ESPN host Stephen A. Smith candidly admitted during an appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday that he and others who voted for Kamala Harris in the November election feel like “d— fools.”
Smith made his comments while discussing comparisons between Harris’ campaign and Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. He argued to the host that Harris’ lack of a legitimate primary nomination process and her poor performance during the 2020 Democratic primary made her unappealing to voters.
Harris, who dropped out of the 2020 primary in late 2019 before the Iowa caucus, never received a single primary vote before being selected as the Democratic nominee in 2024. She couldn’t even win her home state of California.
“Kamala Harris, who didn’t resonate during the primaries in 2020, couldn’t even get to Iowa, suddenly is the Democratic nominee, then you roll up to the convention in Chicago, and everybody is like ‘She’s a rockstar!’ So it’s like, ‘How’d that happen?” Smith said.
“Yes, I voted for her, a lot of people voted for her, but in the end, we end up feeling like d— fools because we supported it, we fell for ‘the okiedoke’ as they say. If you had a primary, the likelihood is she would not have been the Democratic nominee,” he continued.
Smith has been a vocal internal critic of the Democratic Party, both during and after the 2020 election.
During his Friday appearance with Maher, Smith criticized liberals for failing to campaign on issues most important to the American public. The ESPN legend acknowledged that Trump addressed those concerns and positioned himself as the candidate closer to the center of the political spectrum.
“Here’s the deal: the man was impeached twice, he was convicted on 34 felony counts, and the American people still said, ‘He’s closer to normal than what we see on the left,’” Smith said.
In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News Channel days after Election Day, Smith asserted that the election results served as a referendum on the Democratic Party.
“I think that in light of those results, we have to look at this election as a referendum on the Democratic Party. And America’s saying we’re not feeling where you are, we’re not feeling where you tried to go, we want no part of it, we’re not having it – and they made their choice and we all have to accept it,” he told Hannity.
During a subsequent interview with Fox host Will Cain on Thursday, “Smith delivered a scathing critique of the Democratic National Committee and its message ahead of Election Day and pointed to transgender issues as one of its weak points,” the outlet reported.
“It’s such a strong tilt to the progressive left where we are talking about transgender issues and culture wars and identity politics and all of this stuff. We are sick of all of that. That makes total, total sense to me, and I’m good with it, even though I didn’t vote for [Trump]. I’m not as taken aback and feeling like nothing but gloom and doom and the world is coming to an end because the person I voted for didn’t win,” Smith said.
Smith has frequently expressed interest in the possibility of running for public office. Following the results of the election, he has been one of the few voices in the liberal media to acknowledge and embrace Trump’s victory. He has also been sharply critical of prominent left-wing figures such as Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Jimmy Kimmel for their portrayals of Trump.
Smith did not rule out the possibility of running for president during an interview on “The View” the week after the election.
“I have no desire to be a congressional figure or a senator. But if you came to me and you told me I had a legitimate shot to win the presidency of the United States of America, I would definitely consider it,” he said.
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