ESPN Host Floats Running for President

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Stephen A. Smith isn't ruling out a run for the White House in 2028.
During a Sunday, April 13, appearance on ABC News' This Week, the ESPN host addressed calls for him to become the Democratic candidate in the next election. Despite the flattery, Smith made it clear that the need for him to get into politics says more about the state of the left than how great of a leader he would be.
Join us to read about why the sports reporter feels he has to throw his hat into the ring…
MORE: Follow Wonderwall on MSN for more top news

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"I have no choice, because I've had elected officials and I'm not going to give their names, elected officials coming up to me. I've had folks who are pundits come up to me. I've had folks that got a lot of money, billionaires and others that have talked to me about exploratory committees and things of that nature," Stephen A. Smith explained to anchor Jonathan Karl.
Despite the requests, the television personality said, "I'm not a politician. I've never had a desire to be a politician."
However, because of the number of people asking him to get into the political world, he isn't completely dismissing the situation. "Here's the reality: People, literally people, have walked up to me, including my own pastor, for crying out loud, who has said to me, 'You don't know what God has planned for you. At least show the respect to the people who believe in you, who respect you, who believe that you can make a difference in this country, to leave the door open for any possibilities some to three years down the line.' And that's what I've decided to do," he added.

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While Stephen A. Smith has been critical of the Democratic party, he's also condemned many aspects of Donald Trump's leadership.
"I don't like what I'm seeing, but I'm not surprised. I mean, this whole tariff war situation is utterly ridiculous. I mean, my attitude was, is that he should have immediately targeted China and not every nation on the planet, for crying out loud, just throwing tariffs at everybody," the sports radio host noted.
He added, "Ultimately, he dialed that back, as we saw over the last few days and folks on the right are up in arms. Basically, I should say, I mean positively, essentially saying that that was the plan all along. There doesn't appear to be a plan. Let's be, let's be very, very clear about that. It seems to be a bit very haphazard and you know it's just thrown against the wall to see what will stick. But in the end, you know, what you have to applaud them for is for trying something."

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Since Donald Trump secured victory in the 2024 election, Stephen A. Smith has been candid about his critiques of the left and their current lack of leadership.
"They talk and they talk and they talk. But what can they do? They position themselves to do absolutely nothing. I didn't hear anything about tariffs from the Democrats before the election, Trump had been preaching about this for the longest time," the media personality said.
Smith claims liberals have been too focused on issues that aren't vital to certain parts of the country, which has led to their loss of power. "Instead, they talked about everything from woke culture, the cancel culture, to abortion rights and all of this other stuff. So that wasn't going to win the election and that's what we have to look at. What is it? What is it going to take to get the job done? That's why somebody who's a sports analyst, for crying out loud, is in the daggone on polls. Yeah, it's not, it's not somebody big upping in me. It's an indictment against a Democratic Party that doesn't have leadership. It doesn't have a vision," he pointed out.

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Stephen A. Smith also slammed people on the left for the backlash against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer for attending a meeting with Donald Trump at the White House.
"She's the governor of Michigan. She has no choice but to do that. And anybody that thinks otherwise is just being foolish and immature and childish," the reporter emphasized. "The fact is that she's the governor of a state in the United States of America. You need to do business with the federal government. He's the president of the United States. You don't get to circumvent him. So as a result, you have to be an adult in the room and be prepared to do business. And anybody that would encourage her to do otherwise is just being utterly ridiculous."

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Although Stephen A. Smith may be entertaining a presidential run, he's banking on someone more politically equipped than himself to rise up and defeat the Republicans.
"I would hope somebody else would step up that's more qualified than me, but if it has to come down to me, it is something I would consider," the star explained. "Yes, I would, because I don't mind the thought of tussling with these folks at all on the left or the right. All of them disgust me to be quite honest with you."