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| All content taken from The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel. Each weeknight by 6 PM EST a preview of that evening's show will be posted and then updated with additional information the following weekday by noon EST.
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| "This was a busy day in which President Trump signed three executive orders. Number one: The USA will leave the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Number two: There is now a federal hiring freeze with the exception of the military. Number three: The U.S. government will no longer pay any agency for performing abortions overseas. It is clear that President Trump is going to be an activist, which means he's going to change a lot of things fast. He is also going to challenge the American press, which he loathes. Over the weekend, there was a silly controversy over whose Inauguration crowd was bigger, Trump's or Obama's. With all due respect, who cares? But today, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that if you add in all the people watching on Internet devices, the Trump Inauguration reached more folks than any other. That is likely true, but not really important to the country. What is more compelling is the war between the president and national media outlets. Talking Points sees it clearly: Many in the media had a vested interest in seeing President Obama succeed, and those same people have a vested interest in seeing Donald Trump fail. There are two roads for the Trump administration to take here. You can rise above the national media and bring your message directly to the folks. Or you can slug it out. George W. Bush did not engage the press, he mostly ignored the slings and arrows. Talking Points believes that hurt the president a bit as his image suffered in the relentless criticism he endured. There is no way Donald Trump will allow that to happen. What Americans have to understand is that there is an organized effort to get Donald Trump out of office. The Women's March over the weekend is a good example. That was not a spontaneous event, it was organized by far-left groups that receive millions of dollars from the liberal activist George Soros. Some of the organizers were members of the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton's campaign and Bernie Sanders' campaign. This was a well-thought out spectacle designed to denigrate the new president. Actress Ashley Judd recited a poem that included this: 'I didn't know devils could be resurrected, but I feel Hitler in these streets. A mustache traded for a toupee, Nazis renamed the cabinet.' Talking Points has no problem with people demonstrating against a politician or a political party, but insane charges of fascism, racism and the like demean our system. It is clear the far left will not give President Trump a chance and will do everything it can to get him out of office before his term is over. That is going to lead to trouble, and the crazy left has a powerful ally in the media. Donald Trump is a confrontational guy, he will not sit around and take a lot of garbage. But by responding to obvious provocations, the Trump Administration veers away from the people's business. As we've said before, the Trump administration will rise or fall on its policy accomplishments. If the economy ignites and security gets tight, Mr. Trump will be a successful president. If that does not happen, the dissent will become overwhelming." |
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| Charles Krauthammer joined The Factor with his assessment of Saturday's anti-Trump marches in Washington and other cities. "The media are trying to call this the 'Tea Party of the left,'" he said. "They have been kicking themselves for missing the Tea Party phenomenon, which became enormously important in the midterm elections of 2010. So they have been trying to look for that on the left, beginning with Occupy Wall Street, which was a group of spoiled and unemployed college students. My question to the Saturday marchers is, 'Where the hell were you on Election Day?' I don't think there's a movement here." |
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| Former Obama adviser Austan Goolsbee entered the No Spin Zone and looked ahead to the possibility of bipartisan cooperation between the parties. "I don't know if the Trump administration is capable of working with Democrats," Goolsbee stated. "If you win an election narrowly, you can do what JFK did and put prominent Republicans in the cabinet. If Donald Trump had reached out in his inaugural address, I think these demonstrations would be half the size that they were. He's saying 'I won,' he's charging ahead, and I think he'll overstep. If the Trump administration does not stimulate the economy, he will be in a tough spot." The Factor concurred, saying, "He has to deliver on the economy and security." |
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| Monday's press briefing by White House spokesman Sean Spicer was generally civil, although he did get into a tense back-and-forth with ABC's Jonathan Karl about the size of the inaugural crowd. Brit Hume scrutinized the exchange. "Sean Spicer managed to get himself out from under a bold claim he had made," Hume said, "which was that the crowd in Washington watching in person was the biggest ever. That didn't seem to be true, but now he's talking about Internet streaming and YouTube and who knows what else? It's unverifiable, but what he said the other day was denounced by many in the media as a 'lie.' That's regrettable and unprofessional - what he said may be a dubious claim, but to call it a 'lie' means you knew it was false and had the intent to mislead." |
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| On the same topic, The Factor pointedly asked Mary Anne Marsh and Katie Pavlich whether the media covered the anti-Trump marches in an honest manner. "Madonna said on Saturday that she has thought about blowing up the White House," Pavlich observed, "and I haven't seen a lot of coverage about that. If that had been said by a conservative it would be front page news. This coming Friday hundreds of thousands of pro-life Americans will come from around the country to march in Washington, but we won't hear about it. The media is dishonest, they cover the things they like to and they have a narrative they like to promote." But Marsh claimed that the press was generally fair. "A lot of media outlets did give coverage to things that were said, but the crowd size became the story. And these were peaceful marches. But can the media do better? Yes, of course, they need to hold everyone accountable." |
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| Jesse Watters ventured into the streets of Manhattan to ask some folks about the inauguration. Here are a few of their replies: "I don't even know what that is" ... "It looked like a joke to me" ... "Donald Trump was spot on" ... "We shouldn't be isolating ourselves" ... "He's not my president!" Watters added that one particularly honest man refused to answer his questions because he was, as he put it, "high on cocaine." |
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Robert Brown, Miami, FL: "Why is so much time spent on how many people were present at the Inauguration ceremony? Who cares? What difference does it make in anyone's life?"
Mike Papacosmas, Toronto, Canada: "Bob Woodward dismissed the violent protests as minor. But they caused significant damage, and once again the law was not enforced: masks are prohibited in Washington, DC."
Christine Garrity, Delray Beach, FL: "At least President Obama did not pardon Bowe Bergdahl. I was surprised that he will be facing trial." |
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| A nasty Trump-hating woman was tossed off a flight this weekend when she berated a fellow passenger who supports the president. The lesson to be learned - act unruly on an airplane and you are very likely to be catching the next flight. |
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