The View had promised to put Smith in the hot seat over his White House dinner with President Trump, Bill Maher and Kid Rock. He arrived with his own agenda — and a message for the panel: tens of millions of Americans did not vote for Trump by accident, and writing them off as fooled by his personality misses why they did it.
ESPN's Stephen A. Smith defended his dinner with President Donald Trump on The View on Wednesday, and used the appearance to explain Trump's support to a panel that plainly disagreed with him. "I also think about the 77 million people who voted for him, and the reality is, is that a lot of times when we're talking, so many people get so disgusted with him," Smith said. "They ignore the reasons why he was supported."
"When you've received 77 million votes, that is an indictment against the state of our country and how people are feeling about it."
Smith said voters were sick and tired of a system that takes their tax dollars and never gets anything done for them. He had gone to the dinner — an invitation passed along by Bill Maher that stretched past four hours — with three items of his own: unemployment among Black women, funding for historically Black colleges and universities, which he said has suffered as companies grow reluctant to donate under the administration's stance against diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and his opposition to the Protect College Sports Act. He said Trump admitted he had not considered the HBCU donations problem. And he recounted pushing back at the table, reminding Trump of his promise of no new wars: "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."
The co-hosts pushed back hard. Whoopi Goldberg argued Trump is indefensible for his treatment of Black people, women and Latinos, and said: "I am tired of having to go back time and time again and explain why this man is not understanding." Ana Navarro questioned whether Smith had challenged Trump about controversial decisions; Smith answered that he had, on Venezuela, the Russia-Ukraine war and Iran, and that he criticises Trump regularly on his own platforms. Smith in turn challenged the show to invite Trump on; the co-hosts said they have tried.
Smith's answer to the whole argument was that the president's power makes engagement unavoidable. "He's the president of the United States, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to try," he said. "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." Ordinary voters, he said, "want people that are in a position to have some level of influence to get something done for themselves, their communities, and the American people. I'm not apologizing for that to anybody."