Bill O'Reilly on Confronting America | Hour 1

What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to the peak calendar show.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. I don't really need to do an introduction for my guest here, but I will. He is the legendary broadcaster for almost 50 years, three-time Emmy winner, host of the highest-ranked, highest-rated cable news broadcast, I believe, in American history. He's the best-selling author of like 20 different books, also a philanthropist and my father's favorite qualification. He's a fellow Long Islander, Bill O'Reilly. How are you, sir? Pete, thanks for having me back. And tell your dad I said hello. Well, he probably heard it already. So yeah, Levittown boy, you are. And you've got a new book. It's called Confronting America, What Has to Change. And I've read several of your previous books. We've talked with you about them before. This one struck me. You have a lot of personal stories and experiences and You know, you're naming names, as people say, and you're talking about these stories. And I'm assuming, like, that was the intention when you set out to write this? Yeah, it's eyewitness history. So I'm an old guy now, and I've seen it all for more than 50 years in the business. I know all the presidents. You know, my resume is very long. So it gets me angry that we have problems in this country that haven't been solved for decades. because we have lazy and apathetic leadership in Washington and in state capitals, every problem that we have in the USA could be solved. So I state the problem pretty clearly based upon my experiences as a high school teacher, as a war correspondent, you name it. And then I give you the solution, Pete. And the solution is usually not hard. Sometimes that rule is broken. particularly when you get into parenting. Parenting is a huge problem in America right now. But if these pinheads in power would care about these problems, like homelessness and crime, all of this, they could be solved. And so why do you think they don't solve it? You've said that we're a good people. We Americans are a good people, but we have to be rallied, and that requires good leaders. Is that all it comes down to? It comes down to the folks saying enough. And I hope this book is the fuse. For example, when you are elected to national office in D.C., it becomes a game for you. So the Democrats and the Republicans have to follow what their leadership tells them to do. And if you don't follow that, the money for reelection, your reelection, gets cut off. Or President Trump gets mad at you. Or you are blackballed by your own party when you want to introduce a bill. So if you're a legislator in North Carolina and you say, listen, we got to stop this homeless stuff. It's ruining our towns. And the Republican hierarchy says not now. We don't want to do this now. Then you got to go along with it or you get hosed. How much of that is is prioritization? Right. Because I mean, I guess. It takes a heavy lift sometimes to get some of this stuff across the finish line, right? Especially if you've got a very closely divided house, as we do. So you have to pick your battles. How much does that weigh into this? Well, Trump shattered that. So he governs as a populist, and it took him two months to seal the border. Yeah. And he did it. No Congress... None of that. One president, populist guy, outraged by Biden's policies that have led to death and destruction and fiscal calamity all over the USA. So Trump comes in and says, enough. I'm shutting it down. And he shut it down. That shows anybody, even if you hate him, how it can be done. Let's take the debt that nobody cares about. Yeah. $ 40 trillion. The solution to the national debt is very easy. You pass a balanced budget amendment. And why hasn't that been done? So your government does not spend more than the taxpayers provide every year. No exceptions. If that were passed, then why an amazing amount of money from all over the world would come into the United States as the dollar stabilized. I, you need a PhD in economics to understand it. I get it. Okay. But my point is these aren't difficult things to do, but there's no will to do them. So, uh, you write also about, um, religiosity and how the country is going secular. Why do you see that as a problem? Because of the stats. And this is a fact-based book. So when you read Confronting America, I back up everything I say. And I do this on my No Spin News broadcast. You know, Pete, you know me long enough to know what I do. Here in New York, where I am, it's the second largest Jewish community in the world. next to Israel. There is blatant anti-Semitism not only in New York, but all over the country. If you step back and look at the Jewish neighborhoods, street crime never happens. Never. Okay, so the culture of Judaism is that you don't hurt anybody. And so there is very little street crimes in those precincts. You go a mile left or a mile right, you've got crime all over the place. I'm a Roman Catholic. I can't say that about my faith. So you look at people who believe. And, you know, the Southern cliche was the Bible belt. So you look at that, and in every instance in a religious-based area, the crime is much lower. So the cliche is do the math. Believers do not hurt other people at the same level as non-believers. Right. That is indisputable. So what is the solution for that? Make everybody go to synagogue, I guess. Now you're going to throw in the mosques and the Muslims, but that is a perversion of Islam, what's going on in the world there. There is no solution to faith or parenting. The government cannot tell you that separation of church and state what faith to subscribe to. Can't do it. Government can't come into your house and make you a good parent. And we have millions of derelict parents. Abandonment, abuse, you name it. Very hard to stop that. And once you wreck... a child's beginning years, formative years, once the child becomes 13, 14 years old, no father in the house, no way for the mother or grandmother raising the child to control that kid. That's what generates most of the crime in this country. And then you have the miscreants who say, I'm going to do what I want. They're homeless drug addicts. So they'll camp out on your front lawn, all right, do the most horrendous things that they could possibly think of, right, in front of your children. And that's okay with San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities. Politicians, fine, go ahead. No. No. We're stopping that. There's going to be a civility to our society. And that's going to take Americans wising up. Stop with the dependence on government. Government is not going to make you prosperous. And if you don't understand that, maybe you're too stupid to be prosperous in any system. I've been saying for years, this is all a choice among Americans. All of this that we see, whether it's the corruption or the crime, these are, yeah. But the choice is skewed by they don't know anything, Pete. Yeah. Coming out of the public schools, you go Thomas Jefferson, they look at you like, what? What? You go, hey, how can you support progressive secular socialists? Why don't you go to Havana? They go, Havana? What about Havana? The public school system does not really educate our children. It basically babysits them. And they come out of there at the high school senior level, and many of them, not all the smart kids, prosper. And they just don't know anything. And those are the people that are going over to vote for the crazies, the El Saids, the Calaricos. You know, because they don't know. And a lot of them don't care to know because they spend their lives on social media. They get the phone in their hand 24-7. Well, where are the parents on that? How many restaurants have you been to, Pete and Charlotte, where you walk in, you see a family of four sitting around a table, and every one of them has a phone in their hand. They're not talking to each other. All the time. How many times have you seen that? That's all the time. Yeah, or you see people on a date or something, there's two of them sitting at the table and they're not even making eye contact. Right. Well, I can't control the dating area. But if you're a kid, my house, dinner time, no phone. No matter what. Okay? That's good parenting. Plenty of time for the phone later, and I did restrict. because I'm a mean guy, you know that, my children's consumption of social media, because a lot of it is deleterious to them, harmful to them. Now, again, that's a very tough lift for the government to do that, but they don't even try. There aren't any public service announcers. There isn't anything. It's like, yeah, do whatever you want. You don't want to pay attention to your country? Fine. You know, the government will run everything and tell you what to do. I don't want the government to tell me what to do, Pete. I don't know about you. Same. Yeah. Well, I think you sum it up when you say America will improve when Americans do. It is about people stepping up and, you know, governing themselves correctly, and then that translates to the society at large. Yeah, and bring some outrage to it. So that's why I wrote the book. I mean, if you read Confronting America, I mean, there is inevitably a social problem in that book that affects you directly. And then there's a solution to the problem. Well, go out and try to implement that solution. We still have local government here. You know, North Carolina is a very interesting state. So it used to be very bedrock conservative, and it isn't anymore. And I don't know, really, I suspect it's the educational system that's been infected, and that's why the turn came. But it could be bad governance by the Republican Party. I don't live there. I don't know. But if you're fed up with it, get in a school board. You know, get involved in your neighborhood. As you said, it's the only way it's going to change. Yeah, I've said if good, competent people don't... step up and volunteer their time and expertise, you're going to be governed by bad, incompetent people. And, you know, I understand. Yeah, go ahead. That's why I spent the time writing a book. Yeah. Great read. Yeah, it's cool. I'm going to let you go because we've kept you too long already, and I don't know if your people are going to get mad at me. Confronting America is the name of it. It's always a pleasure to talk with you. Anytime you need me, give me a call. I appreciate that. Bill O'Reilly, thanks so much. Check out his new book, Confronting America, What Has to Change. Take care, Bill. Okay, Pete. Thanks for having me. Take care, sir. Appreciate it. All right. For over a year now, you've heard me talking about Create-A-Video, great local company in Mint Hill that has helped more than 2 million families preserve their memories by turning old photos, VHS tapes, film reels, and slides into lasting keepsakes. Now, Creative Video is helping families and groups create brand new memories while they're traveling. Introducing group travel videos, perfect for family reunions, church mission trips, group vacations, destination weddings, student trips, senior adult. Groups, sports teams. 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You can email Katie. Katie at GroupTravelVideos.com. Group travel videos from old memories to new adventures, preserving life's moments for a lifetime. Let me get Mike on the program. Hello, Mike. Welcome to the show. Hey, I really liked Bill O'Reilly's comments, but he did make one that kind of set me back when he said separation of church and state. Mm hmm. And anybody that knows the Constitution knows that's not what it says. No, it's from a letter from Jefferson to the Baptist Convention of Virginia, I believe. Right. The Constitution says that we're not going to establish a religion. That the federal government won't. Many states did, though. Yeah. Yeah, okay. It's the federal government. Right, exactly. And.... I know that the liberals like to use that separation of church and state. Right. They use it in order to take Christianity out of the public square. Oh, definitely. Definitely. So anytime we can punch them in the mouth with the truth, that's a good day. Yeah. No, you're right. Mike, I appreciate the call, sir. All right. All right. Have a great weekend. Yeah. And I think, you know, that whole the separation of church and state language, again, came from Jefferson, not in the Constitution. Mike's exactly right. It's become shorthand, though, over the ensuing centuries. Well, century and a half, I guess, because I think the last state was like in the 1830s, Massachusetts, when they when they separated because they were using tax money to pay churches. So. So the states abandoned the state-supported churches as well after, you know, what, 60 years after the founding. Let me jump over. To the text line for some of your comments. Let's see if you have witty and entertaining things to say. First up is Timoteo, who says a country's people are the measure of its greatness. I agree. I agree. I agree. Um, Michael says what you and Bill O'Reilly discussed is so true in even more areas than just government. Uh, I agree. And, and I'm going to go over some of the different areas because the book that he wrote, it's not just about government. Like you heard him talk about parents. That's a big part of it. He talks about paid, uh, patriotism, um, talks about the sense of obligation to your country, talks about the fake news. Um, All right, back to Michael's text. He says, if competent people don't lead, we will be led by incompetent people. That's why I always volunteered to coach or participate in my kids' youth athletics. You should see some of the incompetent people there. I'd imagine so. But I've talked about this too personally. This is why I got involved with my HOA. And I know people are like, oh, the HOAs are terrible. Right. You know how you can make it not terrible? Join it. That's how you influence it. That's how you make it better. If it's terrible and you want to see it get better, then you should join it and then fix it. But you have to get involved. That's the thing. You have to actually do the work, which is he also talks about this in the book, which is about a good work ethic, doing the work. And this is sort of anti-blackpilling as well. Like he makes the argument that you can succeed, but you have, and to succeed, you got to be honest with other people, but also yourself, right? So you got to be honest. You got to work hard and you have to pay attention and learn. And that never stops. And he talks about, when he was a teacher in high school down in Florida and he would show the class a picture of all these mansions and say, oh, who wants to live there? And everybody's like, oh yeah, yeah, me, me. And then he shows them a picture of what looks like, you know, an American shantytown. And it's like one of the neighborhoods around the school. And who wants to live here? It's like, well, this is up to you. This is your choice. You can get out of this. And so this is why I push back on the black pilling. I push against this all the time that all is lost and we're powerless to improve ourselves and our society. And we are the oppressed. We are the victims. If you think like that, you will be correct. Okay. If you think that you cannot get ahead and you cannot succeed and you cannot better yourself and you cannot better your community, if that's what you think, then you will be correct. But if you take the alternative view that you can be better, you can succeed, you can improve yourself and your community, then you will also be correct. Henry Ford said this, whether you think you can or you can't, you're right. It's really all about a mindset. And then adhering to the things, right? Prioritizing the things that align with your goals. Like, do you have a five-year goal? What is it you want to do? If you have a goal, well, if you don't have a goal, sit down and think about it. And then when you come up with one, write it down and then tell people. Tell people what it is you want to achieve. And you would be shocked at how many people can help you achieve it and will offer to willingly help you achieve it. You may think this is crazy. but I have done this in my own life. I do this in my own life and it works. It's true. It works. But for some reason we want to be the crabs in the bucket that don't want anybody else to get out of the bucket or something. So we just drag them back down. And so then we all get cooked. No, you, you actually can articulate your goal to people. They will help you achieve it and you will be successful. That doesn't mean it's going to be easy. It just means you can achieve the goals you set out to achieve. You can do it. Um, Oh, Dean, let's see what you have to say. Yes, all the smart people know all the problems, but everything that builds character is hard. And unless they are personally motivated, we'll slowly keep taking the path of least resistance. Well, yeah, you're right, Dean, because that's the easiest path. Obviously, by definition, the path of least resistance is the easiest one. But it doesn't actually take you to your goal, right? Things will change when... when we are looking at the shark's teeth up close and have nowhere else to turn, maybe God and family, maybe the big AI God, or maybe the shark's belly, LOL. You are the resistance. Well, that was a good text message, Dean. Thank you. Um, Stanley says, say it isn't. So you mean there's incompetent people in HOAs? No comment. Jonathan says, what about the long-term impact of redlining and how it stopped black Americans from creating generational wealth? Yeah, Bill O'Reilly actually talks about this in the book. He talks about this. Obviously bad. Obviously a bad thing that people did in America, that the banks did in America. Obviously so. In fact, he talks about, you know, he grew up in Levittown, New York. It was basically the first HOA. And they banned black homeowners there. And that was obviously wrong and evil. My first house I bought in Charlotte, it had the same language in the deed, prohibiting the sale to or renting to or domicilation or whatever it's called of basically anybody who's not white. Obviously illegal now and obviously evil and wrong. So, but yeah, so what about it? What, like, I don't know. I mean, that's literally a whataboutism, Jonathan. So I'm not really sure, like, if you have a specific assertion to make, you should make it because I agree that redlining was wrong and it stopped black Americans from creating generational wealth 60 years ago. So, like, okay, so what about it? Are you saying black people don't own homes now? Because they do. They're creating generational wealth now and have been for several decades. So if you have an assertion, make the assertion. I don't know what it is you're fishing for there. So a couple of other highlights here from the book. I mentioned the education system in schools. He writes, Bill O'Reilly writes, the United States must improve its educational system We don't have to mimic some Asian nations where they drive students crazy, but schools cannot continue to accept antisocial behavior. Let's teach the urchins, or kids, lessons necessary for a successful life. That includes patriotism, personal responsibility, kindness, a search for knowledge. It's not that hard to do. Most American teachers understand that along with academics must come a sense of decency that must be highlighted in in the classroom. When it comes to race, he says, define race in these terms. Skin color does not matter. The evil legacy of slavery is real and barriers continue to exist, but in America, anybody can make it if you have the will and develop personal discipline. Role models should be cited. And then he lists, you know, President Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Marco Rubio, Thomas Sowell, I would add. Clarence Thomas. There are so many people that you can point to. The success list is endless in this country, and that has to be emphasized. Patriotism. This is important. All loyal Americans have a duty to their country. Simply celebrating the 4th of July is not going to cut it. The USA has freed billions of oppressed people all over the world at great sacrifice. Individual Americans have accomplished that. Our role in being a force for good should be emphasized in every school. And this is what the doomers and the black pillars would object to. Right. Oh, and the left, obviously, that we are not a force for good. How dare you say that? Look at all the bad things we did. Yes, people do bad things because they are human and governments do bad things in different periods of time in different locations. Absolutely. Why? Because governments are manmade institutions. They are staffed with humans. Humans do bad things. Absolutely. However, that does not mean that the United States has not done good things for a lot of people. This experiment that we've been running in self-governance also requires you and me and every American to care about the experiment. That's the point. It's self-governance. Now, you may not care. You may not take a role in your own self-governance. And then you would be the proof against the experimental idea that we don't need to have a ruler over us to tell us right from wrong and what's allowed and what's not and all of that. We can decide. We can govern ourselves. He goes on to say all of us have an obligation to help the nation. That's no longer in vogue, though. You may remember that President Kennedy said, ask now what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. We must get back to that wise command. He also goes after the news media. He says today there's a dangerous one-two combination taking place in our country. First, a preponderance of misinformation. Second, social media platforms that spread propaganda for profit. For the republic to survive... People need reliable information, not stupid videos on TikTok, the Tricom app, I would add. The corporate media has largely sold out for money. They routinely tell people what they want to hear, not what the truth indicates. The First Amendment protects them, but not from our scorn, right? I've heard Brett Winterbull talk about this, like bringing back public shaming. And this is part of the problem is that People have lost the sense of shame, whether it's in committing crimes or engaging in antisocial behavior of some kind, right? There's like people now like celebrate ignorance and antisocial behavior, and that is deleterious to the nation. He goes on to say in another chapter, generosity is the antidote to greed. There is far too much excess on display in America. He says, if you can help others do so, you're not always going to be rewarded, but so what? It's not about you. It's about trying to assist those who need it. No downside, right? And then he gives a personal message to Jeff Bezos and his wife. You don't need to spend $ 70 million on a wedding. Uh, As I said, he goes after some people by name in this book. Many people, actually, by name in this book. Yeah, you don't... Do you need to. Spend $ 70 million on a wedding? I mean, you can. I'm not telling you you can't. I'm just saying, should you? Should you? All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to ThePeteCalenderShow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.