Bill O’Reilly appears to take great pleasure in hosting Donald Trump and generally giving him tough love. O’Reilly has downplayed their friendship to no avail, for that’s the only reason why Trump allows such interrogations. But in this segment, O’Reilly goes it alone while traipsing through a number of subjects, including how he believes Meet the Press host Chuck Todd owes Rudy Giuliani an apology for trying to “set him up” on Sunday while the former NYC mayor was on Trump surrogate duty.
The Fox News host then calls out Trump for an unhinged rant in which he accused Hillary Clinton of cheating on Bill: “I don’t think she’s even loyal to Bill … and really, folks, why should she be, right?” These words arrived completely out of left field and made folks think Trump was losing it, and even O’Reilly thinks Trump crossed a line. Granted, he’s not exactly concerned about whether Trump was saying wrong or offensive things. O’Reilly is more worried about how female voters will react and whether they’ll hold a grudge against his guy. The host muses aloud about why Trump “feels he needs — he needs — to discuss the Clinton marriage.”
O’Reilly leveled with the at-home Trump: “Statements like that are a mistake. American voters, especially women, do not like the personal stuff.” He added a mini-lecture about mudslinging working a detrimental effect and concluded, “Any disparagement of any woman by Trump will drive his numbers down with women voters.” And he says Trump can’t win without more female voters on his side. Throughout all of this, O’Reilly’s not defending Clinton, nor is he truly condemning Trump. He’s simply telling the Republican nominee to stop alienating massive swaths of people. Will Trump heed this advice?
