The O'Reilly Factor
A daily summary of segments aired on The O'Reilly Factor. A preview of the evening's rundown is posted before the show airs each weeknight.
Monday, May 2, 2016
The Factor Rundown
Talking Points Memo & Top Story
Impact Segment
Personal Story
Personal Story
Hume Zone
Watters' World
Factor Mail
Tip of the Day
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Far Left Violence out of Control in America
"Sunday in Seattle a May Day, anti-capitalism protest turned violent. A number of police officers were injured, one hit by a Molotov cocktail. Some protesters were arrested, but nothing will really happen to them. In California and Indiana, protests included young children. Protesting can be a good thing, the Boston Tea Party being one example, but it's how you do it. Certainly some voting for Donald Trump are protesting, but they are using the ballot. Some on the far left, however, want to destroy, not protest. The subversives in Seattle were organized and planned their mayhem. There comes a point when a political movement becomes destructive, and that point has been reached with the far left. They seek to harm people with whom they disagree. Talking Points has had enough with all these far-left kooks who cause trouble and break the law, and they will be held to account here. A special memo to local officials: You should aggressively prosecute people who hurt cops and bystanders."

The Factor invited reaction from Juan Williams and Katie Pavlich. "Violence of any kind is to be repudiated," Williams began, "but you are confusing pathology with ideology. It's pathological to engage in the kind of violent we saw in Seattle, but there were also peaceful protests in other cities. You also have to take into account that some Trump people are beating up people and Trump saying he'll pay the medical bills." Pavlich placed the blame squarely on one side of the political divide. "The far left actively condones this type of behavior. The people engaged in these violent May Day protests are the same types of folks who are involved with Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter. Those groups have been endorsed by Nancy Pelosi and Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Barack Obama." The Factor took Williams to the proverbial woodshed for his spurious equivalency: "If you're comparing a couple of nuts at a Trump rally with an organized protest in Seattle, you'll be laughed at."
Analyzing Media Coverage of Trump
Donald Trump has certainly received an inordinate share of media coverage, but has it been excessive? The Factor posed that question to political reporters Caitlin Huey-Burns and Kelly Riddell. "You can't turn on a TV at night without hearing something about Donald Trump," Riddell groused, "and Ted Cruz had it right when he said that Trump has received about $2-billion in free media. Fox News covers Trump's rallies live all the time, and last summer he dominated three-quarters of the news coverage." But Huey-Burns contended that Trump's coverage was not necessarily beneficial. "The coverage of Donald Trump has been overwhelmingly negative, which usually leads to a decline in poll numbers. That has not happened with Donald Trump, who knows how to make news." The Factor reminded his guests that Trump's rivals were very reluctant to enter the No Spin Zone: "I could not get Jeb Bush on this program, he didn't want the free air time. Ted Cruz was very hard to book in the beginning and John Kasich is still almost impossible to book. So a lot of this whining is their own fault."
Trump & Obama Similarities
FNC's Charles Krauthammer expounded on his hypothesis that Donald Trump and Barack Obama, despite their obvious ideological differences, have at least one thing in common. "Obama understood in 2008 that the country was looking for change," Dr. K said. "The country was war-weary, there was a financial crisis, and they wanted a smart guy who was stable and very cool emotionally. He had the right personality, he had the moment, and he played it right. Donald Trump also understood the moment, which was the anti-establishment furor and fear. He played it to the hilt and he denigrated all the other candidates." The Factor added, "Both of them are brilliant marketers, Obama and Trump market themselves."
Offensive Routine?
Returning for a second segment, Charles Krauthammer watched a clip from Saturday's White House Correspondents' Dinner, where host Larry Wilmore referred to President Obama as 'my ni***,' using a racial slur. "I wasn't offended by that," Dr. K said, "because we have an unspoken rule in our country. You don't make fun of other people or call them names, but you can do it within your own ethnic group. But people like Juan Williams were offended because a lot of black cultural figures use the 'n' word. He thinks it degrades and coarsens the culture of black America, and I respect that." The Factor agreed with Krauthammer, saying, "I wasn't offended because I felt Wilmore did it in an affectionate way."
Ted Cruz's Last Stand?
Donald Trump is expected to win Tuesday's Indiana primary, which would cement his hammerlock on the Republican nomination. Fox News political analyst Brit Hume reported that Trump's momentum has actually been accelerating. "The trend in Indiana has been in Donald Trump's favor," he observed, "and it looks like he has reached the stage where his margins begin to grow. For Republican regulars, this poses a terrible dilemma because they fear Trump will lead them into a tremendous landslide that could cost them the Senate and even the House. On the other hand, if they try to take it from Trump, his people wouldn't stand for it. He is the most unusual front-runner I have ever seen in my lifetime."
White House Correspondent's Dinner
Jesse Watters donned his black tie finery and spent Saturday night at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington. White House spokesman Josh Earnest assured him, "I have never told a lie from the White House podium," while Eric Trump confidently predicted that he would easily take his brother Donald Jr. in a fistfight. Perhaps the highlight came when Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul herself, serenaded Watters with a short-but-scintillating command performance. But after the dinner, in the wee small hours, Watters was confronted by a far-left reporter. "I was at a party trying to enjoy myself," he recalled, "when this guy came up to me with a camera phone. I was friendly at first but then he got a little obnoxious and things happened. But I never punched him."
Viewers Sound Off
Factor Words of the Day
Sandi Zeller, Portland, OR: "Why do you just see left-wing protests and not Republicans doing that?"

Sid Penny, Binghamton, NY: "It is time to stop these lunatic protesters! This is terrorism."

Barbara Pero, Farmingdale, NJ: "Bill, John Boehner is under no obligation to explain his opinion regarding Ted Cruz. He was not speaking behind closed doors as indicated by you. He was at a college forum."
Fair Warning to the Fair Skinned
Always protect yourself from the sun, especially if you are a fair-skinned person. And never, ever go to a tanning booth, even if you may run into John Boehner.