ESPN star Stephen A. Smith said Sunday that it’s “childish” to think that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a Democrat, was wrong to have her meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump, despite outrage from her fellow Democrats over the visit.
Smith appeared on the latest This Week on ABC and spoke to host Jon Karl about the possibility of a future career in politics, up to and including a 2028 presidential run, which Smith acknowledged may seem unusual but says many people have spoken to him about doing. And polling does show there’s interest.
Karl and Smith talked about Trump first, who Smith said is not doing all that great. Karl moved on to Democrats with a question about Whitmer’s visit with Trump at the White House, for which she has faced days of criticism that only became more intense with a viral photo in which she held binders in front of her face in the Oval Office as Trump signed controversial executive orders.
“What did you make of Whitmer trying to engage Trump?” Karl asked Smith.
“Well, listen, she’s the governor of Michigan. She has no choice but to do that. And anybody that thinks otherwise is just being foolish and immature and childish,” Smith replied. “The fact is, is that she’s the governor of a state in the United States of America. You need to do business with the federal government.”
Smith added that Trump’s “the president of the United States. You don’t get to circumvent him.”
“You have to be an adult in the room and be prepared to do business. And anybody that would encourage her to do otherwise is just being utterly ridiculous,” Smith said in reference to her critics.
When Karl asked whether she should have made a show of objecting to Trump’s actions while she was there, Smith said “probably so,” but then added that Democrats “talk and talk” already and it isn’t winning elections.
“They talked about everything from woke culture to cancel culture, to abortion rights and all of this other stuff. But that wasn’t going to win the election,” he told Karl. “That’s why somebody who’s a sports analyst, for crying out loud, is in the doggone polls.”
KARL: Well, let me ask you about the Democrats. So – so, Elizabeth Warren talked about getting Congress to stop him. I mean that’s not really going to go anywhere. You got the House that’s controlled by – by the Republicans. So is the Senate. He’s not going to sign anything into law.
And then we have Gretchen Whitmer, who’s talked about as a possible candidate for president. She – she’s tried to engage Trump. She was in the Oval Office. I’m sure you saw this. I mean maybe we can bring up the – the picture.
SMITH: Yes.
KARL: At one point she seemed like she was trying to hide behind her own, you know, her own binder as – as Trump was praising her. What did you make of Whitmer trying to engage Trump?
SMITH: Well, listen, she’s the governor of Michigan. She has no choice but to do that. And anybody that thinks otherwise is just being foolish and immature and childish. The fact is, is that she’s the governor of a state in the United States of America. You need to do business with the federal government. He’s the president of the United States. You don’t get to circumvent him.
So, as a result, you have to be an adult in the room and be prepared to do business. And anybody that would encourage her to do otherwise is just being utterly ridiculous.
KARL: Well, let me – well, let me –
SMITH: I was watching Bill Maher in real time – I’m sorry.
KARL: But let me ask you, though –
SMITH: All right.
KARL: She was there while he was signing these executive orders, basically asking his Justice Department to investigate, you know, people that – that had criticized him. Should she have used that opportunity, she is there, to actually speak up on that?
SMITH: Probably so. I mean, again, but the real issue is, is that whatever it takes to get business done is what we need to be focused on. Whatever her business is, with that particular issue, her particular state, I understand that.
The bigger picture here is that Elizabeth Warren was just on with you. You’re going to have a multitude of Democratic representatives on with you. They talk and they talk and they talk, but what can they do? They position themselves to do absolutely nothing. I didn’t hear anything about tariffs from Democrats before the election. Trump had been preaching about this for the longest time.
The way people decry his strategy, he’s been bloviating about that. They said nothing about it. Instead, they talked about everything from woke culture to cancel culture, to abortion rights and all of this other stuff.
KARL: So –
SMITH: But that wasn’t going to win the election. And that’s what we have to look at. What is it going – what is it going to take to get the job done? That’s why somebody who’s a sports analyst, for crying out loud, is in the doggone polls.
KARL: Yes.
SMITH: It’s not – it’s not – it’s not somebody big upping me, it’s an indictment against the Democratic Party that doesn’t have leadership and doesn’t have a vision. And it’s sad.
Watch the clip above via ABC News.
