Bill O’Reilly: Trump ‘Perhaps’ Doesn’t Know Enough History To Discuss Nazis

Host Bill O'Reilly of "The O'Reilly Factor" program, on the Fox News Channel, poses for photos, in New York, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly in an interview published Wednesday said President Donald Trump “perhaps” does not know sufficient history to make nuanced comments about Nazis.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, O’Reilly said Trump’s “mistake” in his remarks splitting the blame for violence that erupted at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville “was that you can never under any circumstances equate Nazis with anyone else.”

“If you understand history — and I think Trump does to some extent, but not perhaps to the extent that is needed in this day and age — when you understand the evil that happened in the ’30s and ‘40s in Germany, in Europe and even in Japan, really, truly understand it, you can’t make comments about it in any other context other than, this is pure evil,” he said.

O’Reilly said that if Trump wanted “to make a point the next day that the antifa movement is destructive,” referring to anti-fascists, he should have waited.

“You can do that, but it has to be the next day,” he said. “You see what I mean?”

O’Reilly left Fox News in April amid accusations of sexual harassment which the former host continued to deny.

Congress on Tuesday passed a bipartisan resolution condemning white supremacists and other hate groups, sending it to Trump’s desk and forcing him to take a stance, as he hesitated to do after the Charlottesville rally.

The White House did not take an official stance Tuesday on whether Trump would do so.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. O’Reilly speaks from experience as a true demagogue.

  2. Avatar for mantan mantan says:

    Is that a stock photo or is Bill still surrounded with TV blue and his hovering multiples of his last name?

  3. I recently signed a resolution that Adam Sandler is a turd on the sidewalk of cinema. The “Cilantro is a Scourge” rider was vetoed by Miss Kitty. She has a thing for salsa, so I was overruled.

  4. Sez the man who wouldn’t know a scintilla of historical fact even if you shoved an entire 32-volume final print edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica up his smarmy ass.

  5. Another in a growing list of “Don’t blame Donald Trump, he’s too stupid to know what he’s doing” stories.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

64 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for deuce Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for matthew1961 Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for squirreltown Avatar for trumpdog Avatar for mantan Avatar for dont Avatar for sniffit Avatar for sickneffintired Avatar for harry_r_sohl Avatar for midnight_rambler Avatar for mrf Avatar for benthere Avatar for wagonmound Avatar for clauscph Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for tsp Avatar for rickjones Avatar for machoneman Avatar for sickofitall Avatar for dannysgrandma Avatar for a_real_american

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: