(NewsNation) — Bill O’Reilly believes Donald Trump would be “up by 10 points” if he was running the former president’s campaign.
“I know that sounds ridiculous, but it’s absolutely true,” O’Reilly said on NewsNation’s “On Balance.” “I have a good rapport with Trump. I’d give him a Plan B. … A Plan B, he’ll consider, because everything is a negotiation.”
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OReilly says President Biden’s recent “garbage” comment “saved” Trump by taking the heat off of the negative comments made about Puerto Rico by a comedian at an earlier Trump rally.
But O’Reilly adds that Trump’s own comments at his rallies have hurt him at times.
“Trump has run out of gas,” O’Reilly said. “Trump’s always been an entertainer as well as a politician. That’s not a good combination. … Trump wants to be funny at his rallies. … It worked at the beginning, but now I think it’s hurting him.”
Some political strategists believe comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who made a controversial joke calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” last week in addition to other crass and bigoted remarks, could cost Trump the election.
“Every Puerto Rican in Pennsylvania has heard about the garbage comment. They all know about it,” said former Republican strategist Mark McKinnon.
McKinnon said he thinks the “garbage” comment is energizing voters who otherwise would not have turned out to cast ballots.
Meanwhile, Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said the “joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
Trump, speaking at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort last week, referred to his rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden as a “lovefest” despite criticisms it was racist and insulting.
Other speakers during the Madison Square Garden rally preshow made comments targeting Latinos, Black people, Jewish people and Palestinians as well as sexist insults targeting Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Trump responded that everyone was happy and excited to be at the New York event and called critics ridiculous for tying it to a 1939 Nazi rally. Instead, Trump said that for him and his campaign, thousands of people were looking to be together and talk about how they wanted to change America.
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Vice President Harris and Trump are deadlocked in key swing states, according to a survey released Monday.
Polling from Emerson College Polling and The Hill released before Election Day shows Harris and Trump in a tight set of matchups in the battleground states. Trump holds an edge in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, while Harris has the edge in Michigan.
