ESPN host Stephen A. Smith assailed the woke ideology and identity politics of the left, saying those traits of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party “ravaged our nation psychologically.”
Smith made the comments Sunday during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Smith continues to position himself as a potential dark horse candidate for president in 2028 as a Democrat, even though he says he’s a registered independent. President Donald Trump said last week he would “love to see” Smith run in 2028.
But Smith said the Democratic Party would “pretty much need to be purged” for him to be “associated with them” in 2028 given their woke ideologies.
“Certainly, with identity politics, woke culture, cancel culture, I thought that that was something that ravaged our nation psychologically, because you had people literally scared they were going to lose their jobs if they pronounced the wrong pronoun, for crying out loud. It got that bad,” Smith said.
“And I think that that’s one of the reasons that Donald Trump is in office today, because so much stuff, a lot is focused on the individual, as opposed to actual policies itself,” he added.
Earlier in the interview, Smith said he didn’t view Trump “as winning the election; I view the Democrats as losing the election, as absolutely, positively blowing it” in 2024.
“And that’s why I think that, again, if somebody was to associate me with that party, as presently constructed, where it leans so extremely left, or at least has spent the vast majority of time doing that, oh, that is not something that I would vibe with at all,” he added. “I would definitely be looking to be a game changer in that regard.”
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Comments