Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis - Highlights from O'Reilly's No Spin News - March 17, 2025

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

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controversy, or four or five, it really is madness in Washington. All right. But there's one story everybody's missing. And I am not missing it, which is why you're here. And that is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo. It is now Donald Trump versus Vladimir Putin. Stare down, big time. Could get very intense. It's all about Ukraine, of course. As we reported, the Ukrainian after being brow beaten by Donald Trump, have agreed to a ceasefire for 30 days.

In that time, there would be a peace negotiation, but Russia has to cooperate. Now, Putin today said, yeah, maybe I will, but maybe I won't. Okay. Now, Putin is evil, and I know a tremendous amount about him, tremendous amount about him, from researching my upcoming book,

confronting evil. And this is a bad man. I think, and I could be wrong, that he is insane. All right, let that sink in. I don't think he's rational. Bad, Vlad Putin. I could be wrong. I'm not a psychiatrist, but I am not wrong about this. It's a showdown between Donald Trump and Putin. So, we can expect a lot of back and forth. All right. Russia's not going to do this. this, Putin's not going to do that. You'll hear it every hour on the hour. Don't get emotional about it. I will tell you what's real and what isn't real. There is a negotiation going on now behind the scenes between the Trump administration, Steve Whitkov and Lavrov, the foreign minister and second most powerful man in Russia. And they're setting the table for a cease

fire that I think Putin is going to have to do, because he knows that if he does it, President Trump will have to attack him. Now, what do I mean by that? This is very important for you to understand. Trump cannot back down from Putin. He cannot look weak. Can't do it. All right?

So Putin is unreasonable. After all the emotion that Trump's put into Ukraine, Trump's got to put. punish him. And how that will happen would be unbelievably strict economic sanctions, far more than they have now. Trump will close the banking system all over the world to Russian money. That's what will come. Now, if some banks defy Trump, they'll go out of business, because American Express, for example, do business. So there's a million different ways that Donald Trump as president of the United States can punish any bank that doesn't cooperate. So Russia's whole financial system will collapse.

That's how Trump is going to go after Putin if Putin doesn't cooperate. Putin knows that. He knows. And Russia economy is weak anyway. So I don't know in and out. I can't possibly know that, but I do have the best sources in the country about what's happening inside the Trump administration, period. I do.

Now today, you may have noticed that the president, with Mark Ruta. He is the leader, the Secretary General of NATO. He came to Washington. That's not an accident. So NATO and America have to join together with no dissent. So bad Vlad has to know he's up against that colossus. Can't be anybody sniping. But here in America, there's plenty of sniping because the Democratic Party does not want this ceasefire because it would give Trump a huge victory in the eyes of the American people. So the subversive Democratic Party, not all Democrats, but the party hierarchy, and we'll get into Schumer in a moment, Schumer's most powerful Democrat,

they don't want this. No. That's why you've seen the corrupt media parrot this garbage that we went over yesterday. So let me back this up, okay? It's always good to back it up with facts. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is an outspoken individual, and he's close to Schumer. So White House does a lot of the public stuff,

because Schumer doesn't like to do that. White House went on MSNBC, which is the outlet that all Democrats use to get a message out. And here's what he said. Could you imagine Franklin Delano Roosevelt a great president telling Winston Churchill? You know, you're going to have to make a deal with Herr Hitler. And we're cutting off Lend-Lease until you do. And by the way, you may not be able to keep your whole island. That would not have been a great president. That would have been a cowardly and shameful president. And that is the position that Donald Trump has consistently been in

with respect to Zelensky v. Putin. Okay, that's ridiculous. Number one, Winston Churchill and Great Britain were not in any danger of losing the war at that time. They needed U.S. assistance, of course, but Hitler wasn't a lock to defeat England. In fact, in the Battle of Britain, Churchill and the British won.

They beat the Luftwaffe, and they beat Hitler. And Hitler never invaded England, couldn't do it, didn't have the power to do it. Okay? So that's the big deal because Ukraine can't beat Putin. The totally different playing field, it's not the same. Now, White House doesn't know that. He's not smart enough to know it. But here's the kicker.

So in February, late February, of 1945, middle of February. of February, there was a conference between among FDR, American President Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin, at Yalta, Stalin, of course, the dictator of Soviet Union. This was to figure out what to do after the Germans surrendered, which they were going to do, and they held out until May, but it was a fate of conflict. Germans lost. Okay. So what do we do? At that meeting, Franklin Roosevelt, who was ill, gave Stalin everything. Everything.

Okay? And that led to the Cold War, because Stalin just rolled across, and the Soviet troops occupied Eastern Europe, they violated everything, they did whatever they wanted. Now, I write about this extensively in killing Patton, because Patton knew that was going to happen was screaming about it that you can't give in to Stalin and FDR did and Churchill was appalled but at that time Churchill didn't have any power it was America versus the Soviet Union because Britain was depleted after World War II Churchill knew what Roosevelt was doing was given Stalin everything so White House had no idea

oh FDR never would have done that a great president of Europe Look, I don't want to call a sitting U.S. Senator names, but that guy doesn't know anything about it, about history, about anything. All he's in business to do is to undermine Trump trying to get a ceasefire in Ukraine, which is a good thing. Yes, Ukraine's going to lose about 10% of its territory, and I feel terrible about that. There's no other alternative. That war will never end. Putin's not going to stop unless Trump forces him to. as Trump forced Zelensky to go to the devil.

Zulisky didn't want to stop the war. I don't know why. His population is being brutalized. He's not going to win. Yeah, I understand you don't want to give away 10% of your territory, but sometimes in history you have to do that. You just have to. Okay.

So when you hear all of this stuff coming out of the Democratic Party, you know that it's, It's not true. There have been many, many times when wars have stopped and one side doesn't get what it wants. And it's wrong. It's wrong. But this is not a fair world. The best thing for Ukraine now is to stop the fighting, regroup, sign a mineral deal with

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You know him. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo under President Trump. He's also the head of the CIA. also a congressman from Kansas. He joins us now from his new appointment at Columbia University. Now, I can't think of the better way to start your academic career. By going to Columbia, when the president just pulled $400 million out of there, I hope you had your contract signed before that,

and they're deporting students, the Homeland Security. And there you are. You show up from Kansas right in the middle of it. So can you straighten the place out or what? Impeccable timing, as always, Bill. And first of all, it's great to be back with you. It's interesting. I'm actually happy that I have this opportunity to go to Columbia.

It's a place that has had all kinds of challenges. We've all seen them, violence, protests, any Semitism running rampant, a faculty that is left of left of center way too often. And I was invited there to come be a different voice and to share both my views as a political matter, but importantly, my observations as a practitioner who had to actually deliver security for the United States, and so it'll be fun.

It's a very challenging time for the university, frankly, all of America's major universities, and I hope I can be a constructive part of getting them back to something that honors the traditions that these great places had. Now, no loony students have given you a hard time so far, right? No, my interaction so far been great. Kids have been interested, and many of them didn't agree with me on much. Some of them agreed with me on some, and a handful were more simpatico, if you will. But nobody's given a hard time. All right, good. Let us know that happens. And I'll come out there. I was born in Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, so they happen with me on campus. All right, let's go to Ukraine. So my hypothesis, let me use that word, but it's not really a hypothesis.

because I know President Trump, as you know, pretty well. And I do talk to him. So he doesn't want to alienate Putin. He wants to soften Putin up, so he gets him to a ceasefire discussion. And that's why you're not seeing call Putin names and do all that kind of stuff. He also wants to tamp down Zelensky's arrogance, which we saw. Is this the wrong strategy on Ukraine? Well, Bill, what you're describing are the personal interactions, right?

So that's a very personalized view of this. I think both of those are correct. There's no reason for the Commander-in-Chief of the United States to mock or call names for any leader. You remember with Chairman Kim, he'd say, we exchanged love letters. He talked about Xi Jinping in glowing terms from time to time. That was the personal. Same with Zelensky in that sense. I think you're right.

I think he was trying to make sure Zelensky understood who, without US support, they were going nowhere. And I'm untroubled by either of those. The real proof is what's the policy? What's the outcome that President Trump's seeking? And from my vantage point, President Trump has always been someone who understood winning. And in this case, can't be the case

that Putin can be perceived of having won. Whatever the outcome, whatever the geography, whatever the disposition in the end, we can't, that kind of aggression can't be rewarded because it'll get you more of it. And if there was one thing I'm proud of from our first four years, Bill, is we were pretty good at deterring the bad guys from doing exactly what they did to President Biden

and invading Europe. We're pretty good at convincing folks like Hamas not to invade Israel on our watch. President Trump's pretty good at deterrence, and that's what he's gonna try to get back. I'm counting on it. Okay, but you're gonna have to let Putin save a little face. He's not gonna surrender,

because he doesn't care about how many people are dead or anything like that, he's scared about himself. So you've got to give him an exit ramp off. I think Putin wants the ramp, but you're dealing with an evil man here. He's just flat-out evil. Do you believe that there will be a ceasefire? See, I said, once Trump was elected,

I think that ceasefire is going to happen. Do you believe it? Yeah, there'll be a ceasefire, but the interesting question is really the one that you pose, which is you have an evil dictator like Vladimir Putin who has to date evidenced nothing that suggests he's actually looking for that off-ramp that you described. Maybe he is, but he's been pretty good at masking any, any willingness to concede a single thing. In the end, Bill, what I think, how I think this ends up the call it face-save and call it what

you will. I think he wants to be back in the global world, his economy back connected to the global international system. There's the solution is that you find a message. by which to permit Russian activity back in the economic system. We rebuilt Japan, right? There's a long history when these wars end. We allow these economies, the people of those countries to engage in the world again.

That's what I think Putin desperately needs for his own political stability back home, but also that's the ticket to give him something to say, look, look what I got us back. Yeah, and if you give them that ticket, you've got to have European peacekeepers in there. So you've got to give the Ukrainian some assurance. some assurance. I mean, Trump was smart not to sign a document saying Putin breaks the seat's fire. The United States is going to go in with troops. You can't do that. But you can negotiate a deal where the UN or the EU would put, and you call them rebuilding, you know, security to rebuild. And it'd be good if Putin kicked in a couple of billion, too,

which you'll make easily by, you know, having the sanctions lifted on the oil stuff. So you know Putin pretty well. A lot of people just think that he is some kind of crazy guy. I don't see him that way. I just think he's flat out evil. Not crazy. And I've been criticized for saying he's actually pretty shrewd. And while he screwed this up, he thought he'd get to Kiev.

He thought he'd get victory on the ground. Terrible strategic mistake, no doubt about it. He's not crazy. he is evil and the rationality flows from that. I don't think there's any doubt that his intentions were even greater than that. In my judgment, he wasn't fearing NATO was going to attack him for goodness like that's just nutty. He was trying to begin the revisit of something greater for Russia. Yeah, just like Georgia and Belarus.

He was trying to duplicate that. That's it. And he didn't get it. This was a fail. And now he didn't find a way to it. So now you got to find a way to it. So now you've got to give them a push out, but you can't hammer them between the eyes like the idiot Democrats are trying to do it. You say to them, well, if you do that, you'll never get a ceasefire, and they have no answer.

Let's go to China. So China's slap tariffs on the USA today. That situation seems to be deteriorating. Is it? I think it is. And I know some will want to blame President Trump for that. I think this is all Xi Jinping, this challenge that's being faced by the entire. world. And by the way, it's connected to Russia. We shouldn't forget for a second that the primary

consumer of Russian energy today is the Chinese Communist Party getting discounted crude oil and gas out of Russia. China is a huge beneficiary of this war continuing in Ukraine, in Europe. But I think it's deteriorating because Xi Jinping now believes that he's got a place where he can actually exert influence and shape things in a way that his predecessors didn't believe. The old, this is a rough translation from Mandarin Bill, you'll have to forgive me. But the old motto was, hide your power and bide your time. And Xi Jinping's no longer hiding his power. He's showing it full force and it's going to require a real American response.

Well, when you say a response, everybody gets nervous. Is that going to be a military response? Can't do that, right? Well, Xi Jinping's going to, we're not going to attack China militarily. Right. But Xi Jinping is already running into ships. the philippine the south china sea he's certainly the last five years though so as long as he doesn't touch taiwan then that's right you know the u.s is going to allow some of that to happen

but i see it this way and maybe i'm wrong i think that china's economy is really wobbling just like russes but china is more intense and uh she like putin probably at this point in history would want a better economic situation and he would be willing to deal for that. Am I wrong? I think you're wrong. I think, I think Xi Jinping has concluded that this is the moment. So you've heard some of our generals talking about 2027 and I don't want, I can't put a marker down as for time. But I think she is willing to sacrifice an awful lot of as economy to gain a global advantage to get closer to the political hegemony that he seeks. It's going to be. really hard. I agree. They've got huge long run demographic problems. Their real estate industry is

way worse than anybody even knows, over levered. So there are many, many challenges. But I think she has concluded that it's no longer time to supplicate to the United States on the economic front. And so he's going to push and push and push until the United States pushes back. And I think you see President Trump trying to push back. 25 percent is a pushback. But if your opinion is correct, why didn't she move under Biden, who is extremely weak? Why did he live four years of Biden? And he didn't really do anything that catastrophic. Yeah, I don't think, Bill, I don't think for a second he's going to invade Taiwan.

The military invasion there, I think he believes, is unnecessary. His view is he's going to get Taiwan through propaganda politics, same way he took Hong Kong, right, force, choked them off, make their economy more difficult. And eventually the people will come to see they, hey, you know, why fight this? And so I think this is a longer march for him. And I think he made real progress on that in the Biden administration, in the Pacific Islands, in Africa. You saw what's gone on in Panama under President Biden where the Chinese got a foothold on our doorstep. I think this is a determined strategic effort, not a Xi Jinping military takeover.

He knows he can't actually win that. the United States would, in the end, crush him? The press, the American press, portraying Donald Trump over the world as a villain. That hasn't stopped. And then they point to Trump denying Keeb, U.S. intel, and then Trump saying to NATO, we're not going to do any military exercises.

Let's take them one by one. The, as you know better than anybody, the reportage on the intel is just flat-out. ridiculous because British intelligence gets everything we have and they just give it to Keith. So it doesn't matter what, and you know, the former CIA chief, doesn't matter what Trump said, well, we're not going to give anything. The Brits have it all. And they'll give it to them. Am I wrong there? I think that reporting is highly hyped. I always joke, Bill, that if I watch the BBC, I wouldn't like America either. Right, right. So, but it's such a,

most people don't understand that. They don't understand how it works. Okay, you do, because you were in there, and I do because I've been around for so long. The second military exercise thing, I didn't quite get why Trump did that. Do you know? No, I don't know. Look, we've been trying to help them with training for an awfully long time. When I was the CIA director, we were helping the Ukrainians. It was President Trump who provided the javelin missiles, right?

People forget President Trump did that. It was President Trump who put American energy in the front making Vladimir Putin's resources worth less. I don't know why he chose that particular. It might have to do with Putin and some phone calls. It might. By the way, I'm not privy to any of that. Right. I'm not either.

But that's the only thing I can think of. All right. Now, a lot of people, including myself, believe that you would have been an asset to this Trump administration. But you weren't invited. do you know why no i i don't know the particulars of why but again i give president's lots of latitude to pick the team they want he picked no i i know that but you did a good job he picked entirely new team bill he even said you did a good job he told me he did a good job um so i worked hard yeah i mean i was surprised the man of your experience and you know all of

these players um i would have put you as defense secretary I don't think Hegseth is the guy. I would have put you there, but you must have thought about it a little bit, Mr. Secretary, because it is a natural fit. You succeeded with Trump the first time around. Did you guys have a falling out of some kind? Oh, no.

Look, I don't know why he chose the people he did. He went through a lot of folks, Bill. I'll leave to him the personnel choices. I had said before, if he asked me to go serve, whatever role, whether it was in the Defense Department, wherever I'd happily go serve, and he just made a different decision. I think he's going to ask you. Are you ready to dairy-free your mind?

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i do i think he's going to pull you back next time i see him i'm going to get to the bottom of that because that surprised me because you know how you let me you let me know bill of course i'll let everybody know um you know the president is uh unpredictable i think that's an accurate word right yeah that's fair yeah um he goes by his gut um i agree with you that maybe he wanted some a fresh look i like rubio um because he's a good uh counterbalance to trump i think that's a fairly good play you agree no i agree i think secretary rubio's going to do a very fine job because when he picked tillerson the uh oil guy who you saved his bacon remember Remember that?

I went, what? I did vividly. What? That was a disaster, and then he brought you in, because you're the pro, and then you guys straightened it out. When Trump left office, when he was defeated in 20, the world was fairly stable then. I mean, it wasn't, as you pointed out earlier in this interview, there wasn't a lot of threats on the doorstep.

Would that be accurate? We had things in a pretty good place. If you think about what fell apart relatively quickly, Europe fell apart. The advancements that were the Abraham Accords in the Middle East were dead stopped, even before the massacres of October 7th. And then, you know, we had come close to delivering on President Trump's commitment to reducing our forces in Afghanistan to zero or near zero. And President Biden came in and pulled the plug, and we all know the calamity that followed there. not only the 13 dead and many, many injured, but I think much of the chaos that ensued

in the final two and a half years of the Biden administration was a direct result of that epic failure in Afghanistan. None of that happened for our four years. There's no doubt in my mind that that's true. All right, Mr. Secretary, really appreciate your time and how busy you are trying to straighten Columbia University out. If you need any help, I'm 20 miles away.

I'll be happy to come over. It's going to be bigger than me, but I'll give it a go. Yeah, I mean, it'll be happy to see me. and, you know, it's all of that. And I hope you'll be available to us from time and time because I don't think there's anybody else who knows the world better than you do. I mean, you've got a pretty good handle on it. And, again, we're very grateful it, very grateful you're speaking with us today.

Thank you. Thank you. Bless you, Bill. Have a good day. See you soon. All right, joining us now in Washington as a guy, very smart guy, Dr. Hal Brands. She's got a new bookout. I have it. I'm perusing it. the Eurasian century, Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern Worlds out in January. He is a distinguished professor of global affairs at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. It's a lot to get on a business car there, doctor, you know, a lot of that stuff on one little car.

So, but anyway, you know what you're talking about. What I'm interested in is the change and the danger rise. So we got with Russia and China Allying to hurt the West over Ukraine That's a pretty I mean everybody knows the situation, but that's very intense, right? It's probably the most dangerous situation We've faced as a country since the early Cold War

Because it's Russia and China that are working together China's been a major supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine But it's also Iran and North Korea Iran has provided a lot of the drones, and North Korea has even provided some of the manpower that Putin has used in this brutal assault on Ukraine. And so it's a situation where we have four of the bad guys working together at the heart of Eurasia to try to shape the wider world. But they're not trying to shape it in any good way, right? They're totalitarian. That's right. I mean, these are all deeply autocratic, deeply undemocratic regimes. They all want to carve out big, spheres of influence, which they would probably rule in a pretty brutal fashion, they want

to bring about a world that is totally different than the one that Americans have known and have done so well in over the past. Yeah, well, there's no place for freedom or free enterprise at all. Reminds me the late 1930s when you had the Axis powers, Hitler, Mussolini, and some others joining together to try to impose fascism on the world. And then you had Japan, which was a fascist state as well, in the Pacific. Is there any difference? I think there's some pretty strong parallels.

Back then, the problem was that you had a handful of separate, aggressive countries that were all sort of doing their own thing in their particular regions. But the combined effect of that was to destabilize the wider world. And, of course, eventually the United States got dragged into the conflicts that resulted. Today, you have a similar phenomenon where Russia and China and Iran and North Korea. They all want their own things. They all have their own agendas, but they're all putting pressure on the international system that America and its friends built at the same time. And if anything, they're cooperating more closely than the Axis powers did in the late 30s

and early 40s. Now, from your vantage point, is there anything that President Trump should be doing or should not be doing if you were – to have dinner with him tonight, would you have any suggestions for him? I think he's on the right track in terms of putting a lot of pressure on Iran. I think Iran is the weakest member of this autocratic axis, and it is the one that has been most softened up over the past year, mostly by Israel for the imposition of this pressure. And so he's got a good chance to really squeeze the Iranians and maybe get a stronger

nuclear deal than the U.S. got back in 2015 under the Obama. administration. The thing I would tell him not to do is not to think that he's going to be successful in frying Russia and China apart. You've sometimes heard this, not so much from Trump, but from people around him, that if the war in Ukraine ends, maybe the United States can enlist Russia to help contain China, I just don't think that's how it works. Let me challenge you. Let me challenge you on that, okay? So we got Johns Hopkins, you. We got Harvard me. All right, it's kind of like a little, little game show here. If Trump makes the Ukraine deal, part of that deal has to be that Putin gets back in G7. He gets back into the Western economies where he can sell his oil. That's

primarily what he's got. China then, he doesn't need Putin doesn't need China as much as he needs it now. So what Trump is trying to do is lure him back into the European sector. and then de-emphasize, because as you know, historically, the Russians and the Chinese hate each other. I don't know if that's gone away, but I don't think they're buddies. And China's power dwarfs Putin's power. Putin can't be happy about that. Putin needs money. He needs commerce.

So that's what Trump is thinking. Where's he going wrong? I think the theory of the case is exactly as you described it. I think the challenge is sort of twofold. One is, how much do you have to give Putin to get him to put some daylight between him and China? And I worry that the answer might be quite a lot. And the second point is that, you know, Putin knows that if he cuts a deal with Trump, there's no guarantee that deal is going to last beyond January 20, 20, 29.

And so he will welcome, you know, reduce sanctions, greater economic engagement with the West, because I'm sure he's not entirely comfortable with the degree of dependencies developed on China, but he's not going to push China the side of the road because that's all I don't think he's going to push it, but China can't do him too much good economically other than buying his oil. But anyway, that's Trump's mindset. And I think the deal is going to have to come down, whereas Ukraine will lose 10% of its territory, but there'll be bogus elections. That's what they'll throw. and then EU will provide peacekeepers.

USA will make the mineral deal and that puts a structure for the USA inside Ukraine. And then Putin will be allowed back into the G7 and he'll go to all the meetings and all. That's what I think is going to happen. You got anything else that you think might pop in there? I would just say, I still think the critical element is whether there's going to be a U.S. backstop

for the European security presence. That would be the mineral deal. I think that's part of it. Yeah. I would just say, I think that the Europeans know that they're going to be in trouble if they get attacked by the Russians, if the U.S. isn't there to help. And so they don't need the U.S. they're holding their hand every day. They just need a promise that the U.S. will be there in extremists. If things really go.

No, but they'll up their spending. They're not suicidal over there. They're greedy, the Europeans. And interestingly enough, you look at the ambassadorships, You ought to have your students do this Who Trump is appointed In all of the European capitals These are hard

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The kind made with real fruit juice, a pinch of Sicilian salt, and the sparkle of the Italian sun. With no added sugar and just 10 or less calories per can, enjoy. with love from Italy by san pellegrino chow now um yeah so and i think the europeans have gotten the message on defense oh yeah that's great it's just it's just going to take them a few years to get to the point where they're a little bit more self-delimated now americans by and large don't understand much of this i'm not being super silliest word of the day uh but they just don't know They don't know what tariffs are, just why I took the time to explain it.

They don't know the dynamic. They just want to live their lives. They don't want to get involved with geopolitics. They don't understand the dynamic that is taking place and the huge changes in the world. This is a deficit for America that they don't understand, right? Yeah, I think it's also a testament to the success of what the U.S. has tried to do over the past 80 years. You know, we've been successful in preventing other global wars, from breaking out, you know, great depressions from breaking out. And so it's become a little bit

easier to forget what all this is meant to achieve. You know, my grandfather, he flew, he was a navigator in B-24s and B-25s in Europe during World War II. And so nobody had to explain to him why American global engagement mattered. And I think we've lost a little bit of that over the years. Well, we have lost it. Now we're in a deep age of narcissism and apathy. But here's the kicker on this. Got a lot of left-wingers in the press. screaming that Trump isn't pounding Putin as a fascist dog. If you look at Yalta, what Roosevelt did with Stalin? I mean, he kissed him up and down, in and out, every way.

And he had to know, because Churchill knew, that Stalin was going to break every treaty in the world, which he did, and come right across and try to dominate Europe, which he did. But Roosevelt said, look, I got to stop this world war. I got to stop it. It very, very akin to what Trump is doing, last word. I think there are definitely some parallels. I think Trump thinks we just need to get sort of the moralizing out of U.S. foreign policy

and focus on hard power realities. There's something to be said for that. But I would just also point out that one of the great things about America is that we do stand up for principle in the world. And so I just hope we won't correct too far on. Trump doesn't see it that way. He's not one of those guys. He's a businessman, cold-blooded business. businessman. So you're right, the theory about, you know, here comes America to liberate

everybody, not this president. He's looking out for Americans and he wants peace. He doesn't want war. He's not a warmonger at all, okay? But he's not looking at it like we have a responsibility to the rest of the world to keep them safe. Would you say that was accurate? I think that's a very accurate description of how Trump sees the world. All right, Professor. We really appreciate coming on day thank you very much my smart life uh wallet hub good good financial website it's worth your time they have a poll uh only 200 respondents though about tipping nine out of 10 americans think that automatic service charges should be banned so if you get your check usually in a restaurant if you have a party of more than six they'll build in a

to 20% tip. I don't have a problem with that. But more and more restaurants now are forcing you to tip at a certain level. I do have a problem with that. And so do 90% of Americans? The other questions are, do you think tipping culture has gotten out of control? 86% of Americans say yes. 14, no. Our business is replacing employee salaries with tips. That interesting question. Yes, 55, no, 45. Should automatic service charges be banned? Yes. 83, no 17. Even when you go in for a takeout, just to pick up, they're asking for tips and all that. So here's my thing. I want to be generous because people, younger people are working and you know, all of that. So I tip 20% usually. I gave a guy 10% last weekend because he was the

worst waiter I've ever seen. I should have given him nothing, but I gave him 10 because I felt sorry for me. If he couldn't even do that job, what's his future life? About 20% is what I do. I do not tip on picking up stuff that I order over the phone. I mean, that's insane. He's handing me the bag. That's it. I'm out of there. And I don't tip if I have a credit card thing and they twirl the thing around and go, okay, I said, for what? I called, I gave, you cooked it up your hand in it to me. What am I tipping for? You didn't come to the table and pour water. You didn't do any of that. So I'm a purist in that regard, but I think Americans are generous. If you do get good service, 20 is good. Rosie O'Donnell moves to Ireland. Okay, that's fine.

I'm going to do a big YouTube thing on it, beginning tomorrow. I hope she's happy in Ireland. But what disturbs me is her 12-year-old daughter. Roll it. I'm happy. Clay is happy. I'm happy. miss my other kids, I miss my friends, I miss many things about life there at home, and I'm trying to find a home here in this beautiful country. And when, you know, it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that's when we will consider coming back. So she refers to her daughter as clay. Now, I usually stay out of this stuff. It's none of my business, how you raise your children.

But she's 12 years old. And this girl, according to her mother, is non-binary, which means she doesn't identify it with any gender. 12 years old? And you're calling her clay? But again, I could be wrong about this. I don't know the details, but it just... Gotta predict the kids.

Twelve years old is not old enough to make any binary decisions. Okay, here's a final thought of the day. I'm old school guy. I do reporting the way it used to be done. I do analysis based on facts. I hate cliches. I mock cliches. I turn on television news.

It's cliche America. Here is the latest one. Go. We'll take this off for now to the Russian. And we hope that they'll say yes, that they'll say yes to peace. The ball is now in their court. So, Joe, right now, it does sound like the ball is in Russia's court. Yeah, Rubio, they're saying that the ball is now in Russia's cord.

Yeah, Victoria, the ball is in Russia's court now when it comes to this ceasefire. Now the ball is in Russia's court to prove that it is also interested in peace or at least a ceasefire, I should say. I give you 100 more. Lemmings. Not in Russia's ball in their court. They don't think. They recite. The worst is we'll see.

Yeah, we'll see. You're insulting me. I know we'll see. Everybody knows that. You don't have to say it 45,000 times. And then there is at the end of the day. If I'm Trump, I'm signing an executive order today. It says if you say at the end of the day,

you have to donate $10 to charity every time you say it. And if you don't, ice is going to come to your house. At the end of the day, it's painful to me. It's painful. It's like, you know, the nail, and this is a cliche. The nail is on the blackboard. So, ball in a court. How many times you hear it?

Can you just be original? Just try. I'm pleading with you. Thank you for very, very much for watching and listening to the No Spin News, where we try never to use cliches. We'll see you tomorrow.