Trump’s newest feud: Bill O’Reilly
Donald Trump’s tweets slamming Fox News and people who criticize him are “just an extension” of his reality show, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly explained Tuesday.
“He wants people to like him. When people criticize him, he takes it personally. And then, you know, this machine, this tweeting thing, that’s like the worst thing you could give Donald Trump is this tweeting thing,” O’Reilly told NBC’s Matt Lauer on “Today.” “So I just think this is just a extension of his reality show, ‘The Apprentice.’ This is just theater right now. … The personal stuff is a piffle.”
Trump’s on-again off-again feud with Fox News appears to be on again.
“I’m having a really hard time watching Fox News,” Trump tweeted Monday night, while unleashing a series of retweets from others critical of Fox News and its on-air guests and personalities — O’Reilly and Megyn Kelly, in particular.
.@oreillyfactor was very negative to me in refusing to to post the great polls that came out today including NBC. @FoxNews not good for me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2015
.@oreillyfactor, why don’t you have some knowledgeable talking heads on your show for a change instead of the same old Trump haters. Boring!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2015
.@RichLowry is truly one of the dumbest of the talking heads - he doesn’t have a clue!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2015
"@TheMindWave: @FoxNews Im not sure why u r giving them this much importance, they had wanted to take u down in debate and they failed!!”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2015
"@seleti00: @realDonaldTrump @FoxNews They attack you more then CNN or MSNBC combined. Just a bunch of old Bush appointee Rhinos.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2015
"@VickyBrush: Do what most of us are doing! Turn off @FoxNews! There is a major boycott going on with them, anyway. Problem solved!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2015
Asked whether he thought Trump would still be the front-runner months from now, O’Reilly said that the real estate tycoon would be “competitive” but stopped short of saying he would still be leading the pack “with any certainty.”
“I think Trump has been good for politics in America, and I’m the only one that says that. Everybody else is bashing the hell out of Donald Trump. That’s the cheap thing to do. But he has engaged people, he has forced them to pay attention and they are paying attention, and that is good for America,” O’Reilly added.