(NewsNation) — Author and journalist Bill O’Reilly says former President Donald Trump “is running on his grievance and his MAGA followers‘ grievance,” in response to the media coverage on Trump’s “bloodbath” comments if he loses the election.
“He did it the first time. He won with it. And he’s trying it again,” O’Reilly said in a Wednesday interview on NewsNation’s “CUOMO.”
The Biden campaign has launched a new ad capitalizing on Trump’s recent remarks. The ad also highlights Trump’s past statements, including his praise for white supremacists in Charlottesville.
Trump’s “blood bath” comments, however, referred to the auto industry‘s fate in case of his defeat. O’Reilly dismissed President Joe Biden‘s ad as “disgraceful,” but said he didn’t think the president was even aware of it.
While calling Trump’s rhetoric on becoming a “dictator” if reelected just populist “talk,” O’Reilly said he believes Trump could better address issues such as crime, immigration and ending the Ukraine war than Biden has.
On Trump’s Charlottesville remarks about “good people on both sides,” O’Reilly said the former president was referring to debates around removing Confederate statues, not the neo-Nazi groups present at the protest immediately proceeding his comment.
Still, NewsNation host Chris Cuomo pressed O’Reilly on whether Trump’s previous hardline policy positions, including deporting millions of immigrants, constitute legitimate threats of harsh actions.
“It’s just talk. It’s Huey Long populist stuff,” O’Reilly responded, adding he’s confident Trump would “govern pretty much the way he governed the first time around.”
“I have more confidence that Donald Trump could stop the Ukraine war, 1,000 times more confidence than Biden could,” O’Reilly said.