Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump stopped by Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor Tuesday night to talk President Obama (“I believe I know far more about foreign policy than he knows”), voter I.D. laws (“People are gonna walk in and vote 10 times!”), and Captain Khan with Bill O’Reilly.
On the subject of Captain Khan, a fallen U.S. Army Commander whose Gold Star parents called out Trump at the Democratic National Convention, O’Reilly attempted to offer the media mogul some advice. “In hindsight,” the host asked, “wouldn’t it have been smarter for your campaign just to pretty much ignore him?” Trump responded, reiterating that he was “viciously attacked” by Khan’s father:
“Well, you know, I was watching television, I said isn’t that nice, isn’t that nice. And all of a sudden I was viciously attacked on the stage of the Democratic National Convention by Mr. Khan. And I responded to that vicious attack. And what happened is the press took it and made it a big deal and that’s fine. I speak very well, obviously, I mean there’s no greater sacrifice than you lose a son or a daughter in, you know, the way that this happened, and I understand that. But regardless, I was viciously attacked. So I think I have the right — am I supposed to not have the right to at least something back? And then when I did …”
O’Reilly then pointed out that Trump insulted Capt. Khan’s mother, and Trump insisted he didn’t want to talk about it, and, “Honestly, Bill, you just brought it up again,” when everyone was just starting to forget.
O’Reilly stopped to commiserate with Trump, saying that CNN “did the same thing to me last week, because I gave historical facts about how the White House was built.” Trump nodded, “I saw that!” O’Reilly quickly moved back to the point at hand, offering some sage advice on how to deal with the “left-wing” media:
“It wasn’t wise to bring the mother in. I understand Khan. I got that. You know, he’s going to come after you and he was obviously hired by the Clinton campaign to do that. It was orchestrated … But the mother’s just sitting there, and for you to bring her in, it gives them the opportunity, it just opens the door for them to come in and hammer you as this mean kind of guy.”
Trump immediately got defensive, stating that he was merely repeating what he’d heard other people say. “I read a lot and I watch a lot and many, many people discuss this,” he said. “Many, many people said it. So when I said it, it became, like, a big deal.” O’Reilly wasn’t buying it. “If you go after somebody and you’re punching down, as they say, the left-wing press is going to seize it and go, you’re racist, and a bully, and sexist,” he said. “So in the future, you just have to let it go.” The Republican nominee seemed to take the advice to heart.
Later in the segment, O’Reilly reminded Trump of the time he accused the O’Reilly Factor host of needing a psychiatrist. “You can fight me, you can come at me, but if there’s some little Muslim woman who loses a son, you can’t,” O’Reilly said. “You just can’t, no matter what she does. She could set you on fire, and you could say, ‘Thank you, I hated those trousers.’ You just got to let it go.”