Bill O’Reilly did his best to paint BFF Donald Trump as the victim of a horribly biased press by saying, “Not since Richard Nixon has the national press corps been so determined to bring someone down.” But I can't help wondering why O'Reilly would want to compare Trump to Nixon.
Nevertheless, that comparison was O’Reilly’s conclusion following Trump’s shameful press conference yesterday. In it, Trump and his incoming press secretary, Sean Spicer, tried to belittle CNN after it reported, “Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump, multiple US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell CNN.” Later, Trump refused to answer a question from CNN reporter Jim Acosta. Acosta was also threatened with ejection by Spicer.
Furthermore, Trump dodged a question as to whether he could say, “once and for all ... that no one connected to you or your campaign had any contact with Russia leading up to or during the presidential campaign.”
O’Reilly neatly skipped over those two major issues in this segment by playing two clips of Trump that O’Reilly claimed “addressed” the issue (transcript excerpts via FoxNews.com, with my emphases):
TRUMP: “The Democratic National Committee was totally open to be hacked. They did a very poor job. They could have had hacking defense, which we had. And I must give Reince Preibus credit because when Reince saw what was happening in the world and with this country, he went out and went to various firms and ordered a very strong hacking defense.”
[…]
“If Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability. Because we have a horrible relationship with Russia. ((EDIT)) Now, I don’t know that I’m going to get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope I do. But there’s a good chance I won’t. And if I don’t, do you honestly believe that Hillary would be tougher on Putin than me? Does anyone in this room really believe that?”
There is nothing in that answer that should reassure anyone concerned about Russia interference in our election, collusion with the Trump campaign or having blackmail information on Trump. I don’t even think O’Reilly was reassured because he seemed more interested in echoing Trump by obfuscating and suggesting a possibly treasonous president-elect is the victim of an unfair media rather than dealing with the issue:
O’REILLY: Mr. Trump’s demeanor was direct. I saw no difference in him today than when he was campaigning.
He stated his case with authority. He was blunt and he continues to say he’ll do what he promised to do.
As for the press - they are still fixated on the election.
There’s no question in my mind that the hunt for a Trump-Russia connection during the campaign remains intense.
Some in the national media wanting to de-legitimize the vote.
And at this point, that’s the only way to do it.
Summing up, Donald Trump helped himself today, but he’d better watch his back.
Then, in closing, there was this shocking statement:
O'REILLY: Not since Richard Nixon has the national press corps been so determined to bring someone down.
If you ask me, Nixon should be the last person O’Reilly would want to compare to Trump. And who knows if it’s a Freudian slip and whether O’Reilly knows something about his pal that we don’t?
But here’s the important thing: If Trump is beholden to Russia, if there is any reason Russia might be able to blackmail him or if he or his campaign colluded with the Russians in any way, that is far, far worse than anything Nixon did. And I hate to tell you this, Bill, but Trump’s behavior – from his refusal to release his tax returns to his attempts to strong arm the press and the intelligence community, while demanding the rest of us treat it all as a nothingburger - quacks a lot like the behavior of a guilty person.
Watch O’Reilly compare Trump to Nixon below, from the January 11, 2017 The O’Reilly Factor.
Back in the 50s, LBJ was giving a speech. When talking about Nixon, he said, “I might be an old country boy, but I know the difference between chicken shit and chicken salad!”. The audience oowed and aawed.
Later on, when Nixon made the dramatic mid Atlantic interception of microfilm in the Hiss case, Nixon was suddenly the hero of the day.
LBJ rushed out to the DC airport to greet Nixon back to the mainland and be seen doing it. That’s when a reporter reminded LBJ of his chickenshit/chicken salad remark. LBJ leaned over to the reporter and said, " Son, in this town, chickenshit can turn into chicken salad overnight! ".
O’Reilly is actually spinning the notion, popular among the Right Wing, that Richard Nixon was a better politician and president than people remember and perceive, and that his bad reputation was really due to the press being aligned against him from the beginning. And the Right usually brings up the notion that the press antipathy was based on Nixon’s anti-communist activities, including his attack on Alger Hiss and the nasty smear campaign he ran against Helen Gahagan Douglas to try to paint her red.
I frankly wouldn’t be surprised if O’Reilly has Martin Dugard working on a “Killing Nixon” book so he can posthumously rehabilitate the man.
Tip of the hat to George Takei (Mr. Sulu).
Orange Donald has his Golden Showers tapes.
The Orange Drumpf also has one other thing Tricky Dick never had, but
Tricky Dick got impeached.
Orange Donald is on his way to impeachment.
Actually, Tricky Dick resigned before the House could vote on articles of impeachment, though it was clear they were heading in that direction . . . I predict a similar fate for Der Furor; his ego will never let him suffer through the indignity of an impeachment and trial — he’d quit so as to claim he wasn’t “fired” . . .
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Just make sure to wash the sheets afterwards Vlad.