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Bill O’Reilly: G-20 Is Just a ‘Schmooze Fest’ and Putin Will Cave to Trump or Be ‘Subject to Tweets’

Russia has managed to put itself in the middle of just about everything these days. Whether it's in Syria or Iran, meddling in our election and now in North Korea --- Putin is a force that can't be ignored. While the left went wild about the first handshake between the two, Glenn and Bill O'Reilly talked about what exactly the G-20 is and what to look for.

"One last topic on the G20 meeting... with Putin and with everything that's happening in the United Nations, with North Korea. Where are we headed towards here, Bill?" Glenn asked on radio Friday.

"So the G20 cache nobody knows what that means. It's supposed to be fostering everybody's economy and doing deals to help everybody else, but it's really a schmooze fest. The real interesting part is the Putin, Trump meeting. And Putin's got to give Trump something today, and I have predicted on BillOreilly.com that he will come out, Putin will, and he will say you know what? We're going to scorn North Korea too," O'Reilly said.

"We don't like that. But he's got to give Trump something. Because if he doesn't, he's going to make an enemy out of Trump, and then he will be subject to tweets. I mean, you know, if you're Putin, and your economy is terrible in Russia, which it is, you don't want to be Trump's enemy, you know?"

Enjoy the complimentary clip or read the transcript for details.

GLENN: Wow. There is so much to talk about. So much has happened this week, and the good thing is we have the guy who is going to give it to us with no spin. Bill O'Reilly's look at the week's news begins right now.

Mr. Bill O'Reilly, who now is making his home at BillOreilly.com where you can listen to his daily podcast, which is always riveting because he's always exciting and up tempo and upbeat and positive. Bill, how are you?

BILL: Are you reading that, Beck, or is that from the heart?

GLENN: Well, it's not from the heart. It's more from the --

BILL: Knee.

GLENN: Lower regions.

BILL: Jeez.

GLENN: The heart of my bottom.

BILL: Oh, man, Beck, come on.

GLENN: So how are you, Bill?

BILL: So what's on your mind today?

GLENN: Well, I have a lot of things. I would like to hear your comments on's speech in Poland yesterday, which I thought I was so refreshing to hear.

BILL: Well, I agree that the message was worthy and needed to be said to the Europeans on their own soil. But I thought it was a standard -- I said this to my audience. I thought it was a standard political speech in the sense that if I were writing that speech, I would have singled out a few examples of where Europe is in trouble. For example, in Sweden, that country has accepted way too many refugees and migrants. They can't assimilate them. They are causing all kinds of trouble, a big rock music festival had to be canceled because they're afraid that it would get out of control in Sweden. These kinds of things would have made the speech more vivid. But I agree with you that the message needed to be said.

GLENN: Honestly, it was nice to hear somebody stand up for the western way of life. You say it's standard, but I haven't heard that for eight years.

BILL: Yeah, and the secular progressives hate it, that's what all of these demonstrators are about. They hate capitalism competition, free markets, freedom in general. These peoples, you know, loathe that, and they all gather together to cause trouble. It's not an antiTrump movement, it's an anticapitalist movement.

GLENN: I got a note from mine Mike Opelka who does a show on The Blaze radio, and he said in the early '90s, we debuted a play in the former Soviet Union, he and his brother wrote this play and said my brother came home from Russia with a woman he eventually married. My brother took her to a grocery store to show her where the local market was located. Within seconds, she was standing stunned began crying. She could not believe what was in front of her. The products, the variety, just the vast array of food that was available to everyday citizens.

We were talking last hour about Poland and how there were just a few years ago 4,000 items on grocery store shelves. There are now as many as 40,000 different items on grocery store shelves and how the west and the free-market system probably the best testament or monument to it is the grocery store. And people don't get it.

BILL: You know, when I was in Berlin when the wall came down, I was covering that story, and I was there, and when the people poured across into West Berlin, the first place they went to was the grocery store, and they poured into the grocery stores and what they wanted most of all -- take a guess. What food did the communist prisoners want most of all?

PAT: Hamburger Helper.

STU: Kale.

GLENN: I would say candy.

BILL: Bananas. They swarmed.

PAT: That's really uninteresting.

[Laughter]

GLENN: I mean, let's just be honest here, Bill. Hang on. If you're a prisoner behind the iron curtain, the highest thing you're dreaming of is a banana.

BILL: I just want it to put this into perspective. Tatiana going to the grocery store is more interesting than news reporting in Berlin?

PAT: Yes. Yes.

BILL: Is that what you're me?

GLENN: I think so. I think it's more because of the way the story was told.

BILL: Oh, I see.

STU: Maybe you need to read an e-mail from a friend, maybe it will be interesting to everybody.

BILL: My friend Kurt ate a banana.

[Laughter]

GLENN: All right. That was a great story, Bill, and I am so glad.

BILL: Yeah, thanks, Beck, I really appreciate it.

GLENN: I will take that banana story with me to the grave. It's one of the greatest moments of airtime.

All right. So let's shift gears a bit. We haven't heard your take yet on the CNN, you know, Donald Trump tweet clown show thing.

BILL: I think it is a fact now that CNN, MSNBC, the network news broadcasts along with the progressive newspapers have basically stopped covering the news in a fairway and have put together a program to try to destroy Donald Trump. Would everybody agree with that?

GLENN: Yeah, but don't they -- when will they understand that doing that is only going to strengthen Donald Trump? They're not going to -- they're not going to release something, like -- because every time they come out with something, it's always, like, well, this is -- here's a constitutional crisis for you. And everybody -- America's, like, okay. No, it's not. We get it. It's coming with the package. We got it. He tweets crazy things. Oh, what an idea.

BILL: Well, it's all about money, though.

So the two liberal cable networks have increased their audience by doing we hate Trump all the time, and there's an audience for that that comes in just to see that. So if they stop doing that, their audience goes down. So, for example, Greta Van on MSNBC did not do that and therefore her ratings were not very good, and she got replaced. So it's about money -- ideology, of course. But it's also about money. So the New York Times understands that its readership is 90 percent liberal, and we're going to give that readership what they want, rather than giving the folks the truth. And that's where it's really shifted, so it's a combination of ideology and money. And therefore -- and you're right. Trump's base, basically, don't even listen to it anymore, and they dig in to support their guy against this assault.

GLENN: One last topic on the G20 meeting from Putin or with Putin and with everything that's happening in the United Nations, with North Korea. Where are we headed towards here, Bill?

BILL: I think that the catering will be heavy on bananas at the --

GLENN: Well, he is in Germany, so I've heard they love their bananas there.

BILL: A lot of fresh fruit. All of this stuff, basically, is schmoozing. So the G20 cache nobody knows what that means. It's supposed to be fostering everybody's economy and doing deals to help everybody else, but it's really a schmooze fest. The real interesting part is the Putin, Trump meeting. And Putin's got to give Trump something today, and I have predicted on BillOreilly.com that he will come out, Putin will, and he will say you know what? We're going to scorn North Korea too. We don't like that. But he's got to give Trump something. Because if he doesn't, he's going to make an enemy out of Trump, and then he will be subject to tweets. I mean, you know, if you're Putin, and your economy is terrible in Russia, which it is, you don't want to be Trump's enemy, you know? So I expect Putin to give him at least verbally something today. But the conference itself is just a schmooze fest and, you know, they all have agendas, and they try to get a little here and there kind of deals and stuff like that, so that's what it's all about.

GLENN: Back with BillOreilly.com. Do you have to say it this way? Or can you say it BillOreilly.com like all human beings?

BILL: It doesn't matter, really. It's how you feel it, Beck. And right now, I don't think you're feeling it at all.

GLENN: You know, I am thinking of bananas right now. As I think of bananas, BillOreilly.com. Okay. I get it. BillOreilly.com where you can see his gear and his books and everything else and also get his take on the news every single day, and he's launching his own TV show at BillOreilly.com, and we'll continue our conversation with him here in just a second.

PAT: Glenn Beck Program. Pat, Stu, Bill O'Reilly's with us. Glenn just had a family issue he has to resolve for a few minutes, so he should be back any minute now.

BILL: Okay. Sure. So, Bill, what are your thoughts on the GOP seemingly caving in now and just almost admitting that they're going to bring the Democrats in on this, and we're going to go from a Democrat light bill, which is was with the Republicans anyway, to a full on Democrat-inspired bill, they're just going to fix ObamaCare?

BILL: Well, I think that's a message to the Republicans who are being obstinate about compromising and being the senate majority leader and saying okay. Look, if you're not going to compromise with us to get free market back into the health care system, then you're going to have to deal with Chuck Schumer and the guys to socialize it up, and we're going to have something worse, so that's the play.

You know, look, it's a very complicated thing, obviously. A lot of people are confused about it, and I think the big thing is that the Republicans have got to get something on the board. And if they don't, they risk losing the senate in 2018. Because they -- the people are waiting for some kind of accomplishment. We need a tax cut, we need new health care.

PAT: We've got nothing.

BILL: The jobs report today. We had a very good jobs report. Trump should be running around screaming about that. I think Trump's free marketplace philosophy. But, you know, we've got to get -- we as a country have to get stuff passed. And right now, it's not happening.

STU: As a general philosophy, Bill, do you think it's good to take these baby steps?

BILL: You have to because the constituencies so vary and when you have ObamaCare saying we're not going to

issue any policies to Americans, well, what's going to happen is that there are going to be a lot of people who are not going to be able to buy health insurance, and then you're really in trouble. So you have to basically stabilize first and then build on that.

PAT: Why is it, though, and maybe it's just the way it feels to me. But it seems like it's always when we have the -- we have the executive branch, Republicans have the executive. They have the Senate, they have the house. When Democrats are in that position, they never take baby steps. They get ObamaCare done. When the Republicans are in the majority and have the White House, we have to do baby steps. Why is that?

BILL: The Democratic party is run now by the progressive left which has intimidated moderate Democrats, all from one Joe Manchin from West Virginia. He seems to be the only one who will look at things and come up with a problem-solving idea. So whatever it is, it's either Democratic hierarchy, the Democrats are afraid of their leadership. The Republicans are not. They're not afraid of Ryan or of McConnell. So very conservative Republicans say, look, we're just not going to go along with it because we want X, Y, Z. There isn't the fear that there is in the Democratic side. Democrats vote block. I mean, can you believe that Kate's law might go down in the Senate? A law that is so badly needed and would protect all Americans and even immigrants and illegal aliens. Everybody would be protected, and the Democratic party is going to vote and block against it in the Senate? It's insane. But they are fearful because if they go against the hierarchy, they'll cut their money off. Okay? The packs control all the money for people going for reelection in the senate and the house, and then they'll launch a primary. You know, if you're a moderate Democrat, the progressive leadership will put somebody up against you, a far left person up against you and if you understand them, and these people are scared to death of that. So that's why the Democratic party votes and block, whereas Republicans don't.

STU: I mean, the border's a good example of this too because it's a constant let down when they get into power. Health care feels that way as well, and I think what's frustrating about a lot of people, Bill is that a lot of the people now who are saying we can't get a full repeal. We can't have a much more aggressive free market health care plan. We have to settle for this because we have a bunch of varying constituencies, which I understand. That's a very valid point. However, these same people when they knew Barack Obama would veto it did vote for stronger things. They acted as if they wanted those things when they knew it wouldn't pass, and that I think is what makes people so cynical about politics.

BILL: Well, people are furious on both parties. They're angry that our leadership in Washington is basically blunting, and whether you like Trump or not, Trump basically rises above that and says, look, we're going to do X, Y, Z on immigration, so what happens? Well, people don't come here now. I mean, a series of articles, even in the liberal press where Central Americans and Mexicans are saying I'm not even going to bother, it's too expensive and dangerous to do it and if I get caught, I'm going to get shipped right back. So the crossings on the southern border way down. Way down. Not because of any legislation. Not because of a wall because that wall hasn't been built yet. It's because of the perception that Trump is going to send us back. So that's the kind of leadership that is appealing to many Americans and why Trump won. But the gridlock in Washington, my god, they don't get anything done. You can't get Kate's law done? You can't get that? It is. It's infuriating. Money dictates what these people do.

STU: How do you expect the G20 negotiations to affect the global banana trade?

BILL: I think the banana trade after this show, the Glenn Beck show.

PAT: It's going to be huge; right?

BILL: He was insincere about bananas.

[Laughter]

PAT: He was kind of insincere.

BILL: It's going to skyrocket. There's a lot of potassium involved, and we know that. Now, the global warming people don't like potassium because it can impact, you know, and make things a little warmer. But I still think the banana trade is going to go through the roof as this program spans the globe.

STU: You really could do a monolog about anything, huh?

BILL: Any topic, I can do five about it. Whatever you want.

STU: Will you come back on the other side, Bill? I would love to get your take on Chris Christie. What his future could possibly be. (888) 727-Beck. Bill O'Reilly is with us. Glenn is going to be back here in just a couple of minutes to talk about Chris Christie, who may be the least popular governor in American history, according to polling.

PAT: At least who hasn't committed a major felony; right?

STU: Yeah, that's the way it's going to turn out.

PAT: Pretty amazing.

STU: Back with Bill here in just a minute. (888) 727-Beck is our phone number.

GLENN: Back with the one and only legend Bill O'Reilly.

PAT: What? Oh, sorry. I didn't hear.

GLENN: I said legend.

PAT: Yes.

GLENN: In his own mind. Bill O'Reilly from BillOreilly.com. I don't appreciate the fact that he was on my program just a few minutes ago saying I didn't take the seizure of bananas by the oppressed as a riveting, riveting story and somehow I was belittling bananas, the banana industry and the need, desire, and just crave and want of bananas by the oppressed.

PAT: You did take umbrage to that?

GLENN: I did. Bill O'Reilly, welcome back to the program. I heard you talk about the border wall just a second ago. Do you think that the border wall is still going to happen?

BILL: Somewhat. It's not going to be a full border wall, but they will put in, you know, a high-tech situation in various sectors that they believe --

GLENN: Without any movement on this now with the trouble that he is having, does this happen as something that he can run on and say see? I told you I was building a wall, and I have broken ground on a lot of the wall, or is this -- I need a -- I need these guys, you know, in the senate to help me to get started.

BILL: No, I don't think so. Just today over in Europe he said once again that Mexico's going to pay for the wall. He's going to do something. He can do it by executive order.

PAT: But there won't be a big, beautiful 40-foot wall with a beautiful door in it.

BILL: No, for example, where you live, you're not going to have a wall there. It's very hard to get through and all of that. You don't need it. But, you know, in places like Arizona where, you know, there's a lot of trouble, then you'll see, you know, the thing go up. So it's more of a symbolic thing than anything else.

STU: That's quite an admission, though. We're not even six months into this thing, and it's his signature issue, and it doesn't seem like anyone actually believes he's going to build this thing at this point. Not even Ann Coulter.

BILL: Well, the signature issue is really the economy. That's really what it's all about. So if the economy gets better and people are making more money, and they feel more secure, they're going to give him a pass on some of the other things, as long as the intent is there, and that's what's going on.

GLENN: Okay. Let me switch gears and talk about a couple of other things. First of all, the beached whale story that happened over the weekend. Oh, no, I confused that with the other story. Chris Christie in New Jersey.

PAT: Why do you confuse that with the Chris Christie story?

GLENN: I don't know.

PAT: That's weird.

GLENN: He is the most unpopular governor in America now. And that's saying something. There's only three people -- is he number three at the bottom?

STU: He's number four right now the least popular governor as far as polling has ever shown. And that is ahead of him -- first of all, he's at 15 percent. That was taken before the beach incident. So I would assume that's going to drop. Only governor ahead of him 2016 Frank in Alaska, at 14 percent. He named his daughter to be senator, so that was not a popular move. 2008, rod went to 8 percent. Obviously, he's in prison.

GLENN: Yeah, went to prison.

STU: And 2005 also criminal charges against Bob Taft in Ohio, he's at 7 percent.

GLENN: So what happened with Chris Christie?

BILL: Well, Christie's play is this. He know he's not going to do public service ever again. This is what I believe. All right? So he's out of the public service business. So what business does he want to get into besides importing bananas? He wants to get into the media business; right? That's what he wants to do. Now, there have been all kinds of rumors in the New York area that he wants to do sports radio, radio talk, that kind of thing. So what better way to get his name out there as a controversial guy than to go to his lavish beach home as the state of New Jersey provides their governors when all the other beaches are closed because the state couldn't pass a budget. So he's the only one on the beach, and then he allows himself to be photographed in a lounge chair with his grin on his face. He knows what he's doing. Gendering controversy, get his name out there, so he will get some kind of media play.

STU: But that's not a guy --

GLENN: I'm not excited to tune into the guy who just gave his state the shaft. It's not, like, oh, man, I can't wait to hear what he has to say.

BILL: He could go to sports. He could go to news too on the radio. I don't think he could do TV.

JEFFY: Are you fat shaming?

BILL: He'll get a sampling, Beck. He will. People around here will tune him in.

GLENN: I think you're right. On politics, radio is so heavily right and Chris Christie has almost zero credibility with the right, which is amazing because he went from --

BILL: He'll go in, and he'll shake it, you know? So he's got -- that's what he's angling for, and I think he's going to get some kind of media contract.

STU: For fat TV host better male, this is a place for them at the Blaze.

GLENN: Yeah, we're all fat here.

BILL: Maybe you want to use the word zoftig. Fat is a little blunt.

STU: Zoftig? I've never heard that.

BILL: It's a German-based word. I picked it up when I was in Berlin.

GLENN: Bananas.

BILL: Maybe rotund.

GLENN: Rotund I know. Zoftig is not a pretty word. Let's switch gears to the baby in England. 11 months old. National health care, they want to pull the plug, we're waiting for the English version of the Supreme Court to give the ruling. The baby has already been accepted to a hospital here in New York. The Vatican has offered to take the baby at the Bambino hospital. In fact, the Pope yesterday said they will issue the family a Vatican passport so the baby can be taken out of the hospital and make them Vatican citizens. What do you think is about this story?

BILL: Well, I think the British authorities would be insane not to allow the Vatican to take the baby and treat the baby and, you know, Trump has weighed in and said we'll take the baby here in the USA, and there will be enough people, of course, to donate money to pay the bills and stuff like that. So if the British government says, no, we're going to allow the baby to die, that's going to be an enormously big story that's going to be really bad for the UK. So I don't believe they'll do it. But I would like to see them cooperate with the Vatican on that. On a life issue like that.

GLENN: What's amazing -- if you haven't followed this story, go to Charlie's fight.org. I think this is a battle more than for western life, this is a battle, Bill, that is a bellwether on our humanity as the west.

BILL: Well, it certainly goes right into euthanasia and abortion debate. But, you know, clear-thinking human beings will say, look, if the baby is going to be treated, let the process play out, you know? Why would you want to abort the process?

So, yeah, you're right. I mean, these crazy, insane choice people -- not everybody is at that level who just say euthanasia, fine. State of Oregon totally out of control, no limits on abortion. You can do whatever you want for any reason. Nothing stopping the fetus, the unborn. We reach a point in a moral conversation where you can't defend these kinds of actions. And the UK could not defend not allowing that baby every opportunity and its family.

GLENN: So, Bill, this is the Slate magazine came out immediately and said the right's going to make this into death panels and. And that's what this is. This is a death panel.

BILL: Right. It's a ruling that the baby doesn't have the right to treatment.

GLENN: To eat up more resources.

BILL: Yeah, to treatment. Even though the baby is now -- has an opportunity to go away from the UK so that they don't have to deal with the situation any longer. So that's why I'm saying the British aren't stupid. They're not going to do that.

GLENN: Let's just noodle this out for a second if you have socialized medicine, and you're going to have to ration medicine, which they are. They're so far in debt with their nationalized medicine over in Great Britain, it's killing them. And they have to ration the care. So if you're rationing the care, you have to make this decisions that says this is not worth the investment because the odds of survival are so low. What makes that -- argue from the logical point of view to a liberal that says, well, yeah, but why should this baby have a chance? Because they have wealth or access to money. But nobody else's baby has that chance. We have to even the playing field and everybody has to have a fair shake.

BILL: Well, when you're talking about life and death, there is in a matter of a comparative matter. Of whether you can save the baby or elongate the baby's life, you do it. And economics shouldn't enter into it. I don't believe in socialized medicine. I lived in England for a year. I know that there's a back up. I know in Canada, for example, you have to wait for a complicated surgery, which is why thousands of Canadians come to the United States for it. So that kind of the government makes calls the shots on life and death. That is not compatible with my he view of life, and I would think most people in America would say the same thing. They don't want the government to say who lives and dies because of money.

GLENN: Did you read the pope's actual statement?

BILL: I did not read it.

GLENN: You should, Bill, as a Catholic, I would be interested to hear what you have to say. Because he didn't say -- he said, you know, this is a very complicated matter -- which it's really not. It's not complex. The money's there. The baby has been offered treatment elsewhere. It's not complex at all. But he was not John Paul, who would have come out and had come out and said, you know, that big state making and decisions for families is not right and the family needs to be empowered and all life is sacred. He didn't use any of that language. He said it's a complicated matter. He understood and we shouldn't reject the state being involved. Basically saying, you know, we need to understand that parents sometimes have a hard time with these decisions and shouldn't be left alone. It was a really treading the line kind of statement.

BILL: All right. Yes, ma'am, the offer, so that's number one, and he is a different guy. He's not doctrinaire. He tries to get as many people as possible into his outlook or his point of view, and he doesn't like to make judgments about certain things because then he believes that alienates people and cuts off the conversation. So I'm a big actions speak louder than words guy, and I applaud what the Vatican is doing, I hope the UK takes their offer and sends the family to Rome and let the life process play out there, and that would be a huge win for not only the family and the baby, but for the cause of life. And so that's what I hope happens.

GLENN: BillOreilly.com. BillOreilly.com is the website where you can hear Bill every single day. You launch maybe this fall with a new TV show?

BILL: We're not sure yet what we're going to do with the TV thing. It's complicated.

GLENN: I know.

BILL: But we're certainly going to upgrade the BillOreilly.com. And I love how you say you said it this time as opposed to the beginning of the interview when I didn't feel the sincerity.

GLENN: No. Bill I didn't. When I say BillOreilly.com, I mean it. When I say BillOreilly.com, I don't feel it. It's not the same.

BILL: I want you to read Legends & Lies: The Civil War.

GLENN: And there's nothing like Legends & Lies: The Civil War.

BILL: That's right. I know you're a history buff and like to learn.

GLENN: I was in a bookstore, and it's shameful how many books he has. But they're all great. Great for your kids as well. History at Bill O'Reilly. Thanks, Bill, talk to you next week.

BILL: All right. We'll talk to you.

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The rise of Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old socialist who just won the Democratic primary for mayor, is not just a political earthquake shaking New York City — it’s a warning for the rest of America. Backed by Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani promises free everything, to tax the rich, and to dismantle capitalism. There’s nothing new about this tired strategy, but the media is propping him up as a new political genius. And with Democrat leaders lining up behind him, it’s clear: This radicalism isn’t fringe anymore. It’s the Democratic Party’s future. Mamdani’s rise is part of a larger movement that’s rewriting America’s values. Glenn Beck explains how New York is the prototype for the Left’s socialist makeover of America. Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Standford, gives a terrifying prediction on Mamdani’s mayoral race chances and warns the revolution is coming for mainstream Democrats. He also dives into MAGA’s frustration with the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files.

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Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Salena, congratulations on your book. It is so good.

Just started reading it. Or listening to it, last night.

And I wish you would have -- I wish you would have read it. But, you know, the lady you have reading it is really good.

I just enjoy the way you tell stories.

The writing of this is the best explanation on who Trump supporters are. That I think I've ever read, from anybody.

It's really good.

And the description of your experience there at the edge of the stage with Donald Trump is pretty remarkable as well. Welcome to the program.

SALENA: Thank you, Glenn. Thank you so much for having me.

You know, I was thinking about this, as I was ready to come on. You and I have been along for this ride forever. For what?

Since 2006? 2005?

Like 20 years, right?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

SALENA: And I've been chronicling the American people for probably ten more years, before that. And it's really remarkable to me, as watching how this coalition has grown. Right?

And watching how people have the -- have become more aspirational.

And that's -- and that is what the conservative populist coalition is, right?

It is the aspirations of many, but the celebration of the individual.

And chronicling them, yeah. Has been -- has been, a great honor.

GLENN: You know, I was thinking about this yesterday, when -- when Elon Musk said he was starting another party.

And somebody asked me, well, isn't he doing what the Tea Party tried to do?

No. The Tea Party was not going to start a new party.

It was to -- you know, it was to coerce and convince the Republican Party to do the right thing. And it worked in many ways. It didn't accomplish what we hoped.

But it did accomplish a lot of things.

Donald Trump is a result of the Tea Party.

I truly believe that. And a lot of the people that were -- right?

Were with Donald Trump, are the people that were with the Tea Party.


SALENA: That's absolutely right.

So that was the inception.

So American politics has always had movements, that have been just outside of a party. Or within a party.

That galvanize and broaden the coalition. Right? They don't take away. Or walk away, and become another party.

If anything, if there is a third party out there, it's almost a Republican Party.

Because it has changed in so many viable and meaningful ways. And the Tea Party didn't go away. It strengthened and broadened the Republican Party. Because these weren't just Republicans that became part of this party.

It was independents. It was Democrats.

And just unhappy with the establishment Republicans. And unhappy with Democrats.

And that -- that movement is what we -- what I see today.

What I see every day. What I saw that day, in butler, when I showed I happen at that rally.

As I do, so many rallies, you know, throughout my career. And that one was riveting and changed everything.

GLENN: You made a great case in the opening chapter. You talk about how things were going for Donald Trump.

And how this moment really did change everything for Donald Trump.

Changed the trajectory, changed the mood.

I mean, Elon Musk was not on the Trump train, until this.

SALENA: Yeah.

GLENN: Moment. What do I -- what changed? How -- how did that work?

And -- and I contend, that we would have much more profound change, had the media actually done their job and reported this the way it really was. Pragmatism

SALENA: You know, and people will find this in the book. I'm laying on the ground with an agent on top of me.

I'm 4 feet away from the president.

And there's -- there's notices coming up on my phone. Saying, he was hit by broken glass.

And to this take, that remains part of this sibling culture, in American politics.

Because reporters were -- were so anxious to -- to right what they believed happened.

As opposed to what happened.

And it's been a continual frustration of mine, as a reporter, who is on the ground, all the time.

And I'll tell you, what changed in that moment.

And I say a nuance, and I believe nuance is dead in American journalism.

But it was a nuance and it was a powerful conversation, that I had with President Trump, the next day. He called me the next morning.

But it's a powerful conversation I had with him, just two weeks ago.

When he made this decision to say, fight, fight, fight.

People have put in their heads, why they think he said it. But he told me why he said that. And he said, Salena, in that moment, I was not Donald Trump the man. I was a former president. I was quite possibly going to be president again.

And I had an obligation to the country, and to the office that I have served in, to project strength. To project resolve.

To project that we will not be defeated.

And it's sort of like a symbolic eagle, that is always -- you know, that symbol that we look at, when we think about our country.

He said, that's why I said that. I didn't want the people behind me panicking. I didn't want the people watching, panicking.

I had to show strength. And it's that nuance -- that I think people really picked up on.

And galvanized people.

GLENN: So he told me, when he was laying down on the stage.

And you can hear him. Let me get up. Let me get up.

I've got to get up.

He told me, as I was laying on the stage. I asked him, what were you thinking? What was going through your head? Now, Salena, I don't know about you.

But with me. It would be like, how do I get off the stage? My first was survival.

He said, what was going on through his mind was, you're not pathetic. This is pathetic.

You're not afraid. Get up.

Get up.

And so is that what informed his fight, fight, fight, of that by the time that he's standing up, he's thinking, I'm a symbol? Or do you think he was thinking, I'm a symbol, this looks pathetic. It makes you look weak.

Stand up. How do you think that actually happened?

SALENA: He thinks, and we just talked about this weeks ago. He -- you know, and this is something that he's really thought about.

Right? You know, he's gone over and over and over. And also, purpose and God. Right? These are things that have lingered with him.

You know, he -- he thought, yes.

He did think, it was pathetic that he was on the ground. But he wasn't thinking about, I'm Donald Trump. It's pathetic.

He's thinking, my country is symbolically on the ground. I need to get up, and I need to show that my country is strong.

That our country is resolute.

And I need people to see that.

We can't go on looking like pathetic.

Right?

And I think that then goes to that image of Biden.

GLENN: You have been with so many presidents.

How many presidents do you think that you've personally been with, would have thought that and reacted that way?

SALENA: Probably only Reagan. Reagan would have. Reagan probably would have thought that.

And if you remember how he was out like standing outside.

You know, waving out the window. Right?

After he was shot.

GLENN: At the hospital, right.

SALENA: Had he not been knocked out, unconscious, you know, he probably would have done the same thing.

Because he was someone who deeply believed in American exceptionalism.

And American exceptionalism does not go lay on the ground.

GLENN: And the symbol.

Right. The symbol of the presidency.

SALENA: Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that affects him today.

GLENN: So let me go back to God.

Because you talked to him the next day. And your book Butler.

He calls you up.

I love the fact that your parents would be ashamed of you. On what you said to him.

The language you used. That you just have to read the book.

It's just a great part.

But he calls you the next morning. And wants to know if you're okay.

And you -- you then start talking to him, about God.

And I was -- I was thinking about this, as I was listening to it. You know, Lincoln said, I wasn't -- I wasn't a Christian.

Even though, he was.

I wasn't a Christian, when I was elected. I wasn't a Christian when my son died.

I became a Christian at Gettysburg.

Is -- is -- I mean, I believe Donald Trump always believes in God, et cetera, et cetera.

Do you think there was a real profound change at Butler with him?


SALENA: Absolutely. You know, he called me seven times that day. Seven times, the take after seven.

GLENN: Crazy.

SALENA: Talked about. And I think he was looking for someone that he knew, that was there. And to try to sort it out.

Right? And I let him do most of the talking. I didn't pressure him.

At all. I believed that he was having -- you know, he was struggling. And he needed to just talk. And I believed my purpose was to listen.

Right? I know other reporters would have handled it differently. And that's okay. That's not the kind of reporter that I am.

And I myself was having my own like, why didn't I die?

Right?

Because it went right over my head.

And -- and so I -- he had the conversation about God.

He's funny. I thought it was the biggest mosquito in the world that hit me.

But he had talked profoundly about purpose. You know, and God.

And how God was in that moment.

It --

GLENN: I love the way you -- in the book, I love the way you said that as he's kind of working it out in his own he head.

He was like, you know, I -- I -- I always knew that there was some sort of, you know -- that God was present.

He said, but now that this has happened.

I look back at all of the trials.

All of the tribulations. Literally, the trials.

All of the things that have happened. And he's like, I realized God was there the whole time.

SALENA: Yes. He does. And it's fascinating to have been that witness to history, to have those conversations with him. Because I'm telling you. And y'all know, I can talk. I didn't say much of anything.

I just -- I just listened. I felt that was my purpose, in that moment.

To give him that space, to work it out.

I'm someone that is, you know, believes in God.

I'm Catholic. I followed my faith.

And -- and so, I thought, well, this is why God put me here. Right?

And to -- to have that -- to hear him talk about purpose, to hear him say, Salena. Why did I put a chart down?

I'm like, sir. I don't know. I thought you were Ross Perot for a second.

He never has a chart. And he laughed. And then he said, why did I put that chart down?

By that term, I never turned my head away from people at the rally. That's true.

That relationship is very transactional. It's very -- they feed off of each other.

It's a very emotive moment when you attend a rally. Because he has a way of talking at a rally. That you believe that you are seeing.

And he said, and I never turn my head away.

I never turn my head away.

Why did I turn my head away?

I don't remember consciously thinking about turning my head away. And then he says to me, that was God, wasn't it?

Yes, sir. It was. It was God.

And he said, that's -- that's why I have a new purpose.

And so, Glenn. I think it's important, when you look at the breadth of what has happened, since he was sworn in.

You see that purpose, every day.

He doesn't let up.

He continues going.

And it brings back to the beginning of the book.

Where you find out, that there was another president that was shot at in Butler.

And that was George Washington. And how different the country would have been, had he died in that moment.

And now think about how different the country would be, had President Trump died in that moment. There would be --

GLENN: We're talking to -- we're talking to Salena Zito. About her new book called Butler. The assassination attempt on President Trump. And it is riveting.

And, you know, it is so good. I wish the press would read it. Because it really explains who we are, who Trump supporters are. Who are, you know, red staters. It is so good at that. She's the best at that.