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

Episode Date: March 8, 2025

Listen to this week's No Spin News interviews with Cheryl Chumley, Talmage Boston and Gregory Slater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the No Spin News Weekend Edition. So I asked my producers who are really good. I said, give me a guy who really knows a turf, all right, and knows Zelensky. So there's a former ambassador, American ambassador, to Bermude, to talk about a good job, appointed by Bush the Younger, named Gregory Slayton, who's written a brand new book, Portraits of Ukraine. a nation at war. Now, the proceeds of this book are going to Ukrainian charities to help the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians

who've been hurt by Vladimir Putin for no reason. And so this book is A, number one, worthy of your attention. And B, Gregory Slayton joins us now from Dallas, Texas. So you actually met with Zelensky, when did you meet with him? Well, thanks, Bill. First of all, it's great to see you again. Great to be on your show. Sure. And I agree 100% with your assessment. I was in Kiev last Monday at the invitation of President Zelensky and his team to mark the third anniversary of the brutal and unprovoked Russian invasion. That was difficult, but I was glad to be there. And it was also the official

launch date for the book. And I appreciate your mentioning the book because, yes, all proceeds do go to good Ukrainian charities. I was also at the White House just on, I was in D.C. on Friday for that meeting, which, as you described, was a disaster. And yes, there were mistakes on both sides, but President Zelensky was properly briefed and for whatever reason decided not to listen to 11 U.S. senators who know far better than he does how to work with President Trump. Let me stop you right there. I'm glad that you have affirmed what I said. number one because I had no idea you were going to do that because you didn't know what I was going to say. No, I did not. Okay. Based upon what you and I both know to be true, I think Zelensky is

immature. I don't think he's got a lot of impulse control. Would that be fair? Well, I don't ever want to criticize somebody without being in his shoes. You know, Abraham Lincoln was exhausted. by the Civil War. Zolinsky's lost in three years, hundreds of thousands of troops, and literally millions of civilians have been either killed, wounded, or dislocated from their homes, their villages. I mean, it's a brutal, brutal battle. Did he make a huge mistake at the White House? No doubt about it. Is he a little impulsive? Yeah, I would say so. But I think also we got to have a little bit of sympathy for the guy because I do. I can't even. And I think that's a good point. And I do have sympathy for him. He is traumatized. But he knows the only pathway to stop this madness

is for Putin to get something out of it. Putin's never going to stop or walk away unless he looks like a winner. Trump knows that. Trump's got to give Putin something, which is why Trump is and bashing Putin, you know, between the eyes. Because if he does that, it's never going to stop. Because Putin doesn't care about his own people. He doesn't care. Correct. But he needs to get out because the Russian people themselves are getting restive.

Word of the day, rested. Got a million Russian casualties. Putin knows he's got to stop. But he's not going to stop unless he can, you know, save face, can walk away. And that's what Trump's trying to do. Am I right of my assessment there? I think you are 100% correct, Bill. And the Russian economy is even much worse shape than most Western assessments indicate.

But remember, Putin doesn't care about that. He doesn't care about the Russian economy. No, I got to disagree with you. Just slightly there, Bill. He doesn't care about the people from the Stans and North Korean soldiers. He doesn't care for anything about them. But the economy owned by the oligar, who basically own all these things on Putin's behalf.

That's why Putin is the richest man in the world, according to Western intelligence services. And when you've got your entire hospitality industry, your entire coal mining industry, many of the non-military industries cannot pay the 25% interest rates that are common if you can get a loan at all and can't find employees. Literally the Russian economy is six months,

six months, 12 months from a very, very bad reckoning. It's a legitimate point, but if you understand Putin, he will go over the cliff if you don't give him a winning persona, I think. All right? He's not going to pull it back. But Trump knows that. Trump is giving him a pathway out. But Zelensky is way over his head.

he had no blank and clue. Last work. No, I completely agree with that, Bill. I think that we as Americans have to remember that, you know, we are the light of democracy and freedom in this world. That's why, yes, President Zelensky was out of line. He did not behave himself as he should have, but we still need to be the light and the beacon. Because let me tell you, there's a lot of wannabe Putin's and want to be Xi Jinping's who are, you know, right now. now thinking, why do I have to bother with elections and judiciary and stuff? Let's just make myself the leader, right? And be the leader for the rest of my life.

That we always must stand about, stand against. No, look, the geopolitical landscape is very, very tough. And as I said, are you as I think they're still going to make a deal? You concur? I agree. I agree 100%. Zillinsky's already said, he said publicly, I want to sign the deal.

So be a culprit. Okay. I hope it happens. I said prayers at mass yesterday that it would. I don't want to see any more suffering over there on a part of the Ukrainian people at all. So the book is Portraits of Ukraine, Nation of War, and get it on Amazon. And remember, the purchase price is going to help suffering people. Mr. Ambassador, thanks very much.

I hope you'll come back. And I hope things evolve the way you and I see it. Thank you very much. You're listening to the NoSpin News Weekend Edition. Amazon Pharmacy Presents Painful Thoughts. 20 more minutes to kill in the pharmacy before my prescription is ready. Maybe I'll grab some deeply discounted out-of-season Halloween candy.

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and I've got exactly what you need to start your weekdays. Every morning I'll bring you the stories that matter, plus the news people actually talk about, the juicy details in the worlds of politics, business, pop culture, and everything in between. It's what you want from the New York Post wrapped up in one snappy show. Ask your smart speaker to play the NY Postcast podcast.

Listen and subscribe on Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. So again, what we do here, just so you know, is we have usually one guest, a program, sometimes two, but usually one. And I said to my people, I don't want partisans unless I'm going after somebody. I don't really want that, okay?

That doesn't serve anybody. I want people who are smart, different points of view, can state their case. It's much more beneficial to you, the viewer and listeners. So joining us now from Dallas is a man named Talmadge Boston. He's a presidential historian. He's read a book called How the Best Did It, Leadership Lessons from from Our Top Presidents. And that has been out about a year. It's done very well. We did not steal from Mr. Boston's book for confronting the presidents. These are two

separate books, although there is cross-section about Abraham Lincoln. of course, and people like that. All right, Mr. Boston, do you disagree with anything in my setup to Trump speech tonight? I think it's accurate. I think if you see the Democratic women in Congress are playing on wearing pink, maybe the black Republican, I mean, African-American Congressional Caucus is going to wear black. Who knows what other things they have planned to. in an attempt to draw attention to themselves and thereby draw attention away from President Trump.

President Trump does need to do all the things that you said in terms of take the high road, talk about what he wants to do, what American must do to turn around where we've been the last four years, and to the extent he can keep it professional and under control and not take the bait that will surely come at him from certain members of the Democratic Congress will certainly cause him to have a better overall night. And there's so much going on in the world right now with Ukraine and Russia, with the imposition of these tariffs and what their impact is going to be on inflation, as well as relations with Mexico and Canada and China. A lot of a lot of balls over the year. Yeah, a lot of important stuff. If you were writing the speech, because I know you wrote for the

Dallas Morning News. Would you mention Biden and how much? I would minimize it, if at all. I mean, his inaugural address, Trump's inaugural address was thrown exactly at Biden's face with Biden sitting there. So I don't think going back to reiterate those points that were made six weeks ago very emphatically is something that needs to be done. I think it would be a great opportunity for Trump to show that he's past that. He's ready to leave now. He's ready to take the country in new directions. He's not about retribution. He's not about being critical of somebody who's no longer in the picture. Let's deal with today and let's move forward tomorrow. I have a slight disagreement with you, though. If he's going to tell the American people about problems

he's attempting to solve, he's got to define the problem. So in the Biden administration, for example, and we're going to do this later on in this broadcast, Medicaid spending went totally out of control, spiral totally out of control because the Biden administration allowed the states to abuse the federal money. The same thing with Doge.

You know, you've got to lay off so many people in the federal apparatus because there's way too many And the budgets are just going through the roof. And he has to apply that to Biden in order to get sympathy for his firings, for example. Am I wrong? Well, I think he needs to address the problem. And obviously the problem was caused by his predecessor, not by him. What I was meaning by my remarks is don't make it personal.

It's fine to define the problem that he's now trying to tackle. We know that he didn't cause the problem his predecessor did. But let's talk about what we're going to do about it. So don't call them sleepy, Joe. You don't need to sleepy in this. You just need the facts. Now, the Ukraine thing, he's got to get that up top. We hear rumors of me an announcement, but I guess they're tamping that down.

NBC is reporting that the speech is going to be about rising American power, about how we're, you know, Trump, under Trump's leadership, Americans are going to reassess. assert its power in the world. That's going to be an overarch. But Ukraine is the beginning of that. Now, Trump's kind of caught because he can't say to the American people, here's what I'm going to do with Vlad Putin. He can't lay out his negotiating tactics. But at the same time, he's got to explain why he's not hammering Putin who's as evil as they come, right? How would you handle that? Well, Trump obviously has very specific ideas about how he wants to negotiate this deal. He's met previously with Putin.

He's obviously now met with Zelensky. He's trying to figure out the best possible angle and gaining information along the way with each transaction, each communication, each observation. I don't think in his own mind, he's established a set strategy for how he's going to deal with Putin. He obviously doesn't want to set anything back. He wants to think that whatever he does moves his position forward. He obviously wants to achieve a peace. I think everybody wants that.

The question is under what terms, and is it going to be something that America's going to be happy with, that Europe's going to be happy with, or not? Is he going to look like Putin's foil, or is he going to look like he ultimately wins the negotiation? He darn sure does not want to look like Putin's foil. That would be a disaster. Do you think he has to explain why? He slapped Zelensky around. Do you think he has to go into a micro on that? He probably will go into a micro.

Do I think he has to? I think he needs to offer a brief explanation as to why he thought it was important on television in the Oval Office, something that's never happened before to have this kind of an angry confrontation with somebody who in many respects should be our ally, although he was not exactly on his best behavior. So I think some explanation is necessary, but hopefully it won't go on and on and be too micro and won't involve too bad of personal criticism of the way Zelensky handled himself because that's not going to advance the ball.

You know, if I were Trump, I would praise Zelensky. I would say, look, I understand why he's so emotional about it. Because country's getting bad. You've got a million people lying dead. You get eight million fled the country. I would almost be generous to Zelensky. That would just discombobulate the opposition, number one, and send a message to the world. It's not personal, where I think it is a little personal myself.

I think Trump is offended by Zelensky's swagger and a sense of entitlement. I saw it on, it was visible. You know, Zelensky feels he's entitled to the United States' largesse. Where is it? Hey, it's Sean Spicer from the Sean. Spicer Show podcast, reminding you to tune into my show every day to get your daily dose inside the world of politics. President Trump and his team are shaking up Washington like never before, and we're here to cover it from all sides, especially on the topics the mainstream

media won't. So if you're a political junkie on a late lunch or getting ready for the drive home, new episodes of the Sean Spicer Show podcast drop at 2 p.m. East Coast every day. Make sure you tune in. You can find us at Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Power, politics and the people behind the headlines. I'm Miranda Devine, New York Post columnist and the host of the brand new podcast, Podforce One. Every week I'll sit down for candid conversations with Washington's most powerful disruptors, lawmakers, newsmakers and even the president of the United States. These are the leaders shaping the future of America and the world.

Listen to Podforce One with me, Miranda Devine, every week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. You don't want to miss an episode. No doubt that Zelensky, and I think today I saw something he's come out and realizes that he handled it him properly. This was not the time of the place or the manner to deal with this very delicate situation. I do think almost all Americans are pulling for Ukraine. And certainly, nobody's pulling for Putin that has any sense at all. And so he knows whether the American people want this to come out. And it's his job to orchestrate it with the best possible deal.

And his job to bring it into this war that's been going on so long. Well, the president didn't ask me. I have to be up front because sometimes he does. But if he had asked me, I would say, be a little conciliatory to Zelensky. Just send a message that, look, we understand your emotion's got to. better of you. And, you know, when you're seeing people die all over the place, and there's no doubt that Putin's the most evil guy on earth, but if Trump wants to deal with him, he can't say it. When you agree with that, if Trump wants to get something out of Putin, he can't call him the

most evil. My book coming up is confronting evil. I got Putin right on a cover. But I'm not negotiating a peace deal with the man. Trump can't do that. Am I wrong? Well, anybody who's ever been involved in negotiation knows you don't start the negotiation by spitting in the guy's face or doing things to aggravate the guy. You know, the old adage, if somebody likes you, he'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and if he doesn't, he won't. Negotiations doesn't necessarily involve compromise, and nobody wants to even think about compromise if you've been personally insulted.

Right, and Zelensky has not been in that compromise zone. I want to be fair and point that out. Final question, you're a presidential historian. in. I believe that Trump is going for the gold here. And I know that because he's disgusted with me. He wants to be on Mount Rushmore. I mean, can't be on that mountain, but he can buy his own mount. He put his face up there. And I hope he's thinking about his legacy tonight when he delivers the speech, which is an important speech, obviously, because pettiness doesn't get you on Mount Rushmore. The great presidents understand the concept of magnanimity, taking the high road, not taking the bait to your critics, seeing the big pictures, seeing it through, not getting bogged down in petty quarrels.

And not that Trump has proven himself to be a student of history, but even with a skim reading of history, you'd know that's the way you behave. Trump's been involved in hundreds, if not thousands of negotiations. He understands dealing with people in the context of negotiation. And what happens in this Ukraine, Russia will definitely set the tone, I think, for the rest of his presidency. So this is extremely important, and he knows that, and hopefully he's going to come up with the best strategy that doesn't get personal, keeps all the objectives in the front of the mind, doesn't get sidetracked by personal attacks, and gets us to the go line sooner rather than later. That's a good point. that he knows that this Ukraine thing is a linchpin for the next four years. Mr. Boston, thanks very much.

Really appreciate the book again is how the best did it. Leadership lessons from our top presidents, Talmadge of Boston. This is the No Spin News Weekend Edition. I join us now as a columnist, conservative, where it's the Washington Times, follows a lot of the undocumented controversies. As a new book out, God Given or Bust, Defeating Marxism and Saving America with Biblical Truths, Cheryl Chumley, joins us now from Virginia. All right, we'll get to the book in a moment and taunting the opposition.

That's what President Trump did last night. Do you think that was an effective strategy? Trump was what Trump was, right? This is what he does. And I think most Trump supporters and even those who don't support Trump weren't surprised by the speech that he delivered last evening. I thought personally it was a little bit too long. But I think he made the key points that his base wanted to hear. And really, the more interesting takeaway to me was the Democrat response, much of which he went over in your talking points. But it, you know, it can. continues today. We had Democrat Congresswoman from Texas calling Trump a fascist and, you know, the mainstream media calling out Trump as being divisive and so forth. And I think this is the only narrative they have that in talking about the price of eggs because most Americans are in support of the America. Yeah, they got it. They got it jane it up and that's a flu. The Washington Post, where you live, had an interesting headline. Let's throw that on up and I'll read it to our

radio listeners, Washington Post, defiant Trump signals full speed ahead on divisive policy. I thought the Washington Post is trying to moderate. That's a pretty explosive headline there. And then Time Magazine does what Time Magazine always does. Nobody reads it anymore. But the Washington Post is like, you're, device, you know, I think Joe Biden was pretty divisive. He didn't do anything. and the country went downhill. I mean, it divided me. But it doesn't look like the Washington Posts is it looks like they're the same old, same old. Am I wrong here?

No, you're not. I look forward to when Jeff Bezos hires his new libertarian leaning or more conservative leaning opinion editor for those pages because they really do need it. And look, most Americans know by now the media is going to do what the media does with Donald Trump, all things Trump. So this is not really news. The bigger news is how the administration is going to respond to the Democrats who keep resisting very, in many unconstitutional ways against his agendas and policies. They don't have to respond, though. Trump doesn't have to respond to the Democrats other than to enforce the law.

So I said that Michelle Wu better watch herself or should wind up in handcuffs and Holman will probably go up there and put him on himself. but they're already suing the Trump administration, Chicago, State of Illinois, that's Pritzker. But as far as responding in a PR fashion, I think the folks are with Trump at this point. He's got to produce economically, though. Yeah, economically is key. And you're right that most Americans are with Trump at this point

because Democrats are just making ludicrous arguments. I listen to the opening statements of those four Democrat mayors testifying on their sanctuary policies. And one of the key talking points that they all brought forward in various language was that illegal immigrants in their city actually make their city safer because if you deport the illegals, then illegals will be afraid to report crimes that they see to police. Yeah, that's an old one. I mean, it was a ridiculous argument. It's been going on forever, right. Right. So we can't, you know, do anything about people here illegally because they may not report a crime.

I think Americans, and all the polls say this. Cheryl, you know that. They want order in their immigration law. They want order. I mean, they're not looking for grandmas to be thrown out or any of this stuff. Trump's going to lose the birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court's never going to reverse that in a million years. It's a loser for him. But they don't want what Biden brought and that's absolute chaos. When you see, you know, you live near the District of Columbia, which Trump wants to take over, by the way, because it's so corrupt and so crime-ridden and, you know, they don't force any laws there.

Or am I overstating that? I don't live there. Am I overstating that? In moments intense, you need a hydration that's at your level. Hydratate with Liquid IV scientifically designed to repone

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So I think I have it right So John wants to take that over because it's federal, the District of Columbia is a federal governance situation, although the locals, they vote for their own people. When you see this kind of chaos from the left, and then the insensitivity that we pointed out, where they wouldn't even applaud Lake and Riley's mom and sister, Hannity asked me today, is it the end of the Democratic Party? Are they so far out of touch, they will never? ever come back. It's an interesting question, right? Because I think the Democrat Party has been going down this self-destructive path for many

years. If you go back in time when Tom Perez was head of the DNC, and he proclaimed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the future of the party, I think that sort of made a marker in time of when the party really started falling. I don't think it's the end of the Democrat Party, but I do think that they're going to need a massive course correction because what they're offering is so against not just Republican agendas, but just against American agendas in principles. Traditional American, no doubt.

And that brings us to your book, God Given Her Boss, defeating Marxism, saving America with biblical truths. So Ocasio-Cote is a socialist. I mean, I don't know if she's a communist or not. I think Bernie Sanders is absolutely a communist. But Ocasio-Cortez, I'm not sure. I don't even know if she's sure, because I don't know if she's not. don't think she even understands what the philosophy is she's peddling, but I could be wrong

on that. Anyway, your book says, look, in order to defeat this movement, Sanders and Acosta Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, that you're going to need some kind of biblical help? Is that what it is? Just go back in time to what founding fathers put forth in the Declaration of Independence, which was sort of the marching orders for the form of governance they gave us. that we hold these truths to be self-evident, right? We're granted by a creator, a higher power, certain unalienable rights. And so what, in essence, they were saying is, as an individual, we take our rights and liberties from a higher power, not government.

So if we want to win long-term liberties and freedoms and rights in this country for the individual, we always have to remember it's not so much the political world that's going to win it for us. It's the insistence on whoever is in political power, Republican or Democrat, to recognize that our rights as individuals come from God. A lot of people don't believe that. The book, again, is God Given or Bust by Cheryl Chumley. Cheryl, thanks for helping us out. Good to see you. We'll talk again soon.

Thank you. Thank you. 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.