February 2, 2025 • 25 mins
Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The first order of businesses to get in the Trumpet.
I'm not gonna even call it politics. I'm gonna call
it social commentary because that's what I feel it is,
and that's where I need to get started.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
First, the news.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
The tragic news out of Washington, DC, Wednesday night, the
plane crash between an American Airlines commuter jet and a
black Hawk helicopter. All sixty seven people aboard the American
Eagle flight and Army helicopter were killed when an aircraft
collided over the Potomac River. Victims on the American Airlines
flight included Russian Olympic figure skaters, youth skaters, and their parents,
(00:37):
just to name a few. The cause of the collision
is unclear, and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. However,
a preliminary report by the FAA by the FAA indicated
that air traffic control staffing was quote not normal end
quote at the time of the crash. Meanwhile, President Donald
Trump spoke to reporters and implied that diversity, equity and
(00:59):
inclusion in programs the EI may have been the cause
of the tragedy. Here's what President Trump said before reporters
at the White House yesterday.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
So, as you know, last week, long before the crash,
I signed an executive order restoring our highest standards for
air traffic controllers and other important jobs throughout the country.
So it was very interesting about a week ago, almost
upon entering office, I signed something last week that was
(01:30):
an executive order, very powerful and restoring the highest standards
of air traffic controllers and others. By the way, then
my administration will set the highest possible bar for aviation safety.
We have to have our smartest people.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It doesn't matter what they.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Look like, how they speak, who they are. It matters intellect, talent,
the word talent. They have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses.
You can't have regular people doing that job. They won't
be able to do it, but will restore faith in
American air travel. I'll have more to say about that.
I do want to point out that various articles that
(02:09):
appeared prior to my entering office, and here's one. The
FAA's diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe
intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
That is amazing, And then.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
It says FAA says people with severe disabilities the most
underrepresented segment of the workforce, and they want them in,
and they want them they can be air traffic controllers.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
I don't think so. This was.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
In January fourteenth, so that was a week before I
entered office. They put a big push to put diversity
into the FAA's program.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Now, before I get to my comments, because I got
a lot to say about that we just saw, I
want to play some sound from New York Senator Ruck
Schumer reacting to Trump's comments.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Take a listen.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I just watched President Trump's news conference. Listen. It's one
thing for Internet pungits to spew off conspiracy theories. It's
another for the President of the United States to throw
out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered and
families still being notified. It just turns your stomach.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Amen, Amen, and let me stay for the record. I'm
not one that usually agrees with Chuck Schumer. I don't
like a lot of things he says. It does personally
because I think a lot of it is pomping circumstance
and not much to do about anything. Half the time,
I know how knowledgeable and formidable he is and has
been in the United States Center, but nevertheless, there are
things that I disagree with him about this.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Is not one of them.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
To say that President Trump was utterly irresponsible in the rhetoric.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
That he viewed is an understatement.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
You don't know if DEI had anything to do with it,
He admitted he didn't know. Well, do what the hell
you say it for? Watch you open your mouth. Why
would you do that? Because you see the more he
opens his mouth about stuff like that, and the quickness
with which he's willing to throw in DEI, it's crystallizing
(04:26):
what ultimately your gender in terms of your administration is
really really all about. If you're going to go that direction,
and let's understand what we're talking about and what we're
listening to when we hear him spew this diversity, equity,
and inclusion, regardless of the fact that when you talk
about diversity usually women, primarily white women, benefit from such things,
(04:49):
just as they had benefited from affirmative action because they
were labeled a minority. We're never including them when we're
talking about this stuff. When you say diversity, an inclusion,
when you say DEI, you know what that means to
people outside of the minority communities, unqualified minorities. It's automatically
assumed that that's who you're talking about, and.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Nobody wants to take into account.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
As I reiterated and regurgitated just the other day, how
did it come about? How was affirmative action? How did
affirmative action ever come about? How did stuff like the
Rooney Rule ever come about? How did DEEI come about?
DEI came about in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder
by a police officer in Minnesota, Derek Chauvin, who kept
(05:36):
his foot on Floyd, George Floyd's neck for more than
nine minutes and twenty seconds, and the other cops right
near him did nothing as this young as this man
was calling for his mama and losing his breath of life,
and an uproar ensued, and protest ensued, and riots ensued,
(05:59):
and White America couldn't deny how heinous that act was.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
So they stood up and.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
They raised their hands and they said, we're listening, we
want to hear you. And what they did is they
engaged in overkill. Let's admit it. Let's call it what
it is. We're talking business now. Overkilled ensued and what
happened is you saw corporate America and beyond trying to
make amends for its negligence, for its unfair its unfairness,
(06:29):
the inequities that it had exercised.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And they said, we want to make up for it.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
So they went in and overload, and they poured money
in resources into certain things in.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Some cases DEI.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And what you're seeing now is the scaling back of
that because the momentum is died down and you no
longer have to prioritize things the way that you once did.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
You feel me, air and you feel me Mikey, hear
what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
And as a result, now you're saying, let's get back
to normalcy per se. Let's not engage in overkill, let's
not be a bit too excessive, let's not just throw
money against the wall. Money, by the way, most folks
don't have. And now you're seeing the scaling back of it.
(07:14):
And in my opinion, and it's just an opinion, there's
a justification on the part of the Trump administration to
hide behind the EI to justify cuts that you know
inevitably have to come in order for you to shave
some of the overhead that you have to have because
of the national debt and beyond, with thirty six trillion
(07:37):
dollars in debt. You really really think that immigration it's
just about people feeling safe in the streets. We've had
immigrants in our country forever. Immigrants help build this country.
That's why, for the most part, we've been proponents of
(07:57):
folks coming across our borders. Just didn't want flagrantly open
borders like President Joe Biden.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Authenticated or okayed. But we've always had.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Immigrants coming to this country, and we've always benefited from
their participation in this country, in building this nation.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So this is not new.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
What happens is you have an inordinate amount of bodies,
and because you have that inordinate amount of bodies, you're saying, Okay,
that has to stop because it's costing the tax.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Payer billions of dollars.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
It's very simple when you look at it, how it's
handled is where the crime kicks in. Because when you
handle it the way that the Trump administration is handling it.
We want the most qualified, we want the smartest, we
want this, we want that. What you're really saying is
(08:53):
we want white dominance. Again, that's what you're really saying,
you want white dominant. Because if you're pointing the DEI,
and that's usually pointing towards quote unquote unqualified minorities, because
you're always using the word qualified, qualified, qualified, as if
everybody they got a position through DEI is not qualified.
(09:15):
We know what you're implying, we know what you're insinuating.
And you got folks in the administrats, and Pete Heg says,
Oh my god, the nerve of him to just join
into the frame and give his quote about making sure
qualified people have these jobs. You're the Defense secretary whose
only job prior to this was as a weekend host
(09:38):
on Fox News. I didn't bring up personal allegations against
Pete hegseth. What I said was not being qualified for
Defense secretary all of a sudden going from a weekend
host on cable television to overseeing the department with over
three and a half million people.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's what I'm saying, not an accident.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
The nerve.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Derve Hell was Taluk qualified to be president? If we
want to get if we want to get down to
the bare bones of it I'm talking about first go round,
was he wasn't Hillary more qualified? Just qualifications. I'm not
talking about who you prefer you vote for. I'm just
talking qualifications. Wasn't Hillary more qualified? But you decided to
(10:20):
go that route anyway, Right, But here we are talking qualifications,
and I'm all for qualifications and having the best of
the brightest, especially when it comes to.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Public safety, no doubt about that.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
But what you had to bring up DEI for every
white person was qualified.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Every white person that got that job deserved that job.
Every white person that wasn't high.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Through DEI was exceptional and the best and the brightest.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
You ain't got any black.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
People, any Hispanic people that you want to sprinkle.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Into the mix. Could you do that? Could you do that?
Speaker 1 (10:52):
No? You cannot, And I know why because Trump is
catering to his base. See a difference between the magarite
and the rest of the people who voted for Trump.
And where Trump has an opportunity to really cement a
legacy and to push the Republican Party forward in a
(11:17):
positive direction is if he remembers how he got elected.
Margarite is magarit. They gonna vote for him regardless.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
But it was those.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Swing voters that couldn't convince themselves to cast at the
ballot for Kamala Harris that ultimately won him the election
and what has he done since, given executive orders all
over the place. Just today he sat up there and
talked about tariffs are coming away of Mexico and Canada
(11:48):
this weekend. We know what other executive orders he's given
as it pertains to being identified as a man or
woman and know in between all.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Of this stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
And I'm not saying I got a problem with some
of the stuff he's did.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Some I did some I did it.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
I ain't got time to get in all of that today.
What I'm saying is we got to know what he's doing.
Fifty seven percent of the American population a minimum, is white.
He's making sure he caters to them because somehow, some way,
like Chris Rock pointed out in his stand up comedic
routine on Netflix, he said white folks were trying to
(12:26):
overthrow a government that day.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Run It's what he said. But if you trump, here's
the warning.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
I'm reading from an article by Jason Riley Jason L.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Riley in the Wall Street Journal.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I want to read a couple of paragraphs that he
wrote in this article because I want you to understand
what he's saying. When I brought up the part about
Kamala Harris difference between Maggie Wright and swing voters. Here's
what Jason Riley said. The distinction matters. Trump loyalists don't
(13:08):
care if the president part is January sixth protesters who
assault the police officers after he condemned George Floyd protesters
who assaulted police officers.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
It doesn't care that. It doesn't concern them that Robert F.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Kennedy Junior, the President's nominee for Secretary of Health and
Human Services, declared as recently as twenty twenty three that quote,
there's no vaccine that's safe and effective end quote. They're
not bothered that he yanked security protection for former key
advisors involved in planning the lead through drone strike on
Iran's leading terrorists, Cassim Solomone or Solomone, not because it's
(13:39):
no longer needed, but because he simply doesn't like them anymore.
Mister Trump can't be confident that all his supporters will
ignore such rank hypocrisy, foolishness, and petty behavior.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
The threat to anyone involved in President Trump's strike on
Solomoni is persistent.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
It's real.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Senator Tom Cotton, Republican ad Varkasas said, chairman of the
Intelligence Committee and a strong Trump. That's what he said
on Fox News Sunday last weekend. More all of this,
it's not just about these men who helped President Trump
carry out his policy in the first term. It's about
their family and friends, and it's in bystanders every time
they're in public. It's also about the president being able
to get good people and get good advice. He ain't listening.
(14:18):
He appears back to his old ways. What has he learned?
And so now, if you're the Democratic Party, why am
I bringing this up? Because you have a perfect opportunity.
Suddenly it's not about woke culture, it's not about cancel culture,
it's not about proper pronouns and all of this.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Now we're getting into the hearts of the real issues.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
My man Roland Martin was on his show just the
other day talking about civil rights legislation in nineteen sixty
four and how you've got folks within the Trump administration
trying to roll that back sixty years of progress. That's
what you have minorities in this country fearing right now.
That was agenda all along, and they're pointing to these things.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And it's making it and it should.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Make the Democratic Party stand up and say wait a minute, now,
Now these.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Are issues you can fight for, because these are issues that.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
The American people can get behind. And what you have
to do if you're a Democratic party is be centered
thinking as in center left. Prioritize the economy, prioritize national security, security,
prioritize foreign relations, and forget all that other stuff. We
(15:33):
got battles in this country that we have to fight.
Why am I giving this advice because some of y'all
have walked around trying to castigate people like me. Non't
remind you of who the hell I am. Okay, I
am a registered independent. Put that damn thing up on
that screen, Griff for me. Please reminding these people who
(15:56):
the hell I am. Republican Democrat. I don't like none
of your asses. I'm talking about as a party, not
as individuals. I don't like every one of y'all. This
two party bindary system sucks. It has contaminated our society
in the United States of America. It has gotten our
(16:17):
eyes off the ball. You know why, because you have
to agree with everything. Think about that for a second.
Whatever workplace you are, whatever family you have, whatever boys
or ladies you hang out with, each other. Y'all agree
on everything, everything, one hundred percent of line, and you're
thinking about everything. Of course you're not, but our system
(16:40):
of government will have you thinking.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
You have to be.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
All the Republicans vote with one another, all the Democrats
vote with one another. Nobody has to do any freaking work.
You don't even have to read the policies. All you
have to do is ask your sister, how did the
Republicans vote?
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Vote the opposite? How did the Democrats vote? Vote the opposite?
That's all you have to do. That's why you.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Got folks in the eighties still in office. And I'm
not engaging in agism here, I'm just speaking real. The
hell you doing on Capitol Hill? You really think I
believe you reading four or five hundred pages a legislation?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
You think I believe you putting the network. But you
vote anyway because you don't have to do any work.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
All you have to do is take the side that
you're on and vote against the other side that ain't
serving our country.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
That's why the country.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Pissed off, That's why they put somebody like Trump in office,
because they sick and tired of the cesspool that is
our nation's capital. And if you're the Democrats, you've got
an opportunity to say that, although Trump is different and
he's a political the dominance with which he's governing over
his first two weeks on the job is antithetical and
(17:53):
very detrimental to us as a nation.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
You can say that and as a real so return
to some level of normalcy. But what is that.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
You're the Democratic Party? Where's your voice? Who's your voice?
Me calling you out about it? Has you thinking or
has you acting like I'm the enemy. I'm trying to help.
I don't want you to see you get your ass
kicked in another election.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I don't want to see you losing the mid terms.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I don't want to see you lose four years from
now in advance with JD. Vance or Marco Rubio or
somebody being the next president of the United States just
because they're opposite you. I want the best candidate for
the country to win. That cannot happen. That can't happen
(18:41):
if you have no voice and you have no.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Face for your party. I doubt I'll ever run. It's
not me.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I live a pretty good life and I don't want
to ruin it by getting involved in politics. But I
gotta tell y'all something. The Democratic Party looks so pathetic
after this election.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I might entertain running. I just might change my mind
one day. I don't I doubt it, but I might
because how much would it take to beat y'all? And
Trump can't run again?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
He's done, regardless of what some representatives want, a third
term for him, kissing his ass at every turn?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Will you do your job? Please do your job.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Keep been back in the office for two weeks, and
you got one representative caller for him to get a
third term, and you got another representative talking about.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Him being put on Mount Rushmore. Will you do your
damn job? Is that too hard? Just do your job.
Look at our country, look at.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
The state that's in Understand what policies may work and
what might not work, what's to the best.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Interest or what's to the detriment the country? And make
that damn decision. Is it really that hard?
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Do you have to get on your knees and kiss
his ass at every turn? Did you see the crash?
After that happened and Trump handed it over to one
of the aviation executives, I forget his name or its
title for the moment, don't matter every other word he
was saying, I want to thank Donald Trump. I want
to thank Donald Trump. I want to thank Don Trump.
(20:24):
Thank you for your Lisia. Shut the hell up and
do your job. How much ass kissing must y'all do
before your breath starts smelling like shit?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I mean, come on, it's ridiculous. Just do your job.
Do your job. If you Trump, that means you too.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Swing voters got you elected, my man, and they got
you elected because they couldn't vote for Kamala Harris. But
you promised them to address inflation. You promise them to
address our borders, promise them to address national security. You
promise the thriving economy, you promise.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
The peace in the streets.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
If your actions are to lean on DEI every chance
you get to point out some supposed discrepancy between white
individuals and minorities who got jobs as it pertains to
their qualifications and their intellect and their resume and their accomplishments.
You don't think that's gonna compromise peace. You don't think
(21:37):
that's gonna create chaos. Be careful, mister Trump. Be careful,
President Trump, Be careful. Society is only as strong as
its weak, as links. You alienate folks, there's a price
(21:57):
that's gonna be paid for that, and it's going to
be the compromising and the eradication of peace and tranquility.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Enough people from all different facets.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Of this country voted for you because they believed that
you were going to do a better job at galvanizing
our nation than the left ever. Could you owe it
to all of us to do that, not to alienate
us because you're trying to roll back stuff from sixty
(22:31):
civil rights legislation from sixty years that was black folks,
that was minority folks access to capital. That is what
civil rights legislation did for us, amongst many other things.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
To attack that in any way, it's sacrilegious.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
And if you're the left, you remember what the hell
I said and you pounced on it like a bunch
of piranhas. Hispanics in this country make up more than
seventeen eighteen percent of the population. Black folks make up
thirteen to fourteen percent of the population, and the Hispanic
populace is growing.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
If you lost them, get them back.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Know what Cubans, Dominicans, Venezuela is, Guatemalians and Mexicans, Puerto Ricans.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
And blacks.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
No what they mean in this country and what they
bring to this country, and remind folks of that instead
of getting caught up in your frivolous stuff on the
extreme left that compromised your power in the nation's capital.
Get it together. I'm sick of tired of people listening
to me and talking to me, and by the way,
(23:46):
that includes people that work for me. So I'm sick
of tired everybody acting like I'm somebody that's some right winger.
I have conservative views. I have liberal views. Trust me,
I have plenty of liberal views. But that don't mean
(24:06):
I ain't gonna call it like I see it. I've
been doing that for my entire career, and damn it,
I ain't stopping. Ladies and gentlemen. I'm in the best
health I've been in in twenty five years. If you
thought I wasn't going away before, you have no idea
how the hell I'm not going away now. I'm just
(24:26):
getting started. Mister Trump. President Trump, I'm sorry. I don't
like what I'm seeing. In some cases, bruh, I don't
like what I'm seeing. Democrats pounce on him. If you don't,
I'll find somebody who will, or I'll do it my
(24:50):
damn self. I'm gonna give President Trump all the credit
in the world when he deserves it, and I'm gonna
call him out when he deserves it too. How I
was going down on this show, Get used to it,
because I'm coming
The first order of businesses to get in the Trumpet.
I'm not gonna even call it politics. I'm gonna call
it social commentary because that's what I feel it is,
and that's where I need to get started.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
First, the news.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
The tragic news out of Washington, DC, Wednesday night, the
plane crash between an American Airlines commuter jet and a
black Hawk helicopter. All sixty seven people aboard the American
Eagle flight and Army helicopter were killed when an aircraft
collided over the Potomac River. Victims on the American Airlines
flight included Russian Olympic figure skaters, youth skaters, and their parents,
(00:37):
just to name a few. The cause of the collision
is unclear, and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. However,
a preliminary report by the FAA by the FAA indicated
that air traffic control staffing was quote not normal end
quote at the time of the crash. Meanwhile, President Donald
Trump spoke to reporters and implied that diversity, equity and
(00:59):
inclusion in programs the EI may have been the cause
of the tragedy. Here's what President Trump said before reporters
at the White House yesterday.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
So, as you know, last week, long before the crash,
I signed an executive order restoring our highest standards for
air traffic controllers and other important jobs throughout the country.
So it was very interesting about a week ago, almost
upon entering office, I signed something last week that was
(01:30):
an executive order, very powerful and restoring the highest standards
of air traffic controllers and others. By the way, then
my administration will set the highest possible bar for aviation safety.
We have to have our smartest people.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It doesn't matter what they.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Look like, how they speak, who they are. It matters intellect, talent,
the word talent. They have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses.
You can't have regular people doing that job. They won't
be able to do it, but will restore faith in
American air travel. I'll have more to say about that.
I do want to point out that various articles that
(02:09):
appeared prior to my entering office, and here's one. The
FAA's diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe
intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
That is amazing, And then.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
It says FAA says people with severe disabilities the most
underrepresented segment of the workforce, and they want them in,
and they want them they can be air traffic controllers.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
I don't think so. This was.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
In January fourteenth, so that was a week before I
entered office. They put a big push to put diversity
into the FAA's program.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Now, before I get to my comments, because I got
a lot to say about that we just saw, I
want to play some sound from New York Senator Ruck
Schumer reacting to Trump's comments.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Take a listen.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I just watched President Trump's news conference. Listen. It's one
thing for Internet pungits to spew off conspiracy theories. It's
another for the President of the United States to throw
out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered and
families still being notified. It just turns your stomach.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Amen, Amen, and let me stay for the record. I'm
not one that usually agrees with Chuck Schumer. I don't
like a lot of things he says. It does personally
because I think a lot of it is pomping circumstance
and not much to do about anything. Half the time,
I know how knowledgeable and formidable he is and has
been in the United States Center, but nevertheless, there are
things that I disagree with him about this.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Is not one of them.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
To say that President Trump was utterly irresponsible in the rhetoric.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
That he viewed is an understatement.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
You don't know if DEI had anything to do with it,
He admitted he didn't know. Well, do what the hell
you say it for? Watch you open your mouth. Why
would you do that? Because you see the more he
opens his mouth about stuff like that, and the quickness
with which he's willing to throw in DEI, it's crystallizing
(04:26):
what ultimately your gender in terms of your administration is
really really all about. If you're going to go that direction,
and let's understand what we're talking about and what we're
listening to when we hear him spew this diversity, equity,
and inclusion, regardless of the fact that when you talk
about diversity usually women, primarily white women, benefit from such things,
(04:49):
just as they had benefited from affirmative action because they
were labeled a minority. We're never including them when we're
talking about this stuff. When you say diversity, an inclusion,
when you say DEI, you know what that means to
people outside of the minority communities, unqualified minorities. It's automatically
assumed that that's who you're talking about, and.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Nobody wants to take into account.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
As I reiterated and regurgitated just the other day, how
did it come about? How was affirmative action? How did
affirmative action ever come about? How did stuff like the
Rooney Rule ever come about? How did DEEI come about?
DEI came about in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder
by a police officer in Minnesota, Derek Chauvin, who kept
(05:36):
his foot on Floyd, George Floyd's neck for more than
nine minutes and twenty seconds, and the other cops right
near him did nothing as this young as this man
was calling for his mama and losing his breath of life,
and an uproar ensued, and protest ensued, and riots ensued,
(05:59):
and White America couldn't deny how heinous that act was.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
So they stood up and.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
They raised their hands and they said, we're listening, we
want to hear you. And what they did is they
engaged in overkill. Let's admit it. Let's call it what
it is. We're talking business now. Overkilled ensued and what
happened is you saw corporate America and beyond trying to
make amends for its negligence, for its unfair its unfairness,
(06:29):
the inequities that it had exercised.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And they said, we want to make up for it.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
So they went in and overload, and they poured money
in resources into certain things in.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Some cases DEI.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And what you're seeing now is the scaling back of
that because the momentum is died down and you no
longer have to prioritize things the way that you once did.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
You feel me, air and you feel me Mikey, hear
what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
And as a result, now you're saying, let's get back
to normalcy per se. Let's not engage in overkill, let's
not be a bit too excessive, let's not just throw
money against the wall. Money, by the way, most folks
don't have. And now you're seeing the scaling back of it.
(07:14):
And in my opinion, and it's just an opinion, there's
a justification on the part of the Trump administration to
hide behind the EI to justify cuts that you know
inevitably have to come in order for you to shave
some of the overhead that you have to have because
of the national debt and beyond, with thirty six trillion
(07:37):
dollars in debt. You really really think that immigration it's
just about people feeling safe in the streets. We've had
immigrants in our country forever. Immigrants help build this country.
That's why, for the most part, we've been proponents of
(07:57):
folks coming across our borders. Just didn't want flagrantly open
borders like President Joe Biden.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Authenticated or okayed. But we've always had.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Immigrants coming to this country, and we've always benefited from
their participation in this country, in building this nation.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So this is not new.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
What happens is you have an inordinate amount of bodies,
and because you have that inordinate amount of bodies, you're saying, Okay,
that has to stop because it's costing the tax.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Payer billions of dollars.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
It's very simple when you look at it, how it's
handled is where the crime kicks in. Because when you
handle it the way that the Trump administration is handling it.
We want the most qualified, we want the smartest, we
want this, we want that. What you're really saying is
(08:53):
we want white dominance. Again, that's what you're really saying,
you want white dominant. Because if you're pointing the DEI,
and that's usually pointing towards quote unquote unqualified minorities, because
you're always using the word qualified, qualified, qualified, as if
everybody they got a position through DEI is not qualified.
(09:15):
We know what you're implying, we know what you're insinuating.
And you got folks in the administrats, and Pete Heg says,
Oh my god, the nerve of him to just join
into the frame and give his quote about making sure
qualified people have these jobs. You're the Defense secretary whose
only job prior to this was as a weekend host
(09:38):
on Fox News. I didn't bring up personal allegations against
Pete hegseth. What I said was not being qualified for
Defense secretary all of a sudden going from a weekend
host on cable television to overseeing the department with over
three and a half million people.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's what I'm saying, not an accident.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
The nerve.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Derve Hell was Taluk qualified to be president? If we
want to get if we want to get down to
the bare bones of it I'm talking about first go round,
was he wasn't Hillary more qualified? Just qualifications. I'm not
talking about who you prefer you vote for. I'm just
talking qualifications. Wasn't Hillary more qualified? But you decided to
(10:20):
go that route anyway, Right, But here we are talking qualifications,
and I'm all for qualifications and having the best of
the brightest, especially when it comes to.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Public safety, no doubt about that.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
But what you had to bring up DEI for every
white person was qualified.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Every white person that got that job deserved that job.
Every white person that wasn't high.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Through DEI was exceptional and the best and the brightest.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
You ain't got any black.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
People, any Hispanic people that you want to sprinkle.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Into the mix. Could you do that? Could you do that?
Speaker 1 (10:52):
No? You cannot, And I know why because Trump is
catering to his base. See a difference between the magarite
and the rest of the people who voted for Trump.
And where Trump has an opportunity to really cement a
legacy and to push the Republican Party forward in a
(11:17):
positive direction is if he remembers how he got elected.
Margarite is magarit. They gonna vote for him regardless.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
But it was those.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Swing voters that couldn't convince themselves to cast at the
ballot for Kamala Harris that ultimately won him the election
and what has he done since, given executive orders all
over the place. Just today he sat up there and
talked about tariffs are coming away of Mexico and Canada
(11:48):
this weekend. We know what other executive orders he's given
as it pertains to being identified as a man or
woman and know in between all.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Of this stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
And I'm not saying I got a problem with some
of the stuff he's did.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Some I did some I did it.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
I ain't got time to get in all of that today.
What I'm saying is we got to know what he's doing.
Fifty seven percent of the American population a minimum, is white.
He's making sure he caters to them because somehow, some way,
like Chris Rock pointed out in his stand up comedic
routine on Netflix, he said white folks were trying to
(12:26):
overthrow a government that day.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Run It's what he said. But if you trump, here's
the warning.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
I'm reading from an article by Jason Riley Jason L.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Riley in the Wall Street Journal.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I want to read a couple of paragraphs that he
wrote in this article because I want you to understand
what he's saying. When I brought up the part about
Kamala Harris difference between Maggie Wright and swing voters. Here's
what Jason Riley said. The distinction matters. Trump loyalists don't
(13:08):
care if the president part is January sixth protesters who
assault the police officers after he condemned George Floyd protesters
who assaulted police officers.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
It doesn't care that. It doesn't concern them that Robert F.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Kennedy Junior, the President's nominee for Secretary of Health and
Human Services, declared as recently as twenty twenty three that quote,
there's no vaccine that's safe and effective end quote. They're
not bothered that he yanked security protection for former key
advisors involved in planning the lead through drone strike on
Iran's leading terrorists, Cassim Solomone or Solomone, not because it's
(13:39):
no longer needed, but because he simply doesn't like them anymore.
Mister Trump can't be confident that all his supporters will
ignore such rank hypocrisy, foolishness, and petty behavior.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
The threat to anyone involved in President Trump's strike on
Solomoni is persistent.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
It's real.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Senator Tom Cotton, Republican ad Varkasas said, chairman of the
Intelligence Committee and a strong Trump. That's what he said
on Fox News Sunday last weekend. More all of this,
it's not just about these men who helped President Trump
carry out his policy in the first term. It's about
their family and friends, and it's in bystanders every time
they're in public. It's also about the president being able
to get good people and get good advice. He ain't listening.
(14:18):
He appears back to his old ways. What has he learned?
And so now, if you're the Democratic Party, why am
I bringing this up? Because you have a perfect opportunity.
Suddenly it's not about woke culture, it's not about cancel culture,
it's not about proper pronouns and all of this.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Now we're getting into the hearts of the real issues.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
My man Roland Martin was on his show just the
other day talking about civil rights legislation in nineteen sixty
four and how you've got folks within the Trump administration
trying to roll that back sixty years of progress. That's
what you have minorities in this country fearing right now.
That was agenda all along, and they're pointing to these things.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And it's making it and it should.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Make the Democratic Party stand up and say wait a minute, now,
Now these.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Are issues you can fight for, because these are issues that.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
The American people can get behind. And what you have
to do if you're a Democratic party is be centered
thinking as in center left. Prioritize the economy, prioritize national security, security,
prioritize foreign relations, and forget all that other stuff. We
(15:33):
got battles in this country that we have to fight.
Why am I giving this advice because some of y'all
have walked around trying to castigate people like me. Non't
remind you of who the hell I am. Okay, I
am a registered independent. Put that damn thing up on
that screen, Griff for me. Please reminding these people who
(15:56):
the hell I am. Republican Democrat. I don't like none
of your asses. I'm talking about as a party, not
as individuals. I don't like every one of y'all. This
two party bindary system sucks. It has contaminated our society
in the United States of America. It has gotten our
(16:17):
eyes off the ball. You know why, because you have
to agree with everything. Think about that for a second.
Whatever workplace you are, whatever family you have, whatever boys
or ladies you hang out with, each other. Y'all agree
on everything, everything, one hundred percent of line, and you're
thinking about everything. Of course you're not, but our system
(16:40):
of government will have you thinking.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
You have to be.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
All the Republicans vote with one another, all the Democrats
vote with one another. Nobody has to do any freaking work.
You don't even have to read the policies. All you
have to do is ask your sister, how did the
Republicans vote?
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Vote the opposite? How did the Democrats vote? Vote the opposite?
That's all you have to do. That's why you.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Got folks in the eighties still in office. And I'm
not engaging in agism here, I'm just speaking real. The
hell you doing on Capitol Hill? You really think I
believe you reading four or five hundred pages a legislation?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
You think I believe you putting the network. But you
vote anyway because you don't have to do any work.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
All you have to do is take the side that
you're on and vote against the other side that ain't
serving our country.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
That's why the country.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Pissed off, That's why they put somebody like Trump in office,
because they sick and tired of the cesspool that is
our nation's capital. And if you're the Democrats, you've got
an opportunity to say that, although Trump is different and
he's a political the dominance with which he's governing over
his first two weeks on the job is antithetical and
(17:53):
very detrimental to us as a nation.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
You can say that and as a real so return
to some level of normalcy. But what is that.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
You're the Democratic Party? Where's your voice? Who's your voice?
Me calling you out about it? Has you thinking or
has you acting like I'm the enemy. I'm trying to help.
I don't want you to see you get your ass
kicked in another election.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I don't want to see you losing the mid terms.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I don't want to see you lose four years from
now in advance with JD. Vance or Marco Rubio or
somebody being the next president of the United States just
because they're opposite you. I want the best candidate for
the country to win. That cannot happen. That can't happen
(18:41):
if you have no voice and you have no.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Face for your party. I doubt I'll ever run. It's
not me.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I live a pretty good life and I don't want
to ruin it by getting involved in politics. But I
gotta tell y'all something. The Democratic Party looks so pathetic
after this election.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I might entertain running. I just might change my mind
one day. I don't I doubt it, but I might
because how much would it take to beat y'all? And
Trump can't run again?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
He's done, regardless of what some representatives want, a third
term for him, kissing his ass at every turn?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Will you do your job? Please do your job.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Keep been back in the office for two weeks, and
you got one representative caller for him to get a
third term, and you got another representative talking about.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Him being put on Mount Rushmore. Will you do your
damn job? Is that too hard? Just do your job.
Look at our country, look at.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
The state that's in Understand what policies may work and
what might not work, what's to the best.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Interest or what's to the detriment the country? And make
that damn decision. Is it really that hard?
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Do you have to get on your knees and kiss
his ass at every turn? Did you see the crash?
After that happened and Trump handed it over to one
of the aviation executives, I forget his name or its
title for the moment, don't matter every other word he
was saying, I want to thank Donald Trump. I want
to thank Donald Trump. I want to thank Don Trump.
(20:24):
Thank you for your Lisia. Shut the hell up and
do your job. How much ass kissing must y'all do
before your breath starts smelling like shit?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I mean, come on, it's ridiculous. Just do your job.
Do your job. If you Trump, that means you too.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Swing voters got you elected, my man, and they got
you elected because they couldn't vote for Kamala Harris. But
you promised them to address inflation. You promise them to
address our borders, promise them to address national security. You
promise the thriving economy, you promise.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
The peace in the streets.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
If your actions are to lean on DEI every chance
you get to point out some supposed discrepancy between white
individuals and minorities who got jobs as it pertains to
their qualifications and their intellect and their resume and their accomplishments.
You don't think that's gonna compromise peace. You don't think
(21:37):
that's gonna create chaos. Be careful, mister Trump. Be careful,
President Trump, Be careful. Society is only as strong as
its weak, as links. You alienate folks, there's a price
(21:57):
that's gonna be paid for that, and it's going to
be the compromising and the eradication of peace and tranquility.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Enough people from all different facets.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Of this country voted for you because they believed that
you were going to do a better job at galvanizing
our nation than the left ever. Could you owe it
to all of us to do that, not to alienate
us because you're trying to roll back stuff from sixty
(22:31):
civil rights legislation from sixty years that was black folks,
that was minority folks access to capital. That is what
civil rights legislation did for us, amongst many other things.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
To attack that in any way, it's sacrilegious.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
And if you're the left, you remember what the hell
I said and you pounced on it like a bunch
of piranhas. Hispanics in this country make up more than
seventeen eighteen percent of the population. Black folks make up
thirteen to fourteen percent of the population, and the Hispanic
populace is growing.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
If you lost them, get them back.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Know what Cubans, Dominicans, Venezuela is, Guatemalians and Mexicans, Puerto Ricans.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
And blacks.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
No what they mean in this country and what they
bring to this country, and remind folks of that instead
of getting caught up in your frivolous stuff on the
extreme left that compromised your power in the nation's capital.
Get it together. I'm sick of tired of people listening
to me and talking to me, and by the way,
(23:46):
that includes people that work for me. So I'm sick
of tired everybody acting like I'm somebody that's some right winger.
I have conservative views. I have liberal views. Trust me,
I have plenty of liberal views. But that don't mean
(24:06):
I ain't gonna call it like I see it. I've
been doing that for my entire career, and damn it,
I ain't stopping. Ladies and gentlemen. I'm in the best
health I've been in in twenty five years. If you
thought I wasn't going away before, you have no idea
how the hell I'm not going away now. I'm just
(24:26):
getting started. Mister Trump. President Trump, I'm sorry. I don't
like what I'm seeing. In some cases, bruh, I don't
like what I'm seeing. Democrats pounce on him. If you don't,
I'll find somebody who will, or I'll do it my
(24:50):
damn self. I'm gonna give President Trump all the credit
in the world when he deserves it, and I'm gonna
call him out when he deserves it too. How I
was going down on this show, Get used to it,
because I'm coming
Host
Stephen A. Smith
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