Bill O'Reilly: Anthem protesters disrespecting flag, country

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Bill O'Reilly: Anthem protesters disrespecting flag, country

'Killing England' author sounds off on the NFL controversy on 'Hannity'

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," September 26, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: It's coming. It's coming. All right. Thanks, Tucker, it's always a great show.

And welcome to "Hannity." Yes. Bill O'Reilly will be joining us right here in studio. We will be talking about the NFL national anthem controversy. The mainstream media. The political world. Donald Trump and his brand new book. A best-seller. "Killing England."

Also, Michelle Malkin is here. She will join us in a few minutes.

But first, President Trump doubling down on his criticism of NFL national anthem protesters by defending the military, and the flag and the anthem and those who keep us safe. All while the Democrats, the liberal mainstream destroy Trump media, they do what they always do. What are they doing? Making this about race when it's not. And that is tonight's very important breaking news Opening Monologue.

So, first tonight I want to take a few moments and I want to thank all of you for your support and your loyalty. Last night you did make this show number one in cable by far. You know, there's a lot of people and the mainstream media on the left, they want the voice of this show silenced, they want your voices silenced. And by the way, there are even efforts this very day silence and boycott and they want to get me fired. This threat is very real.

Here is the sad truth. If you're a conservative and have a conservative worldview, people in the media today, guess what? There are people that paid a lot of money, well-funded to sit and watch every single second, minute of every single day in the hopes that I say one word, one phrase, one sentence that they deem politically incorrect and then they can use it to get me fired.

Now with that said, every night, I made a promise last night to you. We will not stop on this program until my dying breath as long as they'll have me to give you news and strong opinion and information you won't get anywhere else. We do hope that you and your friends, you'll tell your friends to join us every single night, we hope you set your DVR. Again I thank you.

And now tonight's top story. President Trump, he is refusing to back down. He is now calling out the NFL national anthem protesters who are disrespecting the flag, the military and our country. Here is what the President said earlier today in the Rose Garden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I was at Walter Reed hospital recently. And I saw so many great young people and they are missing legs and they're missing arms and they've been so badly injured. And they were fighting for our country, they were fighting for our flag, they were fighting for our national anthem. And for people to disrespect that by kneeling during the playing of our national anthem I think is disgraceful.

I think it's a very important thing for the NFL to not allow people to kneel during the playing of our national anthem. To respect our country and to respect our flag.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, the president is dead on when it comes to this kneeling issue. The national anthem, the flag is about saluting, honoring our military. Remember, it was written after the battle of Fort McHenry. And for all the president's critics out there, "Oh, he shouldn't talk about this," he was right to call attention to this issue.

So, all these NFL players coaches, owners, the ones that are kneeling because of apparent social injustice or protest the president himself or to raise awareness for whatever other leftist issues they may be promoting, well, I make the argument they're completely uninformed. If they are about inclusion and unity and understanding, then why don't they sit down with the brave men and women who fought and bled for this country? Maybe they should learn why every American should proudly stand for the flag, for "The Star Spangled Banner." Why don't they talk to the mothers and fathers -- I've interviewed them -- who lost their sons and daughters or why don't they talk to those who had their limbs blown off fighting for this country. I'm pretty sure they would be happy to explain why people should in fact stand.

This is about respect. This is about respect for the military, for our country, for our flag and those who fought under that flag. It is plain and simple, which is why these acts of protest are beyond disrespectful.

Now, if some NFL players, coaches, owners, you want to keep doing it, you go for it. But here is my prediction: people are going to continue to change the channel and they'll stay home on football Sunday. And like I said last night, Saturday is now my official football day unless and until this is resolved.

And according to the Wall Street Journal, Direct TV is now letting at least some customers cancel subscriptions to its Sunday ticket package of NFL games and obtain refunds if they cite players national anthem protests as the reason. Also, look at what is happening around the country. Look at this. People who spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on NFL memorabilia, they are burning their jerseys. They were the once prized possessions and treasures, they are that upset.

Now, while President Trump is defending the flag, the military, Republicans like Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who will be on the show tomorrow night, are coming out and they are supporting the president. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN, R-WIS.: People are clearly within their rights to express themselves how they see fit. My own view though is, we shouldn't do it on the anthem. The national anthem, our flag, and the people who defend it and represent it, that should be celebrated everywhere and always. And that's my opinion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And the Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he is also backing the president. Watch what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF SESSIONS, ATTORNEY GENERAL: President of the United States has free speech. He believes and I believe that people should take a moment before a football game and stand when the national anthem is played. What's wrong with that? It's not political, it is not an affirmation of Trump or Hillary Clinton or any other agenda. It is simply an affirmation and respect for the United States of America and this great heritage of freedom and for these football players' prosperity that they have. So, I think that's a perfectly appropriate thing for the president to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: So, taking the knee or staying in a locker room during the national anthem, you know what? That is pretty easy to do. Addressing real problems that impact real people and doing something about that is a lot harder.

Let's start by helping the people we always talk about, the millions of forgotten men and women in this country. Fifty million Americans in poverty, 50 million on food stamps, ninety plus million Americans out of the labor force. The NFL, you want to continue to disrespect the country, the military -- well, that's giving players by the way and owners the opportunity to make millions and even in some cases billions of dollars -- then it is time to stop taking hand-outs from the American taxpayers.

I doubt you'll hear this elsewhere in the media. Let's look at the numbers. The average public subsidy for an NFL stadium is $266 million taxpayer dollars. Since the year 2000 it is estimated $3.2 billion in federal taxpayer money has gone to help build private sports stadiums. And then you factor in local and state funding for stadiums. Well, that number grows to $5.9 billion and $6.7 billion, that is over just the last 20 years.

And if that's not shocking enough, well, there is the NFL's paid patriotism scandal. There was a Senate report, if found, that from the years 2012 to 2015, the Department of Defense, they actually paid the NFL $6.1 million to honor troops and for recruiting promotions. Now, the league did pay back $700,000 of that, but only after coming under intense criticism. What about the rest of the money? Now, those numbers are astounding.

Now if some in the NFL, they don't want to stand, they don't want to honor the flag, the country, the military, then stop taking all the money from the American people. Because let's be honest, you know what? They don't need it in the NFL.

Now, while this national anthem issue is clearly about respecting the military, the country, our flag, well, the Democrats and members of the mainstream left wing establishment, ideological media predictably are trying to make this all about race. This is what they always do. It's part of their playbook. I pointed out so many times on this program. Every two years, every four years, the Democratic Party plays the race card creating division and causing unrest in the country.

And I played those spots and SOTs over and over again. And now Democrats are doing the same thing with the national anthem protest. They're also using this opportunity to attack President Trump. Watch this from just two prominent Democrats. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES, D-N.Y.: He went down to the heart of Dixie in Alabama before an all-white or mostly white crowd, the good old boys, so to speak, and he engaged in what many of us I think can fairly call race baiting.

The president of the United States chose to pull the sheets off and reveal himself in terms of his tendency to be a racial arsonist.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD: It is quite telling that he is willing to attack black athletes. He never says anything of an insulting manner toward white supremacists or neo-Nazis or Ku Klux Klanners or Vladimir Putin. Right?

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

HANNITY: And of course the destroy Trump establishment media, they are not far behind an echoing everything the Democrats say. All of their talking points. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: If anyone actually believes this is about the flag, then you must believe Rosa Park's protest was about a bus.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN: I think he is playing along with white identity politics as sort of white grievance politics, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, CNN: We've heard this language before from white people in the Deep South referring to African-Americans and specifically black athletes who they feel is taking their place. And so, this wasn't a dog whistle. This was a bull horn.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC: But clearly it is ethnic, you think it is. Is he picking his ethnic enemies?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has walked into a fight that was about race and he knew it was about race. And there is no way you could call it anything else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, MSNBC: So, let me say it. I want to help him out. He is a racist. In fact, he came as close as he could possibly come to shouting in a rally the n-word. That's what he did down there.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

HANNITY: Fake news, conspiracy news and the left is in a total frenzy over this and they are desperately trying to score as many cheap political points as possible. Democratic lawmakers, Maxine Waters, Al Green, they are actually calling for President Trump's impeachment over his NFL comments. Really? Watch this insanity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

REP. MAXINE WATERS, D-CALIF., MSNBC: He started dog whistling to that constituency during the campaign and started his division and don't forget Bannon said, when it's about race, we win because they frighten people, they play into racism. I hope people understand it's about all of this that he should not be the president of the United States of America. And we have to get ready for impeachment.

REP. AL GREEN, D-TEXAS: Mr. Speaker, I denounce the comments that were made and I rise to announce that on next week, Mr. Speaker, I will bring a privileged resolution before the Congress of the United States of America. I will stand here in the well of the Congress and I will call for the impeachment of the President of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

HANNITY: So pathetic, so predictable. Two Democrats, they even took a knee on the House floor as a show of solidarity with the NFL protestors. Let's watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

REP. SHELIA JACKSON LEE, D-TEXAS: You tell me which of those children's mothers or the son -- that is racism. You cannot deny it. You cannot not run for it and I kneel in honor of them. I kneel.

REP. MARK POCAN, D-WIS.: So, I join so many now in the NFL and elsewhere in taking a knee for the America that we all aspire it to be.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

HANNITY: So, the Democrats' fake moral outrage, it knows no bounds. They will literally do and say anything to try to damage and delegitimize President Trump. They've been doing it since last November. And that includes playing the race card every single chance they get even though President Trump has explicitly said that his criticism of the NFL has nothing to do with race. It's about patriotism and it should be obvious to everyone except, of course, those that want to play the race card like they do in every two and four years.

President Trump never mentioned race when he called out the NFL because it has nothing to do with race. And since Democrats, they are claiming President Trump is trying to create a racial divide in this country, well, we have to ask, where was the outrage when President Obama was jumping to conclusions without any facts or information, high-profile race cases in this country, and saying outrageous things that did have an impact on the public? You may remember this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

THEN-PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, JULY 22, 2009: The Cambridge police acted stupidly.

There is a long history in this country of African- Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact.

OBAMA, JULY 19, 2013: When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.

OBAMA, SEPT. 27, 2014: And we have to close the justice gap. How justice is applied but also how it is perceived, how it is experienced.

That's what we saw in Ferguson this summer when Michael Brown was killed and the community was divided.

Stains the heart of black children who feel as if no matter what he does, he will always be under suspicion.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

HANNITY: Rush judgments, rushing to judgment, no evidence, no belief that somebody is innocent until they're proven guilty. And we can go back even further to Barack Obama's book, "Dreams of my Father." The media never pointed it out, we did, where he quoted the reverend from the church of G-d America. Jeremiah Wright. Listen to then candidate Obama saying this.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

OBAMA: It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks' greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in the another hemisphere.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HANNITY: These are things you'll never hear and see from members of the mainstream media because, you know what? They're so abusively biased and corrupt. But by the way, they want to silence shows like this and they work hard at it.

For example, where was the left rushing to condemn those comments? He wasn't a candidate but he was in politics. They didn't do it because playing the race card, dividing the country along racial lines is how Democrats think they need to win and get votes. You know what? They just do whatever they want and they'll never change, sadly, because it is not good for the country.

But people I think now are on to their game. It is getting old, it's pretty disgusting. So, tonight, we have a challenge for the left. Instead of you trying to take down President Trump 24/7, 365, exploiting this NFL issue, why don't you stand up for things that matter? Our country, our flag, our brave men and women who fight and bleed and die for all of our freedoms?

All right. Joining us now, the host "Michelle Malkin Investigates" on CRTV Michelle Malkin. Michelle, welcome back. Thanks for joining us. What are your thoughts?

MICHELLE MALKIN, MICHELLE MALKIN INVESTIGATES HOST: Well, I think you have it exactly right, Sean. The resistance movement has jumped the shark and the race baiting that you have outlined here is so noxious and it is a shame that so many NFL leaders and the NFL brass have put themselves squarely on the wrong side of the majority of Americans who act every day in good faith. I've heard such an outcry from people in my email box and I'm sure you have on your show and who watch your show on both TV and radio, Sean, for military families especially.

And it was very symbolic and important that Donald Trump this weekend declared Sunday gold star mothers and families day because these are the forgotten people that you've already paid tribute to and are talking about, Sean. Somebody sent me a very moving picture which I posted on my Instagram that said, we stand for the flag, we kneel for the fallen. And the fact that you had so few NFL players who had the guts to do that, it just shows you how much the social justice mob has hijacked not just the sports industry but the entertainment industry as well. And they're paying for it.

Bottom-line, viewership is down, attendance is down, advertising is down. And if they keep doubling down on stupid, NFL is going to stand for no fans left.

HANNITY: What about the average pay for men and women in the service? And again, they're risking their lives. It's around $40,000. What about the average NFL player? Their average salary is 2.44 million a year. I'll grant you they have short careers, average career three or four years. That's not the point. That's a lot of money and families pay a lot of money to go see these games. So, I'm kind of trying to understand, do they not get that this is a big deal for a lot of people? And that this is going to backfire against them?

MALKIN: Yes. There is a huge disconnect here between the elites of the entertainment and sports industry and the people who pay their salaries and who consume their products. And again, this is an industry-wide thing. It's the same reason why you see the summer box office movie was a bomb. All of these awards shows for entertainment. All of their viewership is down. You cannot afford to insult the very customer base that keeps you afloat.

And lasts for long. And I think you made a very transient point, a point I've made for years, Sean, about how the NFL is essentially a quasi-public entity. Subsidized to the tune of billions of dollars at the local, state and federal level. So, for all of these fair weather friends of the corporate free speech and First Amendment now to be up in arms about the President criticizing them because they are so-called private entity. Give me a break. What a joke. The NFL hogs have had their noses in the trough of the public for decades now and yes, they are going to be held accountable by taxpayers.

HANNITY: All right. Michelle, well said as always. Good to see you. Thank you for being with us. When we come back, Bill O'Reilly, he's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." Joining us is now a man who needs no introduction. Author of now the best-selling book, "Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence," Bill O'Reilly. How are you? It's good to see you.

BILL O'REILLY, AUTHOR, "KILLING ENGLAND": Hey. I'm here. I'm alive and the spin stops here right now.

HANNITY: Whoa, whoa, whoa, you've got to -- you've got go all the way back like you did it. People want to see it.

O'REILLY: No, no, no. (INAUDIBLE)

Thank you.

HANNITY: How are you? And do you miss the daily grind of --

O'REILLY: No, I was in the ocean all summer, and I had a great time. I'm fine, I'm teed off. But first, I want to tell everybody --

HANNITY: Uh-oh.

O'REILLY: -- last night, "Hannity" kicked MSNBC's butt.

HANNITY: No, no, say it. You can say ass.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: He has taken over. Five seconds in.

O'REILLY: Stop. OK, didn't beat that woman, didn't eke by, slaughtered here. And here's a reason, the people -- and I'm a person, I know some people don't believe that -- are angry about the NFL because the much bigger story than football players.

And I want to address this comment to the NFL players today and they'll get this. When the Jaguars and Ravens were over in London and they kneeled down on a foreign soil and then they stood up for the British national anthem --

HANNITY: God save the queen.

O'REILLY: -- I was angry and sad because I don't believe those players know what they are doing. About 3,000 miles east of you, there are American military people in Kandahar, Afghanistan, whose entertainment revolves around the Armed Forces Network that broadcasts football games.

Now, I was over there in seven. I watched football games with them. Can you imagine putting your life on the line in Afghanistan and having just the leisure time and wanting the watch a football game and seeing your players, your American players, disrespect the country and the flag on foreign soil? Can you imagine how painful that was?

HANNITY: How could they possibly not know?

O'REILLY: They don't know.

HANNITY: Why do you give --

O'REILLY: They don't know.

HANNITY: Most of these players do -- they are the best of the best. I have great respect for their athletic talent, their ability, their agility, their hard work. They went to college, Bill. Those kids played college ball.

O'REILLY: It's a mob mentality. It is anti-Trump demonstration, that's what's morphed into.

But there's two kinds of dissent and nobody is saying the players don't have a right to their opinion about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. You do.

And if you want to feel America is an evil country where the white supremacists stalk innocent blacks, if you want to believe that, you're free to believe it. But it's not true. It's not true.

So, there's informed dissent and then there's pack dissent, when that's what we're into now, pack dissent. OK. So, he says one thing, I say another. And the league and the owners have lost control of it.

But the American people I firmly believe 65 percent, maybe 70 percent of the American people do not like this situation, are offended by this situation.

HANNITY: How much of this is related? I played President Obama. He rushed to judgment when it came to Baltimore and Freddie Gray and it never happened "hands up, don't shoot". And Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman.

Now, I learned when I was in Atlanta, a local radio guy, you don't rush to judgment. That was in the Richard Jewel case. But the president at the time rushed to judgment. That narrative, people believe "hands up, don't shoot" happened.

O'REILLY: A lot of people believe propaganda and there's nothing we can do about it. I mean, one of the reasons I wrote "Killing England" is that everybody can know what really happened and how we got our freedom.

I'd love to go to every NFL locker room and give these guys the book. Would they read the book? Most of them would not, because again, they're caught up in emotion. This is emotion what's happening now.

But the wider picture is -- and you pointed it out in your monologue. The far left wants to drive the narrative that the USA is an evil country. Why? They want to change everything -- the Constitution, the economic system, the leadership, the electoral system. They want across the board change.

HANNITY: I want to get to that.

O'REILLY: They use stuff like this.

HANNITY: To do it.

O'REILLY: They use it. These players are being used.

HANNITY: Where does this, on your opinion, all end? I think they're in a quandary. They're in a dilemma now.

We kind of tried to see the Dallas Cowboys threading the needle. Look at the average family. I grew up in a small Cape Cod house, three older sisters, one bathroom. By the way, Bill, that's hell on earth.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: Fifty by a hundred lot, seriously. Franklin Square, you know where I grew up.

O'REILLY: Yes.

HANNITY: I grew up there. If you take a family of four to a football game, basketball game, baseball game -- all right, average ticket about 100 bucks.

O'REILLY: It's a grand.

HANNITY: OK, it's close to a grand.

O'REILLY: It's grand.

HANNITY: You buy hot dogs.

O'REILLY: Yes.

HANNITY: You buy a jersey.

O'REILLY: Yes.

HANNITY: You buy all this stuff, it is so much money and people literally sacrifice and save for that. How are they going to react? How does this end?

O'REILLY: Well, first of all, the league is going to have to do something. And what they should do as I wrote -- I wrote a column for The Hill about it -- is say to the players, we know that some of you don't like the country or want to get a point across, but this is the wrong forum, right? This is not the forum to do it. So, if you don't want to stand up for the National anthem, stay in the locker room and then come out. We don't want any political demonstrations because we don't allow pro-American demonstrations.

The league does not allow that. There were many Giant players, New York Giant and Jet players, that after 9/11 wanted to show on their uniform their solidarity --

HANNITY: Absolutely.

O'REILLY: -- with the family. They wouldn't allow it.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: We have the slaughter of cops in Dallas.

O'REILLY: They wouldn't allow it.

HANNITY: The Cowboys wanted to honor the local police. They wouldn't let them.

O'REILLY: They wouldn't let them.

So, you've got to be consistent. So, the league says, all right, you guys who don't want to stand up for the national anthem, you stay in the locker. After it's over, you can come out. That's it, OK, all right?

HANNITY: Well, certainly, it wouldn't be selective enforcement of the rules.

Let me ask you a broader, bigger question, because you talked about this for many years on your show. I know you have your podcast now and your columns. But every two and four years and then when we have these other bigger issues emerge, the issue of race, it is used as a wedge issue.

O'REILLY: Sure.

HANNITY: The Missouri radio ad that said if you elect Republicans, black churches are going to burn. The James Byrd (ph) ad, Al Gore saying when he's running for president to a predominantly black audience, Republicans have the wrong agenda for African-Americans, changing its cadence. They don't even want to count you in the census.

That is a lie. And it divides the country. And it's dividing the country along racial lines --

O'REILLY: Sure. Absolutely.

HANNITY: -- in a way that is hurtful to the country.

O'REILLY: And then the media drives it and entertainers drive it. But there is a reason why it's happening.

A year ago, you did not hear the words white supremacist. Didn't hear it. Nobody heard it. It was white privilege.

And in my Levittown neighborhood, about eight miles away from Hannity's Franklin Square neighborhood --

HANNITY: No, I was miles away.

O'REILLY: -- I had guys, you know, in undershirts that are falling apart going, where is my white privilege, all right? OK, that's what you had a year ago.

It's morphed into white supremacists now and people are buying it. Why? Because the far left agents, and I think they're evil, want to destroy the Constitution, in the sense that they want it all changed.

Who forged it? Slave owners, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, we can't have a Constitution which they made. We have to have a new one. That's the endgame.

HANNITY: You were on my radio show and I think this was the most important point you made that I agreed with that I think is the most dangerous for the country, because you took on the monument issue. Now, you can add the NFL issue --

O'REILLY: Right.

HANNITY: -- and institutions in this country that are under fire every day. I'll add to that the two to four-year playing of the race card, the only -- one of the big weapons in the playbook of the Democrats.

But ultimately, you say if they get rid of the monuments, they get rid of our history, they can take knee during the anthem and diss the flag, then, ultimately, it's really the Constitution they want to change.

O'REILLY: That's right.

HANNITY: I want you to make that point.

O'REILLY: They're after a -- they don't want capitalism. They don't want the Electoral College. They don't want white people generally calling the shots. So, they have to mobilize minority Americans to be angry.

You know, we did this on billorielly.com almost every night. I'm paralleling you on our Website. But if you understand history, and most people don't.

HANNITY: I want to get to that. I don't mean to interrupt. You know what my favorite part of the game is usually, in the end of the game, you have the best of the best warriors battling it out, fighting, they get in a circle and say a prayer, Bill.

O'REILLY: Right. This is football you're talking about.

HANNITY: In football.

O'REILLY: Yes.

HANNITY: Stay right there. We have some breaking news out of The Associated Press now, out of Alabama. Roy Moore has won the Alabama GOP primary runoff. I've said this is a referendum on Mitch McConnell. We'll explain.

We'll talk about President Trump. We'll talk about the country. We'll talk about Congress and the media, which is more corrupt than any institution, straight ahead.

(BREAK)

HANNITY: And this is a Fox News alert. The Associated Press projecting that Roy Moore will win the Alabama Senate runoff as we continue with the author of the bestselling book "Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence." Bill O'Reilly is with us.

I'd say that's a referendum on McConnell.

O'REILLY: Yes. The folks are mad. They want conservative elected officials.

Moore, very famous in Alabama. I knew he was going to win from the jump. And I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing. We'll see how he performs.

HANNITY: I want to ask you about the media. I haven't seen so institution in America that is so corrupt, so bitterly ideological, so one sided that never talk about -- you always said the folks -- I talk about the forgotten men and women, people that came from our background or worse.

O'REILLY: Yes.

HANNITY: They never talk about them. All they want to do is destroy this president 24/7, 365 conspiracy theories. I'm loving to hear what you think about it.

O'REILLY: Not only do they want to destroy President Trump, but anyone who voted for him.

HANNITY: Anyone who supports him on air.

O'REILLY: Or gives him a fair shot. It just goes across the board.

Look, we're living in a time where there are no more journalistic rules. And I can back up that 50 different ways, but I'm not going to bore everybody tonight, but I will someday.

There are no rules anymore. So, your major urban newspapers aren't newspapers. They're left wing journals and they coordinate. And the people on the cable news shows on the other channels, they're left wing top to bottom. If you wear a "Make America Great" hat into "The New York Times" tomorrow and you work there, you're not going to be working there much longer, all right?

It's very, very intense. Very intense. But what's happened now is big money has poured in to organizations like Media Matters. Do you know they threatened you and me if they did this segment tonight? Media Matters threatened us.

HANNITY: They threatened me for just having -- allowing you to have a voice.

O'REILLY: Yes, just to have the segment --

HANNITY: Just to have the segment.

O'REILLY: -- we were threatened, OK?

HANNITY: Yes, we were.

O'REILLY: Because totalitarians want to wipe out any speech with which they disagree.

HANNITY: See, I call them liberal fascists, because that's what they are.

O'REILLY: Yes, that's a good description.

HANNITY: The most tolerant people as it comes to speech, we defend Bill Maher. I hate Bill Maher.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: I never in my life --

O'REILLY: You don't know the real Bill.

HANNITY: Oh, you do. You're buddies with him. I can't stand him.

I've never said that Kathy Griffin should be fired or any -- I don't say that -- I don't care what they say.

O'REILLY: And you don't call for boycotts.

HANNITY: Turn the dial.

O'REILLY: There isn't a right win cabal that does that.

HANNITY: No.

O'REILLY: I mean, the right can get hateful, everybody knows that. I mean, they can. But there is not an organization that goes out and threatens people and boycotts sponsors.

Now, here's the insidious part. That's bad enough, all right? There are millions of dollars behind that. And those people who are doing it are being paid to do it. Big money.

Wait, wait --

HANNITY: No, go ahead. Go ahead.

O'REILLY: Sharyl Attkisson's book "Smear", you've got to read it. This is a brilliant woman, an honest reporter who used to work at CBS. The book is "Smear". It will document A to Z this big money and these people will do anything.

HANNITY: Bill, every minute of every day -- we have Rush on later this week. Every prominent conservative voice is recorded. They're paid to record. They're paid to transcribe. They're paid to look for the one word, sentence, phrase that they can then use to attack either advertisers or others.

O'REILLY: Advertisers, that's insidious.

HANNITY: And it works. Let's be honest. It has worked in the past.

O'REILLY: Well, now, Hannity and I have discussed this off-camera. And we're going to fight back. And you, I have to give you all the credit in the world. You fought back when they came after you last spring. I didn't and I should have.

But anyway, this is so dangerous to the country. People don't know how dangerous this is because most people aren't engaged. They don't pay attention. They just hear things.

And these propaganda people throw this stuff out as fact where it lies across the board.

HANNITY: Let me move on. Let me ask you, your -- I think the president who's done a great job in terms of doing everything that he promised that he is able to do on his own. I've never seen more impotent people, more ineffective people. People that can't keep simple promises like repealing and replacing and getting it done.

You talk about the folks. It's hurting the forgotten men and women that --

O'REILLY: Certainly in Arizona.

HANNITY: -- defined this election.

O'REILLY: Certainly in Arizona, there's no doubt about it. I was very surprised John McCain and I respect John McCain, known him for a long time.

HANNITY: I have a video of him. I can play this video.

O'REILLY: No, everybody knows that he said it, but I think it was personal.

HANNITY: Sadly.

O'REILLY: I think that Donald Trump angered him and, look, you can't blame McCain for that. What Trump said about McCain was out of line. I said it on "The Factor". I told Trump to his face, out of line, OK?

But sometime down the road if you're John McCain, you've got to say, what's the greater good? What's the greater good? To help my people in Arizona who are paying far too much for their health insurance, or to stick it to a guy I don't like.

HANNITY: Why do people not only defeat the president politically, they want to destroy him and delegitimize him.

O'REILLY: Well, I told they're going to jump (ph), I had the first interview when he declared and I said they're going to come after you because what Trump does is that he goes right to the people. You don't need the big media. Trump -- and that's what he is doing with the NFL. Trump is going right to the people.

And he knows and I think he is right, that most people are agreeing with him. He is going to win that, all right? So he goes around the media. It's the worst thing you can do to the media.

HANNITY: The media in many ways is dying before our very eyes.

O'REILLY: It is.

HANNITY: I don't think they recover from the abuse -- have you heard the conspiracy theories? It is the most bizarre, Russia, Russia, Russia, Bill, 24/7, again to hurt the president. In the process, it's not only the president that gets hurt. It's nothing gets done for the country.

O'REILLY: Well, wait until you see what Paul Manafort gets indicted which I think --

HANNITY: It's going to happen.

O'REILLY: Which I think is going to happen.

HANNITY: I think it's going to happen, sadly.

O'REILLY: So, I think you're right in the sense that fair minded people, not conservatives and liberals, because there are liberals who are very good and very fair, right? The fair minded people know there's no objectivity in the media anymore.

HANNITY: Name five fair Democratic senators and congressmen. Was there one that's willing to work --

O'REILLY: Manchin is a fair guy in West Virginia.

HANNITY: What does Manchin -- he is not reaching out with President Trump on healthcare?

O'REILLY: You know why? All right. You want to know?

HANNITY: Because Schumer won't let him.

O'REILLY: Well, that's right. Senator Schumer from New York has told all of the Democratic senators two things -- unless you vote straight party line with us, we will run someone against you in the primary and we will cut off all your money so that you will not have money from the DNC to campaign.

Every senator has gotten that message, all right? So, on close calls, they're going to go with Schumer.

Now, I think on the tax cut --

HANNITY: They might get some, with infrastructure.

O'REILLY: They might get three or four Democrats.

HANNITY: Three or four?

O'REILLY: But he's going to have three or four Republicans say no. I guarantee you, Susan Collins of Maine. I guarantee -- she should be a Democrat.

HANNITY: How about we work for the people? You know what? The people --

O'REILLY: That's right. Absolutely right.

HANNITY: They're not public servants anymore, Bill. They're not serving the public anymore.

O'REILLY: They're serving themselves, but that's nothing new.

HANNITY: Well, not this bad. I have never seen the vitriol. And, look --

O'REILLY: Because Trump is an outsider.

HANNITY: -- we started on this channel 23 years ago, it's never been this bad, ever.

O'REILLY: I've got to tell you -- in the 20 years and six months I worked for FNC, I was attacked every single day of my life. Every day.

HANNITY: By the way, you (ph) must say, bull's-eye, the two Irish guys.

O'REILLY: Yes.

HANNITY: All right. We've got to take a break.

I want to talk about this. Something -- I want to go back to your book. When you talk about institutions today, there's a lot of parallels to what you are writing about that I think we can learn from.

O'REILLY: Yes, Dallas -- the Dallas school board. I want to get into that.

HANNITY: We'll get into that.

O'REILLY: Yes.

HANNITY: All right. More with Bill O'Reilly right after the break. Stay with us.

(BREAK)

HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity," as we continue now with the author of "Killing England". You know him well. Bill O'Reilly is with us.

So I want to go back to this point, because you talked about being a culture warrior. The NFL is a cultural issue. When we're talking about tearing down memorials or breaking up history or acting as though it didn't happen --

O'REILLY: Right.

HANNITY: -- I always say, though, that this is the greatest country God has given man that has accumulated more power, never abused it less and used its power to advance the human condition.

So, here is my question for you. You talk in this book about once you break down those cultural institutions, really they are setting the country up to say that the whole country is predicated on evil.

O'REILLY: White supremacy, that's what it's about.

HANNITY: And the Constitution is their target.

O'REILLY: Right. You got it figured out.

HANNITY: And compare it to what you say in the book and the parallels.

O'REILLY: So, I came out with "Killing England" a week ago, almost the same day the Dallas, Texas School Board started debating whether to remove the names of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin from their schools. How shocking is that?

So, on the cover of my book, you have Washington, Jefferson and Franklin. And we tell you who they are as men, as people, both the good and the bad.

HANNITY: By the way, very blunt.

O'REILLY: You know me.

HANNITY: Ben Franklin, give one example.

O'REILLY: Well, Ben Franklin was the Hugh Hefner of his time. When you feel this guy --

HANNITY: That's one way to say it, Bill.

O'REILLY: Right. I mean, the energy this guy had, talk about the kite. That wasn't half of it.

But anyway, you've got to -- you've got to -- who is going to stop -- who's going to stop this madness? You. You the American people.

You have to go to the Dallas school board meeting and you have to say, I know who George Washington was and Thomas Jefferson. Yes, they were slave holders, but this is what they did to give Hannity and O'Reilly the freedom to talk to millions of people and this is how they suffered. They suffered.

HANNITY: Agreed. But is it -- look, all have sinned and fallen short.

O'REILLY: Every man does.

HANNITY: Every man --

O'REILLY: Right.

HANNITY: -- has sinned and fallen short.

I look at myself first, guilty as charged.

No country is perfect. I think the most intriguing thing that never gets talked about of our founders and our framers is they created a system unlike any other --

O'REILLY: Right.

HANNITY: -- where they built into the system, the ability of the people, we, the people, to right wrongs, to end evil and correct injustices. And history, Bill, has proven it worked.

O'REILLY: And you should see the price they paid, the price that George Washington paid for eight years of war against the king.

The one flaw was slavery. But in the civil war, hundreds of thousands of whites died -- died to free the slaves.

So, this isn't a white supremacist nation. This is the biggest bunch of bull I've ever heard. So, I want to give people, I want to make them armed and dangerous with facts. Read "Killing England", you'll know who they were, you know why this country, as you say, is the greatest country ever.

HANNITY: You know, 650,000-plus people loss their lives in the wars in this country.

O'REILLY: Yes.

HANNITY: And that's why many of them fought under that flag, Bill. They fought under the flag and that goes back to the NFL issue where we started.

You know, one of the things that I care at this point in my life more than anything else, I just want the former dishwasher, cook, busboy, waiter, bartender, tile layer, house painter, paper hanger and framer and roofer to have a chance.

O'REILLY: Well, you got fired from a lot of jobs --

HANNITY: No -- that's 20 years of life.

But I want everybody to have the shot that we had.

O'REILLY: Sure. And everybody --

HANNITY: that's what I want.

O'REILLY: And if you work hard, get educated and really figure out your talent, you'll make it in America. You'll make it here.

And the people who are telling you you won't make it because you're black or you're Hispanic, they're lying to you. And they are giving you an excuse to fail.

HANNITY: Yes.

O'REILLY: That's racism.

HANNITY: Burgess Owens was on my radio show today.

O'REILLY: I heard it, I heard it.

HANNITY: And said the exact same thing you just said.

O'REILLY: Yes, don't give them an excuse to fail.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: He said millionaires shouldn't tell people that they can't make it. He's right.

O'REILLY: You know, you have to have perspective. You have to have informed -- even if you want to dissent, I respect that. Hannity respects it.

HANNITY: We make our living on it.

O'REILLY: But be informed. Don't be telling me that cops in America go out every day trying to hunt down black people. That's a lie. They don't.

So, be informed and make your points on dissent in a way that's rational.

HANNITY: The country needs, and this goes back to those that want to silence conservative voices. This goes back to -- we have more dialogue, more debate, more information, I think people do better. You know what the real sad thing is, is things you've said on your show, that you write in your books and things I'm saying on this show, nobody else in media says it, Bill. That's why --

O'REILLY: No, because we get attacked. You get attacked.

HANNITY: I don't care about the attacks.

O'REILLY: I know you don't.

HANNITY: I don't care.

O'REILLY: And you're a special case, though. But most people don't want their families attacked.

HANNITY: It's hard.

O'REILLY: All right? They go after your families, they come on your property. They lie about you. They pay people to lie about you.

HANNITY: My poor daughter calls me today, dad, they put up a video of you vaping in --

O'REILLY: Smoking an opium, wasn't it?

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: All right. Use that in the green room.

I saw it. And, you know, and I said, sweetheart, I said, for 16 years of your life, I never told you what I live through.

O'REILLY: I know.

HANNITY: I never bring it to their attention.

O'REILLY: But now, it's worse than ever. It's worse than ever.

HANNITY: Here's what I want to ask you, because we're running out of time. And I appreciate you coming in and good luck with the book.

O'REILLY: No, it's kind of you to have me.

HANNITY: Tell me something -- you've got to miss the grind a little.

O'REILLY: No

HANNITY: Come on. You don't miss a swamp a little?

O'REILLY: I'm afraid of those water moccasins.

Look, I did 20 years and six months here. And it was --

HANNITY: I mean, you worked for "Inside Edition", ABC.

O'REILLY: All the other, I worked at ABC, CBS, "Inside Edition". But this was far and away the best job, because I got to meet some of the folks.

I might -- who knows what I'm going to do? I don't know. I enjoyed my summer off. I -- the vitriol that you have to face and that I have to face --

HANNITY: Yes.

O'REILLY: -- I've got to evaluate it. You know, Annie and I are going fishing. And you guys don't know that. We're going fishing, all right?

HANNITY: No, but you are at my radio yelling at the fish in the water today.

O'REILLY: I know, but while we're fishing, we're going to figure this out. But there has to be now, there has to be an exposition by people like you and me about what's really happening in this country, because it's dangerous. They want to take freedom of speech away from their opponents. They, the far left.

HANNITY: I contend that the future of this country is at stake in ways we don't know. And if they're successful in taking out this president, for reasons --

O'REILLY: Or this network. This is the only network.

HANNITY: This is it.

O'REILLY: This is it. This network goes, they win.

HANNITY: All right. Bill, come back. Will you come back?

O'REILLY: Maybe. We have to go fishing first.

HANNITY: Are you coming back?

O'REILLY: Yes, I'll come back. I have to hawk this book, man.

HANNITY: That's true. All right. You can get it on Amazon.

When we come back, more "Hannity" right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity," all right quick programming note. Tomorrow I'm headed to Washington, D.C. and we'll be interviewing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. We have to hold these guys accountable. We need the economic plan passed.

Thursday a rare interview. I get to travel down to Florida, I will be sitting down with the one and only Rush Limbaugh.

We hope you'll tell our friends about us. The media wants me to fail. Back at our own time slot, 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Dana Perino is next, she is live hosting "Fox News Tonight." And I want to congratulate Dana, her brand new show, she will be the host of the new 2:00 p.m. hour, right here on Fox News every day.

We hope you remember we're always fair and balanced, we're not the destroy Trump media. Thank you for being with us, see you back here or see you from Washington tomorrow night.

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