being
a good person to mitigate it. Because as much as
(10:26):
evil in a Bondai beach or Brown University. It's in
your neighborhood and sometimes in your own family, as the
reins found out, and when you see it, you can't
turn away. That's the theme of the book. But what
I've done is to save people money, because I know
money is tight with the insurance payments you got to
(10:47):
make and we all have to make, and the food.
I put all my books together, fifteen of them, thirteen Killing,
two Confronting for a very very reasonable price on Bill
O'Reilly dot com. You give those books away as presents,
you will save yourself hundreds of dollars by doing that.
And these books are in demand. People want them. Sound
(11:10):
like a tie or something, you know, if you give
to me a tie, because in a droid of a
see it again. No, So you know, we're all we
can make a lot more money than we make. But
I'm not in business to do that. I'm in business
to try, as I said, to make the country a
little bit better, a little bit more comfortable.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, well, it's a great Christmass. You get one book,
but the best deal is the fifteen bestsellers, and you
got all your Christmas shopping done right there, Bill O'Reilly
dot com. Bill O'Reilly dot com. Well, Bill O'Reilly will
talk to you, I guess in the new year. Have
a great holiday and thanks for being with us.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, you had a great people should know. Simone had
a great twenty twenty five, very strong ratings, so you
deserve your time off. I hope you have you know,
fun and first thing twenty six.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
We'll be back all right, Bill O'Reilly, thanks for being
with us, Take care, Hey, don't forget coming up at
noon buck Sexton, Clay Travis, great show here on seven
ten WR
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.