Glenn and Bill O’Reilly may go way back, but that doesn’t mean they always agree. In fact, soon after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, Glenn and Bill found they disagreed on what may ultimately be behind Putin’s decision making: his psyche. O’Reilly thinks the invasion of Ukraine proves Putin is a ‘loon,’ but Glenn disagrees. So, what do YOU think? Is Putin CRAZY?
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Stu, would you check on the price of bitcoin, oil, and the Dow for me? Tell me what's -- tell me what's going on. I know we were down about 800 points before the markets opened.
Last night, Vladimir Putin started taking out all of the infrastructure. And the -- the military defenses. Of Ukraine.
He said, it's the de-Nazification of Ukraine. He again says, he has no intent on occupying it. But he has cut off the forces, so they cannot retreat to Kyiv.
This is bad for Russia, especially if it becomes a bloodbath. The president still hasn't spoken out on it. We're waiting for him. And what the consequences are going to be from the United States, and Europe.
This could be, a very bad development. Bill O'Reilly is joining us now.
Hello, Bill.
BILL: Yeah. Biden is going to talk at 12:30 Eastern. So show up at 1:30. The undisciplined White House. He's always late. So they're writing up the speech now.
He doesn't write the speeches. He doesn't even edit them, interestingly enough.
And they're writing it up. And he will go over two or three times. And then he will go out.
You know, I figure about 1:30. 1:20.
And what he'll say is that they're going to -- you know, up the sanctions. More, no one will understand exactly what that is.
Unless you're a micro economist.
But what he has to do now. And there's no two sides to this story.
He has to break Russia economically. He has to break them. And is this the time to do it. So I was wrong about Putin.
And you know how thrilled I am to admit how wrong I am, Beck. I was wrong, pause I thought Putin was a rational man. Rational leader.
He is not. It changes the equation.
So --
GLENN: Wait a minute. Hang on. Hang on. Bill, is there a chance -- because he's always appeared to be a ruthless killer. But also, a -- a rational ruthless killer.
BILL: Yes.
GLENN: I cannot find any rhyme or reason.
So maybe we're looking for the wrong reasons for him.
BILL: Well, look, it doesn't matter, what the reasons are.
GLENN: Well, it does. Hang on --
BILL: International law. He's trying to destroy the world order. And build up a New World Order.
GLENN: Correct. So hang on.
Let's look at that for a second.
If you know they're going to put sanctions on you. A normal person would say, well, we're not going to be able to handle that. But you know, and I know, Bill. Some thing that most people don't know. I think it was four or five years ago. Putin met with the Western press. And said that World War III is already here. Already being fought.
Your leaders just don't know it, and it will be fought with ones and zeros.
If he is indeed looking for a New World Order. This allows him to fight back, and cripple financial markets.
Cripple -- do what we're doing to him. But fight with ones and zeros.
BILL: Okay. But it's a different situation, Beck. Yes. He's going to hurt. And has hurt worldwide financial markets.
And the Dow is down about 700 points. 800 points today.
And oil is up over $800 a barrel. That's temporary for us. But for him, it isn't temporary. So the only thing you can do with an irrational leader. And one of the reasons I made the mistake in my analysis. But wouldn't bring military invasion to Ukraine. Was when I talked to Trump, Trump thought he was rational. Trump thought that there were lines that Putin wouldn't cross. Because he didn't cross them with Trump.
GLENN: He is.
BILL: Okay. Now we know that Putin is not rational. So when you have a dangerous person with power in that area. And you can say Saddam Hussein was one. Adolf Hitler was one. Josef Stalin was one.
And history is littered with them. You have to break them early. And history has shown that.
And the United States and Europe, in a combination, can break the Russian economy, which would lead to a coup against Putin.
So the people would rise up. The military would turn on Putin.
I don't think anybody is real thrilled about this invasion of Ukraine within Russia. Because it doesn't do them any good. It doesn't do them any good.
They're basically having trouble feeding their people now. And that's China's problem too.
So they have trouble providing a decent standard of living, for their own people, and this is going to hurt them even more. So you have to crush --
GLENN: So Putin is not -- Putin is not suicidal. He knows, if -- if -- but --
BILL: It's too late.
GLENN: No, I'm telling you, if we would have just said, the Ayatollah Khomeini is irrational and a crazy man, and left it at that. Or Osama Bin Laden. We wouldn't know who we were dealing with. It seems irrational to us. But that's because we're not viewing it from their point of view.
BILL: No, it doesn't matter at all. His point of view doesn't matter. Because he's already demonstrated that he's going to start a war.
So what the deuce does his point of view matter? Now we have to take --
GLENN: What is he trying to -- what is he trying to accomplish? What is his real goal?
BILL: Okay. So his real stated goal, is to reimpose the power of the Soviet Union.
That's his stated goal.
GLENN: Empire, right.
BILL: Yeah. But I think he's a loon.
I think he's a sociopathic, megalomaniacal loon.
GLENN: He's all those things, except for the last one.
BILL: So then, if that's who he is, that he wants to blow up the world, okay? Then you have to stop him from blowing up the world. And the only way to do it, is to break the Russian economy. So the Russian people themselves, take care of him.
GLENN: All right.
So there is this weird thing going on, Bill.
Where people are saying, either we've got to go in, and put boots on the ground. And go to war.
Or they're saying, we love Putin.
And, you know, we caused a lot of these problems. Which some of that is true.
But not this.
You know, I think we need to recognize, Putin is a real estate bad guy. This is a very bad thing. Violation of international law. And we need to part of the solution. But that see not mean to go to war with Russia.
Would you agree with that?
JASON: Yeah. I mean, look, you're not going to get into a shooting war with Russia, unless Russia invades a NATO country. So if that happens, then you have to uphold the treaty and defend militarily.
But it won't be the kind of war that was waged in Vietnam and Korea, even to some extent, in Iraq. This will be a high-tech situation. And Russia, again, has tremendous weapons. They can inflict an amazing amount of damage on the world.
Now, will this guy, Putin, bring it to that?
I can't predict.
But the fact that he did this, is that you don't give him the opportunity.
All right?
GLENN: Right.
BILL: So if you inflict massive economic pain on Russia now, this is the only way to stop this man.
So if Biden comes out and is a mealy mouth bumbling guy, at 12:30 in his conference today. Then we're in serious trouble. I do not expect that.
I expect that he will tell the world, that there will be no more commerce with Russia. None.
Okay? Everything stops. I would say, no Russian airplanes are going to be allowed to land in the United States or Europe. I would absolutely say that.
Because everybody can understand that. Okay?
And I would also say, if China or anyone else, helps Putin, we're going to slap economic sanctions on them.
Now, that's the tough guy approach we need.
Will Biden do it?
And if he doesn't do it, then we have a totally different discussion here.
GLENN: Yeah. If he doesn't do it.
You're a historian, Bill. Correct me if I'm wrong.
This is what it must have felt like in 1939, with Germany.
BILL: But it was a different situation then. Because the allies then, in 19 -- the late 1930s, when Hitler was running Russia, weren't prepared for war.
We are. Trump rebuilds our military. Okay?
And we are a ferocious military machine. And so is NATO. I mean, Ramstein Air Force Base. If it were me, if I were president, I would be moving heavy bombers in there now.
Just as a show of force. Okay?
You've got to send a message to China and the rest of the world. We will not tolerate a breakdown in world order.
Caused by a gangster. All right?
That's who Putin is. He's a thug. All right? Go ahead.
GLENN: Do you think anyone in our Pentagon. Anybody in the White House, really would know how to position, without getting us into a war, know how to position this, or fight this?
I mean, you -- there was one of the national security advisers for Obama last night. And said, I don't trust any of these people in the White House. And I know them.
I don't think they're prepared to do this.
BILL: I don't deal in that paranoia role. I don't deal in the world of punditry, that says, I will let it go, it's not America's fault. You want a worldwide depression? You want everybody in America paying $10 a gallon for gas? You know, thirty dollars for a hamburger?
Then you let these guys run wild, because that's what will happen. All right?
So there's this idiocy. And I'm starting to lose patience with it. On television, every night. Where Putin is not that bad a guy.
It's Biden's fault, that this is happening. It's not Biden's fault this is happening.
Did Biden make it easier? Absolutely.
Did everyone on the planet know, he would be a weak president? Well, if you didn't, you're a blanking moron. All right? But 80 million people voted for him? That's on us. Are we going to learn a lesson from that?
I hope so. You put a weak guy in, you have the civil war.
You put a weak guy in 2020, you got Putin running wild. Okay? Are we getting the message? No more weak guys. No more progressives. No more green new deals.
No more. Or you'll live a life of misery. And your children will be in chaos. Do we all get that now, please?
But you don't blame Biden for what Putin is doing.
That's stupid. You rally behind the country. United States. And you say, we're breaking Russia economically. We're sending a message to China, right now.
You are not going to destroy world order. Because if you do that, every American gets hurt. You see the linkage? If you don't, you're a blanking moron. I hate to be so stark, Beck. But it's time for this kind of talk, in this country. America has made a tremendous mistake, electing Joe Biden.
If you're still defending your vote, you're stupid. Stupid. If you're behind the progressive movement, you're destructive.
I don't want you in my house, okay?
It's over. They failed. Biden is a bad president. Unfortunately, he's the only one we have. And now, we have to demand that he break Russia economically.
That's what has to happen, if Americans want to go back to normal lives. Period.
GLENN: All right. Bill O'Reilly, I wish you would be a little more clear on your feelings right now.
I want to talk to you about -- I've never heard a president, at the point of what it was two days ago, say, and this is going to cost the American people money. There's going to be hardships here. There are.
And I would like to talk to you about what you think this would cost us, as people.
And what we should do, as people. Back with Bill O'Reilly. In just a second.
GLENN: So, Bill, I want to ask you, first of all, have you ever heard except in like World War II, a president say, that these things are going to cost the American people? I mean, financially.
I've not heard that from any other president.
And what he was talking about was gas prices, and everything else.
And it is going to cost us.
BILL: No doubt it is.
And this is a foolish ideologically driven policy, of trying to strangle the fossil fuel industry, in the name of climate change.
When you have -- and I don't know whether you noticed this or not. But last week, China and Russia made a deal for coal.
Where Russia is going to ship thousands of tons of coal, to China. Who is building five new coal plants, for energy.
GLENN: A week. A week.
BILL: We're destroying our fossil fuel industry here?
And they're doing that?
I mean, this is the kind of stupidity, that's driven by the corrupt media. Hollywood. All of the places, where you hear it.
That's just incomprehensible.
It's incomprehensible. I want a clean planet. But you don't destroy the infrastructure of your energy delivery system, when people need to get to work, and heat their homes. Because of this whole blanking theory. Okay?
While the other side of the world is polluting the hell out of the planet. You don't do that. That's stupid. Again, I have to use that word.
Okay? So now --
GLENN: But it's true.
BILL: Again, 80 million Americans voted for this man. My stupidity means you have to pay more money for fuel.
That's what it should say. It's not all Americans have to sacrifice. It's my stupidity, is causing your bills to go up.
That's the truth, is it not, Beck?
GLENN: It is.
Bill, I have about 90 seconds left. What should we watch for, good and bad in the speech today?
BILL: If it's all gobbledegook, and you don't know if it's this bank and that bank, and this guy can't come to Finland and whatever. Then you know it's BS. If he gets out there and says, no more dollar transactions with Russia. We're going to strangle their economy. We're going to break them. Because we can't put up with this kind of stuff. And maybe we have something.
GLENN: Hmm. I have to tell you -- if a member of the audience is not subscribed to BillO'Reilly.com.
I would subscribe right now. Because I have a feeling Bill is a little passionate on this.
And by the time he hits his program this afternoon and evening.
I have a feeling, he will be deadly on this topic.
Bill, thank you so much. God bless you.
BILL: Okay, Beck. Thank you for having me.
GLENN: You bet. BillO'Reilly.com. BillO'Reilly.com.