Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo graced us with a taste of his political commentary after admitting he would have interviewed Donald Trump and Kamala Harris ahead of the election.
Russo reacted to Trump’s decisive win in the 2024 presidential election on his SiriusXM Radio show this week and in doing so, he showed off some of his political wherewithal.
Who will ever forget that big story involving Donald Trump and “Smokey Daniels.” 😂 pic.twitter.com/23UveZC5QG
— Funhouse (@BackAftaThis) November 7, 2024
“My advice to Trump, listen, you won, you take a bow,” Russo said. “And they railroaded you. They wanted to make sure they got you nailed with that dopey thing in New York with Smokey Daniels, which was a complete waste of time. Made you a martyr. What a waste of time.”
The rest of America remembers the first criminal trial of a former United States president over Trump attempting to buy Stormy Daniels’ silence about their 2006 sexual encounter prior to the 2016 election. Russo, however, remembers Smokey Daniels being involved. This might be worse than the time he confused Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly for political commentator Megyn Kelly.
That’s ok, Russo is not a political pundit. He’s a Hall-of-Fame sports host, and this is why sports hosts like Pat McAfee might try to refrain from talking too much politics on their sports-based shows. The irony, however, is that a few hours before Russo’s Smokey Daniels gaffe, he claimed to be versed enough in politics to interview presidential candidates.
Russo appeared on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast this week. And during the interview, host Jimmy Traina asked about McAfee’s decision to bypass interviews with Trump and Harris this election season, questioning whether Russo would have made the same choice.
“If they offered both, I would have taken them. Both. Not one, not the other. Both,” Russo insisted. “I would do that. Those are spots you gotta do…I wouldn’t do one or the other because that indicates you’re taking a stand.”
McAfee said he wasn’t cut out for interviewing presidential candidates right before an election, adding, “We’re not the ones that should be asking these things.” And considering the amount of flack he gets for encouraging Aaron Rodgers to go off on various political topics unchecked, McAfee seemingly made the right choice. Russo, however, believes he is informed enough on the political spectrum to be the one asking those things.
“I think Sirius would be good with it. I’m not stupid, it would get some publicity,” Russo admitted. “I would not have any problem asking them a tough question. I know enough about what’s going on and I would do a little work on it if I didn’t.”
“Smokey Daniels” is exactly why McAfee didn’t want to interview this cycle’s presidential candidates. Your audience expands when you interview presidential candidates and it’s impossible to please everyone, therefore it’s impossible to avoid backlash for asking the wrong questions about the wrong names.
Potential for backlash aside, Russo pressing Donald Trump on the “Smokey Daniels” case could have created one of the best moments in radio history. Alas, Russo wasn’t offered Trump or Harris ahead of the election, leaving us to wonder how those interviews would have sounded.
[Sports Illustrated Media Podcast, Mad Dog Unleashed, via Funhouse]
