Bill O’Reilly struck a nerve Tuesday evening when discussing the judge in the Trump University case with Charles Krauthammer.
O’Reilly defended the sentiment behind Donald Trump’s comments. “Trump is drawing a conclusion that he doesn’t like me. That conclusion may be fallacious, as I told him. There’s no record, there’s no fact that this judge is prejudiced in any way, shape, or form. It’s not. But the folks should know all this, Charles. They should know every bit of it.”
“Of course it’s fallacious,” disputed Krauthammer. “You yourself said last night he appears to have confused the La Raza Lawyers Association with La Raza. And then you say in a wonderful bit of spin, it’s an understandable confusion. Why is it? Doesn’t he have a staff who could tell him about that? I thought he hires the best people in the world?”
Krauthammer’s voice developed more of an edge when adding, “you are admitting that he made a mistake as a result of a mistake. He then accuses the judge of being biased, and then as a result of that, the judge ought to recuse himself? What kind of logic is that?”
He also noted the significance of Republicans criticizing Trump. “It’s the fact that the Speaker of the House had said that what Trump had said, citing the ethnicity of the judge is a textbook case of racism. That is a serious charge from a man who cannot be called a liberal.”
O’Reilly challenged Krauthammer on his assertion, arguing Trump would have attacked the judge if he was of another race. Krauthammer shot back, “I am not talking about what’s inside his heart. Is he a racist or not? You know him, you say he is not. That’s not the point. When you are running for president and you make statements that are on the face of it racist, and the Speaker of the House of your own party says so, that’s what counts. I don’t care what’s in your heart. I’m a psychiatrist. No one can know what’s in your heart. What’s important is what you say and what you do.”
O’Reilly also asserted that, “the reason that Ryan and all the other Republicans are making a deal out of it, is because they have to win seats in the House and the Senate. And they can’t afford to alienate hispanic voters across the board. That’s why they are doing it. It’s another political play.”
“You appear to know the motives of every actor on the scene,” said Krauthammer.
O’Reilly laughed, “that’s a gift I have.”
“Yeah. I know,” replied Krauthammer. “It’s interesting that you did this without any psychiatric or medical training at all… you are an example to all those of us to trained in the field. But we acquired some humility in training, know how hard it is to understand why. We are talking here about facts. It was a racist statement. It’s undeniable racist statement. And it isn’t just a mistake, a tactical mistake. It is something quite revealing and quite scary in a country where you don’t call a fellow citizen a Mexican who was raised, born in Indiana and was appointed by Arnold Schwarzenegger who’s called him a hero because of the way he stood up to the Mexican cartel.”
Watch the full clip here:
