Stephen A. Smith has clapped back at former first lady Michelle Obama after she threw shade at his credentials as a political pundit.
“Michelle Obama, I wanna take this opportunity to remind you that while you are revered by me personally, and I truly, truly mean that with the greatest sincerity, I’m still a bit salty at you,” Smith said on his podcast, The Stephen A. Smith Show.
His comments follow after Obama said on her own podcast that tuning in to sports network ESPN was “like watching Real Housewives of Atlanta” and described Smith as “just like every other talk show host.”
“It’s the same drama, and they’re yelling at each other, and they don’t get along, you know?” she said on this week’s edition of IMO with her brother, Craig Robinson.
Smith shot back by saying that he “respectfully disagreed” with her assessment of the network before accusing her of “sort of blackmailing us emotionally into trying to compel us to vote one way or another” in the November 2024 presidential election.
Smith also cast blame on the former first lady for the party’s defeat last year.
“‘When you were campaigning on behalf of the former Vice President Kamala Harris, you said a vote for Trump was a vote against you and a vote against y’all as women,” he added. “I want to say for the record—I took major offense to that.”
While highlighting that he still thinks Michelle Obama would have won against Trump in 2024 and that she’d beat any GOP candidate if she chooses to run for office, the sports pundit cautioned the former first lady that he thinks other issues matter more to some voters than women’s rights.
“For some people, it’s all about the economy. For others, it’s all about national security. For some people, it’s immigration,” he said. “For some people, it’s safety in the streets of America, long before they think about pro-choice or pro-life.”
As Democrats struggle to agree upon a new leadership candidate in the wake of last year’s devastating loss, Smith has emerged as a prospective pick from outside the establishment after a survey revealed he’d likely receive more support in 2028 than any of the party’s existing hopefuls.
Smith has himself floated the idea of a presidential run, saying not concretely committed to a run, he’s said he “has no choice” but to consider it amid the apparent public enthusiasm and approaches from elected officials, wealthy donors, even his pastor.
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