Stephen A. Smith is on the defense again, only this time it’s not against LeBron James and Lakers fans but instead the progressive Democratic establishment.
After an Op-Ed at MSNBC last week accused Smith of being a “megaphone for MAGA propaganda,” Smith spent 30 minutes on his podcast The Stephen A. Smith Show setting the record straight and taking aim back at “the left” for its preciousness and hypocrisy when it comes to messaging.
“I think that’s the exact problem with the left,” Smith said. “You see, if I don’t agree with you, I must be MAGA. It must be the case. I’m ‘platforming’ MAGA propaganda, is that so? I don’t see it that way. First of all, even though I lean left, particularly with how I vote in presidential elections, I want to emphasize that I’ve always been a centrist my entire life. I’ve never once described myself as a Democrat or a Republican. I’m a centrist. I’m a moderate. I don’t trust either side.”
Smith got in the crosshairs of the Dems after a slew of interviews with far-right voices like Candace Owens and ICE director Tom Homan. Smith has since the election also increasingly cozied up with conservative commentators like Ben Shapiro and Megyn Kelly in addition to his long-running relationships with Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly.
But Smith emphasized that he does not and will not ever agree with those folks on everything. Smith said he brings them on his show to needle them and have it out.
“I don’t agree with everything, but they feel that way,” Smith said. “And so now we have to get into a discussion into whether or not they have a right to express their point of views and whether or not you have a salient point to debunk what they’re going to throw in our direction before you excoriate them.”
Smith also noted that beyond bringing on Donald Trump-adjacent hosts, he also has interviewed many Democratic politicians in recent months. Those include Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader in the House.
That balance is what Smith strives for. If someone matters in the national conversation, he wants to have a conversation with them — even if they are more extreme than Owens or Homan.
“I’m going to talk to everyone that I can,” Smith said. “I think people have a right to feel differently … but I’ve been on the record stating in the past that I could interview the Ku Klux Klan and I wouldn’t blink. As long as I could ask them what I want to ask them, their answers are their answers. It’s for you to absorb and to take. On this platform, I will interview anybody that’s resonating with the masses about significant, pertinent issues. Left, right, in the middle. It does not matter to me. That’s not providing a megaphone for one side.”
Before wrapping up his long monologue, Smith made a key point that distinguishes him from the Democratic elites. Smith believes he has his finger on the pulse of the content and communications machine better than the traditionalists in the party and at corporate media entities like MSNBC.
“The right takes what it can get to publicize and disseminate their message,” Smith said. “The left wants to hand-pick who they want to be messengers, instead of listening to the public say to them, ‘excuse me, this is how we feel. This is where we’re coming from. what we stand on. That’s who we support’ … the Democratic party is always intervening and getting in the way of what the voters want. That’s why y’all lost, and if you don’t learn, you’re going to continue to (lose).”