Bill O’Reilly - 24 Sept

MANHASSET, NEW YORK

VALENTINES DAY, 2019

DUSK

This book was a bear to write. Almost as difficult as Killing Jesus, which required methodical research to separate myth from reality. Same thing herethe Trump myth collided with the Trump reality, and getting to the truth was no easy matter.

Thats because much of what has been written and said about President Trump is false, stated through a prism of disdain and, on the other side, adulation. Either way, there is so much garbage floating around the Trump story, I felt more like a sanitation worker than a reporter.

But report I did, without fear or favor.

If you despise Donald Trump, this book may frustrate you. It tells the truth about the man, both good and bad. It is not pro- or anti-Trump. It is history.

I was in a good position to work on the project because Ive known the president for more than thirty years. I attended one of his weddings, and I even double-dated with him. (I think youll enjoy that story.)

But I am not a close friend of his because he doesnt have many of those, and there is a reason for this, which well examine.

I once said on television that the election of Donald Trump to the presidency was the most stunning political story of my lifetime. I wasnt pandering; what I said is absolutely true.

It is 2014, and Trump and I are sitting in Madison Square Garden watching the Knicks lose another one. We are talking about the news business when Donald suddenly turns to me and says, Im thinking about running for president.

To which I reply, Of what country?

Now, Trump had flirted with a presidential run back in 2011. But that went nowhere. He shrugged off my wise-guy comment and went on to recite a litany of things that needed to be done in America. Some of his ideas were good, others less so. But I never delved into the most important question: Why does Donald Trump believe what he believes?

Hopefully, this book will explain the why behind the power. The why behind the bluster. The why behind the hatred he absorbs and sometimes dishes out. And most important, the key question: HOW ON EARTH did he get to the Oval Office?

To travel down that pathway, you have to ask another question: How exactly does President Trump see his country? As another business to be run? Or as a special place that should set a shining example for the rest of the world?

Luckily, I was able to speak with the president about America in a personal way. In truth, he did not want to have that conversation. But I badgered him until he finally gave in.

During the interview he was at times charming, distracted, transported back to another time, teed off.

Heres one of my favorite exchanges, which came after we discussed the war in Vietnam:

PRESIDENT TRUMP: This is a lot of work.

OREILLY: You want a break?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Its a lot of work. You know I want to give the perfect answer.

OREILLY: Its going to be a great book.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Im doing this for you, Bill, Im not doing this for me. Im just saying as Im answering these very intense questions that maybe Ive never been asked before

OREILLY: Theyre good, though.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Maybe thats why youre the best. But Im saying its a lot of work Im doing this to make you happy. Well, lets go forward. How much longer do you think it will be?

Thank God we were sitting on Air Force One so he couldnt bolt out the door.

The reality is it was the presidents fault it was so much work. Hes a complicated man who is not prone to introspection, nostalgia, or patience.

THERE WILL BE no armchair psychoanalysis in this book. No cheap shots. No speculation. No anonymous sourcesa fact that will crush the national media.

Also, this is not a policy book or an investigation into the Trump finances. My goal is simple because I am a simple man: show the president as a real person, not some caricature created by haters, phonies, or flatterers.

What there will be in this book is an honest narrative with the intent of finding out President Trumps view of Americawhy he thinks what he thinks. After you read these pages, I hope you will understand more about the most powerful man on the planet and how he achieved that status.

If you dont, Im sorry. I tried my best. I tackled, almost literally, a very elusive subject.

And at least this time, I dont kill anybody.