Stephen A. Smith wishes Joe Biden skipped ‘sad’ farewell address

Stephen A. Smith wants Joe Biden to go quietly, and that means wishing the current president skipped his farewell address.

Biden said goodbye to America and goodbye to his political career Wednesday night, after 50 years in public service, concluding with one term as president that will officially come to an end next Monday.

And his farewell address didn’t appear to leave Stephen A. Smith feeling great about Biden’s presidential tenure, with the ESPN personality joining Bill O’Reilly and Chris Cuomo on NewsNation to analyze the speech.

“Of course, the president is entitled, and he should give a farewell speech. There is no question about that. But…sometimes you see something and you just say, ‘Silence or a simple goodbye would suffice.’ And that’s how I felt about the president.” – Stephen A. Smith pic.twitter.com/xrC6n0Cg8w

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 16, 2025

“I was sad,” Smith said. “Of course, the president is entitled, and he should give a farewell speech. There is no question about that. But different times invade us all and when you see the times that we live in, sometimes you see something and you just say, ‘Silence or a simple goodbye would suffice.’ And that’s how I felt about the president.”

“When we see what transpired, when we’ve witnessed what has transpired over the last year plus, he was supposed to step away,” Smith continued. “He was supposed to be a transitional president and you didn’t do that. You decided that you wanted to stay in the race and then you got exposed because you showed up on a debate stage June 27 and you were not what people on the left have purported you to be. And then you ultimately was forced out by a party.”

Joe Biden was ultimately a transitional president, just not in the way he promised. Instead of handing the reins to a younger Democratic president, Biden bridged the gap from the nemesis he defeated in 2020, only to now relinquish power back to Trump. Smith has long been critical of Biden for not stepping aside sooner. Wednesday night, Smith criticized Biden’s policies and claimed the current president usurped the Democratic Party by quickly endorsing Kamala Harris before Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi were ready to, as a way of getting back at them for pushing him out.

“You’re walking out of office when clearly, the mandate was more so against you than necessarily for Donald Trump,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of people out there that didn’t want to hear what he had to say months ago when he was president. And unfortunately…there’s not a lot of Americans that were interested in hearing what he had to say tonight.”

Joe Biden used his address to warn the country of an “oligarchy” ahead of Trump’s second inauguration. But the way Stephen A. Smith is attempting to portray it, Biden has himself to blame.