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President Donald Trump is backing Stephen A. Smith for a possible presidential run in 2028.
Trump expressed support for Stephen A. Smith's bid for the White House during a phone interview on NewsNation with the ESPN personality, former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, and former Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly.
“I’ve been pretty good at picking people and picking candidates, and I will tell you I’d love to see him run,” Trump said of Smith.
“Stephen A, he’s a good guy. He’s a smart guy. I love watching him,” the president added. “He’s got great entertainment skills, which is very important. People watch him. You know, a lot of these Democrats I watch, I say they have no chance.”
Earlier in the interview, Smith questioned Trump on his administration's efforts to roll back DEI policies.
“Your administration has issued executive orders dismantling DEI initiative across federal agencies, including revoking equal opportunity mandates and slashing funding for minority owned businesses,” Smith told the president. “Critics argue these actions reverse decades of civil rights progress. So how do you justify these measures, and what message do they send to the marginalized communities?”
Trump defended his agenda, saying he's running a country "that's based solely on merit now."
"If somebody’s out there doing a great job —and this includes getting into colleges if you’ve worked really hard — and we don’t look at race,” Trump said. “We don’t look at color, we don’t look at height or shortness or weight. If somebody is doing a good job and they worked and they got great marks, and they got great board numbers, and they get rejected at Harvard, which has been so disgusting, so horribly. I mean, so think of it.”
Trump's endorsement comes after Smith said last month that he was open to running for president.
“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,” Smith previously said.
“I’ve had folks that got a lot of money, billionaires and others that have talked to me about exploratory committees and things of that nature,” he added. “I’m not a politician. I’ve never had a desire to be a politician.”
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