The Stephen A. Smith ShowStephen A's Take: Run Kamala Run! Drawing Huge Crowds and Climbing in the Polls.
Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
I want to transition to some politics for a second here, because I'm moving on to the upcoming presidential election. A New York Times slash Seenia College poll released Saturday shows Vice President Kamala Harris leading former President Donald Trump in.
Three key swing states.
The poll, conducted between August fifth and August ninth, found that if the election were held today, fifty percent of voters among the likely electorate in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania would choose Harris, while forty six percent say they would choose Donald Trump. The Harris campaign has gotten a boost since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month July twenty first, to be exact, and.
Endorsed his VP.
She's raised more than three hundred million dollars and has drawn Trump like crowds at Raleigh stops in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada. Before I get to my opinion, ladies and gentlemen, let me show y'all this poll to juxtapolls what was transpiring in June. National poll August twelfth has Harris up forty eight percent to forty seven percent for Trump. That's as of today. Okay, so the national poll average is showing less than two months ago June twenty eighth, Trump had a five point lead. Okay, so let's understand something. Let's understand this right now. This is a beautiful thing. If you're a Democrat, you're leftist because you're looking at it, in my opinion, all wrong. Let me be the first to say that doesn't mean shit to me, means nothing to me. Ladies and gentlemen, We we gotta decide whether you're trying to win or not, and whether you truly, truly just believe you deserve to win. Now, I've been on the record. I'm gonna support my sister, Kamala Harris HBCU grad just like myself. Vice President of the United States of America, former Attorney General for the State of California, former district.
Attorney in the City of San Francisco.
I see what these what folks have been saying, not all, not most, but some folks have been trying to say about her. You understand, questioning her intellect and all of this other stuff. Now I ain't going for that. We ain't gonna get into the question and her ethnicity either. You don't sit up there and get to tell us that we gotta suspect a black in our blood, then.
Guess what were black?
But then all of a sudden, she's running for the president of the United States, And you want to ask quesent she black?
Or is she in the n I don't know. I don't know. No, we don't get to do that.
We ain't doing that, all right, But having said all of that, fair is fair. Fair is fair to independence out there, fair is fair to conservatives and Republicans out there. There's certain things that we have to hold both sides to. Now, Joe Biden stepped down, stepped aside as the presumptive Democratic nominee on July twenty first. Okay, now, I'm gonna look at this right now. I'm looking at my calendar because I just want to make sure you know. July twenty first was a Sunday. We've had one week, two weeks, three weeks and one day since Joe Biden stepped aside.
The only damned place we've seen Kamala Harris is as a PEP rallies. What's up?
Somebody gotta say something, and it can't just be the conservatives, right, is right?
I'm talking to my sister here.
Come on now, you're running for the presidency of the United States of American.
You got my vote.
You're running for the presidency of the United States of America. What you hiding for, and I mean hiding in play ain't sight. Somebody gotta say it. Somebody gotta say it now. You can't be running for the presidency of the United States. Not one single press conference, not one single one on one sit down interview where somebody gets to question you about the questions that we ask.
That's not fair. That's not fair.
And if you're a conservative and you out there land based enough for it, ridiculing her for it, trying to torment her for it, or whatever, it is perfectly within your right to do. So, all of you anti conservatives out there, shut the hell up.
That's a valid point.
It ain't valid to bring up a blackness or an Indian heritage and to try to point to things of that nature, that's nonsense. But to ask her about her record, because she does she is attached to the Biden record. It's definitely apropos, especially when you were bragging about the record we talked talk about buying by them, being a transformative president.
Well stand on it, then stand on it which where you at?
No George Stephanopolis, don't meet the press, no state of Reunion, what's up? No Face the Nation, no political No MSNBC. I understand why you wann't do Fox. Liberals don't really do Fox, just like conservatives don't really do MSNBC.
You welcome to the Steven Nate Smith Show. I will gladly interview Donald Trump.
I will gladly interview Kamala Harris named the time of place.
I'll come to you. I'll come to you. I'll show up.
Any time. And I'm no political officionado. I'm a need fact checkers. I don't know everything that y'all gonna say, but I know this much. I know how to ask the questions that Americans want to know. Kamala Harris, there are certain things that we have to ask you a question about. There's simply no way of getting around certain things. Weren't you against fracking?
Is that true? And now you're for it? Just asking these are important questions to think about.
You're going to intensify and elevate the importance of securing our borders.
Were you always that way?
These are legitimate questions you support, you no longer support a national band on FRI. Also, you no longer to support the elimination of private health insurance? Is it true at one time you supported else things? When did your mind change? How long ago was that? When were you going to tell the American people? Why'd you keep it from everybody? And yes, it is a legitimate question. How much did you know about Joe Biden and the slippage, the cognitive decline that so many people have alluded to on both sides of the aisle? Now did you ever feel compelled to tell anybody? I know you didn't want to come out of dim them out publicly, but privately? Were you working behind the scenes? Did you tell Pops that about this? Did you talk to Joe Biden himself about that? These are legitimate questions for a presidential candidate and the reason why I think it's important, ladies and gentlemen to bring those things, bring this issue up. I support Kamala Harris over Donald Trump.
But fair is fair? Why is it more important than ever before?
I could bring up Hillary Rodham Clinton in twenty sixteen, and I understand that James Comy came about and basically gotten away of everything with the whole email deleted email scandal just a couple of weeks before election day. But isn't it true that you thought you had the election in the bag and did it necessarily campaign in places like Michigan and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, swing states like that prior to the election, while Donald Trump did campaign in those elections at twenty sixteen, is it not true that, just in this cycle, that there wasn't really a primary for the Democrats.
Because the way was paved for President Joe Biden. This is not about Kamala Harris. This is about the Democratic Party. How dare you? How dare you?
If the man is ready and qualified to run for the presidency of the United States of America, why are you getting in the way of competition. Let the American people decide. I don't give a damn if his Dean phillips to somebody else. Let us decide with the voters. Let us decide.
That's all I'm saying. I'm talking to the Democrats and the Republicans.
You see, when you want to sit up there and you want to crucify Donald Trump, I'm down for that. I don't like a lot of stuff about Donald Trump. I can't deny However, the man does a whole bunch of interviews, get ready to get interviewed by Elon Musk. Showed up to the National Association with Black Journalists. Knew that wasn't gonna be a pleasant experience. You saw you didn't even say hello, how are you? We saw that, but he was there.
I saw Ron Descantis, Chris Christi, the Vick Ramaswami, Nikki Helly.
I saw people trying to knock them off. In the primaries, the Republican conservative folks in this country spoke, we want Donald Trump.
They said, okay, two impeachments, four hundred and fifty four million dollar civil case, thirty four felony convictions.
They said, we don't give a damn. He's our guy. Did we really get to make that choice about Joe Biden? We didn't because there was no primary.
Perhaps if there was competition, perhaps if he had to compete for the position, and we heard other voices emanating from the Democratic side, from the left side, from the progressive side, we would have felt better. But the road was paved for Joe Biden to cake walk to the Democratic Convention.
To be the official Democratic.
Nominee until he showed up for a debate on June twenty seven, and.
All hell broke loose thereafter.
Had it not been for that, all we would have been doing was talking. But he still would have showed up in Chicago a week from now for the Democratic National Convention. It pushed in as the Democratic nominee. Wait a minute, if that's the case, what's right about that?
Now?
You, Kamala Harris, let me say this. I'm not saying this to malign you. I'm saying this because I believe in you. I believe you show up on a debate stage against Donald Trump and you'll do your thing.
That syste will come out and you will.
You'll be ready, as you stated eloquently, You're in your first press conference as a presumptive nominee. I know Donald Trump's type, so.
You can handle your business. I believe. Do you believe what's up.
This strategy that everybody's invoking. Let's not say anything. I'm not saying the strategy wasn't good to this point. But remember I was the one that said a year ago we needed a new president for the next election.
Joe Biden can't be the guy.
Y'all waited about eight months, but everybody found out I was right, and I'm telling you now, Vice President Harris, this strategy that is working, that has you up in the polls, where you showing up at rallies, and that's pretty much press conferences in interviews, that is not going to fly for much longer. You're coming out with your economic plan this week, supposedly, can't wait to see it. Fracking private health insurance, our borders. We want to hear about that. I want to see you interview by George Stephanopoulos. Hell, I want to see you interview by Joy Reid. I want to see you interview on Meet the Press. I want to see you on Face the Nation. I want to see you on State of the Union with you know, Jake Tapper. I want to see those interviews. The American people want to see those interviews because if you don't, well you wait too long, then the momentum is gonna slip.
See.
All the Left needs to do is your fight, stand on your record. Most American people want things a certain way. Some American people want things another way.
Okay, cool, make.
Your case, but don't do it by circumventing the process. The process entails you doing interviews, you having press conferences, you answering questions and not reading down and saying.
Okay, Stephen A. Smith is your turn. Okay, Charlemagne the God is your turn. Okay, Jake Tapper is your turn. Okay.
Caitlyn Collins or Joyrie, it's your turn. Nah, stand up on the pod and look into the crowd and just point you you. You you ain't running from nobody because you want to be the president.
You ain't running from nobody. Let's go. Let's go. You nineteen years younger than Donald Trump.
You swear you more honest than Donald Trump, more ethical than Donald Trump, more decent than Donald Trump.
Okay, let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
See I cover sports, and let me tell y'all something real quick. I'm a stickler for this. I cannot stand. I adamantly despise athletes, youngsters being held accountable to the degree that politicians are held accountable. We get on athletes for every little mists they make role models lack thereof, and all of this other stuff.
We get on them. They pass gas.
We are in the ass everywhere we turn. They twenty they twenty two, they twenty five. I can pick athletes name after the name after name that y'all were ready to throw out out the pasture and tell them they ain't worth the damn why because they made a mistake. But all they doing is playing ball and collecting their check for their hard earned money and effort. Y'all are trying to run our lives economically, healthcare, border list goes on and on, reproductive rights, everywhere we turn. You're trying to have dominion over people. But somehow, some way, too many politicians throughout the years have skirted responsibility simply being mandated to stand up and make your positions clear, and speak up for yourself and stand on what you stand on. If ever, there is a position where they should not be allowed, is somebody in pursuit of the presidency of the United States of America. I support you, my sister, Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris got my vote.
But enough of this with the rallies disguised. I don't care that fifteen thousand people show that we got that you gonna get support.
You are nineteen years younger than this man. There is no cognitive decline when it comes to you. You are spry, you are energetic, you are ready, you are feisty, you are fighter, you are intelligent, you know how to do battle.
Let's go.
I want to see some damn interviews. I want to see you answer me some questions. This is not said in the negative. I'm seeing it because I believe in you, and I believe that if this strategy, which has worked to this point, I'm.
Fearful that if you continue to do it, you're gonna lose momentum.
I'm not knocking the Hari's campaign, the Harris Wall's campaign for what you are doing. I'm saying it can't continue for long Otherwise you're gonna have slippage in the momentum as.
We draw closer to the election.
Don't let people look at Trump and saying he willing to stand up and fight anything, anybody at any time, but she's not. You let him know you know how to fight too, and you know how to win.
Solemn sy Solemn see
