The Stephen A. Smith ShowStephen A's Take: RNC gave Trump an Alley-Oop for a game winning dunk shot and he missed it!
Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown. Stephen A. recaps the final night of the Republican National Convention and comments on what the Democrats must do now to win the 2024 election.
It's time to get to the Republican National Convention that took place over the last four days, and specifically last night, where the former president Donald Trump spoke, because that's who culminated last night's event in Milwaukee with him accepting the Republican nomination for the presidency of the United States in front.
Of a raucous crowd.
The fourth and final night featured appearances from the one and only Hulk Hogan, Kid Rock, UFC President Dana White, who did a great job, by the way, Tucker Carlson, and Trump's son Eric, among others. By the way, Hulk Hogan did a great job too, okay in the eyes of many, Trump defied the reporting we heard that indicated he would take a different tone than in the past and focus on unifying the nation in this keynote address, after recounting the harrowing tale of his attempt at assassination just last week and which, by the way, he is selling sneakers to commemorate, I'd be REMISSI neglecting to point that out. It didn't take law for Trump to get back to his old divisive ways. You don't believe me, Take a look.
Eric, what was that all about? Boy, that was good. But he was so great, and he's such a good young man. He went through a lot of trouble and don last night was incredible.
They went through so much trouble.
They got subpoened more than any people probably in the history of the United States. Every week they get another subpoena from the Democrats, crazy Nancy Pelosi.
The whole thing just boom boom boom.
But in less than four years, our opponents have turned incredible success into unparalleled tragedy and failure.
It's been a tremendous failure.
The whole world was at peace and now the world is blowing up around us. All of these things that you read about were not going to happen. We have a great military. Our military is not woke. It's just some of the fools on top. Our opponents inherited a world at peace, had turned it into a planet of war, where the planet of war good Lord.
In addition to turning heads with his rhetoric, Trump once again had fact checkers hard at work deciphering whether the claims he made were fact or fiction. According to CNN fact checkers, Trump made more than twenty claims in his speech that were either misleading or flat out false. I can't read some of the stuff that you see on the screen from this distance, but my goodness, world was at peace until he left office. Really, world was at peace during the Trump presidency.
That's what he said.
Venezuela's crime rate was down seventy two percent. Apparently that was false. Immigrants coming from prisons and mental institutions.
We all know that's excessive, that's false.
Marjorie Tailer Green, which he echoed those words out of her mouth a few days earlier, we knew that was false. Dramatic inc in crime rate in the United States, that.
Appears to be to be a false statement.
Largest tax cuts in US history by them. Won't even talk about them, American hostage and hostages in Gaza, et cetera, et cetera. Twenty twenty election was rigged and stolen. Of course, we know that we don't have time to get into all of that. Here's what really really needs to be said about this.
Okay, first of all, I mean no disrespect.
I want to reiterate the point that I'm happy the former president is alive, that he wasn't assassinated by that by that shoot mister crooks who's now deceased. I'm happy that, you know, he moved a middle liter away and ultimately was able to avoid a fatal blow to his head. I'm very, very happy that the former president is still alive. We don't wish death on anybody. We don't wish violence upon anybody. We don't wish assassinations upon anybody. No, we're not doing that. We shouldn't be doing that anyway. We damn sure ain't gonna do this, do that on this shelf. Having said that, and being highly sensitive to the climate that we're living in, I'm gonna make this argument no matter how in Cindy, every somebody me absorb it. Former President Trump on Thursday night showed once again he ate the brightest candle on the birthday cake. Somebody got to say it, so I'm gonna say it. You got the world and the palm of your hands.
You've just been shot, you survived, You.
Went to the ground, you got jumped on by Secret Service. You get up, Blood's trickling down your ear and your face, the right.
Side of your face. You wave your.
Fist up three times, imploring folks to fight, fight, fight, and you got the American flag behind you, as I articulated at that particular moment in time on Monday, you can't get a better photo than that.
If you're a politician, it.
Doesn't get any better than that leading up to an election, four months away from an a election for the presidency of the United States, and you just had that photo available to you.
I mean, it.
Doesn't get any better. And then the Republican National Convention starts in Milwaukee Monday. Let me tell you somebody that's been in television close to three decades now, that was exceptionally well produced. They did a great job Monday. They did a great job. Tuesday, they did a great job Wednesday. They did a great job Thursday, right up until the moments.
Trump sat on stepped on stage. I mean, think about it.
Make America wealthy again, make America safe again, make America strong again, make America great once again. Four days you had a thieve and as corny as critics were trying to say that it was ladies and gentlemen, it was working like crazy in a very good way. Everybody showed up and did their part. You can agree, disagree with marsh tail agree because I'll be damn I don't know too many people outside of Georgia.
That agree with her damn thing, she says. But she played her role.
Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, played his role. Ted Cruz, he played his role. Marco Rubio, senator from Florida, he played this role Ted Cruise from Texas. You see a whole bunch of people contributing to the narratives and the themes at the Republican National Convention.
It was pure perfection.
Sarah Huckabee Sander's former press secretary in the White House.
Not a governor of Arkansas. She was sensational. She did a hell of a job.
You had Ben Jones on CNN talking about how great she did.
All of this stuff is going on.
Amparolle showed up, everybody was raving about her. And then Trump showed up, and for the first ten to fifteen minutes, particularly as he detailed and chronicled the shooting, his near assassination, having everybody riveted and transfixed on his every word. Right after that, the man goes off script, having the world and the palm of your hand, vowing that he was going to talk about unity and bringing the country together, especially with the intro that came from Dana White and before him, Eric Trump, and before him Hulk Hogan.
Hey brother, hey brother. Remember that everybody was good, everybody was good to go. And Trump went out there and messed it up.
All he had to do was say when he said, I'm not supposed to be here, and they started chanting, yes you are, Yes, yes you are. Do you know that had the potential to replace yes we can that Obama was doing in two thousand and eight, in twenty twelve, and then again in twenty and sixteen when he spoken to Democratic National Convention and he was maligning Trump and he was sitting up there he said, this ain't about yes he will, It's about yes we can. And last night, if Trump had stopped dead, he had had a chance to have at least half of the country going like, yes you are, Yes you are when he said he wasn't supposed to be here and they said yes you are. But he kept talking and he kept going off script. And the more he did that, the more that dissipated the level of empathy and sympathy and anything else that comes with it when it comes to him. He brought everybody back to politics.
That's what he did. When you were focused on him and the fact that he was alive, and you saw his.
Children and his grandchildren, people supporting them and showering love upon him, and literally having complete dominion and dominance.
Over the Republican Party.
He also had a bunch of independents and others out there a bit reluctant and apprehensive, dare I say about going after him from a political standpoint, because he was, dare I say, a martyr and a sympathetic figure until he started talking about crazy Nancy Pelosi, it's what he called the started insulting Biden, and then you said, there he is same, old Samon.
He's still favored to win the election. He probably will.
I am in no way implying that this is going to definitively cost him the election, because as long as Joe Biden stays in, I don't think it will.
What I'm saying, however, is he had him.
All he had to do was live true to his word about ripping up his original speech, rewriting the whole thing, and focusing on unifying the country as opposed to galvanizing his base.
It was a moment that belonged to him.
Perfectly set up by the RNC the organizers, the producers, etc. And all the contributors. Every single person from day one to day four did their job, and Trump messed it up and got us back to policy instead of focusing on the potential victim that he may have been. Sometimes your ego camouflages everything else, and that's what he did.
You know, what else is helping Trump?
Though? Or what is helping Trump? Not what else is, but what is helping Trump, ladies and gentlemen. I wanna tell what that is Biden, because for Trump to be focused on what he's focused on, there's a flip side, and is the ongoing saga of President Joe Biden and his candidacy for re election.
First, let's say this, I wish the.
President a speedy recovery after was reported he came down with COVID. As more and more Democrats have privately and publicly called for Biden.
To drop out.
It's now being reported by The Washington Post that one of his closest advocates, former President Barack Obama, conspicuously out of the picture least visually these days, by the way, is telling allies that Biden's path to reelection has greatly diminished. The article also states that Obama's primary construt right now is protecting Biden's legacy, and that is where I've got a big problem if the reporting is true, more so than having a problem with Joe Biden's standing the race, because I think it's a bit selfish at this point.
That's right. I'm calling the president selfish.
If you clearly are experiencing a cognitive decline, which everyone believes at this point, and close to a third of your own party members are calling for you to step down. To sit up there at the age of eighty one, approaching the age of eighty two, clearly knowing you've lost your fastball, and proclaiming yourself to be the best candidate for the job. That's insulting to Vice President Kamala Harris. It's insulting to Gavin Newsom. It's insulting the Hakeem Jeffries. It's insulting to Charles Schumer. It's insulting to Nancy Pelosi. It's insulting to Barack Obama. It's insulting the Wesmore. It's insulting. You can't possibly can't possibly feel like, oh my god, you are the best person for the job unless you're not thinking about anybody but yourself.
Somebody's gotta say it, damn it.
And if you're Barack Obama.
Far being for anybody to call him out.
But in some cases it's necessary because if I'm looking at these reports and they are accurate in their assessment, certainly, if they are accurate, I'm not saying it. I'm not saying this that they're not accurate, but if they are accurate in their assessment, when they say that Barack Obama has been emphasizing that his concern is protecting Biden and his legacy, respectfully, damn Joe Biden and his legacy. Take that picture off the screen and put it right back on me.
I'm not getting on my producers. I'm saying it for a fact. I want the audience to see me right now. Hell with that.
This ain't about Joe Biden's legacy.
We'll talk about your legacy when you're gone. Meeting from the White House.
Infrastructure, student loans, an economy that's not.
In shambles, the job participation rate.
There are abundance of things that people can point to you on the liberal side of the aisle that says you've done a damn good job.
How come that ain't enough? How come that's not enough?
We got politicians here talking about, oh, you know what, we want to protect his legacy. Damn his legacy. This is about the well being of the country, not his ego. That's what got the Democrats in trouble to begin with. You see, in twenty sixteen, when Joe Biden wanted to run, according to the reports, it was Barack Obama that convinced him not to do so because it was Hillary's turn. And yes, I vote for Hillary Clinton. What you mean, it's her turn?
The American people get to decide.
But okay, you had a primary, but ultimately we went with her and col Okay, that's fine. Twenty twenty we got primaries again. South Carolina saves Joe Biden courtesy of Rev. James Clyde Burn and ultimately he wins the election, fair and square. Unfortunately for you, Donald Trump, fair and square he won. But in twenty twenty four, there's no primary. You didn't put any competition up against Joe Biden. Joe Biden's talking about if you thought you were the best man for the job, how come there was no primary?
How come the path was paved for you could it be that folks knew.
That you were older and they worried whether or not you could endure a primary. I don't know the answer to that question. I'm simply saying I don't want.
To read reports or hear about Hey.
We want to protect his legacy, and no, your record protects your legacy.
You walking away.
Because you are approaching eighty two years of age and handed the baton to younger folks who would govern along the same lines that you governed is protecting your legacy.
Kamala Harris is going to compromise your legacy.
Gavin Newsom, who stood on podiums in the immediate aftermath of your poor performance during.
The debate, vehemently defending.
You and talking about how as a party, folks shouldn't jump ship on you, singing your praises at every turn. Wes Moore proclaiming he's by your side. Corey Booker Senator Corey Booker saying, hey, these conversations should be had in private. Hakeem Jeffery's refusing to not answer, refusing to get answers on whether or not he told you or he thinks you should step aside, even though reports say him Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Adam Shift have all been on the record saying, Hey, it's time for you to go, and we're talking about his legacy in this record bumped that.
It's about us. It's not about your ego, it's not about your feelings.
See, this is the kind of stuff that pisses me off. This is the kind of stuff the professional athletes because me my wheelhouse covering sports. This is the kind of stuff that pisses us off.
Because what will happen.
Is if a dude gets on the court or a lady gets on the court and they are incapable of performing. If Serena Williams no longer has it, if Venus Williams no longer has it, God forbid, If it's somebody like an Asian Wilson, is somebody who is the truth, by the way, if it's Lebron James, if it's Steph Curry, if it's somebody else in the world of sports, Oh, y'all lost.
The step It's time. Nobody got a problem with it.
But with people who have dominion over our lives, who instigate, who manipulate, who maneuver through and ultimately serve to implement policies that directly impact our lives economically, health care safety, that directly impact our lives. Oh, we're supposed to step aside because your feelings.
We need to protect that.
No, No, if Joe Biden is not the best man for the job, there is nothing wrong with saying to him, mister President.
Appreciate the great job that you've done over the last four years.
It's time for somebody else, sir, And you go home and spend time with your kids and your grandchildren and your lovely wife.
And just live out your best years.
You'll always be a part of the Washington fabric, the belt Way.
We got you.
We just don't need you in the White House right now, cause we don't know if you'll stay there past December. We need somebody else that we can rely upon better, and Barack Obama should be the number one person sending that message.
Number one. That's all I want to say about that.
Seriously, we ain't got time for all of this stuff with emotions and egos and oh and buy him feeling good about You've been a president of four years, you're the vice presid for eight years. You and the Senator for thirty six years prior to that.
Out of Delaware. It's forty eight years, man, that's forty eight years. Come on, y'all.
Trump and the Republican Party are not what they used to be. They were a divided house for years. They're not divided now. They're coming. Trump may messed it up a little bit for himself, but not to the point where he doesn't have where.
He's got an abundance of stuff to worry about. When they come to Joe Biden, y'all better get it together.
Or what you saw over the last four nights, it's gonna be in the White.
House for the next four years. Ignore me if you want to. Ignore me, if you want to
