U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday endorsed sports media savant Stephen A. Smith to make a run for office in 2028.
“A lot of these democrats I watch, I say ‘they have no chance,’” said Trump. “I’ve been pretty good at picking people and picking candidates, and I would tell you, I’d love to see him run.”
Trump’s co-sign came during a phone interview at a town hall hosted by NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo intended to rehash the president’s first 100 days back in office.
The verdict is in
Cuomo, a former CNN anchor, Smith, host of ESPN’s First Take, and Bill O’Reilly, formerly of Fox News, were all present during the interview. O’Reilly told the president that Smith was considering a run for office “as you know,” drawing a round of laughter from the crowd.
“Stephen A, he’s a good guy,” said Trump. “He’s a smart guy. I love watching him. He’s got great entertainment skills, which is very important. People watch him.”
Smith had just finished interrogating the president on his diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies he posited would harm minority communities.
“What we’re doing is we have a country that’s based solely on merit now, and that’s the way it is. If somebody’s out there doing a great job—and this includes getting into colleges if you’ve worked really hard—and we don’t look at race,” Trump said.
“We don’t look at color, we don’t look at height or shortness or weight. If somebody is doing a good job and they worked and they got great marks, and they got great board numbers, and they get rejected at Harvard, which has been so disgusting, so horribly.”
President Trump replaced by Stephen A.?
The idea of Smith running for president has been building for a while. Whereas he had long said that he had no interest in abandoning ESPN’s Bristol, Connecticut headquarters—or his new $100 million contract inked earlier this year—he recently said that he had “no choice” but to consider a campaign.
Notably, his new contract reportedly stated that he could explore political opportunities outside of ESPN.
“I have no choice, because I’ve had elected officials, and I’m not going to give their names, elected officials coming up to me,” Smith said to ABC News’ This Week co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “I’ve had folks who are pundits come up to me. I’ve had folks that got a lot of money, billionaires and others that have talked to me about exploratory committees and things of that nature.
“Here’s the reality: People, literally people, have walked up to me, including my own pastor, for crying out loud, who has said to me, ‘You don’t know what God has planned for you. At least show the respect to the people who believe in you, who respect you, who believe that you can make a difference in this country, to leave the door open for any possibilities some to three years down the line.’ And that’s what I’ve decided to do.”
Learning the ropes
Smith leaned into politics on his podcast The Stephen A. Smith Show during the build-up to the 2024 presidential election between Trump and 46th President Joe Biden, and later, former Vice President Kamala Harris.
He’s had a plethora of political figures on his show, including Fox News’ Sean Hannity, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives Hakeem Jeffries, and many others.
He’s also appeared on countless political shows and platforms, including Fox News, ABC, CNN, and others.
Prediction trading platform Kalshi has Smith down for a seven percent chance to secure the Democratic nominee for 2028.
That represents the fifth-highest odds of all candidates and is three percent higher than Harris, who received 75 millioon popular votes and 226 electoral votes, 44 shy of the magic 270, last November.
A poll conducted by Rasmuessen Reports of more than 1,000 voters, revealed in April, also found Smith to be behind but competitive with preeminent political figures such as Harris, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Vice President JD Vance.
