Stephen A. Smith at SXSW Sports Track, Presented by Sportico held at the The Four Seasons on March 10, 2024, in Austin, Texas. | Source: Sportico / Getty
Donald Trump has an unlikely defender amid controversy stemming from a speech the former president gave over the weekend in Ohio ahead of the state’s primary election.
Sports pundit Stephen A. Smith spoke out on social media and waded into the alleged war of words that Democrats claim was waged by Trump when he warned of a “bloodbath” if he loses the presidential election in November.
What did Trump say?
While talking about the auto industry, Trump threatened Chinese President Xi Jinping — and seemingly vis a vis American voters — with ramifications over a car plant owned by China in Mexico.
“If you’re listening, President Xi — and you and I are friends — but he understands the way I deal. Those big monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now … you’re going to not hire Americans and you’re going to sell the cars to us, no,” Trump said. “We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected.”
Trump continued: “Now if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s gonna be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars. They’re building massive factories.”
Trump also said later: “If this election isn’t won, I’m not sure that you’ll ever have another election in this country.”
NBC News reported that a spokesperson for Trump later tried to clarify that the former president’s words meant to warn that President Joe “Biden’s policies will create an economic bloodbath for the auto industry and autoworkers.”
What are Democrats saying?
A rep for Biden suggested this was just the latest instance of Trump telling his supporters to resort to “violence” if he loses the election.
“This is who Donald Trump is: a loser who gets beat by over 7 million votes and then instead of appealing to a wider mainstream audience doubles down on his threats of political violence,” James Singer said in a statement. “He wants another January 6, but the American people are going to give him another electoral defeat this November because they continue to reject his extremism, his affection for violence, and his thirst for revenge.”
Trump, of course, is currently under indictment for allegations of election interference with the peaceful transfer of power by urging his supporters to riot at the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of Biden’s legitimate presidency.
What did Stephen A. Smith say?
While Trump’s comments created yet another political firestorm that were the topic of discussion on all the Sunday morning news shows, Stephen A. Smith, the sports pundit, decided he had some words to share on the issue, as well.
As Republicans blamed mainstream media for taking Trump’s words out of context and claiming the former president was seeking political violence, Elon Musk quote-tweeted a post on X, formerly Twitter, from right-wing journalist Ian Miles Cheong that said, “Legacy media lies.”
Cheong’s post featured the video of Trump saying the above words during the speech juxtaposed next to a snapshot of headlines quoting the “bloodbath” line.
Smith, a career journalist at mainstream media outlets, seemingly agreed with Musk’s conclusion.
“Based purely on this video, if it is accurate, then that would be true,” Smith posted on X on Sunday evening. “It seems @realDonaldTrump words were taken out of context…..reading the headlines I’ve read. Fair is Fair!”
This isn’t the first time Smith has lent sympathetic words to Trump.
Nearly a year ago, Smith insisted that Trump isn’t racist or “against Black people” despite an abundance of evidence to the contrary.
During a sit down at a Semafor Media Summit last April, Smith said he used to enjoy talking to Trump about sports before he ran for president, but that he doesn’t mess with Trump anymore and he certainly wouldn’t vote for him.
“I think he’s changed, but I will tell you this: I think when people call him racist and stuff like that, I’ve never thought of Trump that way,” Smith said at the time. “He’s not against Black people, he’s against all things not named Trump.”
Ohio’s presidential primary is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.
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