NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo hosted a town hall featuring Donald Trump on his first 100 days in office on Wednesday night. The level of unseriousness went up a notch when Stephen A. Smith joined.
While Cuomo peppered Trump with questions, Bill O’Reilly also asked him about Smith’s potential presidential run.
Trump completely negates the fact that Smith has no political background and says he’d essentially be a great personality hire as the leader of the free world.
“Stephen A. He’s a good guy. He’s a smart guy. I love watching him,” Trump says as Smith rests his head in his hands. “He’s got great entertainment skills, which is important. A lot of these democrats I watch have no chance. I’ve been pretty good at picking people and picking candidates, and I will tell you I’d love to see him run.”
The
ESPN frontman has been toying with the idea of running for president, and while he previously completely ruled it out, he
recently said he’s “no longer going to close that door.”
But if there’s one thing Smith loves, it’s a lively debate, and later in the town hall, he had Trump scrambling.
It began when Smith mentioned Trump’s ongoing battle with Harvard, which he threatened to divest millions of dollars from if they didn’t adjust their admission rules and strike DEI initiatives.
Smith asks Trump what he’d say to those who view his actions as “an attack on academic freedom rather than a defense of freedom.”
Somehow, that’s when Trump thought it’d be a good idea to talk about… Black people in Harlem who voted for him.
“We had riots in Harlem, in Harlem, and frankly, if you look at what’s gone on, people from Harlem went up, and they protested, Stephen. And they protested very strongly against Harvard. They happened to be on my side,” Trump said. “You know, I got a very high Black vote. You know that. Very, very high Black vote. It was a very great compliment.”
We’re still trying to determine how Trump landed on Harlem when, as is the case on social media, no one on stage outright mentioned the New York neighborhood.
See the reactions below.
