Hey BillOReilly.com Premium Members, welcome to the No Spin News for the last day of August 31st, Thursday 2017.

So I'm still out here in eastern Long Island which is why you're hearing me and not seeing me. On Tuesday, you will see me once again. And I'm actually going to get a haircut, because being in the ocean for two weeks, I'm looking a little like a starfish. And on Tuesday we are going to have Newt Gingrich and Dr. Bill Bennett on the No Spin Newscast. So it should be a good day. 

And we will be all video next week and we'll have some announcements in September that I think will please you as Premium Members, give you your money's worth if you're not getting it now and I think you are. 

All right so let's get right to it because we've got Bernie Goldberg hanging on the line here. 

Hurricane Harvey is just about out. But it's still raining. Estimated...it cost about $200 billion to clean up everything in Texas and Louisiana. And you're going to have other states too. That compares to Hurricane Katrina costing $160 billion and Superstorm Sandy, $70 billion. 

So this is the most expensive clean up for a storm in U.S. history and it's almost all water damage. You know, if you've been a victim of a flood in your house or anywhere else you know once the water gets in everything gets thrown out. So we continue to cheer the people of Texas for their courage. The government has done a pretty good job. If you compare this to Katrina, the system is working a lot better here. 

Now, that's not really fair because you had the levee disaster in New Orleans which wiped out the entire town. Houston, it's estimated in the Houston area about a hundred thousand homes have been impacted. And that's a wide swath, that's Galveston too, and Corpus Christi. But in Katrina you remember the whole town went and so it was a more intense situation for people on the ground in New Orleans. But still, I mean, you saw the pictures, you've seen the coverage. But the Texas authorities are handling it pretty well. Minimum of looting, not a lot. And the federal government is doing what it should do. 

So let's get into some politics. 

New Fox News poll. Now this is... when I was at FOX, we used a different polling center than they do now. So this poll was taken by a joint Democrat and Republican companies. I don't like that. I think it should be an independent survey. So I can't vouch for this. In the past, the Fox News poll has been pretty good. I cannot vouch for this one but I'll give you the results and Goldberg and I will kick it around. 

Question number one: Do you approve or disapprove of the job Donald Trump is doing as president? Approve, 41%. Disapprove, 55. Don't know, 4. 

All right, so 41/55, that's a little higher than he usually does. 

Do you think Donald Trump is drawing the country together or tearing the country apart? Now, this question just by its provocative wording should have been thrown out. It should have read: do you think Donald Trump is drawing the country together or not doing that? But not tearing the country apart. Come on. All right. 

Anyway, drawing the country together 33 percent. Tearing the country apart, 56 percent. Don't know, 11 percent. The question was unnecessarily provocative. 

Do you think President Trump will finish his term? Yes, 58 percent. No, 34 percent. 

Do you think Donald Trump respects racial minorities? Yes, 41 percent, same number as approve. No, 56 percent. 

And who do you think Donald Trump dislikes more, white supremacists or the news media? White supremacists, 13 percent. News media, 70 percent. And I think that's probably the most accurate question and result in the poll. Dislikes both, 12 percent. 

And finally, who do you think poses a greater threat to the USA, white supremacists or the news media? White supremacists 47. News media, 40. Same, 9 percent. That means that 49 percent of Americans equate the news media with white supremacists as far as damage to the USA. It's unbelievable. 

Anyway, the reason, if you read my Message of the Day is that Americans understand there aren't many white supremacists but the news media is in full throttle lobbying mode. 

And I came up with this today. The national news media is now a lobbying center for the far left and for liberal principles. That's what they do, they're lobbying for them. So people know that and that's why you got this result. 

Now, white supremacists, if you think back to Oklahoma City, I mean, these are not people you play around with and the FBI has done a pretty good job of neutralizing them. And I know that the Klan is in there as well. But the estimate of the Ku Klux Klan membership is 6000. So it's a pretty paltry crew. 

Let's bring in Bernie Goldberg. I think he's in North Carolina tonight. 

((Interview)) 

In Dartmouth College, the president there called out a Mark Bray, who is a visiting professor of gender research at Dartmouth. OK, there you go, you know what that is. So Bray a big fan of antifa and is justifying their violence. 

So the president of the university, Dartmouth is an Ivy League school, Philip Hanlon, says, "hey, we're not going to support violent antifa protests" and he called out the professor, he didn't fire him. Bray is still working there.

Well, a hundred university professors at Dartmouth wrote a letter to Hanlon saying quote, "Professor Bray was exposed to violent threats without so much as a basic effort even to warn him that the college intended to endorse the mischaracterization of his position and the implied attack on his scholarly standing by making clear he had no institutional support." Unquote. 

So these 100 professors at Dartmouth, they're blaming Philip Hanlon for Bray coming under scrutiny. Now, I don't... anybody who threatens Bray is worse than he is. So, don't do that. But this guy has been on TV all the time. He's a kook. He's a loon. He doesn't endorse violence but he condones it. And again, this is what our nation's universities are full of. 

Paul Manafort, you remember for a very brief time ran the Trump campaign. He began on May 19th and on August 19th of 2016 he was out. So that's one, two, three months he was running the Trump campaign for president. 

I have said this many times, with the Mueller investigation looking into Russian connections and Russian subversion of the election, it is Paul Manafort, I believe, who is in the most danger.

Now, I'm not convicting Manafort of anything. I'm certainly going to look at anything that comes about in a fair way. But if anybody is going to take a fall here, I think it's going to be Manafort. But that doesn't mean somebody will, if anybody does. But reporting the latest that Mueller... there is a big article in the Wall Street Journal today, it was so boring I could hardly get through it, but it was Manafort and what Manafort has done with the Russians and how much money he made before he got into the political arena. 

OK. Let's get to the mail. 

This letter from SW in Lexington, Kentucky.

"It is absurd to say if Trump doesn't get a tax cut through Congress he is done. All the Democrats, never-Trumpers, establishment Republicans, globalists, and big donors just need to band together and Trump is finished." 

Well, they've already been together, SW, and it's not absurd to say if he doesn't get a tax cut he's done because he will be. The last line of this is "that failure would not be Trump's fault," it doesn't matter. He's president. He's got to lead. He's got to rally. He's got to cajole. He's got to get it done. 

Look, we know, we just talked with Bernie Goldberg about the press and the never-Trumpers and we know that they're against him. So somehow, he's got to find a way to convince Republicans and a few Democrats to support the tax cuts. 

And if he doesn't, I'm telling you, I am telling you, it's over. Got to get that tax cut done. He knows it.

John in Killeen, Texas. 

"Bill, I think you bend over backwards to be fair to Donald Trump. Whenever you criticize him you do it constructively." 

You know, I don't take cheap shots and I didn't do that to Barack Obama either. You may remember that I held Donald Trump's feet to the fire. I hate that cliche, but about the birther business, because we investigated that and we knew it wasn't true. And we presented this stuff and it was you know, I didn't cheapshot Barack Obama and I'm not going to cheap shot Donald Trump. 

When I criticize a president, I try to say, "this is what I would do." I think that makes it much more interesting. 

Ralph Woolbright. Reno, Nevada. 

"Bill, you keep saying President Trump needs to get tax cuts enacted. I think he is on board. But isn't it up to the House to push it through then the Senate to ratify it?" 

Sure. But the leader has to make sure that happens. You can't just say, "well, Congressman, cooperate with me." You know, people will go "well, we'll vote in somebody that Congress will cooperate with." 

Kenneth Barr. Redlands, California. 

"Bill, the Salvation Army is a silent provider of relief in disasters like Texas. They set up numerous kitchens to feed those affected. I give my money to them whenever I can." 

It's a good idea. Salvation Army is a good charity. People are asking me, and yesterday we discussed this, and some of you have suggestions. Let's see, there were a couple of other suggestions here. One is Glenn Beck's charity, MercuryOne.org. Beck's in Texas now and he's helping out down there and we like Beck. And then Franklin Graham has a charity, Samaritan's Purse. SamaritansPurse.org. They're helping out, so I'm giving you options. 

Now, the federal government is going to cover a lot of the disaster relief but that's going to take a long time. So, these donations now to the smaller organizations and the Red Cross, they're going to people who need help now, who need stuff now. So that's why the private stuff always supplements the public stuff.

Harvey's in Billings, Montana. 

"Bill, thanks for the opportunity to ask you a question. While listening to the information you shared about antifa members and organizations like Media Matters, their purpose includes efforts to weaken or destroy our government. Since they extort people and businesses, threaten them with damage to their person and to their company, use character assassination, encourage others to do the same, why doesn't their actions warrant charges of extortion? 

You know, it's an interesting letter, Harvey. And I can tell you that in a few weeks your letter, and people should remember Harvey's letter from Billings, will take on a greater meaning than now. Stuff is going to happen. 

Sue Pate. Maitland, Florida. 

"Bill, I'm a native of Illinois but lived in Florida for 45 years. I was quite interested tonight on your podcast where you discuss many of the problems Illinois is having. Would you explain a little more what a sanctuary state is?"

OK, so the governor, Rauner, of Illinois signed a bill that orders all Illinois police and authorities not to cooperate with the federal government when the federal government issues a detainer on an illegal alien. So the whole state says, "we're not going to cooperate, you've got to get a warrant," which is much, much harder than a detainer. So Illinois is doing that. 

I think it's horrible and I think that the state already close to bankruptcy may have some problems on its hands with the Justice Department. 

David Leibold. Thomasville, Alabama. 

"Bill, my daughter is wanting to attend Northwestern University in Chicago to complete a master's degree in biomedical engineering. Is she safe there?" 

Yes. The violence in Chicago is in the poor neighborhoods. It's not spread out across the city. It's very targeted, which is why it should be easier to stop. 

Finally, Samuel, The Plains, Ohio. 

"Bill, just finished Killing Reagan a few weeks back and I've also read Killing Lincoln and Killing the Rising Sun. I agree that the kids versions of your history books are appropriate for young children but I wouldn't suggest they read Killing Reagan with its inclusion of unsavory adult language." 

OK, but that's why we have The Day the President Was Shot. That's the kid's book off Killing Reagan. The same thing with the violence and Killing the Rising Sun, Samuel. 

You have a children's book now, The Day the World Went Nuclear because the killing books are too intense for kids. That's why we put out the children's versions. And we have 50 percent off all the kids books in honor of back to school. The Day the World Went Nuclear, The Day the President Was Shot, Give Please a Chance and all the other ones. OK, so it's a good time to pick them up. 

Also, Killing England out September 19th. I'll be talking next week to Breitbart. I think Steve Bannon is going to do the interview about Killing England and how it affects the statue controversy because they're coming after George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. So this book is taking on a very intense relevance. 

If you preorder Killing England on BillOReilly.com, and you can do it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble but you don't get 50 percent off any killing book, which you do on BillOReilly.com.

If you re-up or sign up for Premium Membership, you tell your friends who aren't PMs, you get the books free. Your choice. 

Next week we kick into the September season. We've got a lot of surprises for you. You will see me Tuesday, as I mentioned we'll have Newt Gingrich and Dr. Bill Bennett on the program. And we're ramping up. We're going to have a lot of exciting things. We really appreciate your loyalty over the weekend. 

We're going to open up this podcast for everybody beginning tomorrow evening but you guys get it for 24 hours exclusively. I want everybody to hear it over the Labor Day weekend. 

And on Monday we have a special "best of" the podcast for you centering around President Trump and his war with the press. That's on Monday. 

I want you all to have a great holiday weekend. You deserve it. I'll see you again on Tuesday.