Stephen A. Smith has thrown down the gauntlet after the famously fickle president accused him of being a “low IQ individual.”
Smith, 58, spoke on State of the Union Sunday, and was asked by host Kasie Hunt whether 80-year-old Donald Trump seemed “sharp enough” to fulfill his role.
The ESPN pundit gently began: “Well, I don‘t know anybody that would associate the word ‘sharp’ with him, because he doesn‘t seem that sharp with some of the decisions that he makes sometimes to be quite honest with you.”
Smith said he didn’t want to “denigrate” or “insult” the president, and wouldn’t baselessly “question his intellect.”
But he suggested that—seeing as Trump is happy to besmirch his own mental faculties—they could do the most sporting thing: go head-to-head on live TV for a brain test.
“When he wants to sit up there and question my IQ and talk to me about people that would smoke me in a debate, well, why don‘t you do it yourself? Why defer to anybody else?” Smith challenged.
“Because I‘d be more than happy to sit across from the president and debate some of the decisions that he‘s made.”
The political commentator openly clarified: “I‘m not interested in running or anything like that. I like my job. I like my money, and I‘m not giving it up to campaign for higher office—where most people in politics are trying to get where I‘m at; monetarily, that is.”
Doubling down on his contest, Smith concluded: “I would certainly say that if you really, really want to be serious about questioning somebody‘s IQ, put me at the same table as you and we can have a discussion in front of the masses about some of the decisions that you‘ve made on behalf—supposedly—of the American people.
“And we‘ll see where my IQ lands then.”
In Trump’s Truth Social rant about Smith on Wednesday, he called the star “dumb as rocks,” a “loudmouth,” and “totally unqualified to ever think of running for high political office”—despite having floated Smith as a potential presidential contender just a few months ago.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The presidential tantrum was not sparked by war or economic woes, but by basketball. On June 8, Smith said Trump’s decision to attend the Knicks NBA game that evening was an “inconvenience” for lifelong fans who would be “displaced” from watching and celebrating the game.
Trump’s arrival for the Knicks was soundly booed, and Smith has not changed his opinion. In his CNN appearance, he appealed to the president as a fellow born and raised New Yorker—saying that’s why Trump should have known that it was “selfish” and “narcissistic” to go.
