“I used to call him Mr. Potato Head. Now I have to call him Mr. President.”
Bill O’Reilly took the stage as keynote speaker at the Centurion Jewelry Show in Scottsdale, Arizona Tuesday, speaking candidly about the economy, his career – and President Donald Trump.
Read some of O’Reilly’s most memorable soundbites below.
On Trump’s temperament:
“I’ve known Trump for 30 years. The man didn’t win on ideology or personality. He is compulsive, he needs to [act] with a little more subtlety. The thing you have to watch about Donald Trump is impulse… The impulse to strike back at people. [Trump] believes that America is unfair, and as president, he has to level the playing field. I used to call him Mr. Potato Head, now I have to call him Mr. President.”
On how Trump will affect business:
“He’s going to do what Reagan did, knock out the regulations. That will help small business. Long run, you don’t know. Short run, you should have a nice Christmas 2017.”
On Trump’s relationships with Mexico, China and Russia:
“Trump has to speak to Mexico like you would to your kid. You don’t embarrass them. He has to be firm, [but] he doesn’t do this the right way. ‘We want to love you, but you have to stop smuggling heroin.’ Same with China. There’s a billion and a half people there. ‘You’re going to take more of our products, you’re going to buy them. Or we’re not going to buy your products.’ Most people in China don’t have electricity. If you take away the little they have, they’re going to rise up. I don’t think Trump has figured that part [out] yet. Same with Putin. ‘Every time you do something we feel is harmful to the U.S., we’re going to do something twice as bad, because we’re more powerful than you.’ That’s how you deal with it. But you don’t deal with them publicly.”
On his Super Bowl Interview with President Trump:
“He called me [to ask]: ‘It’s going to be at halftime right?’ Let’s do [the interview] at Mara Lago.’ So he could play golf. We’re filming the interview Friday, but within Friday to Sunday, he could invade Somalia.”
On whether or not Trump will succeed as president:
“People ask me, ‘Are you optimistic about America? Do you think Trump will succeed?’ I don’t know. It’s a massive amount of power, and he doesn’t have the most patience. He’s a little rushed. And this is serious business. But I do believe he will jazz the economy, at least in the short term. They’re going to try [to impeach him]. I told him that himself. I said ‘They’re gonna try; you have to be real careful about what you’re going to do.'”
On the price of membership at Mar-a-Lago going up:
“Anyone who pays $200K to be a member of Mar-a-Lago is crazy.”
On the Women’s March:
“I was impressed by that (march). They just practiced democracy. They wanted to protest Trump. They don’t like him.”
On if he’d ever run for president:
“I would never run because… I’d much rather be your watchman. That’s much more rewarding to me.”
On why he became a journalist:
“The only reason I became a journalist is because I wanted to do something exciting. Every human being has talent. That’s why I believe in God. The key to life is figuring out what the gift is. And then you figure out ‘I have this talent, I like the talent, now I have to figure out a way to make money doing it.’ So you’re not taking a job that you hate. ‘What do I do well?’ I was given the gift of blarney, I can talk. Can I draw a flower? No. Can I write music? No. Can I put gas in my car? Barely. My tombstone will read ‘He finally stopped talking.'”
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