Hey BillOReilly.com Premium Members, welcome to the No Spin News, Thursday, January 4th, 2018. Take your country back. 

Now, at the end of this podcast I'll tell you about how we almost didn't have a podcast because there's a blizzard here and it was chaos. But my crack team did get it on the air and we've got Bernie Goldberg warming up in the bullpen about this crazy book that comes out next week about Donald Trump's White House. And I'm going to give you all the inside baseball I have, and that's a lot because I've known Donald Trump for 30 years and I have had hundreds of conversations with him. You know, I know the guy really well and I can provide some perspective so you can put the hysteria into some kind of context. 

Number one, this is not a big story as far as you're concerned, the American people, the country. All this is gossip. Now, I'm not denigrating the book because the book is being published by my publisher, the people who do all the killing books, Holt, Henry Holt, who is long dead, but Henry's company publishes all the killing books and those guys are great. They're really professional, they know what they're doing, and they published Michael Wolff's book, which will be out next week.

So the book basically says that Donald Trump is a chaotic guy. It says that he didn't even want to win, that he didn't think he was going to win, that none of his staff think he's up to the job of being president. So it's an unflattering portrait of Donald Trump. But again, so what? That's all we get from the media's unflattering stuff about Donald Trump. 

Here's the key. The stock market is going crazy, and a warning to you now, that's not always a good thing. But if there were a fundamental problem within the federal government, the stock market would not be doing what it's doing because basically the American financial industry believes the country is on the right track financially. And so people are buying stocks and running up the market. That's your indicator. That's what it is, not CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News, or the three networks that don't really give you anything. If the financial community of Wall Street believes it's a fundamental problem, the stock market is going to go down. Now, it could happen, but it ain't happening now. This is a wild, wild spike in the financial markets to the upside. 

Correspondingly, American corporations are hiring and paying more for your services. Almost across the board. Almost every part of the country. So that's what you look for, not crazy people on The View who don't know anything. 

All right, Donald Trump. So I met Mr. Trump when I was anchoring a show called Inside Edition, and I did that for six years, and I turned a chaotic program that was about to be canceled into a megahit which is still on the air today. All right, I'm sorry I'm bragging, but that's what happened. And I had a terrific staff in back of me to do it. But we did it. 

In the course of anchoring that broadcast, I did big interviews and there was at the time nobody bigger in the infotainment world than Donald Trump because that was the Marla Maple year, Marla Maples years. OK. 

So I interviewed Trump a few times and I got to know him and he got to trust me because I do not sandbag people. All right, I do not go in and try to make them look stupid. If they can't answer the tough question and they do look stupid, that's on them. But I'm not trying to hook them into a place where they'll be denigrated. Trump was smart enough to know that. I gave him no quarter and I didn't give him any quarter when I subsequently interviewed him when he became a politician. But I was not looking to hurt him or Miss Maples or anybody else. It's not what I do.

So Trump then... let me... I didn't, I wasn't his buddy. All right, I wasn't hanging with him. But occasionally he would say, "you want to go to a game?" and I would always do it because he knows everybody in New York City and he could tell me unbelievable stories about organized crime for example and how they try to intrude on the construction industry, really valuable stuff for a journalist to have. But then he would also ruminate about gossip and I'm not a gossiper. Number one, I don't know any gossip. All right. I know how Bernie Goldberg does his hair but that's about all I can tell you. All right. I don't know any gossip and I don't really care. I don't. So I couldn't give him anything, but he likes that. So he would dish. 

But I've got to tell you, in the conversations I had with him at Yankee Stadium, at Citi Field for the Mets, it was Shea Stadium at that time, Madison Square Garden... because it was always around sporting events. We both like sports. He would say one thing and then five minutes later he'd say the opposite. "Well, I hate that guy because...." and then five minutes later he'd go, "you know, he's not so bad." 

And his sense of humor is wise guy. Trump's a wise guy. He's from Queens. I'm a wise guy, ten times worse than Donald Trump. I know wise guys when I hear them. If somebody showed a weakness, he'd pop them, but then he'd say again five minutes later, "well he's not a bad guy." And he did this and he did that. 

You never got any consistency of rhetoric from Donald Trump. Not that I was looking for it. I didn't care. But I'm a journalist. And I record in my mind, I wasn't writing this stuff down, who the person is, what they're saying, how they're saying it. That's what I do. I never in all the 30 years that I was with Donald Trump saw him to be malicious. Exaggerate all day long. Donald Trump exaggerates all day long. "Ah, my building is the greatest building..." 

All day long he exaggerates. Hyperbola, that's the world he lived in. That's how he got his brand to be one of the most successful brands in the world. You know, ok, is he telling me what a great building... "you should buy a, O'Reilly should buy an apartment at Trump Tower, I'll put you right next to Derek Jeter." You know, thanks Donald, but I'd rather live on Long Island with regular people. I like Mr. Jeter but I don't really want to live next door to him. So it's like... that's what it was. 

Now, if I thought Donald Trump was a malicious guy or a liar or you know, all of this, I would never have spent the time that I spent with him. But he is a bombastic guy. So am I. All right. And he's funny. And most of what he says is facetious, saying it facetiously. 

Now, if you then understand that, 80 percent of what Trump says you can put into perspective. The other 20 is he panics. Donald Trump panics when he feels that, you know, the walls are closing in or maybe he did something he shouldn't have done or said something he shouldn't have done. He is not a cool James Bond step back guy. You know, and then he'll say something and make it worse. 

And I'll give you one example. I hammered him, hammered Trump during the campaign when he said thousands of Muslims in New Jersey were celebrating after 9/11. I said, "that's not true." I covered it. I was here. If thousands of Muslims were doing it, that certainly would have been my lead story on The Factor. It didn't happen. Some did in Paterson, New Jersey. There were some, maybe a hundred. All right, we know the state police wrote up a report about it. So a hundred Muslims perhaps danced in the streets after the 9/11 attack. Trump put it at thousands because that's what he does. He's bombastic, he's trying to make a point that Muslims, some Muslims aren't loyal. OK. Again, perspective, perspective, perspective, perspective. 

So enter Michael Wolff. And I don't know Mr. Wolff. But I do know that he had entry to Steve Bannon and Roger Ailes, my former boss who's now deceased. That Wolff developed a relationship with both men, all right, where he would call them and they would speak to him candidly. All right. So some of what is in the book is true. You know, some of what I've read is true. I know what Roger Ailes told him and whether Roger was doing it for a reason I don't know. But I know if the quote is accurate or not. Steve Bannon, I don't know. I met him once for ten seconds. I don't know him at all. But I know that there was a power struggle within the White House staff and Steve Bannon lost the struggle and had to leave. 

Now, Wolff's book is based on Steve Bannon. That's what it's based on. He was the guy that brought Wolff into the White House, spoke to Wolff on and off the record, guided Wolff into certain places that he wanted Wolff to go, gave him dish, gossip. All right. 

Now, Wolff himself is honest enough to say some of what I wrote may not be true. And I'll give you an example. 

There is a portion in the book where they say that Donald Trump didn't know who John Boehner was. That's absurd. Trump golfed with Boehner. Trump tweeted about Boehner. Trump knew who Boehner was, all right. He golfed with Boehner away before he got into politics. Trump was a guy who cultivated powerful people, which is probably why he went with me to the games, he thought I was powerful in the media. 

So, you know, when you say, "well, Donald Trump didn't know Boehner was, who's that." Come on. That's just bull. 

So when you read a book like this you have to read it with a dose of skepticism. But number one, the hate Trump media never does that, they just say, "oh look at this. His whole staff feels he's an incompetent. Oh, look at this, Jared Kushner is that, Donald Trump Jr. is this."

It's just impossible. But it's meaningless, it's meaningless, it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean anything to Wall Street, doesn't mean anything to North Korea, doesn't mean anything to anybody. It's just bilge. It's gossip. And I'm not running down the book. If you want to read the book and see what Wolff came up with... some of it is true. And I'll probably read it fast. All right. But I have a pretty good vantage point on this. Most people don't. I mean, there's not a CNN commentator or reporter who knows anything about Donald Trump. Not one. Same thing with NBC. He loathes them. They don't know him, they don't know why he does what he does. 

So I'm sorry I even have to spend time on this today. But it is a fascinating story. It's dominating everywhere. And there's another big media story I'm going to... this guy, Bernstein, you know Woodward and Bernstein. Bernstein, Carl Bernstein, he goes on with Woodward and he says, "the press, the national press is being too hard on Trump." 

I said, "what, Bernstein is the worst." I'll get to that.

One more point before we get to Goldberg. The Trump people now say they're going... they may sue Holt to stop the book. It's just ridiculous. Number one, it's not going to stop the book. The book is going to come out next week. Number two, why bother? Why bother? It doesn't mean anything. And they sent a letter of cease and desist to Steve Bannon. Now Bannon you might have a better shot at. If Bannon's saying stuff that isn't true and you can prove it, that could be a problem for Bannon. But again, you know, do you really want to bump this up? We've got North Korea, we've got the economy, we've got sanctuary states. We've got a lot of stuff. This is just B.S. 

Bernie Goldberg is in Miami. No snow down there but it was chilly this morning. So Goldberg, I really appreciate... I know you might have been a little cool down there but you made time for us and we really appreciate that. 

((Interview with Bernie Goldberg))

All right. Woodward, Bernstein are on CNN's State of the Union program and they say, "oh, the media is too petty against Donald Trump." And so Carl Bernstein says this, go: 

Carl Bernstein: "We oughtn't to be too provocative which we sometimes are with a president who's putting a lot of bait out there and sometimes we take debate and get a little petty. I'd like to see a lot less of criticizing on our air the president for playing golf. Let him play all the golf that he wants, I don't think that's our job. We've got a deadly serious inquiry in front of us." 

Every day on CNN he just bashes Trump. Every day. 

All right. As I mentioned, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and the head of the FBI, Christopher Wray, have now agreed to finally hand over Fusion GPS documents to the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee who are investigating whether or not the Obama administration illegally spied on the Trump campaign. It's huge. Did you hear about it? Did anybody cover it? 

Now they did it yesterday. The deal came down yesterday because Nunes and I guess Paul Ryan, the speaker, said, look, if you don't hand them over, we're going to charge you with contempt of Congress, how embarrassing would that be?

My question is why isn't Donald Trump ordering Rosenstein and Wray, who he appointed the head of the FBI, to do it. Do it now. OK. Following that story. Big, big, big story. 

OK. Finally, six things that college students were disturbed about in 2017. This is from the campus reform organization. The 9/11 memorials. They were disturbed at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, the administration moved a 9/11 memorial to a lightly trafficked area of campus because its contents might be considered triggering, harmful, or harassing. That's the administration of SMU. 

Constitution bothers the kids. All right. Kellogg Community College, I don't know where that is. They arrested three conservative activists who were passing out copies of the Constitution. Administrator said that if students like freedom and liberty, they can't be disruptive, and handing out copies of the constitution is disruptive. 

The police, Brooklyn College here in New York, all right, refused New York City police officers the use of bathrooms on campus. 

University of Tennessee, three professors claim that colleges should rename controversial monuments because if it's named after Robert E. Lee it causes quote "psychological harm" to minorities. 

Non-inclusive language. Words like "illegal alien," "ugly," and "homosexual" are offensive. This is from the University of Wisconsin. So if you say the word "homosexual," you're being offensive. What about heterosexual? Is that offensive? This is how crazy it is. 

So I'm just updating you on the madness because this is the future. The future of our country. I don't know what to tell you. I really don't know what to tell you. It's so bad and getting worse this cultural civil war. 

OK. No mail today because we had such an extensive interview with Bernie Goldberg, but I have a couple of things I want to tell you at the end of this podcast. 

Number one, we're living in an age where you as the American citizen have to be skeptical of pretty much everything you hear on television, on the radio, and read in the newspaper. You simply can't believe it. I mean, the stuff said about me... 90 percent of it is basically garbage, lies, and can be traced back to people who did not want me on the air anymore and they won. They won. Now, whether that's permanent or not I don't know, and I'm pleased to be here on BillOReilly.com. 

And on that note, we do want you to continue to support us by buying gift certificates to BillOReilly.com and giving them as gifts. Great gifts. You get a free book, you get your membership extended. This is a terrific value, but it helps us because we've got to get the word out. You know, we have to get the word out. Most Americans don't even know we're here at BillOReilly.com because they're distracted, people are distracted. All right. And I'm going to deal with all the smears against me. I'm going to deal with them and I'm going to deal with them not in the media, which I'll never get a fair play, I'm going to deal with them in the court system. And we'll see if there's any justice in America or not. We'll do it. We'll do it. But it's so dangerous now. 

And if I were advising Donald Trump, and he would never... I don't think he listens to much advice, although I think General Kelly, the chief of staff, does have sway. I'd say, listen, you've got an opportunity here as president the United States to help most Americans because the economy is going in the right direction. And your pro-business stance and you taking the regulations off that was strangling business, it seems to be working. So forget about the other stuff. Steve Bannon is gone. He's gone. All right. So forget it, it does not matter. 

Just keep your eye on security. ISIS has downgraded. You've got to shore up the border. All right. Keep your eye on security. Be reasonable with this DACA thing. Those kids brought here by their parents, not their fault. It's not their fault. So let's work it out. But I want the wall. The wall is needed down there, sends a message, can't come in here unless you have proper credentials. More measured because you have a big opportunity you could win. Donald Trump's all about winning, winning, winning, winning, winning. 

He's winning on policy. You heard Bernie Goldberg say he doesn't disagree with Trump on policy. Put the other stuff aside, just on policy go and see how much good you can do and you'll get reelected. The other side, they don't have much. The Democratic Party doesn't have much. 

I expect Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, to heavily compete for the nomination in 2020. He's what they call a moderate Democrat but he's still very left. All right. That's how I see it. Cuomo against Trump. I can't guarantee it yet, it's too early. Keep your eye on that ball. 

Thanks for being Premium Members. We will talk to you again soon. And I'm so happy we got this up amidst the blizzard and the frigid temperatures. But kudos to my staff for doing it. Have a good weekend.