Stephen A. Smith has branded Donald Trump a ‘pain in the a**’ since his return to the White House and teased a possible presidential bid in 2028.
The ESPN star also vowed he’d beat ‘every candidate’ and revealed what would have to happen for him to run for office in a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with DailyMail.com in New Orleans ahead of the Super Bowl.
A recent poll revealed that Smith would receive more support than several big-name Democrat presidential hopefuls in the nation’s next election.
The sports analyst has not shied away from delivering bold political takes in the aftermath of Trump’s emphatic victory over Kamala Harris in the polls last November.
As a result of his hot takes, which have gone viral, Smith has generated a lot of support for a potential presidential bid.
In recent weeks, Smith shocked Bill Maher’s audience with his blunt verdict on why Trump won a second term in the White House – and admitted why he feels like a ‘damn fool’ for supporting Harris.
Stephen A. Smith left the door open for a possible bid for the presidency on Wednesday
The ESPN star branded Donald Trump ‘a pain in the a**’ but agreed with some of his policies
And, although he has played down the prospect of himself running for office, Smith did leave the door open for a possible presidential run in 2028.
When asked what he’ll be doing in four years, Smith said: ‘I’ll still be doing sports, but also my voice will not fade from the political landscape.
‘You know, rather than talk about me being an elected official or a runner for the president of the United States, how about if I’m somebody with a voice as strong as Sean Hannity’s, as strong as Mark Levin’s, as strong as Rachel Maddow. How about that?
‘Because that’s more plausible. However, I will confess, like I said, I have no desire to do this, but assuming that I’m well off, that I have lots of money, and money is no longer a concern, if the American people came to me and looked at me and said “Yo, man, we want you to run for office”, and I had a legitimate shot to win the presidency of the United States, I’m not gonna lie. I’ll think about that.
‘But I gotta have my money. I’m not gonna go to the White House broke. I’m not gonna do that. I gotta have my money. I gotta have my home. I gotta have my financial situation completely taken care of. I have no concerns if that happens for me.
‘If they told me I had a legitimate, bonafide shot to win the presidency of the United States of America, I would entertain it.
‘Because the part that I’m not joking about is I believe I could beat every candidate on that poll. Every candidate that they mentioned, from Kamala Harris right on down to (Pete) Buttigieg and to Tim Walz. I’d beat all of them. I do believe that. I really do.’
Smith’s claims come after John McLaughlin – who was Trump’s chief pollster – held a national survey of 1,000 general election voters last month.
Smith has more support than several big-name Democratic presidential hopefuls, a poll said
Voters were asked who they would vote for if the 2028 Democratic primary was held today
Among the questions he asked was: ‘Thinking ahead to the 2028 Democratic primary election for president, if that election were held today among the following candidates, for whom would you vote?’
Two percent said they would choose ESPN star Smith. That is more than the likes of Beto O’Rourke – who ran for the nomination in 2020 – and JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois (both one percent).
Remarkably, Smith polled only one percentage point behind Tim Walz – Harris’ vice-presidential pick – and Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro.
Harris was overwhelmingly the No 1 choice, with a third of voters (33 percent) saying they would vote for the former vice president – despite her defeat by Trump in November.
When asked what he has made of Trump’s first few weeks back in the White House, Smith said he agreed with the president on the issue of transgender athletes in women’s sports but was ‘suspect’ about Elon Musk.
He added: ‘Oh, he’s been a pain in the a**. There’s no doubt about it. I don’t like some of the stuff that I’ve seen.
‘Don’t get me wrong, I agree with his executive order just today on the whole transgender issue with sports, because I don’t believe that people born male transitioning to female should be competing in women’s sports. But that doesn’t mean that I want transgenders or anybody from an LGBTQ+ community to be ostracized in any way.
‘I am suspect about Elon Musk. He’s not an elected official. He hasn’t been confirmed. So to give him this kind of power, where he’s got access to the Treasury, when you’re looking at checks and got access to people’s financial portfolios, I got a problem with that.
Smith is confident he could beat Democrat duo Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in a contest
‘However, we have had some crooks in our country for quite some time who have been robbing the American people of their money. And if this dude is going to expose them, I’m down for that.
‘You see the difference? That’s a perfect example of what I’m talking about. I’m not comfortable with him being that guy, but I am comfortable with what Donald Trump is trying to do when it comes to exposing the crooks that have taken taxpayer money.
‘So again, there’s a medium. It’s not far left, far right, it’s neither. It’s somewhere in the middle. And I pride myself on being the centrist and getting as close to the center as possible, because everything in life when you’re talking about peace, there’s never peace when one side or the other gets everything they want.
‘There’s peace when there’s compromise and everybody agrees to compromise. That’s the kind of person that I would be, whether I’m an elected official or not.’
