Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness. Guess what I got
to tell y'all. Guess what I have to tell you.
America can't wait for Donald Trump to get in office
January twenty first. And guess who's saying that. It ain't me,
(00:20):
It's liberals in the state of California. I guess wildfire
as would do that to you. Huh. You see how
bad it is. I'm about to show you even more
next on The Stephen A. Smith Show. What's Up? Everybody?
(00:47):
Welcome to this latest edition of The Stephen A. Smith Show,
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(01:11):
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(01:32):
consider yourself the latest member of the Steven Nate Smithshow family.
And while you're doing that, make sure to pick up
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now in paperback. Just go to Straight Shooter book dot com.
Want to get that Straight Shooter book dot com To
get yourself a copy of my New York Times best
selling book. I got a lot of stuff to get
(01:53):
into it, but everything pales in comparison to what I'm
about to touch on. Okay, and we've got to get
started here. We've got to get started with the sad
news out of southern California and the wildfires that have
devastated the region. At least ten people are dead this week,
and more than ten thousand structures have been destroyed by
fires fueled by unprecedented wind blowing through several counties. Whole
(02:17):
neighborhoods have been devastated by the Coastal Palisades fire, and
official who say this could be the costliest fire in
US history. All this while tens of thousands of residents
have been forced to evacuate their homes and many have
already lost their houses altogether. Some high profile names who
have lost their homes include actor Billy Crystal Head coach
(02:38):
for the Los Angeles Lakers, coach JJ Reddick, star of
Young and the Wrestless soap opera player Victor Newman, the
One and Only Eric Braden, who I spoke to yesterday
as well. Meanwhile, firefighting teams are expecting more wind and
dry conditions to continue to complicate efforts into next week.
Police have detained a suspect allegedly responsible for starting one
(03:00):
of the fires raging in Los Angeles, a homeless man
in his thirties. But the biggest concern coming out of
the fires are the questions around the city's fire budget.
Records show the fire budget for this fiscal year was
cut by more than seventeen and a half million dollars.
Los Angeles Mey and Caaron Bass signed a budget seven
months ago that went from eight hundred and thirty seven
(03:21):
million dollars to eight hundred and nineteen million dollars. However,
the city council in November approved a four year, two
hundred and three million dollar contract with the firefighters Union
to helped boost wages and health benefits for staff drawing
from the budget general fund. Mayor Bass was away in
Ghana when the fire started. Take a look at this
video from earlier this week when she was confronted by
(03:42):
a reporter coming off a plane as she returned.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Do you owe citizens and apology for being absent while
their homes were burning? Do you regret coming the fire
department budget by millions of dollars? Mount of Mayor? Have
you nothing to say today? That you absolutely nothing to
say to the citizens today? Halon Mosk says that you're
(04:05):
utterly incompetent. Are you considering your position, Madam Mayor? Have
you absolutely nothing to say to the citizens today? You're
dealing with this disaster? No apology for them? Do you
(04:27):
think you should have been visiting Ghana while this was unfolding?
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Back home? That is beyond bad, That is utterly pathetic.
You couldn't say not at this time. I'll have answers
for you later. I just got back in. Once I
huddle with my staff, once I huddle with my cabinet,
we will be back and we will speak to the
citizens of Los Angeles in the state of California. Can
(04:52):
do that? Can do that? You see, this is the
kind of stuff that annoys the living hell out of me.
Let me be very very clear, Karen Bass is responsible
for the city of Los Angeles, not Los Angeles County.
She doesn't She doesn't have to answer for those folks, Okay,
And she's certainly not responsible for the wildfire that has
(05:13):
engulfed the surrounding areas of Pacific Palisades, Malibu, et cetera.
We get that part. That's a natural disaster. That's not
on her. What is on her is the apparent lack
of a plan, the incompetence, the dereliction of duty because
you knew two days in advance that the fires were coming,
(05:35):
although you didn't know how severe it would be, and
you decided to depart for Ghana. What the hell is
going on in Ghana that you had to be gone
when you knew that fires could engulf the city, if
not the state. Where were you? Why were you there?
What purpose did that serve to the citizens that you
(05:56):
were elected to govern over. So that's one thing when
it comes to her. The other thing is Governor Gavin Newsom,
it's a local issue. It's not really a state issue.
Did you really try to pass the buck to local
authorities instead of you? Did you try to do that?
It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. And just to get
into somewhat of a history lesson, did you know that
(06:21):
Donald Trump wanted to pump water from Canada into California
when he was the president of the United States from
twenty seventeen to twenty twenty one, and Gavin Newsom resisted?
Did you know that? Did you know that Donald Trump
had been speaking about the potential of such a disaster
taking place and was utterly ignored. I've got two quotes
(06:42):
I'd like to show you from Donald Trump right now.
Here's the first one. Take a look at this. The
governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has done the terrible job
of forest management. I told him from the first day
we met that he must clean his forest floors, regardless
of what his bosses the environmentalist demand of him. Must
also do burns and cut fire stoppers every year. Is
the fire's rage in California burns. It is the same thing,
(07:03):
and then he comes to the federal government for dollars
for help. No more, get your act together, governor. You
don't see close to the level of burn in other states.
That was Donald Trump President Donald Trump on x slash
Twitter in twenty nineteen. Fast forward nearly six years later.
Let's look at what Donald Trump had to say. Just
a couple of days ago, Governor Gavin Newsom refused to
(07:25):
sign a water restoration declaration put before him that would
have allowed millions of gallons of water from excess rain
and snow melt from the north to flow daily in
the 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
(07:47):
it less water. It didn't work, but didn't care about
the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid.
I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean,
fresh water to flow into California. He is the blame
for this. On top of it all, no water for
fire hydrants, not firefighting planes, a true disaster, So firefighting planes,
(08:09):
fire hydrants non existent, water and fire hydrants non existent.
We saw firefighters standing outside looking at homes burning, and
when they were asked why they weren't doing anything, they said,
we put the holes connected it to the fire hydrants.
We turned it on and no water came out. No
water was available. This in a state that's collected nearly
(08:29):
two hundred and twenty one billion in taxpayer revenue, the
highest of any state in the Union. You got nine
states in the United States of America, including New York,
who shelled down in excess of one billion dollars for
the migrant crisis. This is according to my leader. To
my research, yet, California led the country with expenses of
nearly thirty one billion dollars to take care of illegal
(08:50):
immigrants and their children, according to the Fair study. We're
talking about one hundred and fifty nine million allocated by
the federal government to the state of California through FEMA
funding for funding to provide humanitarian services to non citizen migrants.
You're talking about California being a sanctuary state since twenty seventeen.
You're talking about California recently providing four billion per year
(09:11):
in funding to extend taxpayer funded healthcare to an additional
seven hundred thousand undocumented immigrants. Scaling those courts up to
one point nine million estimated totally in California results in
rough total course of eleven billion dollars a year, the
state having cut the lad or shifted forty seven billion
to balance the budget in the year twenty twenty four alone.
(09:32):
California is talking about cutting services or raising taxes even
more so than the fourteen point four percent that they
put on you right now, and you're trying to tell
me you don't have any water. No water. My personal
(09:53):
belief is that the political career of Gavin Newsom is
in peril, not flat out over. His presidential aspirations have
been eviscerated. There is no way he overcomes this. No way.
And in regards to Karen Bass to say nothing, you
(10:18):
can come and speak out, but that video will live
in infamy. You had absolutely nothing to say, flying all
away from God about a fifteen hour flight to Los Angeles,
and you're telling me you couldn't answer reporter's question, no comment.
We'll talk later, or let me huddle with my staff
and we'll get back to You couldn't even think to
(10:38):
say that nobody on your staff prepared you for what
has been transpiring in California. Nobody gave you a warning
the head's up. You didn't have anything to say, Ladies
and gentlemen. I'll never say that California is gonna turn red.
But I guess if something was blue and transition into red,
(10:59):
I guess the colors or something like that. I don't know,
whatever the hell of color is, that's where it's gonna
get aim towards. That's just the way it's gonna be.
But that's enough for me. I want to get to
my man, Kevin Fraser right now. Okay, because this man
right here, Kevin Fraser, he'll be up next, works for
(11:20):
entertainment tonight, but he's covering the fires. He's a resident
of the city of Los Angeles. He knows what the
hell he's talking about. You see him daily hosting entertainment tonight.
He has details about what's transpiring and what's being said
and what's going on in the midst of these wildfires.
We'll be right back with him in a moment. All right, everybody,
(11:48):
please lend me your ears, because I've got an important
announcement to make. The NFL playoffs are here, college football
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Jackson more or less than two hundred and eighteen and
(12:55):
a half yards passing. It's Lamar Jackson as the Baltimore Raves,
and I don't like the way the Pittsburgh Steelers look.
I'm going with more, much to my depressive state. Next up,
Ravens running back Derek Henry more or less than ninety
nine and a half yards of the ground. I gotta
go with more on that te Why shouldn't. No, He's
Derek Henry mster nineteen hundred plus yard Russia this year.
(13:19):
The man's a man amongst boys. And I was there
a few weeks ago in Baltimore watching the ruad all
over the Steelers. Then why should I believe it's gonna
be anything different? Now? I got to go with more.
Next up, we've got Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson going more
or less than two hundred and a zero point five
yards passing. With this one, I'm still gonna pick more,
but Bailly, I don't expect the good game from Russell Wilson.
(13:42):
I don't know if George Pickens is invested. Who knows
what the hell's gonna happen. I'm praying I'm wrong because
I want my Steelers to win. I just don't see
it happening. It is what it is. But I'm gonna
say he's gonna throw for more than two hundred yards. Okay,
I'm gonna say that much, right, because I don't know
how well they're gonna be able to run the football
against against Baltswow, They're gonna have to throw it. Finally,
steal is receiving George Pickens more or less than fifty
(14:02):
one and a half yards. I'll go with more as well,
but only because it's fifty one and a half yards.
I mean, show a damn posset. Show up, George Pickens.
I mean, just Baul, do what you gotta do. You're
the primary weapon for Russell Wilson. He needs you, Bro,
he needs gotta show up and get it done. I'm
gonna go with more on this one as well. Prize pects,
I love to say more. I hate saying less because
(14:23):
when you say less, damn it, that don't vibe with
prize picks. Who wants to put more money in all
of our pockets. I'm going with more across the board.
Joining me now is a longtime LA resident and friend
of the program, one of my best friends in the world.
You see him daily as the host of Entertainment Tonight.
(14:44):
Please welcome back to the show, the one and only
Kevin Fraser. First of all, Kevin Fraser, how are you?
How are you and your family?
Speaker 3 (14:52):
We are safe and we are sound, but there are
so many families who are suffering.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Steven I just came.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Back from the fires and TV he does not really
show you the depths of the devastation. And this isn't
something that's going to be solved in a year or
three years. It looks like an atomic bomb went on
off in the Palisades area in Alta Dina. These places
(15:17):
are destroyed, and these are folks who will need help
for five seven years to come as they all try
to rebuild.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Crystallize for us the kind of damage that you've witnessed
with your own two eyes, and what people are saying
to you about the damage they've witnessed.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Sure, what you see is literally standing in a neighborhood
and you can see all the way across the neighborhood
because every house is gone. And when I say every
house is gone, the houses are ashes.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
They have burned to the ground. And imagine this, Steve.
We arrive there and.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
We are starting to shoot stand ups, and by the
time we're done stand ups, two more houses burned down.
The fires were active, they were never under control while
we were there, and so it is devastating to see that.
And then it's devastating to see people return to their home.
Like your good friend Eric Brayden. I can't put into
(16:16):
words watching him, watching the tears roll down his face
as he looked at his home of over thirty five
forty years. It was ashes and today and I know
you were going to his son's premiere if it had
happened here in La but it's not down because of
the fires.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
But he was pointing out the room where his son wrote.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Most of his new movie, and it's just tears just
flowed as he thought about all that had.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Been built to give a personal insight, you know, because
I don't think a lot of people realize how close
he and I are. We're very close to the point
that you saw that the house had burned down before
he was notified, and you called me to get in
touch with his son so his son can give him
the information. So he didn't just go in there blind
(17:08):
and all of a sudden see what he didn't think
he would see, which is the house being burnt down.
And he was devastated, to say the least. And his
son is flying back from London. And as it was
flying back from London last night, as we speak, go ahead,
keV golheada Steve.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
I was gonna say that he didn't. You know, Eric's
a tough old guy. He's been through everything, through World
War Two and the rebuilding of his homeland in Germany.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
He's been through cancer and so many other things.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
So I don't think he thought that it would hit
him like it did. And he said to me, he said,
now I understand. I understand what people are going through
when they come to their house and everything is gone
because he didn't take that much with him. He didn't
think the fires were gonna jump the canyon and come
to his house. So everything is gone.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
What are people in Los Angeles saying now? Are they
saying this is a natural disaster? Are they pointing the
finger as I am at the politicians throughout the state
of California, that's from Gavin Newsom on down to me
and Karen Bass and others, it is an absolute travesty
in the state, obviously in Los Angeles and the surrounding
(18:19):
areas Pacific Palisades, Malibu, etc. What are they saying about
their elected officials at this particular moment in time, and
be specific as to what they're saying and why they're
saying it.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Okay, Number one, people are scared.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
They're terrified because there has never been anything like this before.
And what happened the first day was basically a hurricane
of fire and no one can prepare for that. No
one can be ready for that. And you understand. But
in the days coming, as more fires popped up and
(18:56):
people began to question, how are these fires just popping
up and can't just be And as they've seen with
the fire out in Calabasas, they believe it was arson.
People are frustrated because the firefighters literally could not react
fast enough to save homes.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Literally.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
They they would come to one house, it's on fire,
they try to stop it, they can't.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
They've got to move on to the next house.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
And people are like, why weren't the city and even
the state more prepared for this? Now? Fingers were pointed
immediately at Karen Bass she was out of town. There
was that interview where she was coming home with a
Sky with a reporter from Sky News who was asking
her some very pointed questions. There is no way Karen
(19:47):
Bass could have done anything, and that's the video of
the interview. There's no way she could have done anything
about that hurricane that happened, those hundred miles an hour winds.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
There is nothing she could have done about.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
That could have spend. She could have she could have
had some answers.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
This is the one thing people now need help. They
don't know where they're going. They don't know where their
kids are going to school, they don't know where they're
going to live.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
There was already a housing shortage in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Where are these people going to go?
Speaker 3 (20:18):
The people in Altadena in the other fire, regular folks
who don't have that celebrity money.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Where they're going? Where are they going to go?
Speaker 3 (20:27):
They elected officials to help them take care of this situation.
And I think that the concern is that there hasn't
been a real direction laid of what is next?
Speaker 4 (20:40):
How can we help? I saw Gavin Newsom yesterday.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
I saw him.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
I ran ran into him and ran out and jumped
out of the car to talk to him, and he said,
I can't talk. I'm on the phone with the President,
and I understand that. But they have to fix this situation.
They have to take care of these people, the people
who had the faith to vote you in.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Now you must take care of your constitution.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Well, keV, here's my issue. You didn't elaborate extensively on
firefighters saying there was no water. How do you not
have enough water in the state of California. I'm wondering
about that. And before we go further, I want to play.
I want to show you this quote that was put
(21:26):
out by former President Donald Trump, soon to be president
again come January twenty first with his inauguration, But in
twenty nineteen, he put this quote on x slash Twitter quote,
the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has done the terrible
job of forest management. I told him from the first
day we met that he must clean his forest floors,
regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists demand of him.
(21:50):
Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers every year
as the fires rage in California burns. It is the
same thing. And then he comes to the federal government
for help, meaning dollars no more. Get your act together, Governor.
You don't see close to the level of burn in
other states. That was Donald Trump. That was in twenty nineteen. Kevin,
(22:14):
I want to play this quote for you right here.
I want to show you this quote rather because it's
incredibly important. I'm trying to find it here. I apologize.
I can't find it. I will in a second, but
I wanted to know your thoughts. You saw it there,
It is there, It is right there, yea, there is.
Governor Gaven Newsom refused to sign the water Restoration Declaration
put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons
(22:37):
of water from excess rain and snow melt from the
north to flow daily into many parts of California, including, okay,
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
(23:00):
didn't care about the people of California. Now the ultimate
price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent
governor allowed beautiful, clean, fresh water to flow into California.
He is the blame for this on top of it all,
no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster.
(23:22):
And the only comeback that Gavin Newsom had on Anderson
Cooper on CNN when Anderson Cooper a couple of days ago,
was there are things that I want to say, but
I can't. But it's a shame that he would politicize this.
That's all the comeback that Gavin Newsom had. Go ahead,
Kevin Floor is yours.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Steve, let me say this, okay, there are some points
that are valid about California being prepared for the fire
season or for fires each and every year. I will
say again, the fire that burned down Palisades was a
once in a lifetime anomaly of one hundred mile an
hour winds and fire pushing it through a neighborhood. Now
(24:01):
that being said, once it starts and once it happens,
you have to call in the cavalry. It was one
night basically where the entire Palisades burned down and they
were gone.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
But there has to.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Be a plan in place so that this doesn't happen again.
We know we're in an area where the Santa Ana
winds come through each and every year, and it was
so heartbreaking to see the fires just jumping from.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
House to house to house.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
And the next day, while the fires were still burning,
firefighters were there from all over the state. They did come,
and they came from all over the state. But it
was too late. It was too late. People's houses were gone.
The California economy is one of the biggest in the world.
Right if you put it up against other country, you
could put it up against other countries, it would be
(24:56):
ranked very highly. But the problem is is that the
little things are falling through the cracks, and this is
one of those things that fell through the cracks and
turned into armageddon. And now the rebuild and what California
is gonna lose is what really worries me.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Well, it should worry you. You got no money. I'm
looking at this right here, Kevin. Seventeen thousand acres have
been burned.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Okay, it's more than that, now, see it's twenty acres.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
It's more than.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Manhattan twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
In Manhattan twenty eight, imagine all of Manhattan burning.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
That's right. Number two. Officials ordered one hundred and thirty
thousand to evacuate. That number is probably larger now, okay,
large it's much larger than that. Now, more than four
hundred and twenty thousand people are estimated to be without power.
That's roughly the population of Minneapolis, and the largest city
in Minnesota. One estimate puts damage in economic losses at
(25:52):
anywhere from fifty two to fifty seven billion. But that
was yesterday. It could be more today. Sixty it's over
sixty billion.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
It's over sixty billion dollars, Steven, Let's not get this twisted.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
This is a shit show.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
It is an incredible nightmare of epic proportions. And Eric
Braden said it best when he said, this looks like
Germany after.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
World War two.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
And now you have to rebuild in areas where some
people don't even have insurance anymore, where their fire insurance
was taken away.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
And why was their fire insurance taken away? Why did
the why did the insurance company take their fire insurance away?
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Kevin, Listen, this is more of and let's understand something.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Whether it's it's it's the insurance industry as a whole.
The insurance industry as a whole has been taking advantage
of Americans for a long time, and they dropped people's
fire insurance and by dropping their fire insurance because they
were like, oh, you're in Pacific Palisades, You're never gonna burn,
and we're gonna drop your insurre karrance and people said, okay,
(27:01):
well we have to gamble. They gambled, and now look
at they're lost. These are multimillion dollar homes, and some
of these homes are legacy homes with families that have
kept them forever. And it's people's nest egg and how
they're going to live their life, and now it's gone.
So I say to Gavin Newsom, I say to Karen Bass,
(27:25):
you now have to step up and you have to
show leadership because I don't think and I voted for
Karen Bass. I was excited for her to be the
mayor of Los Angeles, and now I want to see
her be the leader that we expect her to be.
(27:47):
Being that leader means you are going to have to
take care of some people who are in dire straits.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
You are a California resident, a homeowner. I have a
place in California. I just rent it. I can get
rid of it is on a month to month basis,
to be specific. But let me throw this out at you.
My Brother. Fiscal year twenty twenty three, this is the
state of California collected the total of two hundred and
twenty point fifty nine billion dollars US dollars in tax revenue,
(28:14):
the highest of any state. You got nineteen different states
in America who shelled out in excess of one billion
dollars for the migrant crisis. California led the country with
expenses of nearly thirty one billion to take care of
illegal immigrants and their children, according to the Fair study.
So I'm looking at that, I'm looking at one hundred
(28:35):
and fifty nine million allocated to the state of California
by FEMA. I'm looking at the four billion a year
in funding California recently exceededs received to extend tax taxpayer
funded healthcare to an additional seven hundred thousand undocumented immigrants.
Then I'm thinking about Donald Trump coming into office as
the president elect and the things he remembers that Gavin
(28:59):
Newsom said up about him, the things he pointed out
about the state that Gavin Newsom wouldn't listen to, and
as a result, he's in this kind of quandary, this quagmire.
What do you think is going to happen to the
state of California based on those facts that I just
gave you.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Well, Stephen, if all of those if Donald Trump really
imposes his immigration initiatives, if he starts to round up people,
there's gonna be no one here to really help to
rebuild this city. Because understand that the Latino population.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
Because we are in Mexico, basically.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
The Latino population fuels this city. And don't get it twisted.
And so that's a problem now, the immigration status of
people and fixing the immigration laws, that is something that
needs to be worked on, but it needs to be
worked on in a collective way.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
California is screwed right now.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
You're right, there's an imbalance and that's up to the
governor and the mayor to fix it. One of the
things that people expected from Karen Bass is to fix
the homeless situation.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
It's a nightmare in la and.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
It believed and by the way, the homeless population is
according to statistics, is responsible for more than fifty percent
of the fires in California.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
And that is true, and that is true, and that
is why we expected the mayor to start to fix
that and the same problems that you're having in San
Francisco you're having in Los Angeles. There is no doubt
about it. But we expect them to fix them. That's
why they're elected. And I think that now they are
teetering on the edge of a recall. I would not
(30:47):
be surprised if there was not a recall for Karen Bass.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
There's already been a recall for Gavin Newsom. He survived, Yep,
he survived that. I think he's got a little more
a little less than two years left in office, of course,
approximately twenty two twenty one to twenty two months to
go for him. But you expect there to be a
recall for me and Karen Bass after this.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
I believe that there could be a recall.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
And I also think that you know, this damage is
Gavin Newsom's presidential aspirations. Wow, question they have. They have
a chance to fix this and I and I was
one of the people who believed that Gavin Newsom would
make a fantastic Democratic nominee for the presidency.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
I think that he is smart, he is a great orator.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
He is has compassion, He really does believe in his constituents,
and the way he governs is the way I would
want someone to govern. V.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
Now you've got to fix some things.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
You're my brother. You know I love you, and you
know we talk a lot. We disagree with me. I
think he's done after this. I think he's done. Kevin.
You cannot, you cannot look at it. This is a
natural disase, I get, but it was exacerbated by clear
incompetence or dereliction of duty, one of the two. When
(32:10):
you combine that with it being a homeless individual that
has been accused of stoking this fire, when you.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Consider starting the firing, starting the firing, calabasas, when you.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Consider the fact that it's a homeless issue that has
now come to the forefront along with a migrant issue
to some degree, because you're talking about money and funds
and what's lacking and how that compromised what the firefighters
could do. I don't know how you get over this, Calv.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
I don't Okay, Well, hold on, Stein, hold on, hold on.
I think there's a couple of things to clarify. Number
one is that La City is one thing. La County
is another thing. La County is where a lot of
these fires have happened, not in La City, but La County,
and so that is outside of Mayor Karen Bassas jurisdiction.
(33:01):
She is La City, so we give her that and
we give her a grace there. Also, we have to
stand that the main fire that burned everything down was
a once in a lifetime anomaly. That being said, and
also I think we need to point out that the
budget that was cut for the fire department was administrative jobs,
(33:22):
but money was also moved around. They did not lose
they did not lose any firefighters. All that being said,
the system is archaic. There wasn't enough water, and there
weren't enough firefighters on the ground, and at one point
it was too dangerous for those firefighters to be there
when everything really really burned down.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
The winds were just too chaotic.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Planes could not get up in the air, and that's
why you saw it spread so quickly.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
But my big.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Problem is when you are the mayor, come back with
a plan. Come back and reassure me, because you know what,
you're the parent. Be the parent, be the adult in
the room, and show me that you have a plan
and that we, your constituents, will be cared for.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
That's what I want to hear. I haven't heard that yet.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
I've heard a bunch of talk, but I haven't heard
a plan, and I haven't heard saying that we're going.
You know, in Hawaii they opened up some of the
resorts for the people that were affected by the fires
there so that they had somewhere to go immediately, because
people were suffering, they needed a place to go. Where
are you sending the people into la You can't just
(34:34):
send them to a random gym and let me You
can't send them.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
To a random and let me stop you there, Let
me stop you there, Kevin. Last question, yep, you have
poor people. We know that. As unfortunate as it is
for those who are affluent that have suffered losing their
homes and the fires, we know they have the means
to cover themselves. Some some we know they have the
(34:57):
means to cover themselves. Poor people do not. Their homes
have been burned, they've been displaced, and in a city
like Los Angeles, in a state like California, this hemorrhaging money.
They don't have much and somehow, some way, all of
this is true when you've collected over nearly two hundred
(35:17):
and twenty one billion in tax revenue, the highest of
any state in this country. keV I don't even know
what to say anymore about these elected officials in California
to meet the first order of businesses? How you gonna
find someplace? You just talked about the home shortage, all
right in California. Where the hell you're gonna take these
(35:39):
people were gonna do?
Speaker 4 (35:41):
But see, that's what I'm talking about. That's leadership.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
That's when you are going to whether it's hotels and
Airbnb right now is giving people free albums stays. But
there are kids who are going to be out of school,
they've lost everything, they don't have a place to go.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
Where are you sending all these people? Where are they
going to stay?
Speaker 3 (35:59):
And that's why I'm what happened in a while in
Lahina they literally took some of the resorts and said.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
We're moving people into these resorts.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Got it?
Speaker 3 (36:07):
And whether it's you start building, you know, whether you
put people.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
In mobile homes or whatever. You need to figure this
out and I need to hear a plan from leadership.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Also, I just want to mention this because I think
it's important to say, listen, in California, you pay.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
A lot of taxes.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Hell yes, and you know what the people in Palisades,
they paid a lot of damn taxes. That's going to
be very interesting to see how this plays out, because
those people who have been paying that boatload of taxes
millions of dollars into the system are now the neediest
in the state.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
And by the way, they're the ones that put Gavin
Newsom and people like Karen Bass in office.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
That is a power source for the Democratic Party that
Palisades area where you so not their money.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
So now you realize you have Democrats who helped put
them in office screaming about their level of incompetence and
neglect and clamoring for Donald Trump to be back in office.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
You realize that, right I don't know if they're clamoring
for Donald Trump to be back in offic right now,
clamoring for help right now? No no, no, no, no, no, no,
no no no, because listen, Steve, Steve, Donald Trump is
gonna go and round up folks once he starts this
immigration suite. Who the hell's gonna build the houses, who's
gonna build the houses, who's gonna help with the construction
the people who are here that do the the mountain
(37:36):
share of the labor in this city.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Are you ready for this or Latino.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Do you want my Latino? Do you want my answer?
Speaker 4 (37:41):
Sure? I want to hear your answer.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
He's going back up off for all of that because
it's gonna make him look good that he utilized them
to come to the rescue for the second largest state
in the Union and hopes that it'll turn it red
from blue. He's gonna put and if he pulls that off,
the citizens of California gonna remember that. They're gonna look
at the Democratic leadership and say, we've given y'all enough
(38:03):
money and enough time. That's what I think is going
to happen. I'm not with what. I don't care about it,
but it is politics right now. It is politics right now.
That's why you clamoring for leadership. You ain't clamoring for
leadership from the five chief You ain't clamoring for it
for the head of the water Department. You ain't clamoring
for it for anybody else. You're looking at the politicians
and you're saying we need leadership from them. You a
(38:24):
California resident, Ain't that what you're looking for? Yes?
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Yet, listen, she got my vote, and she damn sure
has my money. I live in the city. She has
my money, Gavin has my money, so I feel like
I have a right to call them out and say,
what the hell are you gonna do?
Speaker 4 (38:41):
And I need a plan.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
And that's why it bothered me yesterday when I got
out of my car and I said, hey, mister governor,
can we talk to you for a second, And he
said he could do on the phone with the president.
I'm on the phone with the president. But that's a
line he seemed to have told somebody else.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
And they were lying when they asked. They said, I
want to hear the call I want The woman said,
I want to hear a call. I want to hit
a call. And he says, I'm trying to get him
on a fall right now. Well, you said you had
him on the phone, and then he said, I'm trying
to get him on the phone.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
Stephen, I will wrap this up, say go ahead. Nothing
will make me happier then Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass
pulling it together and taking care of these people and
riding the ship in Los Angeles and.
Speaker 4 (39:24):
In the state of California. But if not, if not,
then they gotta go.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
They gotta go, you know what, they gotta go. I
don't give a damn if they do. They after what
I've seen last we day, they gotta go. I'm done.
I'm done, Kevin. I'm done.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Sometimes there are Steve, Sometimes there are natural disasters.
Speaker 4 (39:44):
You can't do a damn thing about.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
When a hurricane hits your house down in South in Florida,
what can you do?
Speaker 4 (39:51):
Are you yelling at the politicians.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
I'm not out there and stop the win, keV.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
I'm not going off about the fires. The fires is
not their fault. But when firefighters are standing there and
saying there's not enough water in the fire, that's true.
When when Donald Trump asked for water to be pumped
from Canada into the LA system and Gavin Newsom opposed that,
When you're hearing about environmentalists compelling him to protect smelt
(40:16):
and little fish and salmon at the expense of LA citizens,
of California citizens, Kevin, I don't need much else than that.
I just don't. Maybe you're nicer than me, Maybe I'm
too cruel. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
If you walk down any street in the Pali stage
right now, you'd see that it is.
Speaker 4 (40:38):
I understand being sick of it. If that was my house.
I'd be sleeping at theirs.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Well, Eric's house is gone. That's my buddy. I'll be
there to see him this week. My heart's broken for.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
He will love to see him. He will love to
see you because his heart is broken right now.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
keV, Love you, bro, Appreciate you, my man. Be safe,
say because I know you have been reporting on this
stuff in healing all that here. Hey, I hope you
wearing a mask and covering yourself with some degree. Okay,
don't get sick on.
Speaker 4 (41:05):
Me, Steve. I'm taking care of myself.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Love you. I disagree with Kevin on some of that,
but all of his points are very, very valid, and
I can't dismiss that. Before I go to commercial, I
want to stay in politics because that's what I considered
the wildfire situation to have regressed to politics. I want
to stay right here in politics where Donald Trump once
again made history. Today, the President elect was sentenced to
(41:28):
a quote unconditional discharge end quote in a New York
Hushmany case. This makes him the first president to have
been sentenced for a criminal conviction once he's sworn into
office on January twentieth. The unconditional discharge allows Trump's conviction
on thirty four counts of falsifying business records to stand
with no further penalties such as jail time. The sentencing
(41:49):
was allowed to proceed after the Supreme Court decided five
to four yesterday to reject his requests to drop the proceeding.
The President elect said he thought it was a quote
fair decision and refer to possible further appeals of the verdict.
Trump did issue a quote, and he was basically calling
it a witch hunt. Do we have that quote here?
Here it is. This is the quote from the President
(42:12):
elect of the United States, due to be sworn in
on January twentieth, two thousand and twenty five. This is
the quote from the president himself. The radical Democrats have
lost another pathetic, Unamerican witch hunt. There was never he said,
which there is no case. There was never a case,
(42:33):
and this whole scam needs to be dismissed. The real jury.
The American people have spoken by re electing me with
an overwhelming mandate. Today's event was a despicable charade, and
now that it is over, we will appeal this hoax,
which has no merit, and restore the trust of Americans
and our once great system of justice. The idiocy of
(43:00):
the left never ceases to amaze me. He's not going
to jail, you're not finding him. But you wanted to
make a point of giving a sentence so his conviction
would be on the record. Refusing evidently to recognize the
(43:22):
fact that that's probably what God him elected. You engaged
in law fare. You use the system to politicize it
for your own means in going after him. We know
this because of what you just did. The American people
voted for him. He is going to be the president
(43:42):
of the United States, and a judge who Trump has
clapped back at in the past, along with his daughter,
who worked for democratic causes, decides that it's in the
best interest of the American public to ensure and to
the world, remind you to ensure that his conviction of
(44:02):
as a felon, his conviction as a felon, remains on
the books. So it's important to you as the judge,
and it's important to folks on the left that the
world knows our president is a convict, and you think
that serves us as American people. Now, you have a
(44:26):
point if he had lost the election, you'd have a
point if it had kept him from running for reelection,
but when both of those things had failed in very
very flagrant fashion, knowing that in less than three weeks,
this man, I'm sorry, in less than two weeks, this
(44:48):
man is about to be sworn in as the forty
seventh president of the United States, and you're preoccupied with
making sure he goes in as a convictor Fela. It
just shows that he was right all along when he
accused you of politicizing it because you can beat him
in a fair election. That's all you did. You diminished
(45:10):
your argument as liberals against him by prioritizing all of
this pomp and circumstance, which absolutely at this moment in
time means nothing. Not only is he going to be
sworn in as the president of the United States, did
y'all know that Trump, even as a convicted Fela, is
still allowed to vote. Other fellas who can't vote. It
(45:30):
depends on the state, and it depends on their specific crimes.
But he is still allowed to vote, according to my research,
which I believe is on point. So he can still vote,
he can still be the president, he can still pardon
folks or grant clemency, he can still do all of
these things come January twentieth, and you, as a judge voter,
(45:54):
was important that everybody knows he's a convicted felon and
it's a matter of recking.
Speaker 4 (46:04):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
You just made his case for him, and you know
what you did in the process, in all likelihoods, you
assured that the Republicans win the midterms and you're probably
going to elect JD. Vance as your next President of
the United States in twenty twenty eight. All they gonna
do is lean on this to show how far you
were willing to go to take him down. Your idiots,
(46:29):
not all not talking about democrats. I'm talking about the
people who believe in that system, you idiots. You just
gave the Republicans four more years. Dummies. Everyone right now
needs to stop what they're doing and listen up and
(46:50):
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Prospects run your game. Welcome back to the stephen A.
Smith Show right here over the digital airways or YouTube,
and of course I heard radio. I sound exhausted already,
(48:16):
don't I don't. I that's because of what I know
I'm about to deal with. He makes uh. He's made
weekly appearances over the last few weeks. Y'all enjoy him.
I don't know why, but I'm sure he has reasons
to to why you do. Nephewtism is what he calls
this as in my nephew, Josh, welcome to the show again.
(48:38):
What's up?
Speaker 5 (48:39):
Could you have some energy in your voice when you
when you the same way you you bringing out other people?
Put some energy in your voice when you introduce it
and I.
Speaker 1 (48:46):
Get it better. Could you at least have the decency
to sit up in the chair? Could you do that
instead of I.
Speaker 5 (48:51):
Feel like, you know, I feel like I'm in the
wrong chair once again.
Speaker 1 (48:53):
We'll sit your ass right there. Then you ain't getting
up in no damp chair. Josh Smith, look at it?
Do you see that card? Do you see the card?
I ca ready that. Do you see that the Josh Smith?
Because on the back of the car it's supposed to
say Steven Ate Smith. He shut out Steve and put Josh.
You see what I'm trying to say? You see what
I gotta deal with that's very rude. You know, that's
very rude.
Speaker 5 (49:12):
So I'm not sure if it reflected yet. But a
couple of nights ago the next one, and I was
I was in the spot called Moods in Long Island,
and I popped a bottle with the company.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
Card, a bottle, a bottle of what it better be
a bottle of water. Don Julie, I'm thirty six. How
much did that cause?
Speaker 5 (49:33):
I don't even check what's I'm using the card.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
It's just you know, I was a big tip, too
big tip. Pose. Let's go with the tweets before we
get on out of here. Show me the tweet, please.
First tweet is up uh at what is that?
Speaker 3 (49:47):
At?
Speaker 1 (49:48):
Time? Captails right, Steven A. Smith? Who are your top
three US presidents of all time? Well, damn it, I
don't know. I mean, hell, okay, I just don't know.
I will tell you this though, two of them. Listen
Barack Obama because he's a brother and he was classed
personified and that's how I feel about him. And regardless
(50:09):
of what the Republicans want to complain about, universal healthcare
is universal health care that I didn't get. Heal care
for everybody, but millions of Americans didn't have health care.
He helped pull that off, and I appreciate that. Plus
he gave Donald Trump a decent economy, so we got
to remember that Donald Trump didn't inherit a bad economy.
So I look at those two things. Number one. Number two,
I'm gonna think about Bill Clinton, but for reasons that
you may not like. In nineteen ninety four, when the
(50:30):
Republicans took over the House led by Newt Gingrich, fiscal
or responsibility ended up in Clinton departing with a surplus.
We hadn't seen that from too many presidents in history.
So I got to give credit where credit is due
in regard to that. Although Clinton did have a lot
to do with the Crime Bill and incarcerating a whole
bunch of black men. So I take that back, okay,
with Hillary Clinton, which came back to haunting. When Hillary
(50:53):
Clinton was running for office, I would tell you Ronald Reagan,
all right, because I like the way Reagan governed, to
be honest with you, So gonna go with Barack Obama.
I'm gonna go with Ronald Reagan. And the I really
really don't know, I really don't know it ain't gonna
be Trump. It damn sure, ain't gonna be Biden, can't
(51:15):
do Joe J. W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln. I mean, you
know then he then he eradicated slavery or contributed to
the eradication of slavery. I gotta do my research on that.
I don't know, but I'm inclined to go that route.
Those are my three. I won't even ask you because
you too damnit the rent my three?
Speaker 5 (51:36):
What my three would be Barack Obama one because this
is all about relatability. Barack Obama.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
We know why.
Speaker 5 (51:45):
Bill Clinton, me and him could relate for different reasons.
Speaker 1 (51:49):
And Leon Rose, oh my god, Leon Rose for the
nixt We're talking about the United States presidents.
Speaker 5 (51:58):
No president that's in the United States. And Leon Rose
is doing a great job. We're going to the finals
this year.
Speaker 1 (52:04):
Baby. Next tweet please at Nick Grantham for l right.
Steve niy Smith, would you rather be in Dallas when
it's noose or New York when there is a one
hundred degree heat wave? New York because i can deal
with the heat wave of New York and I'm familiar
with the surroundings. I don't think stecks Texas can handle
a blizzard, snow and all that suf I don't think
(52:26):
you can handle that. That's my answer to of course,
what Jordan, so what that's easy?
Speaker 5 (52:29):
Would you rather see them in turtlenecks a bikinis.
Speaker 1 (52:35):
Get the hell out of here. Last tweet give it
to me at underscore KMD right, Stephen ack Smith. You
take a dump, You take a dump, then shower, and
your bathroom stinks while showering or shower, then dump to
avoid the smell. I take a dump, and then I
take a shower. I don't give a damn howard smells.
(52:56):
At the end of the day. When I get in
the shower and I'm wi and I'm I shouldn't off
my filth and all of that stuff, the smell ain't
gonna stay with me once I depart from the bathroom.
So I took a shower, I bathed in the whole bit,
and then after that I get the hell up out
of there. I'm not gonna take a shower and then
stink up myself by taking the dump. It's the dump,
then the shower, not the shower, then the dump. You're
(53:18):
sorry as probably takes a shower and then dump and
walks around stinking the rest of the day.
Speaker 5 (53:23):
Well, well, I know I don't want to smell stephen
A after neither with all the ozempic invitamins, he be
popping right, So I'm.
Speaker 1 (53:35):
Taking ose epic down. You're I'm taking those epic. That's
what rich people take. That's what you are absolutely right though.
Rich people do take that. Who don't go to the gym.
People who do go to the gym don't need Olympic.
They work it off. You wouldn't know anything about that
because work and you are oxymorns and me they don't
go together. Me and don't go together. I know, does
(53:58):
it for me? Baby? That's it for my my my
episode of nephew tism. You see what I got to
deal with that to my nephew Josh, To Kevin Frazier
and the grew. Thank y'all so much for joining. I
hope you all enjoyed the show. Have a wonderful weekend.
I'll be back after the playoff week and take it easy.
Piece of love.