Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis - No Spin News - Weekend Edition - November 16, 2024

Episode Date: November 16, 2024

Listen to this week's No Spin News interviews with Tim Matheson, Jonathan White, Arthur Aidala and Monica Crowley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the NoSpin News Weekend Edition. And joining us now for West Palm Beach, Florida, is Monica Crowley, who's a conservative podcaster, a Monica Crowley podcast. I've no Monica since Elvis was a tyke. That's not fair. You're much younger than I am and you look much better. Anyway, she comes to us with some priorities for her. This is about Monica, not about Trump. So give me five. In order of importance that you want President Trump to accomplish quickly, what's number one?

Yes. Well, first, Bill, great to be with you. We are here celebrating. We're all going to save America together. Here are my top five priorities for President Trump right off the bat. And he has spoken about a couple of these that he is actually going to be. begin on day one. And if you want to drill down into each one, we can certainly do that. But number one for me is closed the border. And there are a lot of elements that go into sealing

the border, mass deportations, et cetera. But that for me is number one. Number two, which also the president is strong. Let me stop. Let me stop. Okay. Okay. So border, and that would, border economy would be obviously one to for any thinking person. When he says mass deportations, know that each person here, in residence here, not people caught coming across the border, they can be sent right back, are entitled to due process. They have to have a hearing. Isn't that not going to cause the Trump administration of promise? Well, I've actually talked to tough people around President Trump about this because you well know, Bill, that the imperial media is going to do for every single case what they did

with Elian Gonzalez, who was that Cuban child living in Miami with an American family, they pulled at the heart streams that made it a very emotional situation. And to your point, when they have to be processed legally, then the imperial media is going to cover every single story as a heart-wrenching kind of thing to try to turn America's opinions against it. But keep in mind, Bill, that you have about 70% of the American people who want mass deportation. So public support at the moment. I know, I know that, but come on. Now, I don't be Kamala Harris. You know and I know that there is a due process inside the law. It's there. So you can't just drag somebody off their lawn, throw them in a van, and take them to Tijuana. You've got to have it. So you're talking

10 million people at least. So when you say mass deportations, I'm going to go, what is that going look like. Well, let's start with square one, Bill, which is 1.3 million illegals here have been accused of a serious violent crime, like murder, like rape. They're getting turned around immediately. So Rome wasn't built in a day. Let's start with the most violent criminals who have already been through the process who can be turned out beginning day one, day 10, or in the first hundred years. Judge has to sign off on it, but an immigration judge has to sign up, assume they will. Are they sending them to Rome? You mentioned Roma. Are they going, no, I'm just giving your hard time. You know me in the cliches, okay? We're right. No, I know. When you're mentioning,

Bill, 10 million illegals, actually the number is a lot higher than that. So this is going to be a Herculean task. But you know what I subtracted? I subtracted the undocumented migrants who have children born here because they're not going anywhere. Federal courts will stop That is probably, yeah, that is probably true that those people will be grandfathered in, but starting immediately is going to work with Congress to change the anchor baby status. And they should. And it's going to be a disincentive for the future. Right.

And they should. So we're talking 10 million residents who are here illegally that Trump believes, and the people who voted for Trump, overwhelming, you've got to assume they believe that too, should be sent back to their home country. and then they can go through the legal process. But it's not going to be an instantaneous thing, Monica. It's going to take years for that to happen. It is definitely going to be a process, that's for sure.

But I can tell you that on day one, you know, what was so interesting, Bill, over the last 24 hours, is that President Trump announced Tom Homan, who's a former ICE director, before he announced a single cabinet member. So that shows you where President Trump's priorities are. Tom Holman is a complete border badass.

So while we're talking about mass deportations, that's also going to run on a parallel track with supercharging the border patrol. There's no doubt about it. Holman is going again. Holman is going to be in charge of stopping as many. But even though I like the guy, and I think his philosophy is good,

the way this is going to stop is Mexico is going to put its armed forces back on the northern and southern border. of its country. That will happen because Trump will say, look, if you don't do it, we're going to crush you economically, and so they'll do it. So we assume that the border will be sealed up pretty tight by April of 25. Okay, let's get on to your second priority. What would that be? Second priority is related to the economy, and it's something that President Trump has talked about on day one, which he can do by executive order, and that is drill baby drill. So he is

going to open up all of the areas that Biden and Harris have shut down, especially federal land for drilling. He is going to get us back almost immediately to energy independence, which he got us to in the first term. And I'll tell you how it's going to have an immediate effect on the economy bill. Energy is built into every single thing you consume, whether it's this pen or my laptop that I'm talking to you through. It is built into everything, particularly groceries, and obviously the gas you put in your car and the energy you use to heat and cool your home. So the second he signs that executive order on day one, prices will immediately begin to come down. It is going to have a massive effect on inflation. Starting from the start.

You're correct that once the fuel prices go down, all the transportation to the grocery stores, bringing the food in, all of that drops. All right? And people have more. money in their pockets because gas prices will drop because there'll be more gas on the marketplace and on and on and on but there are going to be businesses a lot of them that aren't going to drop the prices they won't and Kamala ran around going I'm going to get the price cougers I'm going to know you're not you can't so I think Donald Trump's going to have to make a campaign public relations-wise saying look there are certain businesses that just going to keep the prices artificially high and hope they

can get away with it, don't go there. You see? It's going to have to be. Yeah. And I don't know whether he's going to do that or not. I wouldn't. Well, you know, it is true that once prices increase, very difficult to bring them down because businesses see a wider profit margin, so they have less incentive to actually take prices back down. But this is the beauty of free market capitalism because prices will go down elsewhere. And if people identify business, or industries that are gouging them, they're going to take their pocketbooks and go spend their disposable income somewhere else. I would like to see you as Secretary of Gouging.

I do a great job at going out of your own gouts. I know. That's what I'm talking about. So you're going to go, okay, pigly-wiggly, you better get those prices down or we're coming after you. All right, third. What's third? Third, and this is something that we executed when I was at the U.S. Treasury Department and the first Trump administration, which has made the Trump tax cuts permanent. Okay, we'll assume that's going to happen.

He's got both houses of Congress. Okay, four. He has to do that, though, bill in the first hundred days, while he has maximum political capital and leverage with Congress. You got to do it in the first month. Not 100 days. I hope so. Yeah, the bill should be ready to go.

You give it a Johnson and you give it a Thune or whoever's running the Senate. I go, I want it done. And boom, they'll vote for it like that. No, 100 days a month. You've got a month. I hope it's as seamless as that, Bill. From your lips to God's ears. No lips.

And, you know, I'm going to, I'll be out there with a sign in front of the White House. If it is more than 30 days, what's for? Let's face it, the U.S. economy is under stress. National debt rising, trade war, shaking the markets. And meanwhile, China is dumping the dollar and stockpiling gold. That's why I protect. my savings with physical gold and silver through the only dealer I trust, American Hartford Gold. And you can do this. Get precious metals delivered to your door or place in a tax

advantage, gold IRA. They'll even help you roll over your existing IRA or 401K, tax and penalty free. With billions in precious metals delivered thousands of five-star reviews and an A-plus from the Better Business Bureau. You can trust American Hartford Gold as I do. Please call 866-326-5-76-55-76, or text bill to 99-88-99. Again, that's 866-3-26-5-7576, or text bill to 998899. Hey, I'm Caitlin Becker, the host of the New York Postcast, 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 Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Number four, to me, and there are so many incredibly important appointments that the president has to make, But to me, the most important cabinet member is going to be the Attorney General. Because while we face all kinds of existential threats from the Chinese Communist Party to Iran with a nuclear weapon, to me, the most existential threat is the enemy within. It's the weaponization of government. I agree.

So I want to see the Attorney General empowered to do you have any preference. Do you have any preference for AG? Because I don't know who he's going to point. Got anybody? Well, I think that, and these are names that have been reported publicly, but Ken Paxton, who is the current AG of Texas, is considered a big, controversial guy, though. Very controversial guy. All right, you're looking for a hard, hard guy. I don't know. I'm researching it now, but I don't know. Last one real quick. Okay, last one is election reform. I want to see that done in the first hundred days when he is Max's political capital. President has talked about a national ID photo requirement. That's going to get a lot of pushback from states like California and New York who don't have it

and in the courts because states do run elections according to the Constitution. But I do want to see the president drive a stake in the ground on election reform because that and the wide open border are the two big existential threats. I like it. It's going to be constitutional to have to go to the Supreme Court, though. I think they should pass it, let them litigate it, let it go to the court. They got to close down Arizona. Arizona, you got to close it, okay, because they can't count their votes.

I'm going to get into this. I'm very, you know, I like Arizona, but come on, you got to do a better job. All right, Monica, thank you very much, as always, very lively. We appreciate it, and we'll talk to you soon, I hope. Thank you, Bill. You bet. You're listening to the NoSpin News Weekend Edition. On May 1st, 2023, there was an incident in the subway.

There was a homeless man who was screaming and threatening people. And a former Marine named Daniel Penny neutralized the man by placing him in a chokehold with two other subway riders. The man's name is Jordan nearly, 30 years old. He died. He died in that confrontation. Now, police did not initially even arrest Daniel Penny, because it's investigation that cops say, and people go and look, this guy was menacing us, and Penny took him down, stopped it,

and he died, you know, and the penny people say it was an accident. Cops didn't charge him, but then Bragg, the far-left DA of Manhattan, made them charge him with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide. So the trial started on November 1st, and it is underway. Joining us now is one of the best defense attorneys in New York City. His name is Arthur Adalia. He does a radio program locally here, Arthur Adelaire Power Hour. I don't know what power Arthur has in the hour,

but there's some power going on in that radio thing. But he knows what he's doing. All right. So most people don't live in New York City, obviously. We're broadcasting all over the world now. The trial is in motion. What are your impressions of what has happened so far? First of all, Mr. O'Reilly, the reason why it's the power hours

because I've had Bill O'Reilly on the program more than once. So I have the substance to back that up. What's going on here, and for open disclosure, I know the two defense attorneys, Tom Kinnif and Steve Eisen for a long time. One of the lawyers of my firm is actually acting as a consultant. So I know this case very well. Basically, what took place initially was they, the NYPD said, we're not charging him. Alvin Bragg said, I at least have to put it in front of a grand jury and let the citizens of New York County, so just Manhattan, decide what we're going to charge him with. They came back with a low count of murder.

It's manslaughter in the second degree and then criminally negligent homicide. So not murder in the second degree or manslaughter in the first degree. So you should know he gets convicted of the top count. This judge, Max Wiley, a former Manhattan ADA, can give him straight probation. There is no mandatory jail sentence here. There are seven women and five men on the jury, four people of color. All of them ride the subway, some more than. and others. And those are the people that, that's the jury who are going to decide the cases.

There's a lot of video here. Some has to do with the police officer arriving on the scene and doing CPR. Some is a young person, a civilian, and one is from a journalist. And it really comes down, Bill, to self-defense of another, of a third party. There's no evidence that Penny himself was under attack. The most crucial evidence in his statement, is there are witnesses who say that he approached a mother with her child and she kind of shielded the child behind the stroller. And the words somewhere in there, and there's a witness that says they heard, kill you. This is nearly, this is the guy who died.

He was threatening. Okay. There's a piece of video. We're going to run it now. It's a little disturbing that shows the Marine having this guy nearly. in a chokehold. And other people saying, okay, let him up. He's going to die and nearly, and he doesn't let him up, right? He continues to keep him in the choke hole. Is that very powerful, in your opinion? Is that going to get a conviction?

I don't know what's going to get a conviction. I will tell you, his lawyer said in, I believe, in opening statements, Tom Kenev said he wasn't exerting full force the whole time he was holding on to him. Even though his hand was in that position, he was lightening it up and then nearly the deceased now kept, you know, fighting him. And so then he would tighten his grip. Then he would loosen up and he kept fighting. At no point did he give up? There's two sides to the story.

Is there anybody on the subway witnessing this who is testifying against Daniel Penny who was saying he was wrong? So far, don't forget, this trial is only in, I think, the second week. It's got three more weeks to go. So far, no. it's just a matter of degree of how out of control nearly was. There is a high school student, a female, who says she's rides the subway, she sees this stuff all the time. She was terrified to the point where she was shaking like a leaf.

She's the one, I believe, takes a video from the platform when she runs off the plane of them still on the ground. So there's no doubt he was out of control. Do you want to make a prediction here based upon what the evidence is so far? You want to do that? I mean, it's up to you. Yeah, I would say the best outcome for the prosecutor is a hung jury, which means old 12 cannot decide that he is, in fact, guilty.

I think that they're going to say there'll be enough people to be like, look, if I was on that train and someone's telling me and my kid, I'll kill you, I will kill. And, you know, he was really erratic. It wasn't like a quick thing. It was moments that he was up there acting like a lunatic. And it's kind of you want a hero. And he acted as a hero.

The prosecutor's saying, but he went too. far. They even called him. They said, we agree his intentions were good when he overdid it and it rises to the level of the criminal. That's in the heat of the moment. There are people making this a racial thing, as they always do. Do you think that'll have any effect on the jury? I don't, but here's what I question. There are people outside and family members protesting. Bill, where were these people when this guy was on the streets and he was homeless and he was mentally ill and he had no food. Where were they then to help him? Now that he's dead, now that they're standing up for him, he should have stood up for him when he really needed help. There would be no trial right now.

All right. I got to throw one other case at you, and I know you're obviously New York, and this is in Georgia, Lake and Riley murdered allegedly by a Venezuelan undocumented migrant. That migrant now, Jose Antonio Abara, 26 years old, has waived his right to a jury trial. He wants a bench trial where a judge would decide his fate. Why would this guy do that? Why would his attorney sign off on that? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First of all, the defendant has the right to declare that.

Usually when you think you have a real case, so as a defendant, you think you have a real case, but some of the facts or the media attention are so again. against you. You don't think a jury could ever find you, not, find your client, not guilty. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure if you can see it in the frame, but the one picture I have right behind me is the only bench trial I did. It was the huge crane that fell in New York City, and my guy who was a rigor on the train on the crane would blame for seven homicides. I knew he didn't do it. But I was afraid a jury was going to get caught up in the emotion and the technicality. And sure enough, he was found not guilty of all counts. It is a very risky move for a

defense attorney, because now you have to, now the prosecutor only has to convince one person, not 12 person, of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. There's no way on this planet that a Georgia judge, his name is Patrick Haggard, is going to find this guy not guilty. It's impossible. Look, sometimes, and I don't believe this is... It'll never happen. Never in a million years, not in Georgia, will not happen.

So my question is this, you think there was a deal made with this judge that if he does a bench trial, then he'll get this kind of a sentence? It won't be executed. Is that possible? The reason why I'm going to say no is because that's not supposed to happen. Okay. It's not supposed to happen. And realize as it happened, it absolutely has happened, especially in gun cases and where you've kind of give a wink and a nod and we're going to bang this out and it'll be all be over with. I can't see it happening in a murder case. Okay, Arthur Adalia, everyone. If you do something really bad, Arthur, is the guy you want to call.

Thanks, Arthur. We appreciate it. We'll see you soon. 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. 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. This is the NoSpin News Weekend Edition. All right, here are the new cabinet selections that we know so far. Susie Wiles, White House Chief of Steff, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State. I think that's a good choice. Senator Rubio, a very smart guy and smooth. A UN ambassador, Elise Stefanik, very loyal Donald Trump.

Bordesar, Tom Holman, bomb thrower. But we need a shake-up down there, no doubt about it. Defense Secretary Pete Heggseth, very controversial, but Heggseth, Heggseth's job is not making policy, it's oversight of the Pentagon. And he's very loyal to Trump. National Security Advisor, Congressman Michael Walsh, White House Counsel William McGinley, I don't know him. Department of Homeland Security, Christy Knoem, Governor South Dakota,

did a very good job in that state. CIA-A director John Ratcliffe, he's a pro. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Huckabee, I like that selection. Huckabee, very passionate about Israel in the Middle East. This is a riot. Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, and Vavak Ramaswamy. All right, we get up, boy.

We need a shakeup. And finally, I'm only going to come back to me. One more name is Stephen Miller. Deputy Chief of Staff of Policy is now the most powerful man in Washington, D.C., beside Donald Trump. Stephen Miller, when you see the words, chief of staff, he's deputy, but he's really chief, for policy, he's the enforcer. If anybody in the cabinet gets out of line, Miller, very tough guy, he's had him on, I know him well, very tough. He's watching everything, and we'll report back to Trump if anybody's not doing what they should do.

Miller, unbelievably powerful. He's Donald Trump's former speechwriter, by the way. So let's get some analysis from a smart guy, joining us from Newport News, Virginia, Dr. Jonathan White. He's a professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University in that town. Are you upset by any of these cabinet appointees so far? Well, I think the biggest surprise for me was Pete Heggseth.

I didn't see that one coming. I don't think most people saw that one coming. And the headline is, of course, going to be Fox News person, host. But I didn't know his background in terms of the book he'd written or his time in the military. So he has a lot of experience, and he's going to have to really put that at the forefront of his case for being confirmed by the Senate. I think he'll get confirmed because I can't see any Republican senator, 53 of them now, voting against him. Because then you'd be spitting in the eye of the President of the United States. You're not going to do that.

So he'll get confirmed, don't you think? I think that's probably right. Yeah, I mean, well, why would you dissent? Hecketh is a guy who is very passionate about the military, everybody knows that. His book was a huge bestseller. But he's not Donald's Rumsfeld. He's not going to be running the Defense Department. That's going to be with the national security people.

It's a whole different structure. What Trump wants is he wants him for me. information flow back because he doesn't trust the generals because the generals burned him first time around, Millie and these guys. And now he wants to know what they are doing. And he's got a right to know. He's a commander of chief. That's what Hegg said. That's his job to figure out what these guys are doing. Yeah. And his book shows, from what I've not read it, but from what I've heard of it, it shows that he's in line with Trump's view of what the military should be, eliminating the woke things that have come in in the last four years.

And so you want someone on board who's going to carry out your agenda. But that leads you in my next question. So in modern times, most presidents appoint people who are sympathical with them. Do you know of any exceptions? Yeah, you know, I think that's a really interesting question. And as I've been looking at these picks, and as you were talking about them, you went through the list and you said, you know, he's loyal to her, she's loyal, or sorry, he's loyal to him, she's loyal to him.

That's something he didn't have in his first administration. And I think the lesson he really took out of that administration was, you know, I came in from the outside. I had to rely on people to tell me who to appoint. Now I'm going to appoint people who I know are going to be loyal to me as a leader and to my agenda. And as I've been thinking about historical precedents, I actually go back to the very beginning, the first transition, which would be going from George Washington to John Adams. There was no precedent at that point. There had never been a presidential transition.

And so Adams didn't know what to do in that role. And he wound up thinking, well, George Washington's cabinet are in office. They've been confirmed by the Senate. They hold these positions. I'll leave them in. And he left Washington's cabinet pretty much intact for much of his term in office. And the problem that Adams ran into was that these guys were not loyal to him. They were loyal to Washington.

And even more so, they were loyal to Alexander Hamilton. And so the problem that Adams runs into is that as he begins to have policy disagreements with his cabinet and with Alexander Hamilton, the cabinet officials, people like the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Treasury, they're leaking the confidential cabinet meetings to Hamilton. And just before the presidential election of 1800, Hamilton goes public with things that should have been confidential. And that has a very bad effect on Adams as he's running for re-election. You know, I write about this in confronting the presidents, and it was another element to it. Alexander Hamilton, in case people haven't read the book or they don't know their history, was Washington's closest advisor. He was a federalist.

He believed in a big, strong government. But back then, the vice president wasn't on the same ticket as John Adams. It was a guy who got the second amount. of votes. And that was Thomas Jefferson. And Jefferson didn't like Adams at all. And he was getting Adams from one side and Alexander Hamilton was getting Adams from the other side. And Adams is going like, didn't know what hit him and then got blown out, lost to Jefferson the next time around. But in modern times, you know, I was on News Nation last night and I said, this is not unusual what Trump is doing.

Franklin Roosevelt did exactly the same thing, and he was in four times, and Nixon, Richard Nixon, paranoid as hell. He had Ehrlichman and Haldeman watching every move everybody made. But there's one difference in Donald Trump now, as he takes office in January, than from for eight years ago. It's now Trump thinks he's got it figured out. He doesn't need a lot of advice from other people. He may seek it, but he doesn't think he needs a lot of advice.

Would you disagree with that? No, I think that's right. And I think Trump sees himself as having an opportunity to be a transformational president. So if he puts people in place who are going to carry out his agenda and who are going to be loyal to him, he's going to be able to do really big things that some people are going to love and some people are going to hate or be terrified of. So, you know, thinking about Vivek Ramoswamy and Elon Musk is getting into this role of government efficiency. Like, that would be a transformational move or putting in Hegsseth to revamp what's going on at the Pentagon. That would be transformational or to get rid of the Department of Education, as I think he has pledged to do.

That would be transformational. And so, yeah, I think the first time in office, he didn't know what to expect. And you saw this in the Joe Rogan interview where Rogan kind of asks him, what did you expect? And what was it like? And Trump didn't give him the answer that I think Rogan was looking for. Now Trump's going in knowing exactly what he wants to accomplish. And much more confident and much, you know, and he learned the hard way. He appointed people who burned him.

And now he wants to avoid that. All right, doctor, thanks very much for helping us out. I really appreciate it. You're listening to the No Spin News Weekend Edition. Okay, the movies. The Hollywood, Hollywood was destroyed. I can't remember last time I went to a movie. And it's the woke, it's the far left, it's the terrible films, all of that, the combination.

So we watch a lot of classic movies, right? And one of my favorites is Animal House. And I think Baby Boomers in particular, this is an iconic film. I remember when I first saw it in a theater, and I've watched a couple of times. sense. It was such an outrageous satire, but it was just right on. Roll the table. Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be briefed. I'll think he's up to. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules or took a few liberties with our female party guests. We did. But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few

sick, perverted individuals? For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg. Isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do what you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you,

bad mouth the United States of America. Gentlemen! Order! You're not walking out on this one, mister. Now, that was Tim Matheson, the actor, played Otter. Brilliant. One of his first roles. Subsequently, when they were making Killing Reagan off my book, I was the executive producer, and I okayed Matheson to play Reagan.

Go. Okay, I choose his life today. There, right there, right there, the foreshoot. Run. Hi. How should I leave you be? No, I'm so happy you're here, Mommy. Standing alone, we're lonely out there.

Well, everything hinges on this debate, but, you know, politics. It's just like show business. You give them a hell of an opening, it goes for a little while, and you give them a big finale. And hopefully run for eight years. I'm going to go get to my seat. I think you are more nervous than I am. That's how it should be. Break a leg.

Okay. So, Matheson's a good guy, and he's got a book just out. And the book is named Dan Glad to Meet You, which is a line from Animal House. and I caught up with Matheson yesterday. Roll the tape. So Matheson, I can't believe it's been eight years since killing Reagan. I came down to Georgia where they shot it. And I have to say, you were not a Hollywood pinhead.

You were a regular guy, and I'm glad you wrote this book. And the reason I'm glad you wrote it is because you made it on your own, and that's what I respect. So let's begin with Animal House. When you guys were shooting this, a lot of young talent in the movie, Did you have any idea that was going to become iconic? No, I don't think so. I mean, we knew it was a new kind of comedy

and it was different. It was comedy for young people by young people, but we had no hint other than the fact that John Belushi was in it. And that was a plus. But the studio hated it. They just, they didn't want to make it. They didn't want any part of it.

And they kept penny pinching. And the producers, Ivan Reitman, and director John Landis did everything they can and could to get around those blockades and get the picture made. Now, in the age of woke, a little controversial. And I think about the Otis, my man scene in the bar. That is why, that is my man. I don't know if you could make that man.

You know what? You put your finger right on it, and the studio demanded that they cut that. The junior executives who believed in the movie got hold of Richard Pryor, who was under contract at the studio at the time, and said, Richard, do us a favor. Let us know if this is offensive. If it is, we'll take it out. And Pryor looks at it, and they took him up to Ned Tan and the head of the studio, and he goes, let me just tell you, you white people are crazy. This is funny. Leave it in, because it's making fun of the white. privileged kids, thinking how cool they are. If you screen that movie at Harvard, you'd have to give the kids a day off to recover the next day.

They couldn't go to class. They need to stay. They'd be triggered. But I think that's hurt the movie industry that wokeism that has enveloped Hollywood. I think people, Mel Brooks, a good example, a lot of his movies. You could not make them today or be ostracized. Am I wrong? No, I think you're absolutely right.

And I think that that was the lampoon. They'd always go right up to the edge and then over it. And the bigger, the issue, they'd confront it and piss everybody off. Now, in your world out there, you're in West Wing, and I'm a whole bunch of people, you were in 1941, which Spielberg directed that. Sure. It's a liberal culture, right? right i think all the arts i mean many of the many most parts of the arts are liberal minded because it draws people from countercultures and um people that are ostracized by mainstream society and

and they hide out in the arts or they seek solace in the arts you know and and and that's i think one of the reasons why it's it tends to be more liberal but yeah you know um not not to the exclusion of all points of view, as you point out. I mean, look at the movie we made. I mean, it was a great movie. Rod Laurie, wonderful director, killing Reagan. And it, it, it was more about a love story and about a man who was, who was emotionally damaged, inkly, and, and a love story between Nancy and Ronnie. And politics was, was not the central theme of it. What I liked about it, and as the executive producer, I had to okay everything, and you were easy okay but I said Cynthia Nixon who played right number one hates me but that's all right

I don't you know if I were not to work with anybody who didn't hate I wouldn't have anybody to work with so I said yeah Cynthia's a really good actor sex in the city and it's an she hates me but she played Nancy Reagan who is no liberal and Cynthia of course is really down I mean you guys are so professional and it worked great no no angst at all I don't think. No, we never discussed that. We never felt that. We just dealt with the humanity of Nancy and Ronnie, and that was our, that was the core thing that we went after and we did, you know. In the book, again, damn glad to meet you, which if you know anything about Animal House, a great line in it. You get into John Belushi, who everybody remembers. Did anybody any developer

rapport with him, or was he just kind of a ghost that went in? and left. No, he was so open and he was very gracious and it was my first comedy and he was so supportive and giving to me and I became friends with him and would go visit him in New York and when he was doing Saturday Night Live and then we worked again on 1941 but I could see the ravages that the industry had taken on him. Why didn't you fall into that trap? I mean, you did a little bit in the book you describe it.

but you really didn't let it debilitate you. Why? You know, I was lucky enough to start as a kid actor. And so I worked with people that worked in vaudeville, which was tough. And it was you worked three to five shows a day, you know. And you had to bring it to every show, and you had to prepare. And Lucille Ball taught me that. And Jackie Gleason, you know, the great one, he taught me that. And you know, really one of the big influences in my life that sort of got my head out of my butt

was Kurt Russell, who is a wonderful actor, and it was a professional baseball player. And he taught me that acting and show business is more, it's like professional sports. You're going to hit a home run one day. You're going to strike out three times one day. Don't get your head too big about any one thing. Don't get it in your head about it, and you're striking out. Just keep going. And discipline, discipline, discipline.

It's good to see you again, Tim. and thanks a lot for being in killing Reagan. That was one of the highlights of my movie career. I love that part. I love playing him. Thank you. Thank you. The book is damn glad to meet you.

You can get anywhere and I'll be out chasing Matheson around someday when he least expected. So we'll see you soon. Right. Thank you for listening to the NoSpin News Weekend Edition. 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.