Bill O’Reilly Rips Trump Debate Performance, Scratches Head Over Pet-Eating Comments: ‘That’s Something SNL Would Do’

Bill O’Reilly declared “nobody” won Tuesday night’s debate, but argued former President Donald Trump “descended” quickly and played to his base, including a detour where he pushed a fake conspiracy that migrants are stealing and eating pets.

“Nobody won the debate. Trump made the mistake of talking to his base,” O’Reilly told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo during post-debate coverage.

During Tuesday’s debate, Trump brought up a conspiracy his campaign has promoted, claiming Haitian immigrants are eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio. The Associated Press reported there is no proof of this claim, which has spread quickly on social media.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame,” Trump said.

O’Reilly argued the moment was so ridiculous it was like something out of Saturday Night Live.

“Donald Trump was foolish at times. He won the first half hour of the debate, but then he descended as he always does and I don’t know why. I wrote a book on the man, I can’t tell you why. I mean, he talked about migrants eating dogs and cats. That’s something Saturday Night Live would do. Why would you even bother to do that?” he said.

O’Reilly criticized ABC News for throwing Trump “backward”-focused debate questions, arguing their line of questioning for the former president focused only on his worst issues in the past, like the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and his 2020 election conspiracy theories.

“To go back and try to relitigate for, what, the 8,000th time election 2020? I mean, Ms. Harris is right when she says, hey, we need somebody to look ahead, we got to get out of this, this is four years,” O’Reilly said.

Watch above via NewsNation.