ESPN talker Stephen A. Smith vigorously defended Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) visit to the White House on Sunday, calling Democrats who took issue with her meeting President Trump “childish.”
Smith appeared on This Week on ABC with Jonathan Karl, where he continued to field questions about his potential 2028 presidential run. After a brief discussion about Trump, Karl asked Smith about Whitmer’s visit with the president at the White House, for which she has faced severe criticism.. Whitmer was especially denounced for holding a binder over her face while Trump signed executive orders.
“What did you make of Whitmer trying to engage Trump?” Karl asked Smith.
“Well, listen, she’s the governor of Michigan,” Smith replied. “She has no choice but to do that. And anybody that thinks otherwise is just being foolish and immature and childish. The fact is, is that she’s the governor of a state in the United States of America. You need to do business with the federal government.”
Smith added that Trump is the president of the United States, and you cannot “circumvent” him.
Undeterred, Karl pressed Smith on whether Whitmer should have made more effort to show her disapproval of Trump’s actions while in the White House.
“Probably so,” Smith replied. “I mean, again, but the real issue is, is that whatever it takes to get business done is what we need to be focused on. Whatever her business is, with that particular issue, her particular state, I understand that.
“The bigger picture here is that Elizabeth Warren was just on with you. You’re going to have a multitude of Democratic representatives on with you. They talk and they talk and they talk, but what can they do? They position themselves to do absolutely nothing. I didn’t hear anything about tariffs from Democrats before the election. Trump had been preaching about this for the longest time.
“The way people decry his strategy, he’s been bloviating about that. They said nothing about it. Instead, they talked about everything from woke culture to cancel culture, to abortion rights, and all of this other stuff.”
Karl attempted a follow-up, but Smith cut him off and continued.
“But that wasn’t going to win the election. And that’s what we have to look at. What is it going – what is it going to take to get the job done? That’s why somebody who’s a sports analyst, for crying out loud, is in the doggone polls,” Smith answered.
“Yes,” Karl responded.
“It’s not – it’s not – it’s not somebody big upping me, it’s an indictment against the Democratic Party that doesn’t have leadership and doesn’t have a vision. And it’s sad.”
