Stephen A. Smith Is Not Running for President — the Only Thing Dumber Is the Media Outlets Taking the Bait

(John Salangsang/Invision/AP photo)

Stephen A. Smith is not running for president, so let’s just knock it off.

Make no mistake, the ESPN personality is fantastic on TV. He may sway left, but that won’t stop him from dunking on rudderless Democrats, which makes him an enticing choice in the current political climate.

Smith, 57, has spent the better part of 2025 arguing that he could beat anyone the party put up against him.

His remarks led to appearances with the ladies of The View, Jimmy Fallon, Sean Hannity, and Bill Maher, with whom he sputtered the same talking points.

And he was pretty convincing too — until last month when he told journalist Karen Hunter he was amused by the talk surrounding his would-be presidential bid and laughed it off.

In fact, he called the notion “hilarious.”

“You know, I’m laughing like, are y’all serious? You really serious?” Smith told Hunter. “And then I start joking around, ‘I’m Stephen A. Smith, and I approve this message,’ you know? ‘Oh God bless you. And God bless the United States.’ It’s fun, It’s hilarious to me. It really, really is.”

So then what happened? The media stopped talking about him for a minute — and he just couldn’t take it.

Now he’s back on the scene, telling us that everyone and their mother wants him to run for president.

In an interview on ABC’s This Week, host Jon Karl questioned the ESPN star about whether he’s seriously considering a campaign for the White House.

“Are you really thinking about running for president?” Karl asked.

And here’s what he said:

Listen, I have no choice. Because I’ve had elected officials — and I’m not going to give their names — elected officials coming up to me. I’ve had folks who are pundits come up to me. I’ve had folks that got a lot of money, billionaires and others, have talked to me about exploratory committees and things of that nature. I’m not a politician. I’ve never had a desire to be a politician. I just signed a contract extension with ESPN. I am very, very happy with my day job … It’s a pretty damn good contract. I couldn’t be happier.

“But here’s the reality: Literally, people have walked up to me, including my own pastor for crying out loud, who has said to me, you don’t know what God has planned for you. At least show the respect to the people who believe in you, who respect you, who believe that you can make a difference in this country to leave the door open for any possibilities two to three years down the line. And that’s what I’ve decided to do.

This is a guy who was exposed as a phony Knicks fan last year after offering church-like praise of a player who hadn’t worn a New York uniform in months. Let’s not pretend he could be led to do the same with policies, pandemics, and even whole countries.

“President Smith, are you concerned about the Zambonivirus destroying our crops? What do you plan to do about the bloody civil war in Blutonowania?”

He’d answer with a nonsensical word salad to give us the impression that he knows his stuff, when he doesn’t.

Smith already clutches TV airwaves like Ricky Davis hogs a basketball, so let’s all just stop inflating this bloated gasbag and let him stick to sports, where he belongs.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.