Bill O’Reilly did his best to rehab his buddy, Donald Trump, from the fallout after he not-so-subtly suggested last week that President Obama is more Muslim terrorist than American patriot. But Trump would not relent.
In a palsy interview on a very bad day following a very bad week in the Trump campaign, O’Reilly did his best to acquit his milkshake BFF from last week’s biggest mistake:
O’REILLY: Now, you’re taking some incoming from the insinuation that Barack Obama may be sympathetic to Muslim terrorists. […] I don’t think you believe that he’s a quisling, that he’s someone who is, wants Islamic terrorism to prosper. You don’t believe that, do you?
Of course, Trump didn’t have the guts to come right out and say that’s what he believes. But cowardly bully that he is, he was all in for re-implying it:
TRUMP: I don’t believe it. I do say, though, when I see a deal like was made with Iran, this horrible, horrible deal where we’re giving them back $150 billion. To the best of my knowledge – and I tell you what, I‘ve studied that thing pretty closely, we’re getting almost nothing out of it. They’re gonna end up with their nuclear weapons and lots of other things, whatever they want. And then I see the way he treats Israel, I say, “Wow, what’s the – there seems to be a double standard.”
[…]
So, I look at things and I see what’s going on and I’m a common-sense person and I don’t like it. I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit.
O’Reilly pressed. “But your insinuation after Orlando was a little bit more personal than that. And remember the background, because you were a birther guy, you didn’t believe or you questioned his birth certificate, where he was born and now you’re saying, in so many words – and I don’t want to put words in your mouth - so you can clarify – that look, there’s something more here than just President Obama seeing the world in a non-confrontational way. There might be a personal agent here. Is that on your mind?”
TRUMP: Well, it bothers me when he’s afraid or doesn’t want to mention the words, “radical Islamic terrorism.”
[…] And then they redact a lot of the different statements made by this thug, this horrible guy that killed all of those people and it’s – you know, it’s a disgraceful thing. So I disagree. You know, if you have a problem, you have to be able to speak openly about the problem. This is a real problem. This is a world-wide situation.
“But you’re kind of dodging my question and you don’t usually do that,” O’Reilly said. “Do you believe there’s a personal component inside the president’s personality that sympathizes with the Muslim world and doesn’t want to taint the Muslim world with terrorism? Is that what it’s about?
TRUMP: I don’t believe anything. I see things and whether it’s the Iran deal, whether it’s not wanting to mention the words “radical Islam” or “radical Islamic terrorism” or other things, Bill, you look at what’s going on. I mean, it’s not a question of what I think. But you look at facts. This isn’t thinking. This is facts.
While O'Reilly certainly made it clear he wasn't listening to Trump's dog whistle, he hardly challenged the presumptive Republican nominee the way he almost certainly would have if a Democrat said something like that about a Republican. More importantly, O'Reilly hardly seemed like a guy who's "looking out for you," as he claims on every show. And despite O'Reilly's claim to operate a "no spin zone," spinning is exactly what Trump was doing without any impediment.
Watch it below, from the June 20 The O'Reilly Factor.
Remember when Bush would try to explain things to the public like we were second graders? And we always thought “That’s how people explain it to him!” I get the sense that Trump would never sit still for any explanations.
Poor Bill. No milkshakes made by the White House kitchen staff for him!