In a phone call most of us never would have guessed took place, Stephen A. Smith revealed Donald Trump called him when the former president was attempting to purchase the Buffalo Bills.
Smith made the claim Thursday morning on ESPN’s First Take, while discussing Colin Kaepernick’s workout with the Las Vegas Raiders as he attempts to return to the NFL for the first time since 2016. According to Smith, Trump politicized Kaepernick’s position on racial inequality and police brutality to get back at the NFL for denying him the opportunity to buy into the league.
“Donald Trump called yours truly, that would be me,” Smith admitted on First Take. “And he said that he wanted to purchase the Buffalo Bills. And I’ll never forget what he said to me, he said, ‘if those owners screw me over’ and I’m just using the FCC allowable version…he said, ‘if they screw me over, I’m gonna show them, I’m gonna get them all back, I’m gonna run for president of the United States.’ That’s what he said to me back in 2014.”
Stephen A Smith shared that Donald Trump called him in 2014 when attempting to buy the Buffalo Bills and told him-
“If they screw me over. I am going to show them. I’m going to get them all back I’m going to run for President of the United States." pic.twitter.com/pw8tUef1tc
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 26, 2022
“It wasn’t about Colin Kaepernick,” Smith continued. “It was him, politicizing the situation for his own benefit to cause havoc for NFL owners who had screwed him over from becoming an NFL owner and being part of their club.”
Why did Trump call Smith – ESPN’s premier basketball personality – to rant about his gripe with NFL owners and more specifically, the Buffalo Bills? And if Trump did call Smith for advice on purchasing the Buffalo Bills, how many other people did he call?
Trump has been at odds with the NFL for decades, ever since he bought into the USFL, pushed the league to move from a spring to a fall schedule and later attempted to force a merger with the NFL. Long before his presidential run, Trump appeared desperate to buy into the NFL and the Buffalo Bills may have been his last chance in 2014.
Not surprisingly, the NFL didn’t let Trump into their owners fraternity, considering the $1.5 billion antitrust lawsuit he launched against them decades prior which eventually earned him $3.76. Two years after his failed bid to purchase the Bills, Trump stayed true to his word with Stephen A. Smith, as bizarre as that sounds, and won the 2016 presidential election.
One year later, Trump latched onto Kaepernick’s protest, politicized it in an attempt to turn conservatives against the sport and portrayed the league’s TV ratings as being in the tank. Four and a half years later, Trump continues to be a caricature of himself, the NFL is thriving and Kaepernick is working out with the Raiders.
The whole time, Stephen A. Smith, of all people, was sitting at ESPN saying, ‘yep, he told me this was going to happen.’ Wild
[ESPN]
