Stop the celebration of Manchurian candidate Stephen A. Smith

The people most impressed with Stephen A. Smith — the ESPN broadcaster moonlighting as a political pundit and prepping for a presidential bid — are uniparty, establishment Republicans.

The people who spent the weekend celebrating Smith’s trite criticism of the Democratic Party on Bill Maher’s HBO show hope that the minute Donald Trump exits office, MAGA becomes bell-bottom jeans and disco, just well-remembered fads.

In a staged fight with Democrat tomato can Ro Khanna, Smith chastised progressives for turning pronoun use into a crisis, mishandling illegal immigration, failing to address issues voters care about, and installing a bad presidential candidate. Establishment Republicans could not resist sharing and applauding Smith’s banal rebuke. The sports pontificator and frequent race-baiter trended across social media all day Saturday and half of Sunday.

Nearly three months after the election and well after it required an ounce of courage, a black celebrity leftist said what was obvious to anyone with a functioning brain 10 years ago. It doesn’t take much to impress and fool a click-hungry establishment Republican. They’re really no different from Stephen A. Smith.

They lack religious conviction. They support abortion, feminism, and same-sex marriage. They view Trump and MAGA as necessary, temporary evils. They don’t want the swamp drained or rid of foreign influence. They want the creatures in the swamp to behave. They want things to return to what they deem “normal.”

They want a president who is willing to be controlled, a president disconnected from his constituents, a commander in chief willing to declare war when his generals say so.

They want to end Donald Trump as an existential threat to politics as usual. Unable to jail or kill him, the establishment has conceded that populism is having a moment. The seeds that Texas billionaire Ross Perot planted in 1992 have fully blossomed. The establishment can deal with a moment. It cannot allow MAGA to survive past Trump. The goal now is to identify and develop a Trump knockoff who is completely controllable while creating the appearance of uncontrollability.

Enter Stephen A. Smith, the Bob Iger and Disney puppet.

He voted for Harris because he thought she would win. Since her defeat, he’s ramped up his presidential campaign as the reasonable, tough-talking Democrat.

Smith is running for president. He has been ever since he published his farcical, Barack Obama-like memoir, "Straight Shooter," in January 2023. I read the book a year ago. I immediately concluded that someone had convinced Smith he could go from TV star to president, just like Donald Trump.

The book is filled with tall tales intended to package Smith as a heroic figure who overcame the mean streets of New York to rise as a voice who speaks truth to power. Early in his journalistic career, Smith spoke fondly of his father in interviews. In his book, however, he shreds his father and champions his mother as the guiding light of his life. It’s a hat-tip to the matriarchy. Smith’s parents never divorced, but Smith paints the picture that he was basically raised by a single black mother.

To align himself with Black Lives Matter, Smith told a difficult-to-fathom story about police in Michigan pulling him over and arresting him after he left a Sixers-Pistons basketball game. He said two (unnamed) white colleagues were in the car with him. But a woman in Atlanta called police in Michigan and pestered the police into releasing Smith. Make it make sense.

Smith recounted a far-fetched story about earning a full-ride basketball scholarship to Winston-Salem State University by knocking down 17 straight three-pointers in a special one-day scrimmage the team held for him during the middle of its season. Smith drove from New York City to North Carolina for the scrimmage. He claims his college basketball career ended when he cracked his kneecap in half and doctors installed a six-inch screw in his knee (he also says the screw is still in his knee).

A year ago, I did multiple podcast shows unpacking all of the hard-to-believe anecdotes and stories in Smith’s book. The shows triggered Smith into filming a 40-minute profane rant attacking me as the “seed of the devil” and a “piece of s**t” and the worst human in the history of mankind.

He never disputed one of my allegations. Not one. And he’s since quit talking about his college basketball career.

Smith is the perfect political candidate. He’s unconcerned with the truth. He will do and say whatever his financial backers tell him. That’s what he’s done for Bob Iger and Disney for more than a decade. He’s paid to stir racial division among sports fans and stand as controlled opposition to NBA and NFL ownership.

When he’s not debating on "First Take," his ESPN show, he spends his days and nights yapping with Patrick Bet-David, Sean Hannity, Chris Cuomo, Bill Maher, Bill O’Reilly, and anyone else looking for a “diverse” voice to talk politics. He’s uninformed and loud. He pretends to be an outspoken maverick. He’s black John McCain with a jump shot. Or Roland Martin with a neck.

Had Kamala Harris won the election, Smith would be hosting kid-friendly drag shows. He voted for Harris because he thought she would win. Since her defeat, he’s ramped up his presidential campaign as the reasonable, tough-talking Democrat.

He’s a plant. Bob Iger and Disney have groomed him as a Manchurian candidate. I’m leery of anyone who can’t see or won’t point out the obvious fraudulence.

I reject being a Republican because I don’t believe in a “big tent.” I’m MAGA because I believe we live in a time when men have to impose their will. You’re not going to reason with an unrepentant Democrat.

Smith hasn’t repented. He says he feels foolish for voting for Kamala Harris. He’s a fool for standing against Trump and MAGA. He’s a fool for standing against the patriarchy. He’s a fool for supporting the corrupt establishment.

The establishment fears MAGA. It fears the 1,500 men and women Trump pardoned for protesting on January 6, 2021. The patriots who endured four years of persecution and imprisonment are the people we should be celebrating, quoting, and embracing. Their loyalty to Trump kept the MAGA movement alive and allowed Trump to win re-election.

Gutless frauds like Stephen A. Smith would sleep perfectly fine if those men and women remained incarcerated.

My entire 2025 is about making Christians realize the importance of choosing the right allies and empowering them. That’s what Roll Call 3.0, my annual men’s summit in Nashville on May 2-3, is about this year. Our allies don’t do the bidding of Bob Iger and Disney.

Our allies used the Bible to survive four years of political persecution. Our allies stood firm when most men would have folded. The people celebrating Stephen A. Smith need to celebrate Enrique Tarrio, Jake Lang, Colton McAbee, and countless other January 6 heroes.