‘Are You Really Prepared to Be President?’ CNN’s Jake Tapper Presses Stephen A. Smith About Whether He’s Qualified to Run for the White House
CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith — who has been flirting with a run for president in 2028 — about whether he’s truly qualified.
In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday (notably, Smith’s second recent appearance on the Sunday morning political talk shows), Tapper confronted the First Take host about whether he’s actually up for the job.
“You, last month, said that there are clearly other people more qualified to be president than you,” Tapper said. “So what do you say to somebody out there who’s watching who thinks you have no political experience, no foreign policy experience. You’re a gifted TV sports commentator, without question. But are you really prepared to be President of the United States?”
Smith went round-and-round in a response that lasted more than three minutes. He started by conceding that he is, in fact, not qualified for the Oval Office.
“I’m not prepared,” Smith said. “I’m not qualified. I have no political history whatsoever. I’ve never been interested in politics a day in my life.”
But then, Smith compared himself to the potential alternatives.
“I look at our politics,” Smith said. “How worse can it get? (sic) Do you realize right now — and I’m saying this facetiously because I know that you do, Jake, doing what you do every single day — do you realize that if you are an elected official, your real work is with the campaign. Once you get into office … all your job is to do is to disagree with the other side. You don’t even have to do anything else.”
Smith went on to say that he likes his chances — if he were to charge ahead with a White House bid.l
“I believe that if I did take this very, very seriously and I moved forward, and I decided that I wanted to be a politician, do I believe I could win?” Smith said. “You damn right!
“But it’s by default. It’s not because I’m the most qualified candidate in the world. It’s because of the state of our politics in the nation’s capital, the politicians that we’re looking at, and the fact that we don’t believe for one second that they are serving the interest of the American people, nor are they interested in it. People look at me and they know one thing, I would be interested in serving the American people and doing what’s in the best interest of this country.”
Watch above, via CNN.
