Stephen A. Smith Defends Trump Dinner on ‘The View’

The cohosts of The View promised to put Stephen A. Smith in the hot seat on Wednesday (October 21) over his dinner with Donald Trump, Bill Maher, and Kid Rock, and the ESPN personality was ready for it.

During his appearance, Smith revealed that he was invited to join the dinner after Maher said he could bring someone along with him, and he accepted for the opportunity to talk about key issues of importance to him.

“I came there with three agendas. Number one, to address unemployment for Black women in this country. I came to address the Protect College Sports Act that obviously was passed through the Senate and now has to go through the House, which I’m not a supporter of because I don’t think it has representation for the student athlete. And of course, number one on my list was HBCUs,” Smith explained. He then said that Trump admitted he hadn’t considered the fact that, as a result of his administration’s stance against diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, companies and individuals have been reluctant to donate to HBCUs.

When confronted with some of Trump’s history, including being accused of racial bias in renting his properties, insulting Black and Hispanic-dominated countries, and more, Smith reasoned, “He’s the president of the United States, and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to try.” He went on to predict, “He’s not going away until 2028,” arguing, “Until 2028, he has the power of the pen of the executive office of commander in chief of the United States of America. You’re going to have to deal with him, and when it comes to getting things done, I’m all about exhausting every means and every measure to try to do what’s in the best interest of our community. I’m not apologizing for that to anybody.”

ABC

After Whoopi Goldberg pushed back that Trump is indefensible for his treatment of Black people, women, Latinos, and more, Smith challenged that they should invite Trump onto The View, and the cohosts confirmed that they’ve tried.

In the second segment of Smith’s interview, Smith revealed a moment during his dinner with Trump in which he pushed back.

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“I pushed back when he brought up Venezuela. He started talking about them. He started talking about the war with Russia, Ukraine, obviously Iran as well, justifying that. I said, ‘You said there was going to be no new wars, but then it was the war. You bombed them. You said they were obliterated. Then you came back. You bombed them again. Then you said it’d be over in four weeks. Then after that it was four months. Then after that it was seven months. Then after that, you’re telling us to wait ’til after the midterms, and then you’re offering $5,000 if everybody voted for the Republicans to go back into the House.’ I said, “Dang, there’s a lot, Mr. President,'” Smith remembered.

He then imitated Trump’s voice to quote his response to Smith’s criticism, saying, “‘Don’t you understand? Just wait for it. I’m bringing trillions of dollars into this country. Trillions, trillions.’ I said, ‘Where is it?’ He said, ‘You’ll see. Wait for it. Wait for it.’ I said, ‘Really? That’s all you got to say?’ He said, ‘Absolutely. You understand? I’m the greatest president who’s ever lived.'”

The View, weekdays, 11a/10c, ABC