Chris Christie: ‘More likely than not’ Stephen A. Smith runs for president

Former Republican presidential candidate and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has claimed that sports commentator Stephen A. Smith is “likely” to run for president in the future.

“I don’t think it’s imminent, but would he run at some point? I think it’s more likely that he will,” Christie said. Washington Post report.

Smith, 56, host of the ESPN debate show “First Take,” has sparked conversation about his potential political future for years. Since interviewing Mr. Christie last year and nominating him as a candidate for his primary party, he has become more involved in politics.

Despite being primarily a Democrat, Smith criticized the party’s choice of 81-year-old President Biden as the candidate to try to defeat former President Trump this fall. Smith has been critical of Biden’s age, but has defended him against “disrespectful” comments from far-right commentators like Sean Hannity.

Smith also criticized President Trump’s ongoing hush money criminal trial. He claimed it was a Democratic strategy to get Trump into legal trouble before the election and lose support from voters, but he wants the former president to “lose the right way” in November. .

Lawmakers from both parties have discussed running for Smith, including at one point for a Pennsylvania state Senate seat. Still, Smith said he thinks the only office that might interest him is the Oval Office, the Post reported.

“The only office that can do that for me is the president of the United States,” he said. “And I don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance that the American people will vote for me.”

Maybe not. The website Mediaite named Mr. Smith the eighth most powerful person in media last year, and Mr. Christie said voters so welcomed their conversations that they subsequently sent him campaign contributions. Ta.

“It was also a great point of conversation with people,” Christie said of the interview with Smith. “I forwarded the message to non-donors, some of whom were equally touched.”

Mr. Smith said in an interview that he plans to have Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump, the leading candidates for this fall’s presidential election, appear on his show.

Adam Mendelsohn, a former adviser to Arnold Schwarzenegger and current media adviser to LeBron James, said Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump may consider engaging in a dialogue with Mr. Smith. . He pointed out that while politicians once joined Johnny Carson and Arsenio Hall, sports are now far more dominant in popular culture.

“It’s hard to deny the power of Stephen A.’s platform, and it’s not just on the show,” Mendelsohn said. “That’s how aggregated it is. So many people are tied up trying to aggregate all of his actions.”