Stephen A. Smith Says Trump Was 'Immovable' on Midterm Blame, Warns Democrats Face Far-Left Problem

On Thursday night, Stephen A. Smith sat down with Fox News host Sean Hannity to describe what happened when he sat across from President Donald Trump at the White House. The ESPN commentator had just finished a 40-minute, wide-ranging interview with the president, and the subject he kept returning to was the Republican Party's midterm losses, which he called devastating.

Smith said he told Hannity the GOP had essentially been slaughtered, and that he put the question to Trump directly: was he willing to point the finger at himself? According to Smith, the president was dogged and immovable on the point. He did not budge.

The exchange, as Smith recounted it, turned on a phrase Trump used often on the trail. During his midterm push, the president repeatedly urged Americans to vote as though he were on the ballot. In the interview, Smith said, Trump removed himself from that framing. Smith quoted the president as saying he was not on the ballot. Smith replied that this made no sense, since Trump had told voters to put him there. Trump's answer, in Smith's telling, was that voters did not do it. Smith then asked what if they did, and that was why Republicans lost. Trump, he said, refused to accept that.

Smith described the president's view this way: the candidates were not that great, and had Trump himself been running, the outcome would have been different. That, Smith said, is his mentality. Smith made clear he does not share it. He argued the blue wave reflected voters' dissatisfaction with Trump's presidency, and that Americans were sending a message about a president they saw as not having his eye on the ball and coming across as somewhat detached.

Smith also said Trump pushed back when they discussed how the Iran War and tariffs have affected voter sentiment and the economy. The source gives no further detail on what Trump said on either subject.

The conversation with Hannity also touched on speculation that Trump had offered Smith the job of White House press secretary. Smith waved it away as absolutely hilarious, saying the people floating it evidently do not know the life he lives or the affluence ESPN and Disney have given him. He said he would not take that pay cut for almost anything short of the presidency, adding, "Press secretary? Please."

Smith, who has criticized both parties, turned the second half of his appearance toward Democrats. He said the party has a challenge because many people see it as divided. Democrats, he said, describe themselves as a big tent with room for everyone, but the progressive left has shown that is not so. In his words, anyone unwilling to capitulate fully to the left's desires and ideological beliefs ends up with a problem on their hands. He also called out Democrats who have declined interviews, and thanked Trump for agreeing to one.

He closed on a note of credit. Smith said Trump answered what he asked and did not run from anything, even as he remained rigid in believing the losses were the fault of weaker Republican candidates and not of him. Everything here comes from Smith's own account on a Fox program; the interview itself is the place to check how closely it matches.