Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis - No Spin News - Weekend Edition - February 8, 2025

Episode Date: February 8, 2025

Listen to this week's No Spin News interviews with Dr. Edward Feser and David Nasaw. We also visit the No Spin News archives and Bill's conversation with Geraldo Rivera. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to the NoSpin News Weekend Edition. RFK Jr., as I said in the message of the day, one of Trump's mistakes, okay? This guy is not, he shouldn't be there. I know this family. I know him. No. So he may get in. I don't think he will, but he might.

because you'll remember that I told you that Hegsef wasn't going to make it. And 12 hours before the vote, Hegsef wasn't going to, didn't have the votes. The last second, Tom Tillis, the senator from North Carolina, switched. I don't know what the deal was, but believe me, there was a deal. and then once TILUS switched, there was a tie, and Vice President Vance broke the tie, and Hague said is the Defense Department Secretary. That may happen with the RFK. It shouldn't.

It's like Matt Gates. That was ridiculous. Okay? But he might get in. But right now, now I don't see it. Could change. It's bringing a guy who knows a Kennedy family very well. His name is David Nassau.

He is an emeritus professor of history at the City University of New York, and author of the book The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy, the Patriarch of the Kennedy family. All right, Professor. I know the family, you know the family, we know their history. I wrote a book called Killing Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Jr. I agree with him on nutrition. I agree with him that the health system in America is corrupted by big food companies and others. I agree a big change needs to be made. Kennedy is on board with all of that.

But Kennedy is a conspiracy guy who cannot back up what he says, and I think that disqualifies him. What say you? I couldn't agree more. Bobby Kennedy, Jr., look, we got a – I'm a biographer. not a psychoanalyst. So I look at the facts that in the air. He was nine when his uncle was assassinated. He was 14 when his father was assassinated.

He was a poll bearer at his father's funeral. He began heroin a year later. That's what he tells us. This is the problem. You put together trauma with overwhelming, confidence because he's a Kennedy. Went to Harvard.

And you combine those two with his sense that he has a destiny. He's got to fulfill his father's promise. He's got to be a great man. And you put those

three together and it just doesn't work. Let me play devil's advocate here. It can work. I mean, to try to top your father and do good in public service, that's a motivator. That would be great, yeah. Yeah. So where is the divergence of him into the dark zone, in your opinion?

Okay, it's a great question. I think what happens is that when his father and his uncle are killed, he begins not to trust anything he's heard. He doesn't trust the Warren Commission, and he says his father. didn't trust the Boran Commission. He doesn't trust anything that he hears from the media, from politicians, from Washington, about what happened to uncle and what happened to daddy. And then that distrust, that disbelief is transformed

into this sense that somehow the media and the government are keeping quiet because they had something to do with it. he's got no evidence in your killing Kennedy and you're killing Kennedy you say Oswald, you know that

we don't know everything but it looks, but you don't invent out of thin air conspiracy. No, it's a fact-based book. Oswald did it. There's no question he did it. Whether there is somebody helping him or something, we'll say

but here's my point about Kennedy. Kennedy is as very cleverly. He made done two things. He made a deal with Trump. And to Trump's, I think, credit, Trump honors the deals. He could have thrown Kennedy overboard. I don't think he's got a lot of emotion invested in RFK. If RFK goes down, can't trouble have somebody else. But he made a deal. You get out, you endorse me. I'll get you into the health department because that's where you want to be. That's number one. Number two, Kennedy tapped into the anti-vax movement, which is big in America. It's not just Kennedy who doesn't trust the government. It's millions

of Americans who don't trust it, correct? Absolutely. Absolutely. But what worries me, what worries me is that Kennedy says we need good science. Well, on some things we don't have good science, on fluoride in the drinking water. There's this controversy. That has to be looked into. But on the polio vaccine, he says that the polio vaccine killed more people than polio did. On the COVID vaccine, on the measles vaccine, I mean, he is going to do irreparable harm. I mean, there are already fewer parents getting measles, mumps, chickenpox vaccines for their kids. And, I mean, that is dangerous. That is really dangerous.

But I don't think he's going to have the kind of power to do anything unilaterally because the White House is going to run everything. Kennedy does do what he's told. And he said as much. Kennedy said as much in the hearing. Whatever they tell me to do, I'm going to do. Right. He's been very clear on that.

Right. But my posture is that if you're a president, you get the best. Yeah, okay, Trump wasn't run everything for the white. White House, and that's what he's going to do. But you get the best to administrate what you want. And I just don't see RFK as the best. Last word. He's not the best. He doesn't have the experience. He doesn't have the temperament. He doesn't have the skill set. There are lots of people who could carry out the Trump agenda and do it with less hysteria. with less pushback

than Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. I agree, as you said, it was a mistake. Right. But I would, if I were Trump and I had made that deal with Kennedy, and I understand why Trump did it and was a smart deal to make, I would appoint Kennedy the nutrition czar.

So he just goes around and tells people how to get healthier with no cabinet position there's a need to be confirmed by the Senate. You wouldn't object of that, would you? No, it would have made perfect sense. Yeah, that's fine. Give him the nutrition because

he's right about that. All right, Professor, pleasure to talk with you. And thanks for reading Killing Kennedy. I appreciate you reading a book and we'll talk again soon, I hope. You're listening to the No Spinoos Weekend Edition. Rayband Meta Glasses

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The migrant controversy among Christians is a fascinating story. So as you know, I'm a Roman Catholic. All right? And you might also know that I admire Pope Francis. I think he is a good man. I know what happened to him in Argentina when he was Archbishop there, and the fascist government brutalized. The man almost killed him. I understand his liberation theology. I got Pope Francis. I met him. I think he's a good person. But he's naive, in my opinion. He doesn't understand how the migrant situation is negatively impacting so many people. This is just my opinion. Then a Pope has a book out, brand new book, It's on a best cellist, and my book's been there

for five months so that I follow that. The book is called Hope, The Autobiography by Pope Francis. In the book, he basically lays out how people should conduct themselves. Earlier, he said this on August 28, 2024, quote, brothers and sisters, we can all agree on one thing, migrants should not be in those seas and in the lethal deserts. But it's not through more restrictive laws. It is not with the militarization of borders.

It's not with the rejection that we will obtain this result. Instead, we will obtain it by extending safe and legal access routes for migrants, providing refuge for those who flee from war, violence, persecution, and variance disasters. We will obtain it by promoting in every way a global governance of migration based on justice, fraternity, and solidarity, unquote. Well, it sounds good, but it's impossible

because mass migration negatively impacts the countries where it is out of control. And a Pope should know that. Adjoining us now is Dr. Edward Faser. He is a professor of philosophy at Pasadena City College in Los Angeles. a Roman Catholic. So where am I going wrong here in my analysis, first of all, of the Pope? I don't think you are going wrong, Bill. I think you're correct. The Pope and other churchmen,

bishops and priests and Catholic writers and so on rightly emphasized that the Catholic tradition has always said that we need to welcome migrants, especially those fleeing war and terrible economic conditions and so on. But there's another aspect of the church's teaching, and it's still represented in the catechism of the Catholic Church. You see it represented in statements from Pope John Paul II and Bennett the 16th and so on, that notes that this need to welcome the migrant is not absolute that there are conditions on it. In particular, as the catechism says, the governments of countries that migrants want to enter have a right to put conditions on immigration.

And migrants have the responsibility also to follow the laws of whatever country it is that they want to migrate to. These are aspects of the church's teaching that are longstanding, but that often go unmentioned in contemporary discussion of this issue. That's because there's a disagreement, though. That's because there's an internal disagreement, not only in a Catholic church, but Protestant sex as well, about how to handle migraine. So the politics of a doctor has almost overwhelmed the theological aspect of it, because there are Catholic priests and bishops who understand that you have to.

to render to Caesar in the sense that you have to obey the established law of the country unless it's a law that goes against human nature, which immigration law, if it's spelled out, doesn't. But it seems to me that this is almost more a political debate within the Catholic Church than a theological debate. I think it's degenerated into that. And I think the motivations for it are several. And it depends on who we're talking about here. With some people, I think there's an honest disagreement within Catholic circles about how to apply the relevant theological principles. And there are those who would say, hey, we recognize that migrants have the duty to obey the law. We recognize that you can't take everybody in and so on,

but we simply think we can take in more than, say, the Trump administration thing. So there are people who are looking at it from that point of view. There are some people who are looking at it from a more a hard, progressive political point of view and masquerade, what's really a personal political opinion under the guise of Catholic theology and pretend that they're simply implementing what the church requires every Catholic to go along with. And that's not correct.

And there are yet others, I think, were motivated by something else that even the most conservative churchmen often feel tremendous pressure because in their public statements on matters of doctrine, they always have to come across as, quote, the bad guy from the point of view of the mainstream media when they're talking about questions about abortion or sexual morality or what have you so there's a very strong temptation

wherever they can to try to say something that's progressive and issues like migration give them an opportunity to do that they give them an opportunity to say something that you know at long last sounds like it's acceptable to the mainstream um and again the problem is that this temptation gives away to presenting a one-sided statement and presentation of the church's teaching. Do you think that Pope Francis and the bishops in America understand the backlash from people who want immigration law upheld and understand the destruction that the Biden administration reaped by the open border? Do you think the Pope Francis in the Vatican understands a tremendous backlash

against Catholic charities, for example, and other... liberal institutions, and you pile that on the pre-scandals, and you have the church weakening here in America in a very significant way. Do you think the Pope recognizes that? I would suspect he does not. I think there's a tendency for the Pope and other churchmen to think in terms of longstanding cliches that exist in their mind about what those in the other side are motivated by. And so there's kind of a reflexive tendency just to dismiss concerns about immigration as if they could only be motivated by racism, say, and not to hear out the actual arguments,

the actual views of those. Well, there are people suffering because of the open border. And they're never mentioned by the Catholic Church. Now, let's extend it into the evangelical. Look, the Protestants are all over. place. You got the Unitarians and wherever it goes and they're, you know, let everybody in and, you know, and then you got Episcopals, a very left wing. I'm generalizing now. But the evangelicals are conservative. They're conservative Christians. And it doesn't seem that these churches get a lot of

publicity. It's all around the Catholics, because the Catholic charities does administer to migrants and gets a million and a half, which is nothing, public funding to do so. But where do you think the Protestants come down on this? Well, it varies. It varies from Protestant to Protestant. But even outside the old mainline liberal churches, you do find those in the evangelical realm who are, say, critical of Trump administration policy. And there, too, I think at least part of the motivation is, as I said was true,

of, I think, a lot of Catholic churchmen, is that they're so often perceived as the bad guy by... No, I know. They want to moderate it. But, you know, even evangelicals went heavy for Trump. I mean, they went heavy for him. So I'll have to do a little more study because I'm much more familiar with the Pope and the battle inside the Catholic Church.

And it is a very troubling question. I'm going to tell you one more thing that a few years ago, Cardinal Dolewell, and the most powerful cleric in America came to me and said, I got a big problem with migrants because some of them are here illegally, some of them aren't, but most of them, almost all of them are poor, and we have an opportunity to buy housing for them in Brooklyn. Can you help? And I did, big time. And I did it not for any political reason whatsoever. I did it because that's my mandate to help. And I didn't ask how many illegals do you have. how many, you know, I didn't ask any of those questions. And I'm happy I help. I don't regret

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country. We've had so much irresponsibility now for four years, the people pouring over that it's no surprise that any remedy is going to seem excessive, even if it's really just trying to remedy the chaos of the last four years. And so what I think churchmen need to recognize is that there is room for reasonable disagreement here among Catholics. Well, and I wish somebody in a Vatican would step up and say there is another side to this because they don't. Hey, doctor, we appreciate it very much. very helping us out today. Here's a gem from the no-spin News Vault. Okay, so there is the political synopsis in 18 minutes.

It's the best synopsis you'll get in any program in this country. And now we'll make it even better by bringing in Geraldo Rivera. You remember Geraldo, right? Okay, so talk about a guy in cognitive decline. I wanted to show you what it really looks like. Just take a good look at Geraldo. Still got the best head of hair in the business, though. Got to give them that.

And then you can thank your parents for that head of hair. Here's my question for you. Election held tomorrow. You're a patriot. I mean, you vote. Biden, Trump. Who are you going to vote for? Maybe neither.

Maybe RFK Jr. I'm not sure that anti-back stuff scares me. I am absolutely never, ever going to vote for Donald Trump again. He totally dishonored his own record and his supporters, it seems to me, and the Constitution of the United States on January 6th and the days and weeks leading up to that infamous riot. He disqualified himself, I think, from ever, he should have, from ever seeking the high office again.

All right, that's for you, though. See, I see it differently. I think there's exculpatory evidence. there that wouldn't affect my vote. I think there's enough exculpatory evidence on January 6th about what Donald Trump did or did not do that he hasn't, in my opinion, doesn't disqualify himself. But I respect your opinion, and there are millions of Americans who believe what you believe. But let's go over to the other side. I can't imagine you voting for Joe Biden for more years of this. I did not vote for Joe Biden.

I will not vote for going forward. I respect him as a fellow sympathetic old man with a bad memory. Why do you respect Joe Biden? Why? Well, his service to the nation over generation. Wait, wait. He's reversed every position he's ever held. And one of the things that we're researching in my book, and we list them.

We listen. I appreciate the dark side, and I feel that it may be some truth to it, uneven treatment, Hunter, et cetera. But I really do believe that he's done a good job with the economy. I think that he's a patriot. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Working Americans have paying 17% more for the essentials of life. Food, gas, insurance.

And you think he's done a good job when Trump left it was 1.4% inflation? Come on. Last time I looked, Bill, let me answer this. Last time I looked, it was 3.5%. No, it's 17 for essentials of life. 17%. I'll get to inflation, which gas now here in Ohio is $2.80. It's way down from its highs.

Inflation now is approaching the target. 2%. The economy, by all accounts, is going for a soft landing. I appreciate that we're at full employment, basically. More minorities working than ever before. The economy humming along. Yes, inflation has been very painful for people. And who ignited that inflation? Well, Donald Trump started it, pouring billions. No, he didn't. It was 1.4 when he left. He and charted he he injected billions of dollars as you know bill into the economy during the pandemic to stave off a recession uh Biden followed suit and poured more billions of dollars the economy simply could not absorb it and so you had crazy inflation uh but i i think that

biden the reason he's polling at 44 percent i'm sorry if you hear my dog in the background just got home. If Biden is probably 44 against Trump's 46, obviously, almost half the country believe that he is the right choice. I dispute that as well. That's an anti-Trump vote. This MailChimp forific jingle is brought to you by MailChimp. MailChimp your marketing with AI and more. Advanced automations to connect to your store. Mailchimp, your marketing and booster clicks, multi-channel campaigns now with SMS That's lit MailChimp, your marketing today

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Brewed to taste great at 30,000 feet. Upgrade your next trip. Book now at alaskaair.com. That's why Biden's got elected in the first place. They voted against Trump, not from Biden. I heard with great interest your take on Donald Trump shooting himself in the foot

with the great... On the foot, he shoots himself in a head. And that, too, is a gratuitous attacks on Nikki Haley's a husband who's serving in the National Guard and a very dangerous part of the world that I'm very familiar with, the Horn of Africa. And it reminded me of his attacks on John McCain. I have known him as you have, and we've had private meetings with the president together. We understand him. He's very charming, very charismatic.

He's a great fan, very loyal, but he is, his excesses are beyond the pale. All right, but let's get back to the original point. People aren't voting for Joe Biden. You may think he's done a good job in the economy. I think he's done a terrible job on the economy. I know when you have three years of people, working people, who salary and real wages is the barometer of that. And under Biden, real wages are down, whereas they were up over 7 percent when Trump, was in there. Despite all the spending and all of that, real wages were up more than 7%.

We're talking about working poor, middle class people who can't absorb the kind of price rises that we've seen under Biden. So I'm basically a fact-based guy, and you know that. I always happen. I take a motion in ideology. I don't care about either party. I think they're both ridiculous. But you compare Trump's four. years and this is my last question to biden's three just policy no covid none of that just policy border Putin middle east inflation whatever it is there's no comparison there's no comparison historically between what trump did in office and what biden has done in office last word we speak we speak about the cruelty of the special counsel's report on Joe Biden's senility, on his

incapacity because of his age. And people are talking about the 25th Amendment being invoked and they're talking a lot about Kamala Harris as the potential substitute replacement for Biden if he really can't finish out his term or if he is reelected and ages out. All that may be true, Donald Trump has become irrational. I mean, to say to the Russian president that, come on, invade Europe. He doesn't even know what he's saying. He's like Biden. It's one thing. You can't be president and say things that you don't know what you're saying. Well, okay, but that you can't have that in common. There are times they don't know what they're saying. One more question I have that just popped into my mind. Would you vote for Kamala Harris?

I don't believe so. I don't believe so. I don't think that she has distinguished herself at all as vice president. I think that she had an admirable run-up as district attorney, as an attorney general, as senator from California, but as vice president, she's been a bomb. I mean, when she was assigned the border, I don't know, she did a drive by the southern border.

It was embarrassing and ended up when the president of Guatemala and Mexico and so forth. she has not been effective at all. She's been very much of a disappointment. Maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe she's doing things behind the scenes that I don't see. But I don't see how, you know, the American people would ever vote if she was the... The party doesn't even want her, and that's the indicator. All right.

So as it stands now, RFK Jr. has your vote. Well, I have not disqualified him, although I was deeply, moved by his family's very negative reaction to him ripping off or his super pack ripping off John F. Kennedy's ad. But I don't think that was that would R.K. Jr.'s fault. I don't think he knew. I'm a little more cynical. Yeah, I'm believing him there. But I could be wrong. Harald O'River, everybody. Now, you just heard a pretty good debate with two old guys, right? That's right. Two old guys, pretty good debate. All right. You throw on cable TV tonight. You watch the guys and a 30 years younger.

Ha, there you go. Okay, thanks for all, I appreciate it. Okay. Thank you for listening to the NoSpin News Weekend Edition. To watch the full episodes of the No Spin News, visit Bill O'Reilly.com and sign up to become a premium or concierge member. That's Bill O'Reilly.com. Sign up and start watching today.

Thank you.