From the March 16 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
Bill O'Reilly Warns Donald Trump: Protesters Are Trying To Provoke You
O'Reilly: “They Want To Provoke You ... They Don't Like You. That's Why They Are Doing It”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
BILL O'REILLY: You know, you get in trouble when you reacted. All right? So the proactive forces are coming at you. And then you reacted and you have said some very questionable things like maybe we punch them in the face or something like that. What I'm trying to get at is --
DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, I didn't, I didn't say that Bill --
O'REILLY: Well something along those lines --
TRUMP: We had a very rough dude, yeah, we had a very rough dude and a massive 25,000 seat auditorium. Every seat was packed. And this guy was very physical with a lot of people. I was seeing it. And all I did was make the statement. I wouldn't mind doing it. But that you have to understand where it all comes from.
O'REILLY: Okay. And I do. But is restraint now required on your part? Because, again, you are going to be provoked. Is restraint required?
TRUMP: I think so and I think I have been restrained, Bill. You know, we have had very little problem. I have had the biggest, as you know better than anybody, I have had the most people by far, not even close, and, you know, we have 20,000, 25,000 people routinely. And, you know, we have one person stand up. And it's usually somebody that is sent in by, I don't know who sends them in. But we have very little problem. Then in Chicago, we could have had a problem, and I made a decision and got credit for that decision to cancel --
O'REILLY: Yeah and I supported that decision --
TRUMP: Because there that was really, very confrontational --
O'REILLY: You are going to see them. You are going to see Black Lives Matter, MoveOn, all of these people trying to brand you as some Nazi and the press will go along with it. Enabling them to do their deal. But they're baiting you and I'm speaking from experience. I don't know whether you remember Al Franken but he baited me. I guess it was 10 years ago. I fell for it like an idiot. And he won in the sense he got all this publicity and he was able to lie at will and do what he did. He is a despicable human being but he won because I reacted to him when should have floated above it and I'm wondering whether you could float above MoveOn and Black Lives Matter. Is it possible?
TRUMP: I think I can the only thing I would say is this, we have some very big events scheduled with 25, 35,000 people. One in 32,000 all sold out. And you know when people go in there and they interrupt and they stand up and in many cases they start things like, you know, raising their fists and maybe hitting people, we're not going to --
O'REILLY: No, security is going to handle that --
TRUMP: And the people in that room won't say it. I know, but the people in the room, in all fairness to them, I don't know, I mean, I don't know if they are going to stand for it, Bill. But that's what happens. They provoke to such an extent. But the answer is yes. I would absolutely be able to stand above it.
O'REILLY: Okay. Because, Donald Trump now is not speaking as The Art Of the Deal guy or The Apprentice guy. You are not speaking anymore on that level. Now you are speaking for the president, for the United States. You may be president. I mean so your rhetoric means so much more than it used to mean. You know, you are in a different place. A place you have never been in. I'm just wondering how much you have thought about all that.
TRUMP: Well, I've thought about it and at the same time we want to be effective. We have to be effective people at what we do and what we're doing. But I certainly have thought about it. I think it's a very terrible thing going on though, Bill. People will have a rally or they will have, you know, whether it's 2,000 or 500 people and people are sent in to those places. Now I must say it happens to me more because I'm the front-runner --
O'REILLY: Right --
TRUMP: And they want to make me a little bit more than they would somebody else --
O'REILLY: They want to provoke you --
TRUMP: Not going to say it --
O'REILLY: Look, they don't want to provoke John Kasich. Nobody is going to provoke John Kasich --
TRUMP: No.
O'REILLY: Ted Cruz, yeah, they don't like him, but they want to bait you into doing something. And then the press --
TRUMP: Well, they don't think that Kasich or Cruz is going to win, so they don't really care --
O'REILLY: No, no, no. I disagree with you. It's personal against you. They don't care about Kasich and Cruz winning. They don't like you. Because you stand for border, deportations of immigrants, stopping Muslims temporarily from coming here. All of these things, your opposition feels are human rights violations. They don't like you. That's why they are doing it.
TRUMP: Well, whatever. And I'm the front-runner. And I think they probably feel in the other cases they may be wasting their time in all fairness. So we will see what happens.
O'REILLY: Alright.
Trump: No, I'm not going to be provoked. But at the same time, you have to take tough action when this happens. You can't let them get away with it so you do have to take action. I think you agree with that.
O'REILLY: It's a tightrope you have to walk, but let your security do it.
Previously:
Right-Wing Media Baselessly Accuse MoveOn.Org Of Inciting Violence At Trump Rally
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough Speculates That Trump Planned Chicago Rally Cancellation
Media Highlight Trump's Role In Inspiring Violence At His Events