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January 13, 2025 53 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.

Stephen A. discusses the continuing LA wildfires with ABC News Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman. NFL Hall of Famer Cris Carter is back to discuss NFL playoff action, including the Philadelphia Eagles’ 22-10 defeat of the Green Bay Packers, the Houston Texas 32-12 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, and the Buffalo Bills blowout of the Denver Broncos. He also comments on former President Barack Obama and President-Elect Donald Trump’s interaction at President Jimmy Carter’s funeral.

Support the show: http://www.youtube.com/@stephenasmith

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
What's up, everybody. Welcome to the latest edition of The
Stephen A. Smith Show, coming at you as I'd love
to do it the very least three times a week
over the digital airwaves of YouTube. Hope you all had
an absolutely wonderful weekend. Obviously, taking a moment to wish
my very best to the citizens of California because it
is an absolute disaster out there in LA specifically with
everything that's happened with these wildfires. Obviously, I want to

(00:34):
also take a moment to just pause for a second
before I get deeper into that point, to just thank
all my subscribers and followers. We continue to grow at
a pretty rapid pace. To be quite honest with you.
We've picked up about forty thousand subscribers over the last
few weeks alone. We well eclipsed over a million subscribers. Obviously,
there's a million more downloads on iHeartRadio. And can't thank

(00:56):
y'all enough for the love and support. Keep it coming,
and I'm gonna keep on coming. To continue to like
and follow the show, just click the bell and get
notified of all of our new content, and you too
shall be the latest member of The Steven A.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Smith Show.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Family, and obviously, as I always ask you to do,
make sure you pick up a copy of my New
York Times best selling book, Straight Shooter, a memoir of
second Chances and First Takes, now in paperback. Just go
to straight shoot a book dot com to get yourself
a copy. Once again, a straight shootter book dot com
to get yourself a copy.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Let me get right into it.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
I'm gonna talk about some football becus, some action going
on in the world of the National Football League that
we have to get into a little bit later. There's
some Trump stuff going on, because obviously that's gonna be very,
very relevant, relevant with him scheduled to be inaugurated. Here's
my thing, ladies and gentlemen, right now, the story ravaging
through our nation, these wildfires. Let me tell you what

(01:44):
I've been thinking. And we're gonna have on a reporter
that's on site, an expert in this kind of stuff.
I mean, if guy is a chief chief news corresponding
these big times, and I'm looking forward to talking to him,
and I'll introduce him to you just the minutes. He's
out there in California as we speak, and in Los Angeles,

(02:05):
and it's a mess.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
It's a mess.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
I'm not going to get into specifics in terms of
the amount of damage because we keep hearing something new
every single day. Ten thousand structures destroyed, and then we
heard it was fifteen potentially twenty. We heard fifty billion
in damage. Then it eclips to sixty billion. Now people
are speculating over seventy five billion people have been displaced

(02:28):
from their homes. Obviously you're wondering what's going to happen
with them because of insurance companies dropping, dropping their.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Coverage, particularly their fire coverage.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
You're hearing that the reason that happened was because California
didn't do the greatest of jobs and sweeping up the
forest floors as dry as it's been over the last
eight months, been very very limited in the amount of
rain and what have you. And the water that was
coming down, or the water that they had available to
them wasn't necessarily utilized effect and efficiently enough. The water

(03:02):
coming out of fire hydrants wasn't enough power. You hurt
all of this stuff. One a minute, it's not enough water.
Another minute, that's not enough power coming out or pressure
rather coming from the fire hydrants. So you could, you know,
get rid of these fires. All of this stuff is
going is going on right now. And here's the conclusion
that I've come to. I'm not gonna say this definitively,

(03:25):
because we all know there's a weather tax in California.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
The weather is beautiful in southern California.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
That's why they've been able to charge with they've been
able to charge That's why they've had the nation's highest
individual income tax rate, and high sales tax burdens, sales
tax burdens and stuff like that. Income tax, sales tax,
the list goes on and on. You just look at
a whole bunch of stuff. I mean, it's one thing
I'm reading here. The state also has high income and
sales tax, as well as income tax applying to or

(03:50):
retirement income except for Social Security.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
In other words, the state of California are professionals are
getting your money. The professionals are get your money. I
would know.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
I've been getting taxed from them for years. And I
got to tell you something right now. Because of my
travels back and forth for ESPN, I can tell you
this right now.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
There's a legitimate discussion that has.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
To take place as to how beneficial it is to
live in the state of California seriously, when.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
You consider their tax rates.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Property taxes don't seem to be that extreme in some
people's eyes, but the sales the income tax, the sales tax, and.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
All the expense that comes with living in the state.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
When you just as I read to you last week,
learned that California had collected approximately two hundred and twenty
one billion dollars in tax revenue.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
There better not be a money problem. They better not be.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
You just hear some of these things that's going on
right now, and you really really find yourself wondering what
the hell is going on in the.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
State of California. You really find yourself.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Wondering about that, and how beneficial is it to be
there outside of the warm weather.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
It's a sanctuary city.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
You know, they're not trying to capitulate the federal laws,
especially with Donald Trump coming in into office. Gas prices,
food prices, of course, to living, all of these things
very very relevant. And then you gotta governor and you
wait for answers from him. We're tired of here, and

(05:24):
you're on the phone with the president. You're on the
farm with the president. Nah, we don't want to hear that.
Gavin News has got some explaining to do. Karen bass
I don't even know if I want to hear from her.
I think she's gonna get recalled. I think she's been
such a disaster with this whole ordeal. I think she's
gonna get recalled. But that will be a subject that

(05:44):
we can get into a little bit later. Right now,
there's more pressing things to find out about, to discover,
and who better to talk.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
To about that than my next guest.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
We welcome to the show now the chief national correspondent
for ABC News, mister Mattuttman himself.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
How are you, Matt? How's everything?

Speaker 3 (06:02):
It's been a bit a bit tough, steven A, It's
been a rough go for I think so many people
in California right now.

Speaker 4 (06:09):
How are you doing?

Speaker 1 (06:11):
I'm doing all right. Thank you for being on a
show now, just paying a picture for us, because we've
read the reports, we've seen the news. But you're out
there and correct me if I'm wrong. Do you not
live out there, sir?

Speaker 3 (06:24):
I live in Encino, which is just over the mountain
over there, an area that's actually under mandatory evacuations as
well also evacuation warning. So yeah, like a lot of
us are living this, experiencing it, and working through it.
So you know, we talk about the scale stephen A,
and you mentioned that people are reading about it the news.

(06:45):
But every time I come back to the palisage or
to the Outa Dina fire, I noticed something new. And
just now with my cameraman Juan, we came upon this
destroyed place that I'd seen many times, but the destruction
is so bad last year that everything is disorienting, so
you sort of don't know where you are anymore.

Speaker 4 (07:05):
This is the village school, this is where both.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Of my cousins went to school, and this is what's
left to then I'm having to show you the inside,
just completely wrecked. And just on the other side of
it is the Ralph.

Speaker 4 (07:20):
Supermarket, the major supermarket in town.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
The other major supermarket called Gelson's, also burned down. And
I think that's what's so unique about this fire is
it's not just homes, but it's schools, the library, high school,
elementary schools, supermarkets, the rec center. Everything has gone and
it's hard to wrap your head around. My aunt's house

(07:43):
burned down Tuesday night, so you know, it's like it's.

Speaker 4 (07:46):
Affects so many people in the community.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
Mercifully not many people were killed here in the fire,
eight people so far, eight fatalities, and fourteen others or
sixteen others in Altadena, So at the Eaton fire.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
So deadly, but could have been even more devastating.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
Right now, how many structures have been destroyed? How many
homes that a speculating have been destroyed?

Speaker 3 (08:14):
So they're still counting, and we've seen search and rescue
teams still going house to house in many of these
neighborhoods trying to assess fully of the damage and trying
to see if there are remains.

Speaker 4 (08:25):
Of people in the debris. But right now.

Speaker 3 (08:28):
Here in the Palisades it's around fifty six hundred probably
a little more, and around seven thousand in Altadena, so
you know they're talking around. You know, almost twelve thousand
homes and structures destroyed total from those fires last week.
And you know, we've got another Santa Ana wind event
bearing down tonight with seventy mile four hour wind gusts,

(08:52):
So everybody's on tenter hooks again, and people are traumatized here.
Stephen A s freaked out, my wife, who I love.
You know, it was a really scary thing Friday night,
the winds changed and it was going towards our neighborhood,
and people, having seen what happened here, were really really scared,
really scary.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
And of the fatalities that that have that have been recorded,
that have, you know, you've highlighted some of the numbers,
is the belief that folks were trapped and they couldn't
get out, or that they refused to leave and they
thought that somehow, some way it would bypass. What what
do we know about that in that regard?

Speaker 4 (09:28):
It's a really good question.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
So we don't know exactly, but many of the deceased
were elderly or.

Speaker 4 (09:35):
People with disabilities who couldn't get out.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
The real piece of luck, if there is such a
thing in this unbelievable tragedy, is that it happened, especially
here in the Palisades at you know, started at ten thirty,
but fires really cooking by.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
And middle of the day. Some people were at work,
other people were awake.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
A firefighter told me this morning that had it happened
at two am, like so many other there would have
been more fatalities.

Speaker 4 (10:02):
Just you know, it's hard to get people awake.

Speaker 5 (10:04):
They don't hear it.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
Their hearing aids are out and it would have been
much worse. So, you know, we don't know.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
What caused the fatalities, but typically and most of the
victims are people who are elderly or disabled. They just
physically couldn't make it to the exit, couldn't make it
to a car to be able to get to safety.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
In terms of the actual files that took place, has
there been a definitive reason that has been established as
to what happened in that regard and the forest floors
not being cleaned, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Has there been a definitive reason that has been provided.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
No, And it could be a while, but I mean,
I think that's the central question that everybody here is asking.
And you if you go on YouTube or TikTok or
any of the social media or Instagram, you see like
all these videos reporting to show somebody setting a fire,
some arsonists on.

Speaker 4 (10:49):
This hill doing that. Nobody knows right now.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
Arson is part of the investigation, right it's a factor
that they're examining. On the other fire, the Eaten fire,
which was more catastrophic in terms of damaged homes and
destroyed homes and fatalities, that's mostly being investigated is probably
something having to do with the transmission towers.

Speaker 4 (11:11):
And there are now three videos that we have, and there's.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
A fourth that we haven't fully confirmed, that shows a
fire breaking out at the base of an electrical transmission
tower just across the canyon from where these homes were
in Alta Dina, and multiple people have it at almost
the exact same time. Now, the electrical company Edison International
has said we haven't seen any anomalies at that time.

(11:36):
Everything was operating as it should. They're not denying that
it was them, they're just saying there's nothing but identify
their transmission towers as a cause. So that's what is
being investigated there. But there are a number of reasons
and it could be you know, that the brush wasn't cleared,
and it could be a million things. But the bottom
line is, you know, climate change has made it possible

(11:57):
for such a massive windstorm to hit this part of town,
which is I mean, you've been here so many times, right,
Like the Palisades is nice, it's lush, it's much cooler
than the rest of la It's got that dampening marine
layer in the summer, so this place it feels different.
It's just less human and more moist, and you don't
think of it happening here, But we've had eight months

(12:17):
without any significant rain that has dried everything up.

Speaker 4 (12:21):
And I wish I could show you stuff, but it's
been watered or burned here. But it was so dry here.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
So you have a combination of those ferocious wind everything
being so dry, the most densely packed county in the
country with ten million people, and that is a recipe
for an absolute colossal disaster, which is what happened.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
Matt.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
What about all of these these reports about that there
wasn't enough water in the fire hydrants?

Speaker 3 (12:46):
What about that that may be the case, right, So
the santae Neez Reservoir, which is about a mile in
that direction, maybe even less, was supposed to supply water,
but it was closed down for repairs for whatever reason.
And what firefighters told me is that they were hooking

(13:06):
up to the hydrants and the pressure wasn't enough to
fill the tanks in their engines in the ladder trucks right,
So they couldn't get enough water fast enough.

Speaker 4 (13:14):
The pressure wasn't right, so it couldn't blast fast enough.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
But one of the problems was that there were so
many trucks and so many different parts of this town
all at the same time trying to access that water
that they don't think any amount of water in the
reservoir would have been able to have been enough. A
b See this house right there, the house next to
it burned, the house across the street, the supermarket, everything

(13:38):
here is gone.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
And so all of the three quarter inch sprinkler hoses.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
In all these neighborhoods busted, right, and so they're leaking
all over the place. So when we came in here
early Wednesday morning, when the fire was at its most ferocious,
I'll go back here, there was water everywhere on the
ground and steep and am like, what okay, there's water everywhere,
what's the problem. It was just leaking in my aunt's house.
It's like a swamp. So firefighters put water on it.

(14:07):
The thing burned down. The ash and the soot and
the clay and the dishes and the dishwasher and the
dryer and everything just sort of got to be this
muddy stuff. And you walk in there and it's like
six inches of swamp because the sprinkler hoses broke.

Speaker 4 (14:21):
In addition to the water from the hoses created.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
This massy soup, and that's what you see in so
many different places here. And the fire chief at Station
sixty nine, which is right here in the heart of town,
you know, like it's the kind of place where kids
do their birthday parties, like they're so part of the community.
My cousins did their birthday party there, took my grandmother there.
They put their fire jacket on my grandmother at age

(14:45):
ninety six, like they're the nicest, best people. They fought
like hell, man, they fought like hell. They were up
for I think like seventy two hours. And they said
that given the winds, given the fire one hund okay
kwan chill nut, so the fire was higher than that
electricity pull right one hundred feet high and can't deliver

(15:05):
down like sideways on these guys. He's like, I've never
seen anything like it. There was nothing that anybody could
have done. They were spraying hoses at something that was
fifteen feet away, like that wall, and the wind was
blowing it back at them. Just stuff that boggles the mind.
So he's saying, and he's got like he could have
an axe grind. He could blame the city or the

(15:29):
mayor for not having adequate resources, but he said, I
don't think any amount of resources, any amount of water,
would have made enough of a difference.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
Matt.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
I know you've interviewed Governor Gavin Newsom in the past.
I know you know him. Have you spoken to him
since all of this is transpired.

Speaker 4 (15:48):
Havn't yet spoken to him?

Speaker 3 (15:49):
Were planning on it either today or tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (15:52):
I've spoken to his people. It's complicated, complicated to today,
I can imagine.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
So I'm wondering you being out there, you being out there,
what is the noise like? I mean, I've gone off
about what we've seen and what we've heard.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Obviously he's taking a lot of heat.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
May and Karen Bess and Los Angeles, she's taking a
lot of heat. If you've had time to digest the
climate that is out there as it pertains to the
politicians and the level of culpability the people feel they have,
what would you describe that as.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
Being at this moment inside?

Speaker 4 (16:25):
I think people are pretty upset.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
I think people are upset, and I think maybe they
have reason to be, but we don't know yet. What
I can tell you is, you know that Arson is
being investigated. It's very possible that there were very bad
people who started this fire, knowing exactly where to plant
this first seed of a fire, knowing that given the winds,

(16:48):
they would come right into town. Because where that fire started,
you could not have planned it. If it was just
an accident, it would be crazy. I'm not saying it
is not an accident. We seriously don't know, but it
just happened to be in a place that pushed that
fire right.

Speaker 4 (17:03):
Through the heart of this town and Alta Dina. There
was no suspicion of that.

Speaker 3 (17:08):
There's a suspicion that something may have gone wrong with
the transmission wires.

Speaker 4 (17:11):
Again, it's not confirmed in any way, but you.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
Know, were they prepared, could they have called out more
mutual aid? Could they have had, you know, all the
equipment and all the people that they have now, which
is an unbelievable amount. And Steve and they I don't
know if you guys were watching this weekend, and maybe
you can roll this over, but we were watching the
air attack from my house right dozens of helicopters.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
It was like Vietnam.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
It was like apocalypse now watching this thing, you know,
with the chopters going over your head, you know, like
listening to Wagner.

Speaker 5 (17:41):
Dun da da da dun da.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, it was so intent with with chinooks chinooks and
firefighting helicopters and the DC whatever's the DC tens flying over.
They assaulted that fire on the ridge above our neighborhood
in a way that I don't think I've ever seen.
If they had had that kind of air assault, if
they could have flown in those winds, maybe it would

(18:06):
have made a difference. Or maybe if they had had
all these thousands and thousands of auxiliary firefighters, maybe it
would have made a difference. But again, when you talk
to the people here on the ground, they say, man,
I don't know that nature. It was so powerful, so indomitable.
Maybe there's nothing we could have done. Maybe there was
nothing anybody could have done.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Being in, you know, a chief national or correspondent, I
know that you've got a whole bunch of sources, connections
or whatever, But this doesn't involve that. Do We've heard
a number of sixty billion, seventy billion in terms of
the amount of damage that has been incurred. I'm not
asking you to speculate, just ask you to tell me
what you've heard about approximately what that number would be
particularly at this moment in time, not even taking into

(18:46):
account more, you know, further damage that will be investigated obviously.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
You know, these are I think the median household. They
say it's two million, but it could be much more
of the median house price in Pacific coug it's an
Alta Dina, it's over a million. There are you know,
twenty five and forty million dollar homes that have been
destroyed here. It's the infrastructure, the water system, roads have

(19:11):
been impacted so much in both of these places. And
the big question is how is insurance going to cover this?
What's going to happen there? Some people like my aunt
have been living in their homes for over forty years,
and I have a feeling that she's under insured and
a lot of people aren't going to be able to
afford to move back here. So it's going to be

(19:32):
in the many tens of billions, that's for sure. The
question is what happens to these communities? Can people move
back to Alta Dina and these places that they have
had homesteads for generation, families who have been able to
find a refuge there against Jim Crow laws to build
houses and create equity can they go back now?

Speaker 4 (19:53):
Are they going to be insured enough? And then what
happens to the rest of the of the city.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
Insurance company's going to want invest in California and ensure
people here.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
I mean, it's a scary prospect.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
This is a huge liability and a massive question for
Governor Newsom, who knows I'm going to probably ask him
this question.

Speaker 4 (20:12):
All of these people.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
The tens of millions of people that Newsom and others
want to stay here, how are they going to be protected?

Speaker 1 (20:19):
I'm wondering about that myself, just reading doing some research here.
It talked about insurance companies abandoning folks in California with
regard to the wild fires even before it took place.
You know, you know more than ten thousand structures in
Los Angeles County being destroyed.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
You had stuff like this going on.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
Rising costs and cancelations have left many of the five
victims without adequate means. And that's exactly what you're talking
about here. And I don't know what's going to happen
moving forward. So with that being said, very last question
to you, how is the Los Angeles.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
Community pulling together and all of this? You has Tomate based.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
Off of what you've seen, you know, So I love
this question. I love this question because you know, people
are like, oh la, it's so and it is like
people can be vain and they can be fickle here.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
But are you guys seeing what's happening at the Santa
Anita Raceway On the other side of down in Pasadena?

Speaker 2 (21:13):
Near there, there.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
Is a like a literal mountain of stuff, of aid,
of clothes, of diapers, beds of bedding, anything you could
generators tense, like anything you can imagine is there. People
have come out from all over. There are places where
pets are being helped. Like the amount of outpouring has

(21:38):
surprised me and blown me away in the most positive way.

Speaker 4 (21:40):
And I'm so happy to see it elated.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
And had we been not locked down in my neighborhood
this weekend, I would have taken the kids. But we
couldn't get out of our neighbor because there was National
Guard posted down the street.

Speaker 4 (21:51):
But that's another issue.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
But yeah, like there has been in a massive outpouring
in a way that I don't think anybody imagined in
this messy, complicated, traffic ridden city full of natural disasters,
but also great beauty right like where we are is
a beautiful place before Altadena is beautiful, and the people
are coming together in a way that is truly impressive.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
So I've been so hardened to see that. I know
my colleagues are.

Speaker 3 (22:18):
We're out there at the Santa I Need the Raceway
and all the other places where.

Speaker 4 (22:22):
They have been congregating and putting all of this.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
Aid together for the people who were homeless right now,
who've been burned out of their homes. So what the
insurance companies may not be able to provide them right now,
I think the people of La the residents here are
trying to do, you know, with just incredible pace and generosity.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
Well, let me say this to you, outside of this
interview being must see because you've done such an exceptional job,
It'll be even better when we see you in front
of California Governor Gavin Newsom, because he's got a lot
of questions. He's got it like he's got he's got
to have some answers to a lot of these questions,
and that's going to be musty TV whenever he sits
down with you, hopefully very very soon. Matt Gutman, Chief

(23:02):
national correspondent for ABC News. Thank you so much for
your time, man, I really appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (23:06):
Thank you, thank you. Stevn.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah, that's out standing information provided by Matt Gutman. I
just feel so sorry for those folks out there, And
just just to reiterate, authorities say, at least twenty four
people died and more than a dozen others remained unaccounted
for as multiple wildfires burned across forty five square miles
of densely populated Los Angeles County. The total damage and
economic laws from the wildfires is now being an estimated.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Remember I said fifty sixty seventy five whatever, I didn't know. Whatever.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Now they're saying this between two hundred and fifty to
two hundred and seventy five billion, according to ACI Weather. Meanwhile,
thousands of firefighters from across the country are battling the flames,
including other firemen from Mexico and Canada.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
They've joined the fray.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
Roughly one hundred and five thousand people remain under mandatory
evacuation orders. And as for the response to the disaster,
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who I brought up a couple
of times to Matt, responded, because you knew that President
Trump was gonna have something to say, and I told
you Saturday how he was critical of Gavin Newsom, saying basically,
this was his fault. Here's what Trump had to say

(24:07):
and wake up of the fires last week. Quote Governor
Gavin new Scum refused to sign a.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Water restoration declaration put before.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
Him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water
from excess rain and snow melt from the north to
flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas
that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way. He
wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish, caught a smelt
by giving it less water. It didn't work, but didn't
care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price

(24:36):
is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor
allowed beautiful, clean, fresh water to float into California. He
is the blame for this. On top of it all,
no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
A true disaster. End quote Naturally.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
Governor Newsom responded by saying this and writing a letter
to Trump.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
He invited into a state to toward the destruction.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
Newsom wrote, quote, I invite you to come to California
again to meet with the Americans affective by these fires,
see the devastation firsthand, and join me in others in
thanking the heroic firefighters and first responders who put their
lives on the line.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
Okay, here's the deal.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
First things first, Donald Trump called them new scum. Clearly
he does not like this man. He sat up there
and called them an incompetent governor, all in the same graph,
all in the same tweet. He called them new scum,
and he says he's an incompetent governor.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
So clearly he doesn't like the man. Let's call it
what it is.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
Okay, that's more than we can say for him and Obama,
which I'll get into a little bit later. But then
I'm thinking about this story that I read when you
had former Trump administration officials.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
This is what they've said.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
They've indicated that Trump initially refused to release federal disaster
aid for the wildfires in California in twenty eighteen, withheld
wildfire assistance for Washington State in twenty twenty as severely
restricted emergency relief to Puerto Rico in a wake of
the devastating Hurricane Maria in twenty seventeen because he felt
those places were not sufficiently supportive of him. I sincerely

(26:09):
hope that's not true. I sincerely hope that Trump would not.

Speaker 5 (26:18):
Do that.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
Now, if you're Donald Trump and you want to turn
California red, or at least from blue to purple or
something something close to the red, I don't think it would
be wise for him to engage in such petulant and
irresponsible behavior.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
So I guess the thing that we can say is
we shall see. We shall see. But he did withhold.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
According to his the people that worked in his administration,
he was hesitant and provide a relief for the state
of California twenty eighteen, in Washington State in twenty twenty
in Puerto Rico as well, because he felt they weren't
supportive enough for him.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
And if he did something like that, that would be scummy.
To use his word, new scum, that would be bad.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
That would be bad. I just want to say that. Okay,
there's no way around that. By the way, thanks again
to Matt Gutman for coming on the show to talk
to us about what's transpiring with these wildfires. If you'd
like to help the thousands of victims Southern California. Please
visit Redcross dot org once again, that's Redcross dot Org

(27:24):
to donate today.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
Coming up.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
They say politics make strange bedfellows, Well, we saw that
on display during funeral services for President Carter between Barack
Obama and Donald Trump.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
I'll get into that later, but.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
First, Jadeen Daniels's sensational in his playoff debut, and Lamar
Jackson is set for a meeting against Josh Allen and
Buffalo this coming weekend. I'll get in all of the
NFL playoff action in just a minute with my man
Chris Carter.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Don't go anywhere. It's the stephen A.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
Smith Show back with more in a minute. Everyone, I
need you to stop what you're doing and listen up.
You do know that the NFL playoffs are underway right
and the College Football Playoff National Championship is next Monday.
So with all that action happening, The stephen A. Smith
Show wants to make sure you take advantage of it all.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
That's why we've.

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Partnered with Prize Picks, the best place to get real
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Speaker 1 (29:08):
Now, let's look at my picks for next week's college
football Playoff National Championship game at the Ohio State Buck
Guys going up against Notre Dame Fighting Irish. First up,
Ohio State quarterback Will Howard more or less than point
five yards passing.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Seriously, y'all, zero point five yards?

Speaker 1 (29:25):
I mean if you're a quarterback you can't even throw
for a yard, you should be banned from the damn
support as far as tent of course, the answer to
that is more, of course. Next up, Notre Dame quarterback
Riley Lennard against the Buck Eye secondary more or less
than one hundred and sixty seven and a half yards passing.
I think this is gonna be more, I really really do.
I think Riley Lennon is gonna surprise some folks and
he's gonna put up some air yards on on on

(29:46):
Ohio State. I think they expected him to run out,
that he's gonna throw a little bit more than they anticipated,
and I think that that's what's going to happen. Next up,
we got not to Day running back Jeremiah Love more
or less than forty nine and a half yards on
the ground. I'm gonna go with more of this as well,
because I think you can run on Ohio State a
little bit. I'm not saying that brother gonna go for
over one hundred, one hundred and fifty yards something like that,
but over forty nine and a half yards, I'm gonna

(30:07):
go with more on this. Finally, Ohio State running back
Travion Henderson more or less than fifty seven and a
half yards rushing. The brothers always good to break one.
He's always good to break at least one. So I
think definitely the answer to this one is more. You
saw me, You see what I had to say. Okay,
so you see what I'm doing. I'm doing more on everybody. Okay,
more on every single one of them. It's just that simple.

(30:30):
Will Howard, Jeremiah Love, Riley Lennon, of course, Traveon Henderson,
more in all of them, because that's what we do
at Prospects.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
We aim to give you more. Welcome back to the
Stevin Ax Smith Show.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Predictably, you know, I had to get into some NFL
talk because there's a lot of NFL action that took
place this weekend. And who better to get into it
with than my man, the one and only Chris Carter
only did was catch touchdowns the Hall of Fame wide receiver.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
What's going on, big time? How are you man?

Speaker 4 (30:56):
How's everything all good?

Speaker 5 (30:57):
Bron How you doing? You got your studious time?

Speaker 1 (31:00):
I'm not gonna bring up I'm not gonna bring up
Ohio State because I want to wait till next week.
They don't play until next Monday, so I'm just gonna
I'm gonna wait to press you about that. I know
you're feeling it. I know you're feeling it right now,
and that's cool. Let's see what they do, all right.
But we'll get into that another time, and we'll get
into Minnesota your vikings in the NFL in just a
few minutes.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
But first things.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
First, talk to me about what you saw this weekend
and what has you most excited about these playoffs?

Speaker 5 (31:30):
Man, just the overall physicality, and I do believe that
it's wide open, like the margin between who's going to
be the best and a team like Washington, the Commanders
with Jade and Daniels, like that margin. It's really fin
better than we've seen in years. So is Philadelphia talented, Yes,
but a number of injuries and some other issues. Detroit

(31:53):
are they talented? Yes? Kansas City, who will we see
in the playoffs? We know decisive home field advantage. I
heard Taylor Swift is at least going to be at
the divisional rounds, so they're almost undefeated with her in attendance.
So there's so much. There's such a great storyline, but
none of it you can predict.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
Did you find yourself disappointed in the Philadelphia Eagles yesterday?

Speaker 2 (32:16):
Offensively?

Speaker 1 (32:16):
That is, did you find yourself disappointed in what you
saw against Green Bay?

Speaker 5 (32:21):
Well, I'm not going to say disappointed, but I was
concerned when you missed two or three weeks of practice
coming down the stretch and you don't have that continuity,
and they have had times where their passing games has
been average to bad, So now you miss that time.
And this is not something that you know. Jayden is
not a natural thrower of the football of like the

(32:42):
great quarterbacks that we've had in plating in the NFL
now and the ones of the past. So when you
missed two weeks of practice time because of gincussion, you're
not in your normal schedule. Yes, I could see their
passing game being all especially with the inconsistent way their
passing game was during the regular season.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
What did you think about aj Brown being seen on
the sidelines with reading the book?

Speaker 2 (33:06):
What did you think about that? I mean, it was
a motivation.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
I thought he was doing it to keep his cool
because he was so disgusted a boy being talking to
just three times to catch you one pass but ten yards.
I think I think he's just meditating, trying to keep
himself cool. But what did you make of all of that?

Speaker 5 (33:19):
Very very wide receiver issues and aj Brown? The more
he plays, the more diva wives of things the receiver
things that he starts to add to his repertoire. You know,
he is a great player, but I do believe there
are a number of issues that he personally has with

(33:42):
the quarterback. And when you open up a book like
that compared to open up a conversation and communicating, that's
just another sign that what they have in Philadelphia it
should be very, very fragial.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
I know you've seen some great things over their career
thus far, in Jordan Love's case, in the regular season
and the postseason, and Justin Herbert just a regular season.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
But what are you to make of what you saw
of their performances this weekend?

Speaker 1 (34:11):
I mean, Jordan Loved three interceptions, Justin Herbert four in exceptions.
He threw three interceptions the entire regular season, and through
four interceptions over thirty two and thirty two pass attempts yesterday.
I mean, you know, Saday, what the hell is going
on with them.

Speaker 5 (34:25):
On and off the field?

Speaker 3 (34:26):
Man?

Speaker 5 (34:26):
You are judged based on what do you do under
the worst of conditions, Like how do you respond? And
when you have the responsibility of taking care of that
football and you throw the football in arms way now,
and Jordan's Love has done this more so than Herbert.
But when you have the worst game of your career statistically,

(34:46):
you know, all these things, they should be criticized. Like
we criticize the quarterbacks a lot in the playoffs because
they're the only player touching the ball all the time. Now, yeah,
can that be aided by injuries. Can that be aided
by drop passes? Yes? But when we give them all
the credit because we give them the big contract, we
should be criticized as these two quarterbacks. You know, Jim

(35:09):
Harball is not expecting that from his quarterback. Uber talented,
the way he is conservative, the way Harball is that
is not a championship match right there. I do expect
him to match now to repair that next season, because
he had a great regular season only throwing three interceptions
or yesterday. But Jordan Love, he is more of a
gamble like he's gonna throw the ball in arms way

(35:31):
more so than the other quarterbacks. I believe in protecting
the football. When you protect the football. You protect the franchise,
protect the franchise, you protect my job.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
When you saw Buffalo blow out Denver in the second
half and you saw Baltimore blow out the Steelers in
the first half, don't get me started with that. I
came into the weekend thinking Buffalo is gonna take Baltimore
out when they meet in a divisional playoff round.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Now I'm not so sure.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
Based on me watching Buffalo, I know they want to
had a strong second habitage to get the Reds on
five times only convert once.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
I think you need more.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
You got to have forty one to eighteen advantage and
time of possession. That's not gonna happen against Baltimore next week.
How are you feeling about that encounter that's coming up?

Speaker 5 (36:22):
Oh, this is an epic battle right here. I mean,
because all the pressure is on these quarterbacks, not only
the franchises, but on these quarterbacks to beld how far
can they advance in the Patrick Mahomes era And who's
gonna build knocked Patrick Mahomes off off the throne. But
there's a tremendous amount of pressure. Man. The hump I mean,

(36:43):
this game though, is I can't believe we're debating over
the MVP because the way that Baltimore has played as
a team, where would they be without Lamar Jackson. I mean,
when you have the type of numbers that he has,
these thirteen more touchdowns than Josh Allen, four hundred more yards,

(37:03):
I get that sect.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
Let me interrupt, Let me interrupt, Let me interrupt, and
I'm gonna tell you why. I'm gonna tell you why.
It's debatable, all right, because even with Lamar Jackson's great numbers,
you came into the season with expectations for him in
Baltimore light of the fact that you're still Baltimore, you
acquired Derek Henry. In Buffalo's case, there's no Stefan Diggs,
there's no Gave Davis, and you look at him losing

(37:26):
his two primary weapons, and plus McDermott was on a
hot seat and wholesale changes were made on.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
The defensive side of the ball.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
A lot of people didn't expect Buffalo to have a
great season, let alone be the number two overall seed.
That would be the reason for the debate.

Speaker 5 (37:39):
CC Okay, no problem, we can have that conversation. But
let me tell you something. He didn't play better than
me every year we got circumstances. I've been MVP twice.
I'm having an epic season, not only based on my standards,
is based on NFL standards. But he still didn't play
better than me. This is like your great quarter Aaron Rodgers.

(38:00):
They have put the standard so high and then someone
comes maybe close to it, and we're like, oh, he's
the MVP, but he didn't play better than Lamar. Lamar
had the best season. Did he have a surprising season, Yes,
Now that's a different conversation, But did he have the

(38:21):
MVP best season of any quarterback? No, he did not,
So that will be the conversation that I will continue
expectations based on no what actually happened. So now we're
giving him MVP because we didn't have expectations. Joe Burrow
had an MVP type season risk coming into the season,

(38:42):
but we're not giving him the MVP.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
No, that's because they're not. But no matter, your your
argument is profound, I gotta give it to you. Right
about Lamar Jackson. Youre right about Lamar Jackson. Let's stay
with Baltimore and Pittsburgh in this regard. Now that Pittsburgh
has lost Mike Tomlin hasn't won a playoff game since
two thousand and six. Uh, they're one and done at
least five times. You know, you got people speculating about

(39:07):
a lot of different things. The Steelers obviously ain't gonna
make changes. They don't fire coaches, They've never fired a coach.
What are your thoughts about Mike Tomlin six straight posts
and losses and by the way, I mean, you know,
they just don't score as well when you consider what's
been transpiring. What do you do if you're the Pittsburgh
Steelers when it comes to Mike Tomlin.

Speaker 5 (39:26):
CC In the modern salary cap era, the Pittsburgh Steelers
system does not work. Bro, Like, you cannot say I'm
not gonna participate in free agency all the money that
you're making as a family. Your philosophy is obsolete. Oh,
I'm gonna only sign a couple of the players that

(39:49):
I draft to their second or third contract. See Mike
Tomlin's been battling that. No one even talks about that ever.
Of the economics of it, I mean, he is a
a decisive disadvantage than people like Baltimore, Kansas City. Like
these people are spending bread man to get guys that
come play for their team. All right, not only do

(40:11):
they have a franchise quarterback, they got people. I mean,
they are going out of their way to make them
highest paid at their position. Man, So you know how
many concessions do you want players to make to come
to Pittsburgh where I can go somewhere else and get paid.
So we're gonna start talking about Mike Tomlin, and we're
gonna start talking about it in the right name. This

(40:32):
should really be about, man, is he limited there in Pittsburgh?
Would he be a better coach somewhere else where? They
were spending up to the Calarie cap and they were
participating free agency. And also, imagine Mike Tomlin recruiting now
he can get the kind of dudes that he wants
to get. Oh, now that's a different conversation. So Pittsburgh,

(40:54):
be careful, don't step on yourself because you run a
program that Mike Tomlin's familiar with, and that program can
only get you first round, a divisional round, maybe in
the second round, but it is not going to get
you with the elite teams because everyone is spending money.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
Now Chicago's in the market for head coach New Orleans,
the Dallas Cowboys, Mike McCarthy, he's gone. He's going now
because him and and Jerry Jones couldn't reach an a
quarter on a contract extension. What would be the best
place for Mike Tomlin And who should want Mike Tomlin
more than anybody?

Speaker 5 (41:32):
Well, Mike Tomlin going to Chicago as a game changer.
Not only are you going to get the benefit of
what he coaches on the defensive side, but you got
a sure superstar in cayleb Winn at the quarterback, and
I can guarantee you or Mike Tomlin gets him a
quarterback just like when he had with Ben Roethlisberger, even

(41:52):
though they weren't spending up to the cap like other teams.
The Chicago Bears are ready for a quick turnaround. If
they don't get Mike Tomlin, get someone like Ben Johnson,
someone that can affect that offense. I mean way Ben
Johnson calls slave, he's the I remember when Mike Mark
used to call the plays and with the rams, I'm like,

(42:12):
my god, I've never seen that play before. I mean
the way they throw the ball, the way they attack
the defense. So I do believe Mike Tomlin would be
a great fitting in Chicago. I believe Mike Tomlin would
be a great fit with the Dallas Cowboys. Why because
he understands hierarchy. And I do believe that Jerry Jones
having someone like Mike Tomlin, he wouldn't give away some

(42:36):
of that power because he knows there's no reveal. Mike
Tomlin's ready to go now. And I'm sure man that
locker room would respond to Mike Tomlin being named So
Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys. I mean, any team that's got
aspirations of trying to get their team in the Super
Bowl in the next three years, Mike Tomlin, they should
be calling Pittsburgh trying to work out a trade.

Speaker 1 (42:58):
Last question for you to Los Angeles Rams in Scottsdale,
Arizona because the game was moved from LA due to
the wildfires. Uh, they're going there hosting the playoff game
against the Minnesota Vikings tonight. You saw what happy to you, boy,
Sam Donald last week. As I told you, I told
you that was coming. I mean I tried to break
it to you. I tried to break it.

Speaker 5 (43:17):
He went up. You told me that in week number four,
So you were wrong in week five.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
I don't recall it.

Speaker 5 (43:23):
Six, I don't recall seven. That week.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
You got you're talking about.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
I don't know what you talking about, man, I don't
know what you're talking about.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
But I know what I saw against the Detroit Lions
last week. And now he goes into the playoffs fresh
off of getting his ass kicked. What do you expect
for the Minnesota Vikings against Los Angeles tonight?

Speaker 5 (43:46):
Man, This is a contract changing game because if he's
able to win this game in Arizona, and God bless
the Rams, man, God bless the families and what they're
going through out there, horrific.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
While absolutely, I mean.

Speaker 5 (43:59):
It's hard to concentrate on a football game when life
is really, you know, get throwing you a really a
set of unfortunate circumstances that we've never seen in our life.
But this right here at came with Sam Donald. It
changes well how the Vikings attacking JJ McCarthy, it attacks

(44:19):
It makes a statement of do they franchise him, do
they sign him to a multi year deal, because if
he's able to win this game, you can't deny the
Vikings got to be able to bring him back. And
the only way that you can execute. The ghosts that
you have when you pass is by women. It was
shaky last week, but any quarterback can be shaped the

(44:41):
way Dee Tront was playing, the way, the way that
they had them moving on their.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Side of the ball.

Speaker 5 (44:50):
Man, they they played the hell of the game. They
brought it to my vikings. I respect that, but now
it's the playoffs, and now all that can be rectified
in era against the rank.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
How are you gonna beat the Rams? Rams have been
looking pretty good.

Speaker 5 (45:06):
Oh no, we're gonna throw it, man. We gotta get JJ. Man.
You saw what happened last week. JJ. JJ is getting
ready to have one fifty all right, defense all over?

Speaker 2 (45:18):
Don't you just say.

Speaker 5 (45:20):
One fifty in Arizona against the Rams?

Speaker 4 (45:26):
The night?

Speaker 5 (45:27):
All right?

Speaker 1 (45:28):
The night is very emotional, sounds very emotional, sounds very emotional.
Chris Carter, I'm gonna let you go, but expect the
text from me tonight. Expect the text for me tonight.
I'll be watching the game virtually with you, brother, you
know what I'm saying, saying some living whatever the hell
the word is, I'm gonna be watching it with you.
I'm gonna because the ain't no way I can't Well,
I shouldn't say that, because this is justin Jefferson. We
talk about here anything is possible, possible.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
How let you later, my brother, appreciate your one only
Chris Carter right here with Stephen A.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
Over the digital airways of YouTube and of course Heart
Radio coming up. President Barack Obama and Donald Trump appear
to be chummy at the funeral services for President Jimmy Carter,
and some are criticizing Obama for it.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
Well, what do I have to say?

Speaker 1 (46:15):
You'll find out in a minute right here on the
Stephen Eate Smith Show over the digital areas of.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
YouTube and I Heart Radio back with more in it.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
Everyone right now needs to stop what they're doing and
listen up and listen good. With all the big time
sports action that's happening each and every day, NFL games,
NBA games, and.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
The college football playoffs, The Steven A.

Speaker 1 (46:37):
Smith Show wants to make sure you are taking advantage
of all of it. That's why we partnered with Prize Picks,
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Speaker 2 (47:49):
Welcome back to the Steven A. Smith Show.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
Before I get on out of here today, I want
to take some time to get into some politics and
chat out about what we saw last week during the
State funeral for former President Jimmy Carter. There were five
living presidents in attendance to Anour Carter, including President's Barack
Obama and Donald Trump.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
Here's what Trump said in regards.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
As apparent friendly exchange between himself and former President Barack Obama.
Because you know, you saw them together, sitting next to
one another, yucking it up, smiling, you know, laughing, having
a good time, that kind of thing. And this is
what President Trump had to say about that quote. I
didn't realize how friendly it looked.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
End quote.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
And then while watching the video, he continued by saying, boy,
they looked like two people that like each other, and
we probably do.

Speaker 2 (48:33):
End quote. Now many have come.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
To criticize President Obama for his interactions with President Trump.
Charlamagne a God accused former President Obama of quote kissing
the ring end quote and pointed out that Obama once
called Trump a threat to democracy. And of course we
heard Don Lemon going off about it as well on
his his show over or as if I remember correctly,

(48:57):
here's look. Was it a good look for Barack Obama?

Speaker 3 (49:02):
No?

Speaker 1 (49:04):
On its face, no, civility is the order of the day.
These are two, you know, ones of former president ones
the president elect, and so there is a relationship to
some degree that you know, everybody should have.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
We get that. We understand that.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
Some would say Michelle Obama was more representative than anything
because you know, she she she wasn't sitting next to him,
wasn't there, you know, Uh, you look at it from
this perspective. Here's my thing. It wasn't a good look.
But it wasn't a good look because of Trump. It

(49:42):
wasn't a good look because of all the things that
were said about Trump during the campaign while you were
trying to convince tens of millions of people to vote
for Karla Harris, fascist, threat to democracy, you know, people
bringing up Nazising, all of this stuff when they talked

(50:04):
about Trump.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
So maybe if you hadn't said all of those things,
people wouldn't be going off like this.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
See to me, I look at it totally totally differently.
I look at it from this standpoint. Everything goes to politics.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
We understand that.

Speaker 1 (50:23):
But in the end, it just shows how we should
be very selfish in our thinking in terms of us
and what's in the best interest of the country, as
opposed to listening.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
To what the hell these politicians say, because we just
can't trust them. We just can't trust them.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
The likelihood is that Obama didn't mean half the things
that he alluded to or flat out set about Trump.
Maybe Hillary Clinton did, maybe Michelle Obama did, but Barack
Obama himself probably not. By the way, if we're being
honest about it, he got a little bit of comment.

Speaker 4 (51:02):
At least.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
When it comes to legal immigrants, Obama deported more sent
more back than Trump did.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
He just didn't advertise it.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
So when Trump talks about closing the borders and not
allowing over fourteen million legal immigrants into the country and
stuff like that, Obama just didn't advertise it. But he
damn sure did it. He made sure it didn't happen.
It was the antithesis of what Joe Bida did. Joe
Biden ordered to open the borders, didn't give any kind
of explanation whatsoever.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
Obama was considered the deporter in chief.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
That brother was not playing when it came to illegal
immigrants answering the country. He turned them back, and the
ones that were here, he deported a lot of them.
He wasn't mentioning, he wasn't messing around, he wasn't mincing words.
He wasn't playing games, So in that regard there are
some similarity. You gotta at least bring that up. I

(52:03):
don't think it's that big of a deal. I think
class and decorum is the order of the day, especially
at a funeral, let alone a funeral of one of
the former presidents of the United States.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
I don't think that that's a time for vitriol.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
I don't think that's the time for insults. That's a
that's a time for cantankerous or abrasive behavior or anything.
I don't think that that's not the place. It's not
the place. I think that's fair to say. And Obama
has always been considered class personified.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
So it's not that big of a deal.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
But Charlemagne of God is right when he says it
wasn't a good look. I don't know about the kissing
the ring part. I really don't. Because Obama did his
two terms. He's living his life, and when he's called
upon by the Democratic Party to be supportive of it
in a phasing him and all by the way, he'll

(53:02):
never be campaigning against Trump again because Trump is not
running for office after these next four years.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
This is it.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
I don't think it's that big of a deal. I
just think that in light of all that was said
about him leading up to the election, I go as
far as to say it wasn't a good look. But
that's all I'm gonna say. It ain't the end of
the world. It really really isn't. That's it for this
edition that the Stephen A. Smith Show. I holler at
y'all in a couple of days. Until next time, everybody,
peace of love.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
I'm out.
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Stephen A. Smith

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