Two weeks after receiving a soft endorsement from Donald Trump, Stephen A. Smith says maybe he should have voted for the current president.
Smith voted for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the last presidential election. And Smith has said if he runs for president, it will be as a Democrat. The ESPN star, however, doesn’t want that to preclude himself from voting Republican in the next election, presumably one he isn’t running in as a Democrat.
On the latest episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show, the ESPN personality pushed back on accusations from the PBD Podcast that he’s a flip-flopper for criticizing the Democratic Party after voting for Harris. In recent months, Smith has spent time railing against Democrats, labeling the party as “pathetic” and blaming them for Trump’s America.
“I didn’t vote for Trump,” Smith admitted. “It doesn’t mean I ignored the good he could potentially do. I just had questions as to whether or not I believed he would do it or would he be on a revenge tour, engaging in the kind of behavior that distracts him from doing the best job he could possibly do…Now Trump has an opportunity to show me that he ain’t gonna lean far right, that he’s gonna be somewhat of a centrist.”
While Trump certainly isn’t viewed as a moderate, Smith cited his political leanings as a businessperson prior to becoming president, where he donated more money to Democrats than Republicans before 2011. Still, Smith said he believed Harris was better equipped to attempt working across the aisle as a bridge to Republicans, who own control of the House and Senate. Similarly, Smith believes being a moderate would be his best quality as a potential presidential candidate, claiming he would be more focused on doing what’s right than adhering to party allegiances.
“I can look at them and say, ‘You know something? You got a good point. You’re right. And I’m gonna rethink this. And I’m gonna move in a different direction,’” Smith said of his willingness to accept different views and opinions. “When have we heard a president do that?”
“I’ve always decried some of the things the Democrats have done,” Smith continued. “I just look at the Republican Party and I say, ‘What you got for us?’ And maybe I made the wrong decision. Maybe I shouldn’t have voted for Kamala Harris. Maybe I should have voted for Trump. Maybe next time I will vote for someone else. I’m not gonna lie to you, I don’t know about JD Vance cause I remember those extreme positions he took. But I wouldn’t hesitate to vote for Marco Rubio. That’s reasonable.”
The idea that Rubio is a moderate is subjective. But Smith’s point that he’s disappointed in Democrats and willing to listen or vote for a Republican still stands. And if Smith does eventually decide to run for president, he’s giving his fellow Democratic candidates plenty of fodder to use against him.
Earlier this month, Smith said he wasn’t “falling for it” after Trump encouraged him to run for president. Two weeks later, we live in a world where Donald Trump told Stephen A. Smith to run for president, and Stephen A. Smith now says maybe he should have voted for Donald Trump.
