Bill O’Reilly, the former host of Fox News, reportedly appeared on CNN on Thursday to inform host Laura Coates that he believed “neither candidate won” the ABC-hosted presidential debate showdown on Tuesday.
He also criticized former President Donald Trump for his inability to “discipline himself” enough to avoid falling for the bait provided by Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris.
In a rare appearance on CNN, conservative guest O’Reilly, host of the No Spin News show on The First, delivered a scathing critique of the debate proceedings and performance.
He accused Trump of embarking on a “Twilight Zone” approach to immigration and descending into the “theater of the absurd,” while also criticizing Harris for circumventing questions.
When you are assessing a debate like this and you’re going to say, well, who won? The American people should be winners of all political debates. That did not happen on Tuesday night. So neither candidate won the debate on merits.
“Mr. Trump allowed himself to be baited into talking about things that are totally irrelevant to our life in America today. I mean, totally.” O’Reilly said.
“And the vice president simply wouldn’t answer any direct questions. I mean, I listed them. I think there were eight direct questions that she dodged the not answered and, unfortunately, the moderators did not hold the vice president accountable or follow up and say, as you and I would’ve said: ‘That’s nice, but you really didn’t answer the question.’ On that basis no one won. The American people didn’t win.” he continued.
O’Reilly persisted in his criticism of the “missed opportunities” for both candidates to articulate their policy positions to the electorate.
“Kamala Harris obviously is dubious to many voters. All right, because they don’t know who she is. She doesn’t do interviews routinely. Her people keep her away from all press conferences. Any kind of unscripted event. Here’s an unscripted event that Kamala Harris could say: ‘Look. Here’s who I am, and this is what I believe.’ It’s not enough to say my values are the same.” he added.
“What values? What are you talking about? Is an open border? Value of yours, do you believe that foreign nationals you just pour in here and cause chaos is that a value? What happened to inflation? Why did it ignite so quickly? What kind of value is that? American working people are getting hurt. Those are the kinds of questions that the audience, all 60 million of them, wanted to hear.” he concluded.
[READ MORE: Republican Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez Turns on Own Party, Announces Support for Harris]
