Bill O’Reilly Chuckles at Newsom-for-President Rumors: ‘J.D. Vance Has Got to Be the Happiest Guy in the World’

With what the Associated Press calls “the earliest phase of the 2028 presidential election season already underway,” one name being floated for the Democrats is California Gov. Gavin Newsom – and Bill O’Reilly says that should make Republicans feel pretty comfortable in these early days.

Newsom hasn’t declared either way, but media outlets from the AP to Politico to NBC News were reading the tea leaves last week as the second-term governor is rumored to be kicking the tires and working on a “rebrand” as a more centrist candidate than previously advertised.

As he tends to do, O’Reilly just said it outright:

“Gavin Newsom is running for president,” the “No Spin News” host said. “I told you this earlier this week, and he sees an opportunity because there’s no competition on the Democratic side for him at this point. Newsom — talk about a hypocrite. This is hypocrite number one.”

O’Reilly pointed to Newsom’s recent pivots on homelessness and a proposed cap on state public health spending for undocumented immigrants as evidence.

“Well, what took you so long?,” O’Reilly said. “You’ve been governor for six years. [Homelessness] has cost the state billions of dollars and has destroyed San Francisco and other cities. And all of a sudden, you’re enlightened? You want the homeless camps dismantled?”

He also rolled a clip of Newsom recently talking about his plan to address the state’s annual $12 billion spending deficit.

“So here are the solutions,” Newsom said. “$5 billion on a freeze on our Medi-Cal expansion. We’re not cutting or rolling back those that are enrolled in our Medi-Cal system – we’re just capping it, particularly for those with documentation.”

O’Reilly called spin on that: “Yeah, a cap. What a weasel this guy is. So, why didn’t you do it five years ago? Why didn’t you do it? It is so ridiculous.”

And finally, O’Reilly had a good chuckle at Newsom’s blame for the state’s financial woes on the Trump administration.

“California is under assault,” Newsom said in another clip. “The United States of America, in many respects, is under assault because we have a president that’s been reckless in terms of assaulting those growth engines, has created a climate of deep uncertainty, and certainly has California in his sights.”

The former Fox News host found that truly funny: “So, it’s Trump’s fault. It’s Trump’s fault that California has a $12 billion-a-year deficit. Democrats, is this what you want? This is what you’re going to put up?”

O’Reilly concluded that it’s only good news for whomever Republicans intend to run in 2028 – especially if it’s the current vice president.

“J.D. Vance has got to be the happiest guy in the world,” O’Reilly said, shaking his head. “He’s got to be the happiest guy in the world. Yeah, bring it on. Unbelievable.”

Watch the entire segment in the video above.