ESPN commentator says Democrats need to purge ‘far left’ if he’s going to run.
President Donald Trump signs order to cut PBS and NPR funding
President Donald Trump signed an executive order to stop directly funding PBS and NPR.
Stephan A. Smith said he was glad to hear President Donald Trump say he would “love to see” him run for the White House – but realized the president might have meant Republicans thought he would be easy to win against.
“I’m not prepared,” said Smith, an ESPN personality who is increasingly seen as a 2028 contender. “I’m not qualified. I have no political history whatsoever. I’ve never been interested in politics a day in my life.” However, he said people are coming up to him on the streets asking him to leave the door open to running for the highest office.
“You never know what God has planned for you,” he said.
Smith said he would run for president as a Democrat, arguing a figure like him would win “by default” because of the state of American politics, accusing both Democrats and Republicans of not delivering on what Americans need.
“They’re trying to pay their mortgages, rent, buy food and groceries, pay gas and deal with the cost of living,” Smith said. “And they want safety in the streets. That’s primarily what most American citizens are about. Trying to live in peace and harmony, and that’s not something that I think either side has promoted along the way.”
Smith made the comments in a brief – but intense – appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” show Sunday, as host Jake Tapper held back a smile.
“If I had to run it would be as a Democrat, but I’m not happy with the Democratic Party,” Smith said. “It would pretty much need to be purged.”
Smith declined to “name names” as to who should be removed from the Democratic Party but generally pointed to the liberal wing of the party. “We know who the extreme left is. We know how they go about operating. We know what they lean towards when it came to open borders.”
He characterized himself as a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, but also criticized the left’s views on transgender inclusion as something that “ravaged our nation” and left people “literally scared of losing their jobs if they pronounced the wrong pronoun for crying out loud.”
Trump made the original comments about Smith running for president during an April 30 appearance at a NewsNation town hall. Smith was on a panel of personalities asking Trump questions.
“I love watching him. He’s got great entertainment skills, which is very important. People watch him,” Trump said. “I’ve been pretty good at picking people and picking candidates, and I will tell you, I’d love to see him run.”
Democrats face criticism from their base and are overhauling their messaging. They struggled in 2024 to connect with young men, who skew more conservative than young women.
Smith has millions of followers across various media platforms. He has an outspoken and sometimes controversial “hot take” style of debate, which Trump allies have said would be formidable in a campaign.