The Stephen A. Smith ShowInterview Only: Stephen A takes on a No BS and No agenda conversation with Megyn Kelly.
Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
Welcome to the special edition of The Steven A. Smiths Show. Coming at You is. I love to do it very these three times.
A week over the digital airways or YouTube, and of course iHeartRadio as always. I like to take a moment to pause and thank my subscribers and followers constantly listening and watching me over iHeartRadio. It There's been millions of downloads over the last few months, and of course over the digital airways of YouTube, where I've now eclipsed one point one eight million subscribers. Can't thank y'all for the love and support enough. Keep it coming, and I'm gonna keep on coming. This is a special edition, but not because of you know, special subject. It's a special interview, special person appearing on the show. She's been in the news a lot lately, especially during the election. If you watch the Megan Kelly Show, Sirius XM, YouTube, various other places, She's she's a monster right now. She's big time, over three million subscribers and growing and growing and growing every single day. Her topics are very poignant, her opinions are very poignant. Her perspective is real. She is a journalist, a former journalist, still a journalist. Actually she's a lawyer. She's been a host, Fox News, NBC, et cetera. She's going through a lot in her career, but she's had an opportunity and a sort of a renaissance, to be quite honest with you, with the things that she is doing. She clearly is in support of Donald Trump, was in support of Donald Trump as he was running for election. Ultimately he won the presidency. One would like to believe one could tomorrow she had something to do with that, with her unwavering support of him, considering their history with one another. Some people would say that was a surprise, but nevertheless, she's gone all in. Some people have labeled her an extreme conservative. Some people leave being associated with her with MAGA. She calls herself a registered independent. No matter which way you slice it, at times she appears incredibly controversial. As far as I'm concerned, She's usually very factual, if not always. She doesn't mess around. She lets you know where she stands, and she usually has details and facts to back it up. I'm fascinated by her personally in terms of the job that she does over the airwaves, whether it be digital streaming or otherwise.
Her career has spoken for herself.
She's been highly successful, and I'm looking forward to talking to her. I am not going to agree with everything that she says, nor do I expect you to, but I have repeatedly told you all it. On this platform, we hear from both sides, and I don't want to hear any noise about stephen A talking to yet somebody else on the right.
There's a whole bunch of folks on the left that.
I have invited on this show, that I have had on this show, that I'm willing to have on this show in the future. But the same is applicable to the right. No matter what you feel, I don't give a damn. I'm gonna hear from everybody, and if there's one person I definitely wanted to hear from, it is Megan Kelly.
She is a monolist.
She is the truth and a half, and I'm looking forward to talking with her. Even when I don't believe what she's saying. Oh, I want to challenge what she has said. She has proven to be highly credible over the years, and I'm fascinated by her growth because she seems to be skyrocketing. I want to hear what she has to say. I want to hear perspective on things and why, and I think it's something you'd want to hear as well. That's why I asked her to come on the show, and I'm lucky enough to have her accept my invitation.
The one and only Megan Kelly up next right here on The Stephen A. Smith Show.
Don't go away all right, folks, I need you all to stop what you're doing in listen. You know I love this time of year, right the NBA playoffs are here and with all his action going on The Stephen the Smith Show wants to make sure you take advantage of it all. That's why we've partnered with Prize Picks, the best place to win cash while watching sports.
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Hey, hey, run your game today.
I'll give you my picks for Thursday's game between my beloved New York Knicks and the Detroit Pistons.
So let's get to it.
First, up, Well Cunningham scored more or less than twenty eight and a half points.
Have you seen his brother play? I mean he looks like the best player on the court.
Smooth the Silk Brothers, got sizing them, got a jake and get to the hole, got a mid range game, can finish at the basket the brothers. I'm going with more than twenty eight and a half points, averaging about thirty already. Next up, Well, Jaylen Brunton scored more or less than twenty eight and a half points.
Yes he will, but it'll be tougher.
He I got so much admiration for big body Brunton, as my brother Kendrick Perkins loves to call him, all right, undersized, thick, stocky, big, and herky jerky moves. Finds a way to get his shot off and make things happen. Plus hitting the three, getting into the lane, et cetera. Though some big boys that play for the Detroit Pistons, but he's the only weapon that's shown up for the New York Knicks offensively. I'm gonna go with more for Jalen Brunson on this one. Next up, well, Detroutch Tobias Harris scored more or less than fourteen and a half points he did game two. I don't think he will in this particular game. I think he's gonna be primarily focused on defending against Karl Anthony Townsen because he did so so successfully in Game two. I think offense won't be a priority on his home court because I think others will fill up.
Will you fill in the.
Spots, the Beasleys of the worlds, the durings of the world and others. I think he'll score less fourteen and a half points, but he'll put most of his work in on the defensives end of the floor, along with the rebounding. Finally, will Michel Bridges scored more or less than sixteen and a half points. I would like to say I hope so, but I don't believe so.
I didn't like the way he looked in Game two.
He missed all four of his shots in the fourth quarter, including that wide open three with at the top of the key with eleven seconds left in the game.
I think he was a bit fatigued.
I think that we got to keep an eye out on for him because he's played, you know, all the eighty two games and offense, eve the minutes that he's logged, et cetera, to one of those situations where he could be worn down, and I don't know how ready he's gonna be for game three. So that's it for me, right there. Okay, let's go over the list again. More for Caid cutting him, more for Jalen Brunson, less for Tobias Harris, and less for Michel Bridges, even Steven as they call it, you know what I mean. That's what I'm trying to do here, understanding, not how it goes when you're talking about prospects with Stephen A. So go to the Prospects app and check out the Steven A. Smith Show community play. It's boosted twenty five percent.
You heard me.
My next guest is a journalist, an attorney of course, a political commentator, and host of her own daily show on Serious Extemps Triumph Channel. Please welcome. I think it's safe to call her, the incomparable one, herself, the one and only Meghan Kelly is on the stephen A.
Smith Show. Hi Meghan, how are you? How's everything?
I'm great? Thanks for having me.
Well, please, the honor is all mine. First of all, I way, hey, congratulations on order. You were name to the Time list of the one hundred most Influential People for a second time. By the way, if I remember correctly, I'd like to know congratulations. I'd like to say, first of all, and secondly, how does that feel for you?
Thank you for that?
Can I tell you say? Maybe you can help me decide this? Should I go to this thing? It's a big gala on Thursday. And I'll tell you something, stephen A. I. When I first got named the list back in twenty fourteen, I thought it was a big deal because my career was just kind of on the upswing and it meant something to me. Now, I have to be honest, it means absolutely nothing to me. When they called, I was like, whatever, all these people hate me and everything I stand for and they're very annoying. But then I was like, maybe I'll show up just so I can sort of telegraph the FU message and like a really great dress on the red carpet.
Then I'm like, well, that's not the spair.
I've really been wrestling with whether I should even pay any attention to this at all or just go on about my life.
Megan, I am the worst person in the world.
You should ask that question too, because I could give less than a damn about these things. Most time, I like to show courtesy or respect to people who.
Give it to me.
But I'm not in this business to be celebrated. I want to be respected. I want to get paid for my hard work. But in the same breath, I don't need applause and alcolades and celebratory folks around me. I could care less not to mention the fact that you did say A lot of them can't stand you, so why should you be in their presence? But then again, it's recognizing how influential you and showing up. You know that might not be such a bad thing, And you don't mind rubbing into somebody's face from time to time.
I could tell that about you.
Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm just not really looking to achieve the approval of anybody who would be at that thing. But then I heard that there's a possibility both Megan Markle and Blake Lively will be there, in which case I was like, well, I'm definitely going. I'm going with my iPhone and I'm going to have to go over them and try to get them to say something to me, like I've reported so much on both of them, Like.
That's almost irresistible. So I don't know. I have a couple of days to decide.
Listen, you think about it, whatever choice you want to make, you want to make, and listen, nobody can say a damn thing to you because it's been earned, and make no mistake about it. I mean, you're a person that's been around for a long time. You've done exceptional work. I know it's not I'm not supposed to say these things, but I am a fan. I have been a guest on your show. I do watch you a lot, and damn it, you've proven me wrong on several occasions.
So here I stand down with that.
You know, Megan Kelly, when you talk about people not liking most of them can't stand you. Why do you think people would feel such negative thoughts towards you today?
If you had the guests, well, if you have Trump arrangement syndrome. Then you don't like me because I've supported the president and defended a lot of the things that they tell us are Hitler esque about Trump, so you know, I'd get caught up in that whole fervor. And a lot of people hate Fox News, so they don't like me from those years. And a lot of people believe, you know, just negative things, negative hit pieces that are put out on you over the years, and they tend to be very left. Normal lefties, I think are fine with me. All my friends are normal lefties, but far left lefties those are not my fans.
And that's fine.
You know, I'm not everybody's cup of tea, can be I can be off putting in a certain commentary of mine, but.
You know, for the most part, if you know me, you probably like me.
Well, do you find yourself to be a righty or do you find somebody Do you find yourself to be somebody who's just anti left because of what the left represents in the eyes of a lot of people in this day and age.
That's a good question because I don't really describe myself as conservative. When people write about me, they say, like a conservative podcaster and It always kind of jars me a little, like that's that's not quite right.
I'm a registered independent.
I was raised a Democrat, I voted Democrat for many, many years, and then I just started drifting right word when the country lost its mind. You know, when I was on Fox, I would say I was probably about a six on the ideological scale of Hannity's a ten, and now I'm like an eight point five.
But I don't really feel like I changed at all.
I just feel like the country changed and I looked down at the same spot where my feet were and things had shifted underneath me.
But I'm definitely not a liberal.
You know, I can't think of anything I'm liberal on, so I think it's probably a fair label to call me a conservative.
It just doesn't really resonate with me.
When do you believe that the country shifted to a point where you could no longer find yourself remotely identifying with the left? What year was that, What issue was that? When do you believe that happened for you?
Well, it was probably twenty seventeen, eighteen nineteen, and then the explosion of twenty twenty wokeness really did me in because I was always railing against.
What we used to call political correctness.
You know that. Remember Bill Marshaw was called politically incorrect. It wasn't called wokeness up until like the late teens or you know, nineteen twenty or twenty twenty, and that I really that's I'm devoting my life to fighting wokeism. I can't stand it. I think it's the most pernicious, dangerous force that's in America today or in the world today in some ways. So if there's anything associated, you know, an association between the left and wokeness, I abhor it.
I fight it.
I want nothing to do with it, and I would never wear a team.
Jersey that would associate me with that.
And I think most Republicans feel that way, and most Conservatives do too, So whatever that is, I'm totally anti it, you know, so is Bill Maher incidentally, but he still votes Democrat. But I'm just as vehemently anti I woke and I vote Republican.
These days define wokeism in the eyes of Megan Kelly, because so many people sit up there and talk about, well, woke used to me something different. I know that being conscientious and being observant and paying attention to what was going on. But obviously that's taking on a different definition over the last several years. So in your mind, what you abhor about wokeism, how it's defined in your mind, tell us what that is.
Well, it's an obsession with identity, and it tends to be it could be feminism as the left uses that term, which is very unattractive to me, but it's The two main pillars are race essentialism and gender radicalism, where they tell young white kids in school that they're born with original sin that can never be overcome, and they tell young brown and black kids in school that they're born with some sort of inherent perceived defect that we're really sorry they were born with, but we'll try to give them a bunch of advantages to get them through, which is totally disempowering. And on the gender madness, it's there's really no such thing as gender.
It's a social construct. You know, you can be whatever you want to be.
Biological sex is totally irrelevant, and sex is merely assigned at birth by some errant doctor. But you'll decide you'll just be a little baby until you tell your parents whether you're a girl or a boy. And by the way, if you make a mistake, you can easily with very little trouble switch over to the other sex leader without talking about the severe impacts that has on you physically and psychologically.
All of that is just I can't.
I mean, I can start down any of those lanes, but they're all very, very dangerous.
Why do you believe the Left took on that course.
I mean, I will tell this to you, and i will confess this to you as a black man in the United States of America, a part of a populace that represents a little bit over thirteen percent of the population, closer to fourteen, around thirteen point six percent. I think one of the things that I found utterly appalling is that some of these issues usurped African Americans, immigrants who came across the border legally. Of course, some of the Hispanic popular or what have you. It seemed on the left to usurp the interest of that voting block that supported Democrats for decades. And to me, that's not mentioned enough, but I'm not afraid to mention it, and I've mentioned it on several occasions. Why do you believe the Left went about that business, especially when it came to transgender issues, for example, when it might have affected one percent of the population, if not less compared to that thirteen percent or more as it pertains to the black or Hispanic population.
Why would the left do that? In your estimation?
I mean, I think a huge piece of it is the death of religion amongst the left. You know, they just became more and more secular. And the more they squeezed God out of the public square and out of their private lives, the emptier they felt, and the more the natural need for something, something higher than themselves, bigger than themselves, dominated, And if it wasn't going to be Jesus or God or you know, Mohammad, it wound up being skin color and lady parts and your oppression, which really worked for them. And by the way, it worked for them politically too, so it had added benefits, made them feel like they were part of something that mattered, made them feel somewhat better than you know, like I'm better than you because I actually care about women. You see, I actually care about trans people. See I care about black people. If you don't, if you're not favor race quotas, you're a racist. You know, those kinds of messages made them feel higher than, better than, which worked to fill some sort of you know, ego need they had. But I really think ground zero on the whole thing was pushing religion out of people's lives, pushing technology in increased isolation, and just that fundamental human need to hold on to something, to belong to something. And in the same way some people reach for a bottle or a drug, these people reached for this false god of wokeism with really dangerous effects.
I'm fascinated to be talking to you because there's a lot of things that you say that some of it I may not agree with, most of it I do. Most importantly, I find you to be incredibly thorough. You do not play, and I know that when I come on Megan Kelly's show, I better be ready to answer some questions. I better know what the hell I'm talking about, or at least fess up to the fact that I don't, otherwise I'm gonna get raped through the coast because she is no joke. That's how I view you, and I don't mind telling anybody that. But the flip side to it is that you've acknowledged reading up on you, doing some researching you, you've acknowledged that you've become far more opinionated over these last few years than you had ever been in the past, when you were working at Fox News with the Kelly Files, when you were working at NBC, of course, no question about that, and thinks of transition. You're in the news today, for example, because yesterday you just brought up religion as opposed to secular and what have you, and you were in the news for you criticizing the pope because of this position on the legals. When you look at yourself, first of all, talk about that why you took that position, particularly in the immediate aftermath of his death. But most importantly, this fearlessness you appear to have now more so than ever before, to express your opinions and your thoughts, no matter what the subject matter is.
Talk about that for think, Well, the latter is an acquired skill, because for most of my career as a journalist, the goal was to hide your opinions, you know, to definitely not share them, and to quiet your bias and really just report the facts and whatever you thought personally, you kept in your personal lane. That's pretty much how I spent my time as a journalist. And then I got elevated to the primetime of Fox, and that show was the first that became a little bit more opinion. But if you go back and you watch The Kelly File, you won't see a lot of my opinion. You know, I'll argue with people who shape moronic things, but I wasn't really saying this is where I stand.
On X, Y or Z right.
And even when I launched my podcast, yeah, I tried to do that, and I remember had an argument with Mark Cuban and he lost that argument, but he did win the following point where he said he was pressing me to give my opinion and I said, well, no, I don't have to do that, you know, you're the guest. And he said, oh no, not in this lane. You're going to have to give your opinion here. And he was correct. And so five years after launching the show, you know, I give it a lot more freely. It's why people tune in, you know, they want to know where you stand. They want to know what you think about things. It's just a totally different game than straight new journalism.
On the Pope.
You know, look, this was a very liberal pope. He was a very progressive guy within the Catholic Church, and he was controversial amongst really diehard Christians. They didn't really much love what he did to the Catholic Church. They certainly didn't love his announcements on immigration and how we really needed to welcome all the migrants. It's like, you know what, why don't you tell it to Lake and Riley's family as they grieve the loss of their daughter and Jocelyn Nagaro's family as they grieve the loss of their daughter, their twelve year old in Texas, Like, we don't need a guy who lives in the Vatican surrounded by walls telling us we can't have walls and we need to have an open borders policy.
He was from Latin America.
Most of the immigrants coming into the United States that are you know we're trying to deal with right now, are from Latin America.
You know, he clearly had to bias the other way and the Catholic Church.
This has been my own beef, but that of many Catholics has been taking a bunch of money in cooperation with the government to try to find homes for these illegal immigrants who come in here. So like on Sunday, masks I never know what my money's going to anymore.
Now.
I try to make sure is this going to help priests, this church or this rectory, because I do not want to help find housing for illegals.
But Megan, you know this better than me, at least as well as because we've both been in journalism for decades now.
There's one thing to say that.
It's another thing entirely to say that in the immediate aftermath of his passing. You know, back in the day, they would have been like, why are you saying this now?
Could this not have waited a few days or whatever?
So I think along those lines, and the question that enters my mind is, I'm not questioning that you feel what you said you feel, I'm wondering the timing of it. Did you do it because of your disgust with the left and how especially back in the day, and if they could do it this way even right now, they would have asked a question, what about the corum? What about waiting the man just passed away? Where's the level of sensitivity? They would ask that question, Megan Kelly, what would you say to people who would say something like that to you?
That didn't even cross my mind? To not say that.
I mean, we're talking about a public figure, one of the most famous figures in the world and leader of the Catholic Church, and necessarily when a person like that dies, there will be a recitation of some of the key points of his or her legacy. And in his case, you know, his anti or his pro illegal immigration or immigrant stance was a major piece of his platform, at least in so far as it dealt with the Americas.
So I mean, it would be I'd be remiss not to mention it, you know.
I remember after Kobe died, there was a big debate because some journalists were like, he was a rapist, and I remember being like, that is too much because he died so tragically and it had been so many years, and he was with his daughter.
It was just such a heartbreaker.
We were in deep shock and mourning he was gone, and that to me did feel very tone deaf. But this is a world leader, Like, of course you're going to talk about what did they stand for, how did they change the church, what were their public positions, and how does it affect America? Because he was the leader of one point two billion Catholics all over the earth, not just the United States, and so how did he relate to us over here? As a journalist in America, you're always looking to do that, like tell people what did he mean to people here?
Good and bad? That's just the way you do it.
What do you think about people who'll look at you and they'll say, what do you stand for? Megan Kelly, especially now because of your support for the president.
You endorsed him.
You showed up at the rally I think it was the night before election, made sure to encourage everybody to vote for him.
You said you voted for him, et cetera, et cetera. And we all know.
How he treated you back in twenty fifteen when you were at Fox with the Republican primary debate and what have you.
And you know he did.
He felt that your question was nasty because you brought up quotes that he had said about women in the past, calling them pigs, amongst other things, and all of a sudden he goes on the air and said that you were bleeding out of.
Your eyes or whatever it was or whatever.
There are people that still look at you to this very day and say, how could you support somebody that would talk about you that way? This sudden, not sudden shift, but this dramatic shift that you had.
What about you?
What do you stand for and where do you stand on at this particular moment in time, and why is that the case? What do you say to people who ask those questions about you at this particular moment in time.
I think they're totally fair. And I appreciate you changing it from sudden shift to dramatic, because it really wasn't sudden.
It was a slow climb.
Between Trump and yours truly, I you know, I when he was attacking me for that nine month period, I really was not his fan, and I wasn't, you know, really gearing up to vote for Trump, because he was staying on me like a dog with a bone, and it was highly unpleasant. But over time I was able, and I'm actually proud of it. I was able to check my personal feelings about the guy and start getting back to what needs to be my focus as a journalist, which is the professional relationship with the guy, the professional Trump, and what I saw was somebody who governed in a way that I very much respected. There were a couple of key moments in Trump one point zero where I really did like the head the double head take at I'm like, oh my god, look what he's doing, like when he stood by Brett Kavanaugh, among other things. And I really respected it and saw him in a new light. And then we got Joe Biden, and I mean, it was such a disastrous four years. I probably would have run open armed into the arms of any Republican. But Trump is just the anti Biden in so many ways and was just tailor made for this moment to take him down and to take the reins of the country back and to take the country back itself. So I really, you know, I don't know how to say this in a way that you know isn't weird. But I professionally I fell in love with Trump the president because I believed him that he would close the border, you know. I believed him that he would fight back against the gender madness, which has become a very big issue for me for many uses. You know, I believed him that he was going to try to get DEI out of our colleges and our woke schools, and that he would push back on this like truly, not to sound like Tip or Gore, but smut that's being pedled to our k through five schools in the name of like health ed or whatever they're calling it. But it's absolutely disgusting, like the sex acts that show up in elementary school libraries, all that stuff. Trump's not having any of that. I believe that he would lower our taxes. I believe that he would be against forever wars. I still believe all those things. I believe we roll back regulations so that we could get the economy fired up again. I don't believe in the climate and extreamists, and they're stupid fake models that already had us under water by this point in time, and yet we're fine. So I really I believed in Trump, and I do believe in Trump. But he's doing all the things he said he would do. Now they're throwing up obstacles in his way. But I'm one hundred percent rooting for him. So I if anything, I'm just thrilled that I saw the light on him and that I was able to like push my own feelings to the side and get past that, and he got past his negative feelings about me such that I could stand up for him before the election and hopefully convince some people.
Much to my own peril, I'm going to share with you what I disagree with you about when it comes to President Trump, but not before I pay some bills. I'll be right back. The marvelous Megan Kelly right here with Steven A. Back with more in a minute. A Hi, everybody, listen up with all the big time sports action that's happening each and every day, The Stephen A. Smith Show wants to make sure you are taking advantage of it all. That's why we've partnered with the Prize Picks, the best place to win cash while watching sports.
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Welcome back to Steven A.
Smith Show right here with Megan Kelly over three million plus subscribers on her YouTube channel or her YouTube channel. She is absolutely for now. I don't give it down what anybody says. I'll watch it as often as I can, Okay, and I'm learning along the way, so I'm gonna open myself to being taught here. Megan Kelly on a couple of issues involving the President of the United States, I'm not gonna say you're president. He's our president. He's a president of the United States. I can't stand when people do that. That's not right, that's disrespectful. He's the president of the United States of America.
So let's get that out the way. DEI.
Let me explain to you what I think, and then I don't mind hearing what you have to say.
I'm looking forward to it.
I have I don't have an issue with people who want DEI gone. If it is indeed what you say, it is that there's preferential treatment when we're talking about diversity, equity, and inclusion.
That there are people that are incompetent that are.
Placed in positions. Certainly, I understand that. Part my problem, Megan Kelly, is how do we ignore its existence to begin with?
Where it originated from.
If this nation, whether it's Corporate America or beyond, was exercising fairness and truly truly looking for the best candidates and not engaging in favoritism that favored primarily white males, then there would have never been any need for DEI, just like there would not have been any need for affirmative action or other things. And so for me, when I think about it, that's what I believe. Folks who speak against DEI, specifically on the right obviously is missing.
They don't bring up that element to that to say.
What, well, I think it's mixing a lot of things. I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong with diversity. And if I, you know, we're remaking America, I would make sure we had it in all forms, in all places. I'd make sure we have lots of different people with lots of different backgrounds and lots of different ideological views running different corporations.
But that's not really what DEI is.
DEI is mostly focused on on the e the equity, which is just a joke. Equity means you have the right to end up in the same place, irrespective of how much effort goes into it. That is not an American value, That is not something I value it or share an at all you have. I mean that it's like the whole you know, at my kids' schools they still have DEI at least at my daughter's school, and they were asking what does it mean?
What is equity?
And I was explaining, and the woman actually said, I mean, this is just this year, she said, at our new school to which we fled to try to get from, the super woke school in New York. Said exactly what I said is the definition of equity, right to wind up in the same place. And I said, you know what, Yardley, that is what equity is. And so on Halloween, you should go out there and you should work hard and go to every single house in the neighborhood and get a huge bucket of candy. Then you should go over to some kid's house who didn't trick or treat at all, who was too lazy, who just sat in front of his TV watching some stupid show, and you should give him half your candy because he has the right.
He has the right to end up at the same place.
And then when you go to take your exams, you have to let the girl who didn't study at all, who just phoned it in because she was on the phone with her friends, copy off your paper. She is entitled to the same grade you have, irrespective of how hard you've worked, and she hasn't. That's equity and it's immoral. So I'm completely opposed to it. And it's just like what Kamala Harris ran on. Diversity is a different story, and I think we really were working toward it, and we were doing pretty well as a country, you know. I think when I grew up and I was in college in the nineties and thereafter, it was something race was being diminished, and we were starting to look at people as whole human beings.
We were seeing in a racial marriage go up.
It was just becoming less of a thing than in like the seventies, when race.
Was still very much people's focus.
And then we set ourselves back by making it the top thing that we were supposed to notice about other people, and that created a wall between us, that created more of a divide between the races in a way I had never experienced in my fifty years on this earth now fifty four.
And so I think many of us just.
You don't look it, by the way, you don't look you don't look at it at all.
I just want to let you know that. Okay, well go ahead.
So that that was, you know, my problem, and then we had the messaging around it. And I'll tell you so just one example, my kids' school in New York, one of the best schools in the nation. This is the school from which we fled. It was I have two boys and a girl, and our boys were at this boys' school, and they actually made it mandatory reading for the faculty. There this thought piece by this one professor who posited that in every classroom where white children learn, there is a future killer cop and that white mothers are indoctrinating their children in black death.
In response to which I said, We're out of here. This is such bullshit.
My brother's a cop, first of all, and the nerve, the nerve to look at our sweet little boys, what my boy was in kindergarten and say, yep, there's a future killer cop because of his white skin.
It's blatantly racist.
And by the way, most of DEI hiring and firing and whatever practices are illegal. It is illegal to even count race as a factor in hiring or firing. All these companies and these banks who are like well, in the end, it, you know, tips the scales if she's a woman or if he's a black man. Wrong, you just buy the law. You're not allowed to consider it at all. But we lost our minds after George Floyd. We decided we were going to throw the law out the window or just not enforce it and start living and dying by immutable characteristics like I should get extra points because I have a badge, or you should get extra points because your skin is brown.
It's just utter madness.
What do you say?
And I'm certainly not equating him with those examples that you just gave, because I get where you're coming from. I could research some of those things. I could come and push back a little bit, but I have to confess to made some good points again. Make it, Kelly, But let's get to Petere hag Seth, because I got to tell you, I know that's a friend of yours, a former colleague of yours. At Fox News, and I want to let you know, and I want to before I asked this question, I want to let you know I'm not bringing up any of the allegations against that man, my issues against him. I've never brought that stuff up, and I'm not about to. I saw your interview with him, and by the way, I applored you for how you went down the line, because you were absolutely right when you said nobody else did that with him. You went point by wait with the accusations that were levied against him in terms of his behavior, sexual proclivities, et cetera, et cetera. You did all of that. So I'm not here to get on him about that. Here's my issue with Pete Haig Saith. He was a weekend host on Fox News Megan Kelly, and now he is the Secretary of Defense for the United States of America, overseeing a department with three and a half million people, two million of whom want civilians. By the way, I understand that he served our military honorably and he is to be respected, and I am not here to disrespect him. But when we talk about DEI okay, when we talk about somebody being given a hand up, for my God, doesn't that qualify Megan Kelly?
Doesn't that qualify No?
I mean, let me just stop by saying Barack Obama was a community organizer.
That's it, that's it. He had no executive but he was a literate. We mede him commander in chief.
Yeah.
I'm just saying, if you want to talk about qualifications, do the job. Much rather look at Pete's resume than Barack Obama's. But Pete, yes, he was a weekend Fox and Friends host, but I can I mean, Trump was a celebrity Apprentice host. Like you're stint hosting on TV or not hosting doesn't determine whether you can do the job. Pete was hired because of his military service and his then after his military service, his years devoting himself to helping vets through Concern Veterans for America and another charity group that he formed to help veterans get their voices out there in politics.
But he served at GIPMO.
He left Princeton voluntarily and enlisted so that he could help fight after nine to eleven. Nobody leaves Princeton to join the Armed forces. Nobody but Pete did. Then he went volunteered again to go to Iraq during the most dangerous time. This is when people were being beheaded in Iraq. He was like, send me, and he went. Then Afghanistan, same thing, went back again. And those three deployments taught Pete a thing or two about what it means to be a war fighter and how much of a hair trigger we've had in this country over the past couple of decades, and how neocons are really super enthusiastic about fighting every single war in every single pocket of the globe without spending a lot of time thinking about what it's doing to our actual men. But Pete was changed from a neocon to more of a dove, and that's one of the reasons why Trump chose him.
But but Megan, let me be fair to you and Keith. I want to be very very clear. I'm not questioning his military service. I'm not questioning his record. What I'm saying a matter of fact, I do you one better. I don't mind people who were ultra critical of Lloyd Austin, his predecessor, and say Pete could do better.
I got, I got all of that.
What I'm talking about is the bare bones of your qualification. You understand I'm talking from an administrative perspective, running the department with three and a half million. And you brought up Obama. Yes he was a community organizer, but he was also a senator before he got elected his president help on Capitol Hill with I didn't say it did I didn't say it did.
I'm but for years that's how it happened.
I'm talking about the process.
Should be the Defense Department chief. No, it's a no. She's an idiot.
Like becoming a US Senator doesn't make you qualified to do anything other than sit at the US Senate and.
Drink a bunch of coffee. But Pete, here's the reason. I'll bring it home for you.
What was happening is we were relying too much on the so called experts in the so called generals, and that is how we wound up into forever wars.
You know, we have a.
Ship of yes, it's neocons, and it's the industrial war machine, and it's the Boeings of the world and people who make a lot of money off of military conflicts. And it had become this cottage industry where they saw conflict and they pushed us like an aircraft carrier. They had that much force behind the push to push us into these conflicts, and we had too many Republican leaders in particular who said, yes, I'll do it. And by the way, the Democrats weren't much better and today are even worse. Yes, I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll do it, and we're gonna spread democracy through the Middle East. Okay, sure, how did that work out? We made a bunch of more enemies, countries hate us even more now, and then we sacrificed generations of blood and treasure. And what happened with Trump one point zero was he had he saw it firsthand with people like General Millie that he shouldn't be talking to the generals and just listening to them. And he actually brought in a bunch of generals to advise him on what we should do about Afghanistan and closing that down. And then he brought in a bunch of enlisted guys. And one of the reasons why the machine, the military war machine, didn't like Trump was because he said, I'm done listening to the generals. I want to know what the enlisted troops have to say. And they all said, get us out of this. Ward's pointless now. And so Trump learned that he needs to talk to the actual war fighters about whether we're winning and losing, whether it's a battle worth fighting, what the actual sacrifice looks like. And there was no better person than Pete, who, by the way, attained the rank of major, which is great. You know, he's not a four star general, but he was an officer, and he was also an actual fighting soldier in the actual armed forces who had put his life on the line.
Two more questions before I let you get out here, because I know you got to run out. I thank you so much for your time. Question number one, you were critical of Christino, I mean and obviously so, I mean you didn't like it enough fatigues with the commercials or whatever. You spoke out against her. So you you ain't playing around. You're gonna call balls and strikes. I'll give you credit for that. But considering her and how she just got I think it was a pocketbook stolen stolen over the weekend at a restaurant in DC, including a password, drivers license keys, and government access badge. When you consider the security of this nation we're talking about, Pete, hegseth with with with this whole, this whole controversy he's in, you know, with the text messages and stuff like that, and having folks in the text chain, the national security issues being over, you know, with his wife and his brother included in the text, and then you got Christine Os. That's our homeland security, that's our national defense. How secure should we feel when the Trump administration appears to be having those kind of problems at thisarticular moment.
I'm not worried about that at all. I really kind of know.
I want to know where Christy n Noman was about to flee, to shed her passport and three grand in cash?
Who travels with that?
That?
I was like, what, I guess that's her personal habit. I never used who uses cash anymore? I don't even have two nickels anymore. It's like whatever, okay, so that doesn't bother me. But the peak thing, I laid it out on my show today exactly what's happening to him. But what happened there stephen A really wasn't his fault. The signal thing that was his fault, and it wasn't a good idea, and I don't defend it, But what's happening to him in terms of the hit pieces coming out against him is a more interesting story. They they started having leaks from the Pentagon with a top secret information like our plans for the Panama Canal and to potentially get them in line if they don't want to help us getting China out of there in terms of influence, Pentagon plans that the President had asked for. You can't have that shit. You cannot have the Pentagon leaking war plans to NBC News, which had and so they opened up a leak investigation. He wound up saying, these are the three guys who we believed the leaks. They got escorted out of the building on Friday, and day after days since they were escorted out, there's been a hit piece on new information that just happens to reflect very poorly unpeaked. So you have to keep it in perspective and follow the timeline. It's clearly a campaign to bring him down. The President sees it. The President has said he's not persuaded by it, and I think that's probably how this will land.
Last question.
He says stuff like he has said in defense of himself, and you know, pointed out how these people that will let go and release suddenly this information. These stories are coming out day by day by day, which is obviously another finger being pointed at the left, leftist media. Who's who's coming after him? It appears Steve Bannon was on this show last week. He had a lot of interesting things to say, pushing for Trump in a third term. I'm not going for that, the twenty second amendment, Megan Kelly, I'm not going for that. No, presidents our third more than two terms. Don't try to change it up now. But ultimately, my last question to you would be this, it's the Steve Banners of the world. It's a Pete Haik said, who's overseeing the Department of Defense. It's somebody like a Megan Kelly, who, for all we know, was probably reached out to by the Trump administration. But things are going for you so well right now, why would you do something like that? In the end, when we look at Meghan Kelly at this point in time in her life and in her career, how happy are you doing what you're doing? And what kind of noise do you anticipate you making in the years to come, not just with your show, but with a podcast network that it's now reported you're starting with all the things that you have going on, and your voice resonating more and more profoundly with each passing day. What do you see for yourself coming down the road.
Well, I never have any delusions of grandeur.
You know, I have the advantage of being having been raised by a mom whose message was generally, I love you, You're not special. I'm open minded to specialness, but I've really seen nothing so far.
But you know, still love you. We're going to have a great life.
And that's still my Mom's still around and that's still her messaging. So I never think of myself in those grandiose terms of like my network and my voice. But my goal on the show is to remain relentlessly factual in a sea of misinformation. To just try to stay relentlessly factual and help people understand what's real. And the people who I've added to my you know, podcast network whose shows I'm going to help produce and promote, have that same commitment.
You know, these are people you can trust.
They have their own bent on the news, and that's fine, but they'll let you know when it's their opinion versus what.
They deal in the world of what is real.
And I think there needs to be a place where you can still trust that that's the case. And for me, I have to say life's never been better. It's I've finally gotten things to the place where I can work, which I love and fulfills me. And I think it's a public service in a way what we do. But I also have time to be with my family.
You know.
I take my kids to school every day, I pick them up. I have dinner with them every single night of the week. My husband too, and we spend our weekends together. You know, we're just in a sweet spot as a family. Given my kids ages, which are fifteen, fourteen, and eleven, they still love us and like us, and we feel the same about them.
I wouldn't change it for the world.
I would never go back to cable news ever or broadcast news. There are rumors that I'm doing it every other week on the internet. They're all lies. I don't know how people get away with making this stuff up. It's all lies. I love what I'm doing and I wouldn't change a thing.
I go to work in my stretchy pants every day.
Steven a stetchy pants and sneakers. Couldn't do that at Fox News. I was in Polyes there with Banks. Okay, it's a new day and I'm loving it.
Should I be on the same channel as Megan Kelly? Should Megan Kelly Steven they end up on the same channel. I don't know if I'm qualify. I don't know if I'm qualify, and every dangerous proposition for me Megan.
But I don't know. Come on over the water spot, Megan.
Thank you so much. I really really appreciate your time. By the way, Pete, hegse gonna keep his job. If you have to predict, he's gonna keep his job, confidences things.
So I mean, I think we're gonna see more hip pieces on him in the coming days and weeks.
It's possible Trump we'll cut him loose.
But if I had to put money on it, I'd say he keeps his job.
Keep up the great work. You are always welcome to here anytime. I'm always gonna come on your show anytime you asked me to schedule permitting. Of course, Thank you so much for your time. I really really appreciate it. I wish we could have talked longer, but both of us are busy. We got some stuff to do, so thank you so much for your time.
I really appreciate you so much. Lots of love, see you soon.
That was the phenomenal Meghan Kelly.
And I call her phenomenal because I think she's thorough and she knows what the hell she's talking about. She knows what she feels and wise, and she's not afraid to let you know where she stands, and that's all you can ask.
I know a lot of people listening.
To her, her positions on Trump, her position on Hegseth, her position on DEI, along with various other things, and you might disagree with her. You might find her positions abhorrent. I did not disagree with everything she said, nor did I find in most of her positions abhorrent. Might have wanted to wait a few days before she spoke on the pope who recently passed away, but she told you what she felt and why and why she felt the need to take that public stance about a public figure, a global public figure. May not agree with it, but we understand it because she doesn't speak with ambiguity. She lets you know clear clearly where she stands, and I respect that, and I respect her, so I'm happy that she came on this show. I'm looking forward to her coming on in the future. I'm certainly looking forward to going back on her show, because she's caught me a couple of times, and I've been happy to accept. And we living we learned ladies and gentlemen. We don't learn living in the concoon just hearing voices that agree with us every step of the way, march in lockstep with us. We hear from different and dissenting opinions and the perspectives that they provide. And along the way, we hear things that we're not hearing from other people. We hear things that we may not have believed, but then folks make it make sense for us. I think Megan Kelly is one of those people. That's why I'm a fan. That's why I listen to her show and watch her show as often as I possibly can. And I was happy to have her on the show today, even about points that I disagreed with her about, including DEI by the way, but her opinions are profoundly respected and I understand where she's coming from. And I must admit I walked away smarter after listening to her, listening to her than I was before listening to her. That's what you want from guests. Okay, so she'll be back on in the future, as will others on both the left and the right. Not running away from it, and you shouldn't either if you truly care about edifying yourself and elevating your level of thinking.
It's thought process.
You don't learn by just getting people to agree with you. You learn by hearing those who dissent and are clear and their reasons. Why think about that as you think about this show that we just had with Meghan Kelly, and you'll understand exactly where I'm coming from.
Hope you enjoyed it.
I know I did. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, Peace and love. Stephen A. Smith, signing off later
