Stephen A. Smith says he doesn't want to run for office. His commentary suggests otherwise
And people have noticed.
During a guest appearance on Jon Stewart's 'The Daily Show' on Monday, he was asked why he's more recently 'pushing those buttons' and thrusting himself into the political spotlight, where people may view him as a potential political candidate.
'Is that something that appeals to the vanity? Is it something that appeals to your principle, to your morality? Where do you take that interest?' Stewart asked Smith.
'People think I'm interested in being an elected official,' he said. 'I have no desire to be that.'
He believes his talents and passions lie in remaining a commentator who can push against either political party's narrative without pressure from constituents.
'I want to be a major player in terms of a voice and a conduit for change. I want to make sure that people know that the BS has got to stop,' he added.
'I believe white, black, and everything in between, society as a whole, by and large, are a lot of great God-fearing individuals that can get along just fine,' he said. 'I think the politicians in this country have served to divide us and paint us against one another for their own selfish deeds, and I think that they have contributed to the demise of this country, so I don't mind calling them out at all.'
Many wonder if that's completely true.
Just a month ago, he was criticizing Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 'Fighting Oligarchy Tour' with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on his show, saying that if they were to become the face of Democratic Party leadership, then he might need to step in.
'Are we supposed to leave it to Bernie Sanders and AOC?' he asked his viewers, given 'how socialistic they are in their thinking.'
In the same episode, he called himself an independent and said that he 'has no desire to be on either side' of the political spectrum, even though he voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris.
'When I think about me, and I think about me running for president of the United States, let me reemphasize that I am woefully unqualified,' Smith said. But, added that if he were to be president, 'I would create a new lane, I'd be a centrist.'
'I want to work with both sides of the aisle. I'd have Democrats and Republicans in my Cabinet. They would be the ones butting heads and fighting, but their mandate would be to come to me with an idea that works for America.'
'It's about problem solving, it's about fixing the issues that really matter. It's about caring about all of America, not just a segment of our population,' Smith said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Democrats decry move by Pentagon to pause $800 million in nearly done software projects
By Alexandra Alper WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democrats took aim at the Trump administration after Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Navy and Air Force were poised to cancel nearly completed software projects worth over $800 million. The reason for the move was an effort by some officials at the services to steer new projects to companies like Salesforce and Palantir, in what could amount to a costly do-over. 'The Pentagon has yet to show that it had a good reason for halting these contracts in the last inning and scrapping work American tax dollars have already paid for," Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said in a statement. "If it can't show its homework, then this announcement - just days after Palantir's CEO spoke at Mike Johnson's Wyoming donor retreat - reeks of corruption.' Punchbowl reported this month that Palantir CEO Alex Karp planned to address Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson's annual big-donor retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The Pentagon and Air Force did not respond to requests for comment. The Navy declined to comment. Trump officials have said the administration is striving to make the contracting process more efficient. The comments show growing concern among Democratic lawmakers over waste at the Pentagon, even as Donald Trump took office vowing to rid the government of waste and abuse. The website of the Department of Government Efficiency, the agency he created to spearhead those efforts, lists over $14 billion in Defense Department contracts it claims to have canceled. But seven months into his presidency, some of his own actions have complicated DOGE's work, from firing the Pentagon's inspector general to issuing an executive order prioritizing speed and risk-taking in defense acquisitions. 'If you're serious about cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse, the last thing you'd do is cancel $800 million in projects that are nearly ready to roll out just to turn around and steer the same work to corporations of your choosing," said Democratic Representative Maggie Goodlander, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and served as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve. "This maneuver is an insult to taxpayers and servicemembers across America," she added. Salud Carbajal, another House Democrat who sits on the Armed Services Committee, said the behavior was part of a pattern of waste at the Pentagon under Trump. 'I understand that our military's acquisition and procurement processes aren't flawless, but this administration has repeatedly shown a blatant disregard for the responsible use of taxpayer dollars,' said Carbajal, citing "lavish" military parades and "unnecessary" troop deployments in Los Angeles. Democratic U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda, who also sits on the committee, echoed Carbajal's remarks. "Stripping away critical oversight guardrails is unnecessary and downright reckless," she said, adding that after many delays, the Pentagon was finally poised to implement military pay systems that could pass an audit. "Taxpayers should not fund sweetheart deals for the well connected."
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
New redistricting maps leaked before release by CA Legislature. See them here
If Democrats succeed with their lightning-speed push to redraw congressional districts, California's Republican strongholds will look very different. New district maps leaked online ahead of their official release by the Legislature confirmed that Democrats are targeting five Republican districts in the North State, Central Valley and southern California, while hoping to shore up other competitive districts to make them easier for party candidates to win. Gov. Gavin Newsom has led the charge for Democrats to respond in kind after President Donald Trump asked Texas Republicans in June to fortify their House majority by redrawing districts to eke out another five seats in the 2026 midterms. At a Thursday campaign launch, Newsom framed redistricting as Democrats' chance to 'liberate democracy' as Border Patrol agents stormed the rally and President Donald Trump seized control of law enforcement in Washington, D.C. Newsom is calling for a special Nov. 4 election, and the Legislature will return from summer break Monday to swiftly pass a constitutional amendment and related ballot language by next Friday. Organized labor, reproductive rights groups and House Majority PAC, the leading fund for Congressional Democrats, are all backing his campaign. The California Republicans whose districts Democrats are targeting are Reps. Kevin Kiley, David Valadao, Ken Calvert, Doug LaMalfa, and Darrell Issa. If successful, the effort would net Democrats 48 of the state's 52 congressional seats; the party currently controls 43. Other districts that Democrats have narrowly won would also be consolidated into friendlier terrain. Political data scientist Paul Mitchell, a redistricting veteran, drafted the maps. 'Our proposed map was created using traditional redistricting criteria, consistent with guidelines laid out by the California's Citizen Redistricting Commission,' according to a cover letter from Julie Merz of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee included with the map. 'It allows for more compact districts than in the current Commission-drawn map, keeps more communities and neighborhoods together, splits fewer cities, and makes minimal disruptions to the Commission-drawn map so as to impact as few residents as possible,' Merz wrote. 'This is a striking contrast from Texas' proposed gerrymander which redrew all but one of their 38 congressional districts to minimize the state's growing minority voting strength.' What would change? The draft maps, which leaked online ahead of their official release Friday, would shrink most Republican districts. It would shift much of the North State into the coastal 2nd Congressional District seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman while including parts of northern Marin and Sonoma counties. Kiley's district would also shrink and encompass part of the greater Sacramento area, shift the bulk of voters to Republican Rep. Tom McClintock's district and remove a broad section of the eastern Sierra Nevada. Proposed congressional districts Valadao's district would also shrink, as would that of Issa, who trumped his Democratic opponent in 2024 by almost 19 points to be reelected to his San Diego-area seat. Per a chart that leaked Thursday, all of those districts would shift from being 'safely' Republican to either lean Democrat, or be considered safe for any Democratic candidate if voters approve them in November. Calvert and Issa currently represent parts of Riverside and San Diego counties and Valadao represents a Central Valley district. LaMalfa currently represents much of the North State from Yuba City to the Oregon border. Kiley, arguably Newsom's arch rival within the state, currently represents much of the northern Sacramento suburbs, northern Sierra Nevada, and the Nevada border down to Death Valley. 'Make no mistake, I will win reelection regardless of Newsom's attempt to gerrymander my district,' Kiley said on X, linking to a photo of his newly redrawn district. 'But I fully expect that the beautiful 3rd District will remain exactly as it is. We will defeat Newsom's sham initiative and vindicate the will of California voters.' LaMalfa's district has voted for every Republican presidential candidate since 2012, the year LaMalfa first won election. At a town hall held Monday in Chico, a veteran criticized him for not pushing back on Trump's staffing cuts at the Department of Veteran Affairs, forcing the man to seek mental health care in San Rafael, three hours away. Hours before the maps were published, a handful of Democratic candidates who had previously lost to Republican incumbents said they were considering running in newly drawn districts. That included Chico ag consultant Audrey Denney, who previously ran against LaMalfa in 2018 and 2020, and confirmed she would run again for his seat if voters approved temporary redistricting in November. 'With this map, my home in Chico is now in a district that Democrats can win. And if Californians vote for the map, I plan to run to replace Rep. Doug LaMalfa and take on this administration in 2026,' she said in a statement. 'We will step up and fight back when Trump and MAGA Republicans break the rules. We will not allow them to rig the system against working people any longer. Our message is clear: If you take away our freedoms, we will take away your seats.' Lawmakers debate Outgoing Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, said he had heard speculation leading up to the maps' release that Democrats were considering redrawing LaMalfa's district to draw more liberal voters in from the coast, as far down as parts of Sonoma and Marin counties. 'There's no justification for it,' he said earlier this week. 'It will drown out more rural voters.' 'We're going to focus on how corrupt this process is. It won't result in more fair representation,' he said of Republicans' opposition efforts. 'We decided that the voters would decide, that we'd do things differently, and not let politicians draw the lines. Either you believe in the principle or not.' A handful of congressional Democrats said normally, they were opposed to letting politicians rewrite districts, but that Trump's request that the GOP maintain its hold on Congress so it could continue enacting his agenda without opposition demanded an extraordinary response. Polling numbers reviewed by lawmakers show voters are still strongly in favor of letting redistricting remain independent. Rep. Adam Gray, who won his Merced-area district by 187 votes, put the onus back on Republicans. 'It's difficult to take my colleagues across the aisle seriously when they crow about election rigging and deep state plots and then turn around and do things like what we're seeing in Texas,' he told The Bee. 'It's unserious and it's damaging to our democracy.' 'If Congressional Republicans had a record they were proud of, they wouldn't need to rig the next election. Congressional Republicans' plan to suppress the voices of voters is an existential threat to our democracy,' Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, told The Bee. 'California isn't going to stand by and let it happen. I'm a longtime supporter of non-partisan redistricting, but extraordinary threats like this one require extraordinary action. If redistricting is on the table in Texas, it must be on the table here in California, too.' Newsom, who is reportedly eyeing a run for higher office after he's termed out in 2026, said the maps would be temporary through the 2030 election. After that, redistricting power would revert back to the nonpartisan Citizen Redistricting Commission, a 14-member state body that voters approved in 2008 to redraw state legislative maps, and later congressional ones in 2010. Advocates across the political spectrum, from Republicans to progressives to good governance groups, have opposed the effort. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who championed the redistricting commission, are backing an opposition coalition funded by Charles Munger Jr., a former Santa Clara GOP chair who has tapped his family fortune to support Republican causes, including the 2008 initiative establishing the commission. 'These maps were drawn by politicians and party insiders behind closed doors with no transparency and no input from the public. Several elected politicians with open congressional committees will vote on these self-serving districts. That is a clear conflict of interest and undermines public trust in the fairness of our elections,' said Munger spokesperson Amy Thoma Tan. 'Californians deserve district lines that are drawn in the open, by our citizens' independent commission, which the voters elected to do , and with full opportunity for public review and comment — not maps engineered by politicians to serve themselves or their partisan agenda. Citizens, not politicians or partisan party insiders, should not only hold the power at the ballot box but also the power to draw the lines.' The Assembly and Senate elections committees have set hearings for next Tuesday ahead of the election, which is expected to cost at least $200 million. The California State Association of Counties, Rural County Representatives of California, and the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials asked the governor Thursday for funding in advance to prepare for added costs associated with printing more ballots and envelopes, staffing more poll volunteers, and booking voting centers.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Proposed congressional maps in California could help Democrats flip 5 seats
Proposed new congressional maps in California that are expected to be put to voters in a special election this fall indicate the redrawn district lines could help Democrats flip five Republican seats and bolster around five Democratic incumbents in toss-up districts. The new maps, posted on the California State Assembly website on Friday evening, are draft proposals and are subject to be changed or reworked by the state legislature, which is set to start working next week. The legislative action follows California Gov. Gavin Newsom's call on Thursday for a special election on new maps, in an attempt to counter mid-decade redistricting being pushed by Republicans in Texas. MORE: California will move forward with redistricting vote to counter Texas, Newsom says The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the campaign arm of House Democrats, took credit Friday for submitting the maps to the California legislature, saying in a statement they believe they will have widespread support among California legislators and voters. "We anticipate this proposal will have widespread support both among California office holders and various stakeholders across the state," DCCC Executive Director Julie Merz said in a statement. "We will not stand by as Republicans attempt to rig the election in their favor and choose their voters. It's increasingly clear that Republicans will do anything to protect their narrow majority because they know they can't win on their disastrous legislative record which has raised costs and rips away health care for millions, all to give the ultra-wealthy a tax break." Paul Mitchell, a redistricting and data expert who drew the maps, told ABC News San Francisco station KGO-TV in an interview on Friday afternoon before the draft maps were posted online that eight of the proposed redrawn districts are unchanged; another 20 are changed very little, and that overall the goal was "pushing back on Texas without doing something that would radically disrupt the congressional district lines." MORE: Texas Democrats to return after governor ends special session that included redistricting, sources say Mitchell added that beyond making five Republican-held seats favor Democrats -- as a counter to the proposed congressional maps in Texas that could flip five seats to favor Republicans -- the proposal also strengthens the districts of around five Democratic "frontline candidates" who face more difficult challenges from Republicans. "[The legislature has] got some time next week to put it together, along with all the other language for a statewide ballot measure. And I think the point for voters is, this is a way to push back on what Texas Republicans are doing, on what Trump is doing," Mitchell told KGO-TV. Republicans continue to cry foul, saying that Newsom's gambit for new maps is politically motivated. NRCC chair Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) wrote in a statement before the proposed maps were posted: "Gavin Newsom failed to solve the homelessness, crime, drug, and cost epidemics plaguing the Golden State. Now he is shredding California's Constitution and disenfranchising voters to prop up his Presidential ambitions. "Californians oppose Newsom's stunt because they won't let a self-serving politician rig the system to further his career. The NRCC is prepared to fight this illegal power grab in the courts and at the ballot box to stop Newsom in his tracks."
