Full Show: Stephen A gives an update on the Trump vs Musk blow-up. Recaps NBA Playoffs and drills down on the Diddy Trial.

Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
President Donald Trump, Elon Musk Diddy in the NBA Finals.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Lord, do I got a show for.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You today, The Stephen A. Smith Shows in the House.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Let's go. What's up, everybody?

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Welcome to the latest edition of The Steven A. Smith Show,
coming at you as I love to do it the
very least three times a week over the digital airways
of YouTube and of course iHeartRadio. As always, I like
to pause and take a moment to thank and pay
gratitude to my followers, my listeners, my subscribers. Courtesy of iHeartRadio,
we've had millions of downloads over the last few months.
Obviously in the case of YouTube. In terms of our

(00:45):
subscriber base, we've eclipsed one point twenty three million. Can't
thank y'all for the love and support enough. Keep it coming,
and I'm gonna keep on coming. To continue to like
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New York Times best selling book, Straight Shooter, a memoir

(01:07):
of second chances and first takes now in paperback. Just
go to straight Shooter Book dot com to get yourself
a copy. Once get in that straight Shooter Book dot
com to get yourself a copy. If you notice a
lot of times when I'm talking, you'll see something over
my right shoulder and it says straight Shooter Media. That
is the name of my media company, my production company.
Obviously I got it from the title of my book,

(01:30):
so you see the correlation. Anyway, I got a lot
of stuff to get into today, and we're gonna get
started real quick on this. It's getting started with the
feud between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the most powerful.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Man in the world versus the richest man in the world.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
It was a war of words over the airwaves and
social media, stemming from musk criticism of Trump's signature tax
and immigration Bill.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Musk had been criticizing.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
The bill and Trump earlier in the week, and things
really took a turn for the worst yesterday. Listen, here's
a timeline of the exchange that started with this post
on x from Musk quote, I'm sorry, but I just
can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, port filled congressional
spending bill is a disgusting abomination.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Shame on those who voted for it. You know you
did wrong. You know it. End quote.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
The President was asked about this and other comments from Musk,
and here's what he had to say.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Take a listen.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Elon and I had a great relationship.

Speaker 4 (02:32):
I don't know if well anymore. I was surprised because
you were here. Everybody in this room practically was here,
as we had a wonderful sender. If he said wonderful
things about me, you couldn't have nicer said the best nakes.
He's warned the hat Trump was right about everything, and
I am right about the great, big, beautiful bill.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Those comments from the Oval Office didn't sit well with Musk,
who posted this shortly thereafter quote Without me, Trump would
have lost the election, Dams would control the House, and
the Republicans would be fifty one to forty.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
Nine in the Senate end quote.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
That was followed by this additional post from Musk, who
kept on going such ingratitude end quote.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Musk said Trump went to his own.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Social media via truth Social and posted this quote.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Elon was wearing thin. I asked him to leave.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
I took away his ev mandate that forced everyone to
buy electric cars that nobody else wanted, that he knew
for months I was going to do, and he just
went crazy.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
End quote.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Trump continued with this post in regard to the Tesla
CEO and his company, quote, The easiest way to save
money in our.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Budget, billions and billions.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Of dollars, is to terminate Elon's governmental subsidies and contracts.
I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
End quote.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Needless to say, that didn't sit well Musk, who dropped
this post on X quote Time to drop the really
big bomb. Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That
is the real reason they have not been made public.
Have a nice day, djt end quote. Lord, have mercy,

(04:18):
ladies and gentlemen. This is a mess. This is an
absolute mess. There's no way to get around the mess
that exists. And I'm not gonna get into the specifics.
I thought it was pretty low for Musk to mention
Donald Trump in the same breath as the Epstein files.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
You need to have.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
Proof, concrete proof, if you're gonna say something like that. Okay,
And as far as I'm concerned, if you're Donald Trump,
since you always have a pension to sue. I would
anticipate that you'll be filing a lawsuit for defamation against
Elon Musk if indeed you so chose to do so.
Elon Musk is worth a reported over four hundred and
fifty billion dollars. I don't think he's gonna have the

(04:57):
money is an issue for him at all, But you
just never know.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
With something like this.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
It's gotten ugly, and I think there's certain things beyond repair.
Watching various news networks and stuff like that Fox News,
CNN and stuff like that. You know, Trump was once
called the Nazi by Vice President jd. Vance If y'all
remember correctly, Lord knows you know he repaired the relationships
with Marco Rubio, who's now his Secretary of State, and
centat the Ted Cruz and the way he talked about

(05:24):
Ted Crews and his wife when they were campaigning against
one another back in twenty and sixteen or twenty fifteen.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
In twenty and sixteen, so you can't look.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
At this and say there's no way that this relationship
could be repaired when it's the richest man in the
world dealing with the President of the United States and
somebody finds common ground because their interests appear to be
common Who knows what amends they can make, But right
now it looks really, really ugly. Here's the part that
I want people to peel from this coming from my mouth.

(05:54):
This is an opportunity for the Democrats. It's an opportunity
if you're Elon Musk, you're talking about creating a third party,
having that independent party, throwing your muscle behind that independent
party to help candidates get into office. It's not beyond
the pill that he'd be willing to do that for
the Democrats. First of all, he's speaking against Trump's big

(06:15):
beautiful bill. Secondly, he's voted for Democrats in the past,
a Hillary Clinton in twenty sixteen, of Joe Biden in
twenty twenty. There were candidates he was willing to support
for the midterm when it was supposed to be a
red wave, and it wasn't for the Republican Party in
twenty twenty two. So who's to say that even though
he supported Trump in twenty twenty four that he won't
now that he's turned against Trump, he won't elect to

(06:35):
support Democrats in their question when the midterms and to
regain some level of control in twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
This is an opportunity for Democrats.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
The ones that are willing to be centrists, because we
know the extreme progressive left turned Elon Musk off. It
was the thing that encouraged him to go out and
spend over two hundred million dollars of his own money
to sure or to help ensure that Trump would get
elected for a second time.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
So the left turned them off.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
So if you're the Democrats, are you gonna let the aocs,
the Bernie Sanders and that Ilk be the face of
your party? Whereby you're alienating somebody with the deep pockets
that Elon musk has, the man who's working for four
hundred and fifty billion dollars.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Are you gonna be smart? Are you gonna be smart
about it?

Speaker 1 (07:27):
And say, excuse me, since about eighty percent of the
population isn't on the fringes that all of us lean
towards the center, and this man has the pockets to
help Democratic candidates who are centrist regaine some level of power,
which you're gonna do Democratic Party.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
And if you're the Republicans, oh, by the way, you.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Got midterms to be concerned about as well. That's why
this Big Beautiful Bill supposedly is so important. If you're
listening to Speaker Mike Johnson, who I watched on CNBC
this morning, he was talking about how important the bill
is because those twenty seventeen tax breaks that Trump instituted.
They're speculating that if they can't pass the Big Beautiful
Bill and it doesn't get through the Senate and it

(08:06):
doesn't get written in the Lord, guess what, we're gonna
have a problem because those taxes, those tax.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
Breaks are gonna evaporate.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
And as a result, they're projecting, meaning the GOP the
We're gonna be an extra four trillion in debt, that's
what they're saying. And if that happens, who knows what
else is going to happen. Who knows if jobs are
not going to get lost, Who knows if the economy
is not gonna be strung, Who knows if a recession
is not gonna come into play. So with all of
those concerns, the Republicans feel they absolutely positively have to

(08:36):
get Trump's Big Beautiful Bill passed. But they're also thinking
about themselves in the midterms of twenty twenty six next
year and Musk was contributing to them as well, So
we've got quite a quanji here.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
We really really do.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
There is no way around it.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
But that's as far as I'm willing to go on it,
because I need better minds, more stute minds, people that do.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
This every day to touch on these issues, which.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
I'm about to get to right now, but not before
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Speaker 2 (09:49):
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Speaker 1 (09:51):
The Indiana Pacers took Game one of the NBA Finals
against the Yoklahoma City Thunder with a spectacular buzzer beater
by Tyrese Halliburn actually with zero point three seconds left
the right relation. Game two will take place on Sunday,
so I'll give you my picks for the game. First up,
Will Tyrese Halliburton scored more or less.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Than sixteen and a half points. I'm going with more.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
He wasn't formidable offensively until late in the game, obviously
in game one. I think it'll be more, a bit
more aggressive and a bit more accurate in game two.
I'm gonna go with more on that particular question. Will
shake Gil Just Alexander scored more or less than thirty
four and a half points brother had thirty eight game one.
Why would I think he had less in Game two?
Especially in a must win situation which the Oklahoma City
Thunder are in. I'm gonna go with more on this

(10:32):
one as well. Next Upill Miles Turner scored more or
less than thirteen and a half points.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
I'm going with more on this one as well.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
I think they're gonna be opportunities for Miles Turner to
score because I think they're gonna be keying a lot
on Nie Smith and them hard considering the way that
they played along with Halliburton. There will be opportunities for
Miles Turner to score. I'm gonna go with more on
this one too. And finally, will chet Holmgren scored more
or less than fourteen and a half points, I'm going
to go with less. But it really has nothing to

(10:58):
do with his virtual no show in game one. I
thought it was a mistake for Dagonal to the change
to start and line up in game one. I thought
that was a mistake. I thought that affected chet Holgren.
I think he'll be better in game two. But nevertheless,
I think somebody like Jaylen Williams has to get up.
So between Jaylen Williams and Shay Gil just Alexander, I
think they're gonna carry the brunt of their offense, and
I could see chet Holgreen scoring less in this particular equation.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
So answer that answer all of these questions here.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
They are more for Tyres Halliburton, more for Shay Gil
just Alexander. Okay, more for Miles Turner and less for
chet Holgren. I like that, you know, That's how I
do it with prospects.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
I love the word more.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
By the way, I'll have more to add a little
bit later on. We got a Sunday matchup coming up,
you know, Game two. It's not like I'm gonna be
oblivious to that.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Welcome back.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
I have two guests, a conservative and a liberal, to
break this all down. We'll start on the right with
the conservative. He hosts the Will Kine Show on Fire News.
I believe it is every weekday at four pm on
Fox News. He's used to work with me at ESPN.
He's a friend of mine. I love him to death.

(12:10):
I haven't seen him in a while. He's crazy. We
don't usually agree, but I got love for him, the
one and only Will Kane.

Speaker 5 (12:16):
What's man?

Speaker 2 (12:16):
How you doing?

Speaker 5 (12:17):
What do you mean?

Speaker 6 (12:19):
You believe it is at four pm Eastern time? You
dann will better know it's at four pm Eastern time.
I mean I've learned, I've learned from the best. If
you don't sing your praises, I don't know who wills.
So let me just say, if.

Speaker 5 (12:32):
You don't know. Well, you need to join the millions
to do.

Speaker 6 (12:34):
We're setting ratings records over here at four pm.

Speaker 5 (12:37):
We're rivaling in prime time.

Speaker 6 (12:38):
So tune in and join steven a right.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Well, listen, man, I've caught you.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Know, my schedule was busy, but I've caught your show
several times because it's you, and i'd love to tell you.
I'm surprised at the great job you're doing, but I'm not.
I love the fact that you got your own show.
I think that you're gonna eventually be in prime time.
I'm making that prediction personally speaking, I think you should
be in prime time already. I'm just gonna give you
that kind of love. But I'm proud of you, my man.
You're getting better. You're getting better. I have to give

(13:04):
it to you.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Well, let me get right to it.

Speaker 7 (13:06):
Man.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yesterday on your show, you broke down the timeline of
the heated feud between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, saying, quote,
this is not a story that we wanted today for America.
Is this good or bad for the Republican Party? And
your estimation will.

Speaker 6 (13:20):
Well, there's no doubt about it that it's bad. There's
no doubt about it. This is not just bad for
the Republican Party, stephen.

Speaker 5 (13:25):
A, this is bad for America.

Speaker 6 (13:27):
The only people left snickering today and enjoying the ride
of those that wish for the downfall of Donald Trump
or think that Elon Musk is the reincarnation of Adolph Hitler,
And of course both of those are absurd propositions. I
think we have seen something truly remarkable, and I've been
watching your commentary. I've been watching your I hope evolution
not towards the right, but towards being in the right

(13:48):
over the last several months. And the truth of the
matter is, when the world's richest man, in the world's
most powerful man can share the stage, and they did,
stephen A, in remarkable fashion and very generous and humble fashion.
When they can share the stage, that in it self
is remarkable for America. And I can only hope with
the end of this roller coaster it coasts in for

(14:10):
a beautiful ride. I hope that they can make amends
and get back on the same team.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Will educate my audience as to specifically why has it
come to this With their personal relationship, we can speculate,
we can read various news reports. But from your understanding,
what was the tipping point that pushed Elon Musk over
the edge to get to this point where he's been
so a cerbic and so abrasive towards the president, Because

(14:38):
I definitely would accuse him of being that towards the
president in this particular instance.

Speaker 6 (14:43):
Yeah, Elon Musk looks like he's crashing out, looks like
he's lost it, and he's unstable in this particular episode
the last twenty four hours. There's the substance and there's
the style. Let's start with the substance, stephen A. It
is the most boring, but it's also the most important.
Elon doesn't lie the big beautiful bill. Elon has taken

(15:03):
it upon himself over the last several months to dig
in to the government's finances, dig into every department with
of course doge. Look, Elon is a genius, stephen Ay.
I mean, he's a Thomas Edison level individual that will
go down in history as one of the most important
men to grace this planet.

Speaker 5 (15:21):
He simply is.

Speaker 6 (15:22):
But Elon is also someone quirky, used to getting things
done solely sometimes or at least through his singular vision.
And that's just not going to be possible in government.
It's certainly not going to be possible in democracy. Democracy
is messy and full of people of different opinions, and
some of those are even within what people think is

(15:46):
a monolith one party Republicans. But it's not a monolith.
It's a mix. So Elon comes in. He sees the
dire financial straits of the United States. He knows we
can't continue to run these kind of deficits over six percent,
seven percent of GDP year over a year. It's unsustainable,
thirty six trillion dollars in debt, and he wants to
do something about it, and he wishes he had the

(16:08):
reins to just get it done. But you don't. You
just don't in a democracy. And so he doesn't like
the big, beautiful bill. For his part, I do believe
that Donald Trump is getting the best possible bill that
he can get, and that is because it is messy,
as I keep saying democracy. Of course, democrats aren'ting to
participate in anything that reduces the size of government. But

(16:29):
even on the right, even among Republicans steven eight, you
got New York and New Jersey and California democrats it
probably will do something you want, which is institute salt,
state and local tax deductions to your federal taxes. Guys
like you that live in New York and New Jersey
or in California, you want that. You don't want to
pay the Feds for stuff you're having to pay the
State of New Jersey.

Speaker 5 (16:48):
I'm sure I lived up there with you.

Speaker 6 (16:50):
I'm sure I liked it, But now that I live
back home in Texas, I don't want to subsidize your bloated,
in fat and inefficient government in New York and New Jersey.
And that's what I'm doing. I'm it when you get
to write it off of your federal taxes. But Donald
Trump has to deal with it because there are Republicans
from New Jersey and New York and California.

Speaker 5 (17:08):
In the Senate.

Speaker 6 (17:09):
There's Republicans that like parts of the Green New Deal,
and it means something to a senator from North Dakota.
So the point is, Steven A. He's got to make
a deal. And that's what Donald Trump does. He makes deals.
And Elon Musk doesn't like the deal. So that's the substance, okay,
But real quickly, then there's the style okay, and that's

(17:29):
important as well.

Speaker 5 (17:31):
It's the personalities. And I don't know what's going on
with Elon. You know, I think he, like I said,
is is quirky.

Speaker 6 (17:37):
I don't know Elon. I think I don't even know
that we've shaken hands. We've been in the same room
once or twice. But you know, I think he has
a grand vision. I appreciate his vision. I think that
he is a different kind of dude, stephen A.

Speaker 5 (17:51):
I really do.

Speaker 6 (17:51):
And I think it speaks volumes to Donald Trump that
not only have they gotten along, but he's welcomed them
in and shared the stage and managed to be good
partners for America.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
But in the same breath where we can't sit here
and act like Donald Trump has done everything right. I
certainly understand that side with you from the standpoint that
you know, with his big, beautiful deal everything in there,
everybody is not going to like you have to acquiesce
to some of the demands. Like you said, He's about
making a deal whatever it takes to get a deal
done and get some of the things that he wants,

(18:20):
primarily preserving those twenty seven tax cuts and making sure
they extend to now and they don't get canceled out.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
The flip side to that, however, is that he brags about.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Having these individuals hiring the very very best, the greatest
innovative minds, people who have the country's interests best, and
stuff like that. And when we see this kind of
erratic behavior from an Elon Musk, and we see him
and the President of the United States go back and forth,
some people will say it's beneath Donald Trump. I happen
to believe what Donald Trump said hasn't been that bad

(18:49):
against Elon Musk. To me, has been coming from Elon
Musk in terms of the extreme statements that he has made,
which I won't repeat. My point is is that it's
still somebody that Donald Trump not only embraced, but empowered
Department of Government efficiency cuts, people lost their jobs, et cetera.
And folks, particularly on the left of looking at this

(19:09):
now and saying, see, it's exactly what we warned you
all about. Look at this mess that's going on within
the Trump administration, because no matter which way you slice it,
because it's Elon Musk, that is what he is perceived as,
because that is what he has been a part of
the Trump administration.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
What do you say to that?

Speaker 5 (19:26):
Wait, first, you won't say, but I will.

Speaker 6 (19:29):
And I see you're showing some of what Elon Musk
had to say on screen. But let's deal with the
most silatious and the biggest broadside attack. And that is
the reason the Epstein files weren't released is because Donald
Trump is in the Epstein files. Well, first of all,
it's not breaking news that Donald Trump knew Jeffrey Epstein.
It's nothing new or nothing silatious to say. There are
records that show he might have been at times flying

(19:51):
with Jeffrey Epstein, but there's no evidence there's anything more
than that relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. And if there were
Steven here, I would suggest to you, I would suggest
to you that the Department of Justice under Joe Biden
would have the FBI under James Comey would have aired
that stuff against Donald Trump. They did everything possible to
take down Donald Trump. And I say this with love.

(20:13):
Even you have been talking about the level of lawfare
against Trump. So do you think they would have kept
that ace of Spade in their pocket not and not
played that card had they had it against Donald Trump.

Speaker 5 (20:25):
It's simply unbelievable pause before.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
You go on.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
I want to make sure that I'm letting my audience know.
I think it's agreedous to just say something like that
without proof, So I'm glad you're touching on it, but
i want them to know. The reason I haven't done
it is because I'm not going to be unfair to
Donald Trump like that.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
That's why I didn't want to do that.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
That's why I just want to let the audience know that,
because I think it's irresponsible to just throw that out
there the way Elon must did.

Speaker 6 (20:46):
But go ahead, right well, I just think it's and
it's okay for us. It's okay for us discuss it
in terms of its lack of credibility. What more, it's
not the flex that Elon thinks it is that if
he knew that information, he was going to keep it
as well under his cap as long as he liked
the spending cuts. So now he doesn't like the spending cuts,
so he's willing to expose one of the greatest, salacious,

(21:07):
most indicting things you could say about somebody. I just
think it shows it has no credibility that particular broadside.

Speaker 5 (21:14):
Now to your point about.

Speaker 6 (21:15):
Everyone looks at Donald Trump saying he hires the best
and the brightest, and look at the method it's created. Well, look,
you know, it's a little bit like criticizing. It's I'm
trying to think of the right sports metaphor, stephen A.
It's a little bit like criticizing the New England Patriots run.
The incredible dynasty put together between Tom Brady and Bill Belichick,

(21:39):
and then for us all to think the bigger story
is the relationship between Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. So
what I mean by that is not necessarily that Elon
Musk and Donald Trump put together a historical dynasty, but
it is historical to bring these types of figures together.
So what I mean, Okay, you know this, if I'm miight,
steven A, you know something about big egos, not just

(22:00):
your own, but others. You've been around a lot of
big egos.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yours too, yours too, damit. You ain't getting away with that,
you too. Go ahead, Go ahead, man, go ahead, man.

Speaker 6 (22:11):
Our relationship, our relationship is a testament to the power
that sometimes big egos can coexist, get along and even
be friends.

Speaker 5 (22:18):
But don't don't get it twisted.

Speaker 6 (22:20):
That's rare how often are the world's richest man, in
the world's most powerful man partners in a shared vision.

Speaker 5 (22:26):
It is super rare.

Speaker 6 (22:28):
So you start from a historical point, you can't really
think the story is wow, it didn't last, or it's
a mess, it's incredible whatever existed in the first place.
Look at Donald Trump literally shared the Oval Office. Let
Elon Musk stand there for hours on end and come
and dear the cameras. I watched those and I thought, man,
Donald Trump is not the guy people think he is.
He is not the attention hound and the credibility seeker

(22:52):
that everybody thinks he is. He's perfectly willing to share
the stage. And I think that is historical. It's truly historical.
Now posit that. Okay, it's messy, it's transparent, everything's playing
out before our eyes, and it's not always gonna go. Well,
deposit that against what we've had, not just for the
last five years, stephen A. But I would offer you
through most presidential administrations, highly coordinated, highly produced, fake fake kumbaya,

(23:19):
everybody on the same page, everybody parroting the same spin.
And in the end, what do you get. You get
something like Karine Jean Pierre three months out of the
office of being the biggest spinster.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
Oh, don't get me started with her.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
I know, but oh, I can't wait to see her.
I can't wait to see her. Go ahead, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry.

Speaker 6 (23:38):
Goh, she wasn't willing to spend for Joe Biden. And
then three months later, you know what, I'm not a
Democrat anymore. That right there could suggest to everybody in
America maybe we could use a little more messy transparency
instead of manufactured and polished fake kumbaya.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
That's a damn good point. And don't get me started
with that. You're not even a Democrat anymore. And now
you're out of office, and you're out of the White House,
and now we go profit and oh, I can't wait
to see God, God bless her for telling her book.
But I can't wait to see her to ask about
that stuff, because stuff that she said in the White
House is one thing that was your employer.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
But then you went on a.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
View after you left the White House and you said
some of the safe stuff. You could have gave everybody
a heads up then and you didn't do it. So anyway,
we'll get back to that another time.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
You said, it's.

Speaker 3 (24:22):
Hard to see a path forward for these two.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
Donald Trump and Elon must to repair the relationship after
Musk slammed the president's proposed spending bill. Is I mean,
is this a few the party created or do you
just put it solely on Musk?

Speaker 2 (24:37):
What are your thoughts about that?

Speaker 6 (24:40):
Well, if the party helped create or few fuel this feud,
it's that Elon Musk doesn't like what happens when you
pour action into the MESSI democratic process of a bunch
of congressmen and senators and get the result that he
doesn't like. But the truth is, I think this is
more about personalities. Now, normal personalities would say you've crossed

(25:01):
the rubicon. This is irreparable. You accused me of being
in league with Jeffrey Epstein, and he also endorsed a
random user saying impeach Trump and install JD.

Speaker 5 (25:14):
Vance.

Speaker 6 (25:14):
He also did that, and for most people that would
be a bridge too far. We're not gonna fix this.
I don't think that's Donald Trump. I'm being real with Steven,
and now I do know this man. Somewhat where I
said I don't know Musk as well, I do know
Donald Trump, but you don't have to know him to
see this. He's actually forgiving, He actually moves beyond. He
doesn't hold grudges. Oh, he'll come hard at you if
you go at him. But given time and space and

(25:37):
the opportunity to heal, he's shown over and over that
he's willing to do so.

Speaker 5 (25:40):
I mean jd.

Speaker 6 (25:41):
Vance one time referred to him as Hitler and J.
D Vance he's the vice president of the United States.
You have said hard things about Donald Trump. I wouldn't
be surprised if you told me right now he's called you. Actually,
i'd be surprised if you said he's never called you.
I bet you've heard from Donald Trump, and you've said
hard things about Donald Trump.

Speaker 5 (25:58):
He looks as when he needs to.

Speaker 6 (26:01):
He's not as sensitive, or at least he doesn't hold
grudges like you would think. And so I wouldn't put
it beyond the realm of possibility that we could see
a beautiful, big reunion for Musk and Trump.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
I would tell you this, I've never you know, as
far as I'm showing, I've never said anything that I
owe Donald Trump an apology for I can tell you
that much because I never called him out his name
or anything like that.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
I just don't like the way he behaves, and I
think you don't have to.

Speaker 6 (26:22):
You know what the funny thing is, you don't have
to apologize. You don't have to apologize to be on
good term for Donald Trump. Look at Bill Maher. You
don't have to. It's just he's not. The media has
created such a caricature of Donald Trump. If you only
ever watched CNN or MSNBC or NBC or ABC or CBS,
you just have a cartoonish character vision of who the
man actually is, and you don't know reality.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
Will Kine hold on for a second. I gotta pay
some bills, but I'll be right back with you. It's
steven A. Smith with Will Kine right here on the
steven A Smith Show. Back with more in a minute.
All right, everybody, listen up lord. The big time sports
action that's happening each and every day.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
The Steven A.

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Speaker 1 (27:37):
Hey, hey, run your game back here with Will came
under Steven Nasmith Show, So will Let's get right to it.
How worried are you for the Republicans in the twenty
twenty six mid terms in light of Mosk, you know,
basically threaten to formulate a third party, basically threatening to
finance Democrats the way.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
That he did.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
Some Republicans, especially Trump twenty twenty six twenty twenty eight,
could be in trouble for the right based on all
this noise we've been seeing.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
You concerned about that. But you're concerned about.

Speaker 5 (28:09):
That, will I'm not. I'm not.

Speaker 6 (28:12):
Look, you can do two things at the same time.
You can give Elon Musk a ton of credit for
the role he played, the money he spent in electing
Donald Trump. But I personally think Donald Trump would have
trounced Kamala Harris without Elon Musk. And right now, and
I wouldn't put it beyond the realm of possibility that
Elon Musk does go out there, maybe he does give
money to third parties, maybe he even gives money to Democrats.

(28:34):
But you you could give all the money in the
world you could give how about that. I don't want
to give you any ammunition, so I'm not going to
use the Dallas Cowboys. But you could give all the
money in the world to I don't know, pick your
lowest level franchise, and it doesn't gonna make that. It's
not gonna make them an overnight champion. And right now,
the problem with the Democratic Party is there's nobody put

(28:54):
money behind. There's just simply no talent on the bench.
There's not any in triple A, there's not any in
double A, and there's certainly not any of the majors.
You show me where the biggest level talent is, I
might be talking to him. I might be talking to
the biggest talent on the bench for Democrats.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
Did you go with just that? Did you go with
just stuff?

Speaker 1 (29:11):
I will tell you this, though, I agree with you
as as it pertains to a national figure. But when
you're talking about some of these congressional districts, when you're
talking about some of these districts that the senators are
fighting for as well, I think he has an opportunity
to make in roads.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
I think.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
I don't know if you can definitively say that the
GOP has a strong hold on the House and the Senate.
In that regard, as you sift through this country, he
might be able to make some in roads there.

Speaker 6 (29:36):
Yeah, that's fair. It's a slim margin. It's a slim
margin in both the House and the Senate. And let's
not get it mixed up the charm and charisma and
pull of Donald Trump. Not every politician can even come
close to scratching the surface of doesn't matter if they
have an R by their name.

Speaker 5 (29:53):
But it's not just the people. Politics is two things.

Speaker 6 (29:56):
And you know, one thing I appreciate about and people.
I don't want people to think I'm gratuitously, you know,
buttering you up, because I have on my program at
times criticized you. And whether or not you're aware, I'm
sure you're a big boy enough.

Speaker 5 (30:08):
To not care.

Speaker 6 (30:10):
And politics is two things, and one of them you
still have to work on. If any of this stuff
about you is real, then there's still and you admit
this holes in your game.

Speaker 5 (30:20):
It's a combination of two things.

Speaker 6 (30:23):
It's personality, charm, persuasion, and the ability to connect with people.

Speaker 5 (30:27):
And you have that.

Speaker 6 (30:28):
You've got that, okay, and Donald Trump has that, But
you also have to have policy. You have to have
things people care about. And right now, the Democratic Party
has no policy, stephen A. That even an Elon Musk
funded run presents to me a real threat. Now that
doesn't mean he couldn't pick off a House seat or two,
or maybe a Senate seat or two, and it is

(30:48):
a slim margin. But the biggest issue for the Democrat
Party right now isn't money, and it is in part personality,
But the biggest problem is the policies and ideas. They're
simply not just bad, stephen A, they're really, really unpopular.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
Let me say this to you on a personal note.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
There's been a plenty of times where people have come
up to me and they say, did you see Will
Kine he's criticized you.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
I said no, and I don't give a damn it.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
Here's the reason why, because I'm quite sure is Will
Kane disagreeing with something that I said. He's not attacking
me on my character. That's the relationship we have. I
don't care if he disagrees with me, and that's all.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
I've always been that.

Speaker 6 (31:23):
Way and now and you're the same way. This is
one of the reasons we've gotten along. I would not
say something into a microphone or behind your back that
I would never say to your face. And that is like,
our relationship is not predicated on liking everything each other
have to say. The relationship is predicated on the integrity
of telling one another where and where we do not

(31:43):
agree or disagree.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
That's right and where we stand, and that's why we
got love for one another. Let me ask you this question.
What you've heard that Steve Bannon, you know, obviously a
Trump loyalist, somebody that used to work in the White
House no longer does so, But He basically called for
Elon Musk.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
To be deported.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
He said, quote, they should initiate a formal investigation of
his immigration status because I am of the strong belief
that he is an illegal alien and he should be
deported from the country immediately. Now, see, well, this is
one of the problems, right This is one of the
problems right here, because I had somebody look it up
and I was informed. Elon Musk is a naturalized US citizen.

(32:24):
He became a citizen in two thousand and two after
moving from South Africa to Canada in nineteen eighty nine
and then to the United States in the early nineteen nineties.
His journey included various visas, culminating in US citizenship through
the legal naturalization process. As a US citizen, Musk is
protected under the Constitution and cannot be deported without due process.

(32:47):
Deportation of a naturalized citizen is extremely rare.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
If I know that, damnit, Steve Bannon knows that.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
What do you think when you hear somebody like Steve
Bannon say those words.

Speaker 6 (33:00):
Well, first of all, that that's a question, and I
don't know if you too have talked. I think that
you have, and that's happens.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Yes, I interviewed them.

Speaker 6 (33:09):
I thought that was right. Yeah, And that's a question
for Steve Bannon. So I'm glad you looked that up
because I was wondering that last night. I saw what
Steve had to say. And I'm gonna say a couple
of things. Uh, Steve is incredibly smart and and and
Steve is worth listening to. And there are things that
Steve and I is definitely on the same page about.
And I have no problem saying, like, I believe in
the United States of America and the culture and the

(33:32):
form of government and the protection of the United States
of America. And Steve, I believe, is very skeptical of
anyone who he thinks might question those foundational elements of
the United States of America. I wondered last night the
same thing that you just educated me on. I wondered,
what what is Elon's uh, what is Elon's citizenship status?
And I'm glad you clarified for me and the audience.

(33:53):
He's a citizen of the United States. And you can't
deport a citizen of the United States, to my knowledge,
and I would love to hear Steve's argument for why
Steve's always been skeptical of Elon, and I don't think
Steve's skepticism of Elon, by the way, is unfair. I
think he's skeptical towards all of tech, towards everyone that
thinks that a country is like a company ready to

(34:14):
be optimized. That's not what a country is. We're not
a business. We're not here simply to get rich and wealthy.
We're here to be what we have been throughout our history,
and that is the world's leader in way of life.
And this is where we can always diverge into conversations
about where we've fallen short and our mistakes that we've
made throughout our history, all of which are true and

(34:35):
need to be acknowledged.

Speaker 5 (34:36):
But still we're special.

Speaker 6 (34:37):
We're special on the face of humanity, and I'm with
Stephen protecting that above all.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
I hear you on that.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
What is special about the big, beautiful bill in your
estimation that the country should look forward to, that the
country should like. Since Elon Musk has spoken against it,
what about those who have spoken for it?

Speaker 2 (34:56):
What are they saying this big and beautiful about it?

Speaker 6 (34:58):
Okay, that's a tough question. I'm not sure there is
a lot that is special. Do you ever get to
special by compromise? Do you ever get to special by
the messy issue of making a deal. But I do
think there are very smart people who are singing its praises.
I'll give you two. I think Stephen Miller is brilliant.

(35:19):
I think Scott Bessant, Treasury secretary, is brilliant. And they
lay out three things tax cuts, wasting fraud cuts, not
to the level that Elin wants, but wasting fraud cuts,
and podifying the protection of the border.

Speaker 5 (35:34):
Those are three things they like.

Speaker 6 (35:36):
Now on the most important thing is if you're gonna
have deficits but you want to try to reduce those,
the argument is the way you do that is growing
your economy, and the tax cuts grow the economy. Bessant
believes we can run deficits at three percent by growing
the economy three percent, and by cutting taxes we supercharge
the economy into growth of three percent. That's the way

(35:57):
you reduce deficits, even if it's not the cuts someone
like Elon Musk wants through Doge. There's one more thing,
Steven A. And if you're really in the business of
educating your audience, it's a little bit boring. But you
have to understand a reconciliation bill is not a budget bill.
It's not an appropriations bill. There's only so much you
can do through reconciliation. There are other places to make cuts.

(36:18):
Two of them are recision. That's what the President says
to the Senate, I want you to make these cuts.
They go back and they formalize them. There's one right
now for nine billion, which is not enough, and that's
tiny in the grand scope of things. And the other's
appropriations and all those great people you mentioned that Trump
hires hegg Seth. That's where I've taken issue with you.
By the way, steven A, my friend's Pete hagg Seth,
a secretary of Defense, Sean Duffiat, Transportation, on and on.

(36:42):
Every secretary of every cabinet looks for cuts, asks congressome,
this is the budget that I need. Institute these cuts,
and that's what we'll get through appropriations. It's not the
end of the story, just because it's not in the
one big, beautiful bill.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
Understood, And by the way, I'm gonna save your platform
to bring up Pete hagg Seth when you call me
on your show. You do that I got no problems
with the man. I haven't lad based at the man
at all. I've just talked about what his ascension represented.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
There was a bigger deal.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
If I saw Pete Heigsath, I'd walk up to him
and say to them, I have nothing to get you.
You served our country with the onor distinction. I got
no problems with you, my man. I was just talking
about what it represented. I mean, damn, that's.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
All I'm saying. But we'll talk about that another day.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
My last question to you, because I know you got
to go, and I gotta go as well. If this
Elon Musk and Trump fiasco brew haha, doesn't simmer down.

Speaker 3 (37:35):
If it gets ugly.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
Are you've already said this is not good? How bad
could it possibly get for Trump and the administration and
our government? If Elon goes nuclear per se and somehow
gets even worse than he has already gotten, Especially considering
the fact that Trump acknowledged all the access that he

(37:58):
had throughout the White House, access.

Speaker 3 (37:59):
To files and things of this nature, What the hell
of that?

Speaker 2 (38:02):
What if that happens? Will K? What if Elon Musk
gets uglier?

Speaker 6 (38:07):
I think there's limited damage for Trump. There's a floor
on the amount of damage that Musk can do to Trump,
and there is much more potential loss for Musk. First
of all, Musk does have government contracts. I don't think
he cares as much about ev tax credits. He's incredibly
passionate about space and NASA and SpaceX, and he stands

(38:27):
to lose on one of his biggest passions should he
make a complete enemy of the President of the United States.
I also think Musk will run into a credibility issue
if he keeps doing things like the accusations around Jeffrey
Epstein or impeachment and Donald Trump. Look, the American people
voted for Donald Trump. They didn't vote for Elon Musk.
That doesn't mean there's a lot of people that might
have been persuaded to his side because of the influence

(38:48):
of Musk. But in the end, he is the man
that's elected to the president of the United States, and
I think there's a floor on the amount of damage. Look,
how about this, Stephen a name. This is you and
me and other sports metaphor standing at the plate. We're
batting against I don't know, we're batting against Garrett Cole
and he's thrown every pitch. He's got what's left. In

(39:12):
the end, we're hitting everything. Donald Trump has seen every pitch,
every single pitch. Are you telling me Musk has one
that hasn't already been thrown? I think there's a floor
on how much dam I'm saying, we don't know that Will.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
Will the man is worth over four hundred and fifty
billion dollars and he got close to Trump and close
to the White House administration. I'm saying, I don't know.
I mean, I get the point. It's a legitimate question
that you've asked. Albeit rhetorically, I'm saying, the possibilities of
a potent answer might be out there. It might be
something we haven't seen. We don't know what this guy

(39:48):
don't know.

Speaker 6 (39:48):
For the record, just for the record, as we're putting
this down, just prepare yourself because more likely as an
outcome is you have one big, beautiful makeup session and
these two guys get back together.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
I got you the one and only Will Kane, The
Will Kane Show, four pm Eastern Standard Time, Fox News,
got ratings already rivaling Prime time doing this thing, and
I'm gonna come on your show soon because I owe
you so I've been on the road the last two
damn months. Owe I owe you an appearance on your
show man, thank you so much, or.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
Taking time out of your business schedule.

Speaker 5 (40:19):
It all right, thanks Steven Ah.

Speaker 1 (40:21):
All right, buddy, you take it easy. Interesting respector right
there from Will Kane. Obviously he thinks it's a relationship
that could be amended, things could get better. Who knows
Donald Trump has forgiven people before, or the likelihood is
that he'd be willing to forgive a man worth about
four hundred and fifty billion dollars that donated over two
hundred million dollars to his campaign and that of other

(40:41):
GOP members. This is what Donald Trump is capable of doing,
after all, Or the president vice president of the United
States of America once said some very incendiary things about him,
and he's the vice president of the United States of
America said some really ridiculous things about Donald Trump in
the past, and Donald Trump forgave him. So that's what
that's what their position is. Now, let's hear from the
other side. My next guest has been called the Voice

(41:03):
of Black America. He hosts the daily political show Rolling
Martin Unfiltered.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
He's been here many times.

Speaker 1 (41:10):
He's a friend, got love for him even when he
gets after me. Okay, I'm talking about the one and
only Rolling Martin in the house.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
What's up, big Time? How are you man? How's everything going?

Speaker 5 (41:18):
Bro?

Speaker 2 (41:18):
What's up?

Speaker 3 (41:20):
I wore the coldest in the Bondus fraternity shirt today
just for you.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
There you go, there, you go with yourself. I'll leave
it alone. I'll leave it alone because we.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
Got Musk and President.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
That's the Flyway signal.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
Seezus, I got you, I got you. Listen with Trump
and Musk.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
What were your thoughts when you saw this spat unfolding
everywhere yesterday?

Speaker 3 (41:47):
Well we always we knew it was gonna happen.

Speaker 8 (41:49):
When you take two narcissistic, egotistical, deranged individuals, they are
going to clash.

Speaker 3 (41:59):
It was inevitable.

Speaker 8 (42:01):
Donald Trump can't stand anybody that gets more attention than
he does. And here's a guy who gets more attention
owns his own social media platform. We know true social
is a joke. Uh, And he's got way more money
than Donald Trump. They were going to class, and so
I was sitting here watching chickens coming home to roost.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
And I was really, this is really, this is how
I was operated all day. I was sitting here going, Okay,
what's next, what's next?

Speaker 2 (42:34):
That's what you were doing.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
And that's what Oh yeah, because it was it was.
It was beyond lafel.

Speaker 8 (42:38):
To watch these two idiots going back and forth. And
it shows you that Donald Trump, I do not call
him president. He is he twice impeached, criminally convicted, felling
combine in chief. And it goes to show you that
he does not have the demeanor nor the authority to
sit in that Oval Office chair. They can yell all

(43:00):
they want to about Joe Biden and his mental acuity
and his cognitive decline, but guess what, you didn't see
a grown man who occupies the Oval office acting like
a spoiled little brat going back and forth with a
with a donor.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
Well let's talk about that donor for a second. That
donor also happened to be the head of DOGE Department
of Government Efficiency, who aren't facilitated billions of the But
but you talk about you know, they what did they
say one point seventy five billion?

Speaker 3 (43:34):
Were they claim that's what? That's same? They saved that.

Speaker 8 (43:39):
But then when you actually said, when you actually get
what actually came down most even Republicans, say it was
barely one hundred billion in so called savings.

Speaker 3 (43:53):
No.

Speaker 1 (43:53):
I only bring that up to ask this question, Roland.
He wasn't just somebody mouthing off. He's a god that's
worked over or four hundred and fifty billion dollars. He's
an individual that was empowered by Donald Trump himself and
the Trump administration. Obviously, some of the decisions that he
made led to federal employees being cut. Let's make sure

(44:14):
we recognize that. So he's been harmful to some degree.
So with all of that being said, how bad do
you think this situation could deteriorate into? Because it doesn't
seem like it's just back and forth banto or whatever.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
It seems like some real damage could be done.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
I'm wondering what damage do you think could be done
to Trump? What damage do you think will be done
to the country in light of what's going on right now,
if anything at all.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
That's what I'm asking.

Speaker 8 (44:40):
First of all, it's not gonna be damage to the country,
because let's just be perfectly clear. If you're Eli Musk
from a business standpoint, your business doesn't exist without federal dollars.
And I broke this thing down on my show, like
I love these people. I love these black people to
talk about. Man, we got due for sale, due for sale,
pull ourselves bootstraps, And I said, you've been seeing them

(45:02):
thirty two billionaires through thirty two corporate CEOs who went
to Saudia Ranger with Trump.

Speaker 3 (45:07):
So elon musk SpaceX Tesla. When you talk about the loans.

Speaker 8 (45:12):
That he got the contract, so he needs In fact,
his company Testa loses money last year without the government.
If the government doesn't buy the vehicles of his vehicles,
he loses money last year, So he needs the government. Okay,
his tax breaks that he gets from states and from
cities as well.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
Now, who's done on Trump? What do you lose?

Speaker 8 (45:34):
He can't afford to have a high profile person who
can we know who has manipulated the Twitter algorithm to
turn that against him, and so he was greatly aided
by that. And so when you have these two people
clashing and then it's dominating the news cycle, all these
things happen. So don't be shocked to see Republicans and

(45:57):
other donors trying to broker a peace deal a daytime.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
Because you got speaker of Mike Donson trying to get.

Speaker 8 (46:05):
This big beautiful deal, which one of my panels call
a BBL a big beautiful lie going through the Senate
and then back to the House. And so it's in peril.
And so that's what's happening right now. So this becomes
the centerpiece. Oh, it's gonna be great chaos, and I'm
just gonna sit here and enjoy my popcorn.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
Well, listen, I think you're gonna do more than that,
because you are a preemitive voice in America, not just
Black America. As far as I'm concerned, I love talking
to you, and I know that you ain't gonna just
sit back eating your popcorn, even though you clearly eat
My brother, you do.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
Eat man, you big boy. But here's my question to you.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
How do you feel, we know how to right feels
about this big beautiful deal. What's your issue with the
big beautiful deal? Educate my audience to the specifics about
why the deal may may not be big and beautiful
at all in your mind and in the minds of liberals.

Speaker 8 (46:58):
The first and person for and the position that I
take is I've never called myself a liberal or conservative.
I call myself a voter, and I look at this
purely through a I have to look at this.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
Through a human lens.

Speaker 8 (47:12):
The people that will greatly benefit from this bill are
the richest people in the country. The people that will
be hurt are the poorest. When I listen to look,
I am a Christian. The Catholic Church that I grew
up in was founded in my grandparents' living room. My
wife is an ordained minister. I'm a Christian book author.
And when I look at evangelicals who are silent, who

(47:34):
are saying nothing about the massive cuts on how it's
going to impact the poor, that is greatly offensive to me.
That's why I stay at Bishop William Barber and Repairs
of the Breach and the Poor People's Campaign and their
efforts against this. When you look at the cuts to
SNAP benefits, when you look at the cuts to eight
hundred and eighty billion dollars to Medicaid, when you look
at the impact when it comes to women having children,

(47:59):
all of that is real to what to be able
to make permanent the Trump tax cuts from twenty seventeen
that benefited the richest in the country. Please, is that
actually what they need? When you look at this, that's
what it speaks to when you've got Republicans who are
voting on a bill that prevents states from regulating AI

(48:20):
for at least a decade. I'm sorry, how did that
get in the bill? The other day, I was reading
the assertion in the bill that will require banks to
pay back crypto investors before they paid back the positors
if there's an issue with that bank.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
But when you start looking at this bill and looking.

Speaker 8 (48:40):
At all of the perks in there for the rich,
and how it hurts support, it's a problem. If you
cut eight hundred and eighty billion for Medicaid, you're going
to be impacting rural hospitals.

Speaker 3 (48:52):
You know that's gonna hurt a lot of the white
folks who voted for Trump in rural America.

Speaker 8 (48:56):
Not just rural black folks in black ones in rule America,
but rural white folk. We saw what happened when this
took place in North Carolina. I'll never forget. Bishop William
Barber was at a parade and is red neck with
a Confederate flag drink over his shoulder.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
Walked up to Bishop.

Speaker 8 (49:12):
Barber and he said, with a tear in his eye, Bishop,
you know I gotta be honest with you. I don't
agree with a whole lot, but thank you for trying
to save about hospitals.

Speaker 3 (49:22):
And So the.

Speaker 8 (49:22):
Problem we have is the brokest, stickest places in America
are the reddest. So people always talking about black folks
vote against their interests, probably all these white conservatives who
are voting against their interests. They're cutting education, they're cutting
health care, they're cutting government benefits. Who takes advantage of

(49:44):
that more than anybody else? Broke white people in America?
West Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
So those folks.

Speaker 8 (49:58):
Should be up in arms because trust me, they are
going to be severely hurt if this bill gets through Congress.

Speaker 1 (50:07):
One could easily argue, based on everything you just broke down,
that it should be easy for people in this day
and age to see the light and to rally up
against what we're seeing from this quote unquote big beautiful
bill and what we're seeing from the Trump administration thus far. Nevertheless,
when you talk to the folks on the right, they
seem to be not worried at all about folks on

(50:29):
the left because they accused of votes on the left
for not having any kind of vision for America whatsoever
talking about the Democratic Party. Ain't talking about Roland mart
And they're talking about the Democratic Party.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
What do you say to that?

Speaker 1 (50:41):
Do you believe that this is an opportunity for the
Democrats to pounce on, to capitalize off of the game
we gained some seats in the House and the Senate.
Or is this one of those situations where you think
that the Democrats will miss the boat and drop the
ball and not take advantage of this particular moment where
Trump and the GOP seem a bit more.

Speaker 3 (50:58):
Vulnerable as what you're city right now.

Speaker 8 (51:01):
First and foremost, the twenty twenty six election is a
long way away, and so what you have to do
is and I've been telling people that's why I don't
waste breath on twenty twenty eight, even right now twenty
twenty six. I hosted in twenty twenty five, you've got
state races happening. You've got googlatorial races in Virginia. You've
got mag Lieutenant Governor Winston Sears, a black woman running

(51:24):
against former congress Woman's Van Bird. On the Democratic side,
the Democrats right now control the House and the Senate.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
If they control. If they keep control of.

Speaker 8 (51:33):
The House, Don Scott, my alpher brother Pleasure Texas A
and m Pire mccron remain Speaker of the House. Louise
Lucas remains in control of the money in the Senate.
If Democrats control the governor's mansion, they now have the
trifecta and now they can actually pass a deal that
will then enshrine the return of voting rights to the
formerly incarcerated. So as a perfect example, now New Jersey,

(51:56):
they're googlatorial primary is on Tuesday. Mayor Rosbaraka is running.
Then you, of course down it's a very blue state.
But that's right now, Now, what then happens after they
got a mayor only election in New Orleans. We've seen
male elections and other places around the country. So look,
you saw a black Democrat being a white Republican in Omaha, Nebraska,

(52:16):
and that person was a two tournament combing. So you've
see what Republicans have actually lost some seats. Here's what
Democrats have to do. You can't just say Trump is
full of crap, but she is. You can't say the
Republicans are all about.

Speaker 3 (52:32):
The rich, which they are. I mean, the facts are
the facts.

Speaker 8 (52:35):
You also have to lay out what your agenda is.
And if you look at polling that polling data shows
that a lot of people are not happy at all
with national Democrats.

Speaker 3 (52:46):
But when you start going down ballot, that changes.

Speaker 8 (52:49):
So what has to happen right now is you're gonna
see for twenty six where you're gonna have individual candidates.
Do I believe Democrats are gonna take back the House?
The answer is yet Republicans are. They have a three
or four seat majority.

Speaker 3 (53:02):
But so you're gonna have individual keys.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
You think the Democrats gonna take back the House. I
think the Democrats gonna take back the House. Okay, right
now ahead.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
You have some you have Republicans.

Speaker 8 (53:13):
You have you have Republicans who are in purple seats
uh districts that that Biden won that they are very
concerned about losing, which you have now. And Democrats are
doing very smart by going to Republican congressional districts and
holding town halls because the Republicans don't want to hold

(53:33):
the town halls for fear of getting cussed out by
their own voters. So basically be doing a lot more
of that. But you also have.

Speaker 3 (53:41):
To be articulating what is your agenda.

Speaker 8 (53:44):
Frankly, Senator Chuck Schumer of the Centimentari leader has been
very weak on this.

Speaker 3 (53:48):
I haven't heard a lot.

Speaker 8 (53:49):
You see it a little bit more from a Democratic
House in the hot King Jefferies, his problem is he
doesn't have He can't do much. Schumer could literally stop appointments.
They can stuck they you can do a lot more
with the Senate rules.

Speaker 3 (54:06):
You can in the House.

Speaker 8 (54:07):
What the House has to do, what Jeffries has to do,
and get his caucus to be doing.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
They've got to be far more vocal.

Speaker 8 (54:13):
And as Congresswoman Maxine water Center on show last night,
she said, we should be taking to the streets, leading protests,
doing sit ins because you have to raise awareness of
what is happening.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
When you talk.

Speaker 8 (54:26):
About the destruct the destructive path that we're seeing, then
you know right now, stephen A, they are threatening with
to stet down the Education Department. That is gonna impact
a program I had them on last night where first
generation students, mostly people of color.

Speaker 3 (54:45):
They will be losing those benefits.

Speaker 8 (54:47):
The program is one point two billion dollars and it's
gonna impact more than a half a million first time
college students. So don't you think we would want first
generation folks being able to reach the American dream. They're
gonna cut that program out if they shout down a
Department of Education. That's some of the brain dead stuff

(55:08):
that happens. And the hard part is that when it's
being talked about. That's why I can't watch the cable
networks because they talk about process process. No.

Speaker 3 (55:17):
On my show, I talk.

Speaker 8 (55:18):
About real people, how a regular person is going to
be impacted, your.

Speaker 3 (55:23):
Students, student loans.

Speaker 8 (55:25):
We're talking about mothers, fathers, single dad, single moms. So
we have to talk about policy that impacts the regular person.
As my man, the late Joe Madison said, you got
to put in what the goats can get it, and Democrats.

Speaker 2 (55:40):
Times I use that.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
You know, have you had, if you've heard, if you've
watched me on first take, I've used that line several times,
you know, crediting the great, the late great Joe Madison, godrest.
So give it to them where the goats can get it,
No question about that. Real quick answer to this question,
what should folks prefer like, whether it's the Democrat or
the Republican Party, what should the folks prefer more seats

(56:01):
in the House or more seats in the Senate. If
you had to get one, particularly these mid terms coming
up over a year from now, which one would you.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
Prefer to have?

Speaker 3 (56:08):
The House of the Senate, No Senate.

Speaker 8 (56:11):
The reason the Senate because the Senate is the one
that confirms federal judges.

Speaker 3 (56:15):
Those are lifetime appointments, so that always the Senate over
the House.

Speaker 8 (56:20):
The problem is the map does it benefit Democrats and
benefits Republicans When you look at the seats are going
to be opened now, Republicans are desperate to get a
strong Republican to run against Senator John osof in Georgia.
They want to take that seat. Governor Brian kimp has
already announced he's not running. They thought he was going
to be the best choice. Democrats should really be focusing

(56:42):
like a laser on Tom Tillis in North Carolina. And
if they do that, they better take their asses to
the black belt in North Carolina, which is East North Carolina.
Vice presid Kamala Harris made a huge mistake, so did
President Joe Biden. Democrats keep doing this, They keep going
to western North Carolina.

Speaker 3 (56:58):
You split the North Carolina map.

Speaker 8 (56:59):
They are let's go West Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, Riley Dorm.
But guess what the votes are in Black Belt in
East North Carolina.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
So you got that going on as well.

Speaker 8 (57:10):
You've got potentially a Democrat could run against Susan Collins
in New Hampshire. But the Matt favors Republicans, so the
likelihood Democrats have a better shot at retaking the House,
and they do the Senate, but they could pick up
some games. And again Republicans they want to take osoft
off out in Georgia.

Speaker 3 (57:30):
And so I can tell you right now put a
number on it.

Speaker 8 (57:33):
You're gonna see minimum minimum one hundred and fifty million,
two hundred million spent in Georgia alone to take Center
osoft off out.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
He knows that, and he's preparing for it. And Democrats
got a gourd for that battle.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
Let me get to a subject near and dear to me,
because I only got you for a few more minutes,
and I wanted to get this out of the way.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
Back in January of twenty twenty four.

Speaker 1 (57:56):
I was one of the first to say on this
very show that I thought Joe Biden was too old
to serve a second term.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
It wasn't his age.

Speaker 1 (58:03):
It was what I was seeing, and of course I
got blasted. You were one of the people that blasted me. Yes,
my man, Roland Martin, God, don't be ladies and gentlemen. Now,
Jake Tapper has the book out, Original Sin with Alex Thompson.
I'm sure you've read about that, talking about the President's
the former president's decline per se. Anything you want to

(58:24):
say about that, Roland Martin In fact that you know
now people are looking at you got Karenne Jean Pierre
coming out with her book, and she wants to lead
a Democratic party and now she's saying she's an independent
and all we're gonna hear about is some of the
things that we thought we were seeing with the human
eye from President Joe Biden.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
What do you wanting to say about any of that?
Roland Martin? While I got you on.

Speaker 3 (58:48):
This show, it is unfiltered here too, by the way,
so feel free.

Speaker 8 (58:52):
First thing, I don't give a damn about Jake Tapper
Alec Thompson's book.

Speaker 3 (58:56):
I really don't.

Speaker 8 (58:57):
I don't really care. Here's the reality here that I
will say, and this goes to any politician, and we've
actually seen this. If you look at the last ten
politicians that have died in office, eight of them have
been republic excuse me, any of them have been Democrats.
We just saw Congressman Jerry Connelly who ran for re
election his cancer came back. We saw my frat brother

(59:19):
loved them dearly Houston former Houston Mays, Thevester Turner who
ran to replace to take the seat of congom with
Suba Jackson Lee who ran herself and then later died
of pin created cancer. And so politicians need to be
honest and people around them me to be honest.

Speaker 3 (59:36):
Sometimes it's time to.

Speaker 8 (59:38):
Go so you can actually leave with dignity and grace.
And my concern is that like the images of Robert
Bird and Strong Thurm and men wheeled around and held up.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
I mean, we know what those images look like.

Speaker 8 (59:54):
And so I hope politicians need to be honest to
learn and let go of power of people.

Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
People around them also have to have to actually be honest.
Do I believe Do I believe that Joe Biden was
an effective president? The answer is yes.

Speaker 8 (01:00:10):
But here's the issue which you're talking about. People are
raised the American presidency. It's not just about how you
can make decisions in an office out of the way.

Speaker 3 (01:00:22):
It's also about the projection of power. It's also about
how you are.

Speaker 8 (01:00:29):
Also it's also about I mean, people don't people don't
understand how much the presidency it's really about that what
Americans want, and he was one of the biggest races
of all time. But the reality is what americans want.
Americans want John Wayne in the over office. They want
when the American president walks in, they.

Speaker 3 (01:00:49):
Want to see it. One of the reasons why we've
always elected Paul Paul presidents. People don't understand how these
things are impact.

Speaker 8 (01:00:56):
So part of the issue for for President Joe Biden
was the appearance of being feeble, taking his time, mumbling.
We know he also was a stutterer, and the reality
that image doesn't fit the image of how Americans see
a president.

Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
We know Trump is nuts and crazy.

Speaker 8 (01:01:17):
People like, oh, he's brash, he does this here, and
even though he says crazy stuff all the time and
to me, doesn't focus on He is all about the
image of strong, tough vigor and that's what we have
to recognize. And that was a huge a stomach block
for people around Biden and for him and Jill as well,

(01:01:39):
and they didn't see it.

Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
And whether he likes it or.

Speaker 8 (01:01:42):
Not, they can get mad all they want to were
being forced out and it was an awful three weeks.
But that debate was hugely problematic and folk lost confidence.
And guess what when people lose confidence, whether you are
the American people or a husband and a wife, whether
you are a player and your coach, Tom Thibodeau, guess

(01:02:03):
what when the people lose confidence in you leading, you
can't you can't roll.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
And I got to tell you this. I got to
tell you this before I get on out of here.
I got to tell you this. My problem with the
Democratic Party right now. What I'm seeing is see I like, well,
I'm a fan of Wes Moore Maryland. I think that
Josh Shapiro should have been a VP selections.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
It's in Waltz. That's my personal that's my personal opinion.

Speaker 1 (01:02:27):
And we know that we've got governors from the Democratic
Party that can run.

Speaker 3 (01:02:32):
For office, that could possibly that likely do a hell
of a job.

Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
I don't see anybody on the left having a national
presence to win an election. I know you ain't thinking
about twenty twenty eight, but I'm bringing it up now
because I'm thinking, I'm saying, I'm just I'm saying that.
I know you didn't want to bring up twenty twenty eight.
You said you didn't want to talk about it. I
think about that much. I'm not going to you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:57):
So let me unpack that. Let me unpack that. I'm
just I'm just I'm just looking at you. Go ahead, good,
please go ahead.

Speaker 8 (01:03:02):
Right, study the last forty years. The last forty years,
very few individuals who'll become president have a national presidence.
So again, let's take this thing back. Reagan runs for
Reagan becomes the governor of California. Okay, he runs for president.
He runs for president and he loses.

Speaker 2 (01:03:22):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:03:23):
Carter was the governor of Georgia. He wins.

Speaker 8 (01:03:27):
Reagan wins in eighty after being the governor of California,
ran for president. Laws George H. W. Bush is the
only one. Yeah, long time ago memory. He was a
member of Congress, he was vice president. You go to ninety,
then you go Bill Clinton, governor of Arkansas. He gave
it carb speech at the Democratic National Convention.

Speaker 3 (01:03:46):
In eighty eight.

Speaker 8 (01:03:47):
People thought his career was dead. He wins the presidency
in ninety two. What happens in two thousand Texas Governor
George W. Bush Obama was a state senator And trust me,
the only reason all those bills got they credit him.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
That was the Senate president E. Neil Jones. So he
was a state senator, becomes a US cittor.

Speaker 8 (01:04:06):
So the reality is the people that become president, they
never have a national presidence two three years out that
actually deals when they announce and then you begin to
run nationally.

Speaker 3 (01:04:20):
That's just what hasn't.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
Has it that changed? But has it? I'm not disagreeing
with you, I'm saying, has it that changed? People keep
talking about the climate. We never thought there's nowhere in
hell with the years of Gary Hart and John Edwards
and all this stuff, there's nowhere on earth that anybody
ever thought that a guy like Donald Trump would be
the president of the United States.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
But here he is, not just once, but twice.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
And so when you look at it from that standpoint
and you see the Maga wright and the influence they
appear to have, don't it need doesn't it need to
be something a little bit different in order for the
Democrats to reclaim their position.

Speaker 8 (01:04:53):
No, No, because the reality is Trump is an aberration
one he was. He was created by Jeff the Here
at NBC with the Apprentice, that false notion. He's also
created by New York tabloids. Okay, only reason we even
knew about Donald Trump because they kept putting in the media.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
Steven, I'll tell you the point blank thing.

Speaker 8 (01:05:10):
But then when I said, when I was at CNN,
I'll never forget he Woo Woodson was interviewing him and
I went to the one of the bookers, Tephany Contuo.
But I was like, why the hell y'all got him on?
And oh, whatever he's on, he does great rating. I
said what I said, it's full of crap, and actually
I was awful. You got to trip out. But this
this is no line. I was on with Heidie Phillips
on CNN. We were talking about it and I said,

(01:05:31):
this is what I said. Now, wish my folks at
CNN will find the clip to send it to me.
I said, anytime Donald Trump comes on CNN, we should
run a crawl at the bottom that said for entertainment
purposes only. The executive vice president of Seeing in Ken
Jout sent me an email said, don't be critical of
Trump when he's coming on our air. Donald Trump was

(01:05:55):
a media creation. You can't find any other person at
the media. National media, newspapers, magazines would prop up. So
the reason Trump is so different is he didn't have
to go a normal route because national media created Donald Trump.

Speaker 3 (01:06:13):
And so if you look at.

Speaker 8 (01:06:14):
From twenty eleven when he was flirting for running, he
runs in sixteen, that was five years he had already
had this national persona that was already created.

Speaker 3 (01:06:24):
So he is a media creation.

Speaker 8 (01:06:26):
There's nobody else the media has elevated in that way
who I believe can do what he has done in
running for the Obal office.

Speaker 1 (01:06:37):
So I'll let you get on out of here. You
heard Steve Bannon call for Elon Musk to be deported.

Speaker 2 (01:06:42):
How do you feel about that?

Speaker 3 (01:06:44):
South afric don't want his ads? So you know what,
here's the deal. Sure say him to El Salvador again.
Steve Banner. Steve Bannon also his credit. He called this
and and he saw what was.

Speaker 8 (01:06:57):
Going on there because Steve Bannon was Elon was Elon Musk.
For Elon Musk, Trump ran him out as well because
he was getting too much attention. And so again it's
it's hilarious to see what's going on. You know, Bannon
is an anti globalist. He thinks that that's what Musk is.

(01:07:17):
I'm more concerned about and a guy it's probably stop down.

Speaker 3 (01:07:21):
Pro Publica had.

Speaker 8 (01:07:22):
An amazing article Stephen al Centtilia where the Trump administration
was pressuring African nations to sign contracts with Elon Musk
star Link. Gambia was like, absolutely not. They were pressuring
that small nation. And that's what Trump did to the
South African president when he was in the Oval Office.
And so this administration was using the power of the

(01:07:44):
United States Oval Office in order to drive business to
Elon Musk. Hopefully all of that now stops since these
two have fallen out, But that to me was a
shameful thing that a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:07:55):
Of people didn't talk about.

Speaker 8 (01:07:56):
I had the Republican reporter with ProPublica on the show,
uh and again African nations were being pressured by Trump's
team to give star Link contracts to Elon Musk.

Speaker 3 (01:08:08):
That was foul. So hey, someone else that would do it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:11):
So so my last question to you would be this,
you got this stuff? I know I ain't that true
because because I'm with you. Because I'm with you, last
question I swear with this stuff with Musk and Trump,

(01:08:31):
is it going in the end?

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
Is it going to benefit the Democrats? It will? It will?

Speaker 3 (01:08:37):
Uh, it can't hold.

Speaker 8 (01:08:38):
Look, it can benefit Democrats if what it does is
it with Musk's criticism and if he uses his voice
in Twitter and platform, uh to keep exposing the negative
elements with their lot in this field. That's gonna a

(01:09:00):
pressure on Republicans to vote for It's already you already
got gotta remember they're trying to pass it the reconciliation.

Speaker 3 (01:09:08):
They need a majority of the votes.

Speaker 8 (01:09:09):
You've got four or five Republicans who've already said I'm
not supporting this bill. Senator Ron Johnson hardcore mag out
of Wisconsin was a was trashing it. Senator Rampaul of Kentucky, both.

Speaker 3 (01:09:20):
States that voted for Trump.

Speaker 8 (01:09:22):
So if all of a sudden, if he starts saying,
look at this crap, look at this crap, look at
this crap, and if he keeps saying how this is
going to increase the national debt, yeah, it can be problematic.
So if I'm if I'm Democrats, every single I'm doing,
I'm doing a David Letterman Top ten list. If I'm
if I'm Speaker Jefferson, I'm Senator Schumer, I'm getting me

(01:09:45):
a David Letterman Top ten list. These are the worst
things today in the big beautiful bill. Because you have
to educate, enlighten and inform people. All we hear is
big beautiful bill, massive bi The average person steam to
day ain't sitting here breaking this bill apart. And you're
not getting that on seeing in MSNBC and the Fox.

(01:10:08):
So the Democrats should be doing that. And what that
does is put pressure. Oh did y'all know this was
in it, and this and this? Now call your congressman,
call your senator.

Speaker 3 (01:10:19):
That has to happen. And so most can actually do that.
If he started doing that with with.

Speaker 8 (01:10:24):
Twitter, yeah no, call it X, then it could be
a huge problem for Republicans to pass this bill.

Speaker 9 (01:10:29):
So yeah, this bill could bear well. Die Appreciate the education.
Appreciate you always educating me. Appreciate you getting on there
when you love that because I kind of love it.
I kind of love it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:43):
It bothers me.

Speaker 1 (01:10:44):
I know you got love for me, even though you
don't want to admit it half the time. I appreciate
I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:49):
Thanks a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:10:50):
The white suit you had on in Oklahoma City.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
It was pretty damn fly. Stop acting like it wasn't fly.
Come on, that was a pretty damn fly.

Speaker 5 (01:10:59):
Come on.

Speaker 3 (01:10:59):
I was like damn. I was like Steve May looked
like Benny Han.

Speaker 1 (01:11:07):
Make it out of here, man, I told you later
and one and only, Rolling mar and rolling more and
unfiltered on YouTube. Don't miss it the Voice of Black America.
Appreciate your big bro, Love you man.

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
Thanks a lot. Coming up, the pace is shocked the.

Speaker 1 (01:11:21):
World taking Game one of the NBA Finals against the Thunder.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
Can they win it all? We'll get into that before
we close out the show.

Speaker 1 (01:11:27):
But first, one of showing Dinny Combe's accusers takes the
stand and describes more drug fueled sexual parties they called
hotel nights. We've got the latest from the Diddy trial
right here next from the stephen A.

Speaker 2 (01:11:39):
Smith Show. Holler, welcome back to stephen A. Smith Show.

Speaker 1 (01:11:46):
Now let's get to the latest on the federal sex
trafficking and racketeering trial of showing Didny Combs, a Diddy
ex girlfriend. The latest using the pseudonym Jane, was back
on the stand today. She described the drug fueled sexual
parties called hotel nights she endured during her relationship with
Sean Diddy Combs. Jane says she felt pressured to have

(01:12:08):
sex with other men. Shosho broke down and sobbed as
she recalled getting to spend time alone with Combs.

Speaker 2 (01:12:14):
Afterwards, and just yesterday, the judge.

Speaker 1 (01:12:16):
Threatened to exclude Combs from court if he kept trying
to interact with the jury. Combs was seen nodding in
the jury's direction during the testimony of a woman who
said Combs dangled her over a balcony railing in twenty
and sixteen. During that testimony, it was revealed that Combs
was actually in New York during the Bad Boy Reunion

(01:12:37):
tour at the time she claimed the incident happened. Joining
me to discuss the latest in the Diddy trials. Is
one of the best legal minds in America as far
as I'm concerned, legal analysts. Destraord In there for ABC News, obviously,
host sports and on ESPN as well.

Speaker 2 (01:12:52):
My buddy, the one and only Ryan Smith. What's up, man?
How are you? Ny Man?

Speaker 5 (01:12:56):
Good to talk to you.

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
How you doing. Let's get right to it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:01):
I'm good man, It's just that it's just crazy to me,
all of this Diddy stuff. We just keep hearing more
and more stuff. It's hard to listen to, to be honest
with you, But what do you make of the testimony
of the witness who says she was dangled over the
balcony of her apartment. How incriminating is that against Diddy?

Speaker 7 (01:13:16):
Yeah, Banna, that's really important for the prosecution's case. Why
even though she wasn't somebody who said she was assaulted
by him sexually?

Speaker 5 (01:13:25):
This shows the.

Speaker 7 (01:13:26):
Four the violent endencies that the prosecution is saying, did
he has that? This is what women were afraid of that,
this is why people had that he had this threat
of violence.

Speaker 5 (01:13:37):
Held over people.

Speaker 7 (01:13:38):
Because when you look at it from the prosecution's eyes,
if he could dangle somebody off a balcony, imagine what
he might have threatened to do the Cassie if she
didn't engage in the free costs, or to Jane with
what she's talking about with the hotel nights. Showing that
and showing what happened for the prosecution is like saying
this is how dangerous this man is.

Speaker 1 (01:13:55):
When you judge threatened to remove him and exclude him
from from from trial because he thought, his facial expressions
and whatever you were influencing the jury. How big of
a deal is that, If it is a big deal
at all.

Speaker 7 (01:14:06):
Yeah, I think that's huge because if the jury walks
in one day and they don't see Diddy there, they
wonder why, and they can't necessarily be told why, or
the judge will give them an instruction but won't maybe
not tell them all the details. But it goes to
if you're on that jury, you're thinking, wait, why is
there a change here? And any change I think in
this case involving Diddy is bad for the defense.

Speaker 5 (01:14:28):
So with Diddy, the accusation is that he's nodding to
the jury. And here's the thing. When you're a defendant, you.

Speaker 7 (01:14:33):
Cannot interact with the jury why because that makes it
seem like you're trying to influence them in some way.
Here's Diddy with this power. People know him, they know
of him. And if he's looking straight at you juring
number twelve and he's not, don't believe that. I'm not
saying I know that he did that per se. But
when you talk about nodding for judges and for courtroom watchers,

(01:14:54):
that's somebody trying to send an indication to somebody on
the jury saying believe this or don't believe this, which
could influence their decision.

Speaker 5 (01:15:01):
So in a way, the judge has to.

Speaker 3 (01:15:03):
Clamp down on the damn right. But damn right?

Speaker 1 (01:15:07):
I mean he got to sit there for weeks. He
can't smile, he can't smirk, he can't nod his head.
I mean for weeks at a time. Isn't that an
impossible task to expect from a defendant where you can't
have any kind of bodily communication whatsoever, affirming or denying anything.

Speaker 2 (01:15:25):
Is that not a bit unreasonable.

Speaker 7 (01:15:27):
It's reasonable to be able to have a reaction to things,
but to be turning to the jury and reacting to
them is borderline influencing them.

Speaker 5 (01:15:35):
And that's the last thing you want.

Speaker 7 (01:15:36):
You want these juries jurors to be able to make
any decision they want to make based on the evidence
they're hearing, not based on the defendant looking at them
telling them believe that, don't believe that. The thing here
is Stephen A. We don't know exactly what he was
doing in that courtroom. If he's turning and nodding and
making indications to them, that's off limits.

Speaker 5 (01:15:54):
You can't do that.

Speaker 7 (01:15:55):
And before trial, his defense team would have told him, hey,
you can't make statements or do things to the jury.
Have loud out first because they know that the judge
will clamp down, because the judge doesn't want the jury
being influenced.

Speaker 5 (01:16:06):
But having reactions being upset or being mad or crying
or scribbling a note.

Speaker 7 (01:16:11):
To your lawyer, that kind of stuff is affected eat
that though, away from turning to the jury and trying
to send an indication to them.

Speaker 5 (01:16:19):
And again we don't know what did he was actually
doing in that.

Speaker 7 (01:16:22):
Courtroom or what he might have been trying to do,
but the judge has to look at that and say
any way in which you are reacting turning to them
and making emotion is potentially trying to say to them,
don't believe this, believe that, and possibly influencing their decision.

Speaker 5 (01:16:35):
It can't have that.

Speaker 1 (01:16:37):
My next question is going to be in you know,
just as a as a treat to throw out to
Diddy's supporters out there, because just like R Kelly had.

Speaker 3 (01:16:45):
His supporters, did he's got his and you have a.

Speaker 1 (01:16:48):
Lot of people that's been listening to you and others
talk about what's going on. During this trial, reporting accurately
or what's actually transpiring in the courtroom. And in the
case itself, it says, am, everybody's point the finger Diddy.
I mean, what about these other witnesses, what are they saying?
How do we know they tell you the truth? Et cetera,
et cetera. I'll give you the latest example. Diddy's defense

(01:17:09):
team said proved that Diddy wasn't dead. The defense actually
provided receipts and asked the woman if he could be
in two places at once once.

Speaker 2 (01:17:18):
They proved that he wasn't even in attendance at the
time that she said.

Speaker 1 (01:17:22):
This ordeal happened with them, and when they asked her
that question, she said, theoretically, I mean, what does that mean?
How incriminating is that against her?

Speaker 5 (01:17:31):
Yeah, that damages her testimony completely.

Speaker 7 (01:17:33):
He can't be in two places at once, And the
defense even said that can he be in la and
be in New York at the same time. No, And
that kind of opens and shuts the door on her.
So that is huge for the defense. That's a big
thing for the defense. And you have to believe the
jurors whether they think she outright made that up or
they think, hey, your story's got to be dubious, made
you had your dates.

Speaker 5 (01:17:53):
Different, something done that up here. You never want a.

Speaker 7 (01:17:56):
Witness on the stand saying one thing happened, and then
the other team up and saying well, I can't prove
he was somewhere else.

Speaker 5 (01:18:02):
So yes, it's damaging for prosecutors. But here's the thing.

Speaker 7 (01:18:06):
She was there to offer testimony about how he uses
violence to intimidate people.

Speaker 5 (01:18:12):
Other people have offered that evidence.

Speaker 7 (01:18:14):
So for DIDNY supporters out there who might say, hey, well,
this is proof that he was never violent, I don't
know if it's proved that he was never violent. I
think maybe it's proof that he wasn't violent in the
way this person described on that date. But did He
still has a whole lot of things to push back
on to say that he didn't use threats and coercion
to get people to do the things that he wanted
them to do.

Speaker 2 (01:18:37):
Today, the jury herd from Jane.

Speaker 1 (01:18:39):
Jane is the name who testified that Coine's threatened to
stop paying for her apartment if she didn't continue the
hotel nights sleeping with other men for his pleasure. However,
it was revealed, like you said, that comes was was
going to break up with her, and she continued with
the hotel nights. What do you make of that She's
going to break up with her, but she continued with
the hotel nights.

Speaker 2 (01:18:58):
Anyway, does that help his case at all?

Speaker 7 (01:19:02):
It does in some ways, but it also helps the prosecution.

Speaker 5 (01:19:06):
Let me back up.

Speaker 7 (01:19:07):
For everybody who hears James's testimony and starts reading it,
what is important for prosecutors to prove here is a
Rico conspiracy. That's a patterns that basically saying in a
nutshell that Diddy is either assisting in or operating this
sort of criminal enterprise that other people are involved, and
it's this pattern of criminal activity. Now, I want people
to hang on to the word pattern. We saw Cassie

(01:19:30):
up there for days talking about these tenant what she
did with her. He started dating her, they start going out,
he offers her the recording contract, they start working together,
and then he starts engaging her in these freak offs
according to her, and starts using these threats and coercion
according to her, in terms of hey, you got to
keep doing this or I'm going to take things away.

(01:19:50):
Now we see Jane talking about the same thing.

Speaker 3 (01:19:53):
Seven.

Speaker 7 (01:19:54):
This is why I believe James's testimony is some of
the most impactful testimony we're going to see in this
trial because she now is talking about exactly what Cassie
was talking about, which makes it a pattern. So I
know that people are gonna say, well, look, she could
have withdrawn herself from the free cost, but look at
what she's saying as to why she's saying, Well, he
started dating me and then we.

Speaker 5 (01:20:15):
Had this relationship.

Speaker 7 (01:20:16):
Then part of the relationship became these other things that
I had to do, these hotel nights, and then he
would say, well, I'm going to take according to her,
I'm going to take this housing away. I'm going to
take these things away. It's the same kind of thing.
It's a pattern, and in a way, it requires jurors
to look at this and say, these women were in
a position where they didn't.

Speaker 5 (01:20:34):
Feel like they had a way out. And Steven Andy,
let me touch on one other thing related to this.

Speaker 7 (01:20:38):
I think twenty thirty years ago we might look at
this case and say, well, why didn't someone just leave? Now,
we tend to look at these cases differently. We look
at cases like r. Kelly and we see grooming, We
see how people are conditioned into certain behavior and then
they start feeling like they can't leave situations. That's the
case the prosecution is trying to build here. They're trying

(01:20:58):
to show that Diddy is a person who strengths people along,
gets them in these relationships, gives them things, and then
gets them in a situation that they feel they can't
get out of, either by violence or coercion, financially or otherwise,
and puts them in this untenable situation.

Speaker 1 (01:21:13):
So is it possible, before I let you get on
out of here, that the real thing that's incriminating with
him is the age of these ladies at the time
he started their relationships with them. I'm guessing that, based
on what you alluded to in terms of how society
was in the past, they would say it was consensual.
Why couldn't you just walk away from this situation? And

(01:21:35):
then you bring in the grooming element. Well, if you're
somebody in your thirties and your forties, somebody might not
want to hear that. But if you're somebody in your
teens and you started dating this gentleman, then obviously you're
going to be perceived as being a bit more vulnerable
and as a result, he's going to be the person
in a position of power who manipulated that power to
take advantage of you. Is that a good way of
you know, basically drawing a synopsis to all of this

(01:21:57):
and really crystallizing this for the viewers out there.

Speaker 5 (01:22:00):
I think it's part of it, but I don't think
it's all of it.

Speaker 7 (01:22:02):
I think the fact that they were younger women may
have made them a little bit more susceptible to his influence.

Speaker 5 (01:22:07):
I think his power dynamic plays into part.

Speaker 7 (01:22:09):
Of this, that a woman who's older could have also
been swept into this power dynamic. And I think the
way he conducted himself, at least according to the prosecution,
but making a mistake, Stephen.

Speaker 5 (01:22:18):
As you watch these people testify, like Jane when.

Speaker 7 (01:22:20):
She's talking about he had me take drugs across from
LA to Miami.

Speaker 5 (01:22:24):
Now they're building the case of drug trafficking. When he talks.

Speaker 7 (01:22:27):
About having her and then her later calling people escorts
to come in from different places to do these hotel nights.
Now we're talking about the sex trafficking element. What you're
seeing here. When I talk about grooming, I'm talking about
his mo o. And they're trying to describe how he
did this. But I think age, while being a part
of it, is not all of it. I think what
it is is they're trying to describe how he got

(01:22:50):
his hands into them and then in their mind, put
them in a position where they couldn't get out, and
that's how they're trying to build the Rico case, the
sex trafficking case, the drug trafficking case, all of it
is all based on him and his associates getting these
people in a world that they couldn't get out of,
and age is a part of that, but I don't
think it's.

Speaker 5 (01:23:08):
All of it.

Speaker 1 (01:23:09):
Last question, We've seen so much and we hear so much,
and it just appears to be getting more and more
incriminating for showing Dinny Combs by the day. But that's
through the lens of the prosecution. When are we going
to start seeing things through the lens of the defense team.

Speaker 5 (01:23:26):
I think it's going to be at least a week.

Speaker 7 (01:23:27):
I think you can expect Jane to be on the
stand for another couple of days. And when you talk
about the lens of the defense team, just like we
saw with Cassie, we saw Cassie getting grilled on the
stand by the defense. We heard we heard about Mia
getting grilled on the stand by the Defense. It's going
to be the same with Jane, because Jane has a
lot of text messages.

Speaker 5 (01:23:46):
Going back and forth talking about their relationships.

Speaker 7 (01:23:49):
Jane talks about how she over time started booking the
escort herself. According to her, that was so she control
at least know the men that she would be kind
of coerced into engage in these hotel nights with.

Speaker 5 (01:24:01):
The defense is going to turn that and they're going
to say, look, but you're calling these experts. You're saying
are we doing this?

Speaker 7 (01:24:07):
And you can't later come back and say it was
non consensual because you were in this relationship with him
for three years. As you said, Steven, why didn't she
get out? They're gonna be questions like that. The defense
is going to press on and they're gonna press hard
because the defense knows what's getting out there, the impression
that Sean Dittycombs controls these people, that he has a
whole pattern of doing these things, that he uses all

(01:24:28):
these associates to do these things, and that's the Rico conspiracy.
They have to knock that down by essentially hitting on
one key point all of this was consensual, that he
strongly denies all of this, and that all of this
was what the women wanted to do and wanted to
do with him. So the defense is going to get
that chance when they cross examine her, and I would say,

(01:24:48):
if that doesn't.

Speaker 5 (01:24:49):
Happen today, it's going to happen early next week.

Speaker 7 (01:24:51):
But it's going to be aggressive, it's going to be strong,
because that's exactly what they did with Cassie.

Speaker 2 (01:24:58):
Ryan Smith legal analyistic extras in there.

Speaker 1 (01:25:00):
For ABC News and of course Sports Center anchor for ESPN.
Appreciate you as always, have a wonderful weekend, man, look
forward to talking to you next week. You take care of yourself,
you too, man, Take care. Coming up, Aaron Rodgers is
finally heading to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pacers still
gaining one of the NBA Finals. I'll get into that
to close out the show. In a minute, it's Stephen
a back with your board in a minute.

Speaker 2 (01:25:23):
Welcome back, Steven Nasmiths show.

Speaker 1 (01:25:25):
Now let's get to the NBA Finals where the Pacers
stole Game one against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Pacers
were down by fifteen with a little over nine minutes
in the fourth quarter, nine minutes left in the fourth quarter,
and managed to take a one point league courtesy of
this late bucket from Tyrese Halliburt with zero point three
seconds left, and talk about an improbable victory. The Pacers

(01:25:46):
became the first team to win an NBA Finals game
win trailing by at least nine points in the final
three minutes of the game.

Speaker 2 (01:25:52):
All other teams with zero and one eighty two.

Speaker 1 (01:25:56):
In addition to that, the Pacers have a five and
three record this postseason. Went trailing by fifteen or more points,
Ladies and gentlemen, I was surprised by to come back.
I'll tell you that Tyrese Halliburton, he's a young rising
star in this league. I don't label him a superstar
because for me, a superstar somebody that's the number one
option that carries the load, that is the face of

(01:26:18):
a franchise from start to finish, and you know they
have that level of.

Speaker 3 (01:26:23):
Responsibility on their shoulders.

Speaker 1 (01:26:25):
The Indiana Pacers are a collection of really, really good
parts that could end up winning an NBA championship. Shay
Gilges Alexander was sensational last night with thirty eight points
but not when it counted. That was Tyrese Halliburton, who
was not good. He was jittery and shaky, looked like
a DNA a lights in the first half. Through the
third quarter he wasn't much better. But then as the

(01:26:45):
game waned, he came on and let you know that
his presence needed to be felt. Nembhard really showed up
and showed out and created shots for himself and did
some things. Nie Smith made sure he was formidable as well.
Even I was turning to hit a bank shot three,
Pascal Siakam hit a corner three from the right. You know,
the Pacers were ten of sixteen from on corner threes

(01:27:08):
last night in game one. Give credit where credit is due.
They came back. They scored sixty six points in the
second half on better than fifty percent shooting against the
number one defense in the NBA.

Speaker 2 (01:27:20):
That's saying something.

Speaker 1 (01:27:21):
So Oklahoma City, who has a problem closing out close games,
their record is underfivinger like three and six when you
know within three point games, you know during the regular
season and one and four in the playoffs. This is
who they are. This is who Oklahoma City has been.
And so Shay Gilders. Alexander's gonna have to be that
superstar at the league. MVP Jalen Williams gonna have to

(01:27:43):
show up and help them. If you get average twenty
two points a game on forty nine percent shooting from
the field forty six percent shooter from three point range
in the conference finals, you can damn sure do it
in the NBA Finals against Indiana. Oklahoma City is in
a tough matchup now, and I couldn't be happier because
walker into the Finals, I had Oklahoma City in six.

Speaker 2 (01:28:03):
I still have Oklahoma and City in six.

Speaker 1 (01:28:05):
But a lot of people believed that the Pacers could
get swept.

Speaker 2 (01:28:09):
I never believed that.

Speaker 1 (01:28:11):
I believe the Pacers were good to win two games,
possibly even force a game seven, but I knew they
would have to win game one to have a chance
to do that because I don't see OKC losing Game two.
And I think that if they had gone back to
Indiana or going to Indiana the games three and four
up to oh in the series of this NBA Finals,
I think that Indiana would have been in trouble. But

(01:28:31):
now that Indiana has won, Oklahoma City's gotta get its
stuff right. And I think that's gonna make things very interesting.
So I'm happy I got a good finals. That's what
I'm happy about. I'm happy that the Indiana paces has
showing the basketball world this is a series to pay
attention to, because don't think for one second that they
can't beat OKC.

Speaker 2 (01:28:49):
I like this. I like this.

Speaker 1 (01:28:51):
Finally, before I get on out of here, the Pittsburgh Steelers,
switching to the National Football League, announced that Aaron Rodgers
will be under center for the team this season. The
news comes more than eighty days since the start of
free agency, in seventy days after Rogers visited the team.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Rogers plans to fly to
Pittsburgh on Friday and join the Steelers ahead of next

(01:29:12):
week's mandatory mini camp. Okay, I'm ecstatic because I'm a
lifelong Steelers fan. Let me be very very clear. I'm
ecstatic because you didn't have no damn quarterback. I know
Aaron Rodgers wasn't great last year. I know he hasn't
been great over the last several years. Okay, but the
bottom line is, this is one of the greatest quarterbacks
who have ever played the game. On his worst day,
He's better than an average quarterback. And when you look
at the Steelers quarterback room of Mason Rudolph Skyla Thompson

(01:29:36):
and Will Howard, who you'd just drafted out of Ohio State,
you damn right, they desperately needed Aaron Rodgers. So guess what,
even with what they had in the locker room, you
still have Russell Wilson and Justin Fields last year. He
could be an upgrade from both of those dudes, which
means that Aaron Rodgers would be the best quarterback that
the Pittsburgh Steelers had in this stable over the last

(01:29:58):
several years.

Speaker 2 (01:29:59):
And in the same division this is Joe Burrow and
Lamar Jackson. I'll be damned. I'll be damned if I'm
gonna be mad about that. Now, let me tell you for.

Speaker 1 (01:30:06):
The record, what is gonna piss me off if this
is true? If that damn Shadoor Sanders, who dropped to
the fifth round and a one hundred and forty fourth
overall pick, ends up being better this season, assuming he's

(01:30:27):
gonna get the QB one spot, and I don't know
that's gonna happen, okay, because you got a quarterback that
they drafted a couple of quarterbacks, okay, and they already
had quarterbacks in this stable in Cleveland. I'm telling you
right now, if Shador Sanders wins this job and he's
the start quarterback for the Cleveland Browns and he goes

(01:30:47):
out there and balls, I am going to be pissed
because the Steelers could have drafted him. And I believe
that Oman Kahan and Mike Tomlin would have drafted him
if ownership didn't influence their decision. Now I don't have
any proof of this, but I'm telling you everything that
I was hearing about the draft of what happened to

(01:31:08):
Shador Sanders, the willingness to let him slide all the
way to the fifth round of the one hundred and
forty fourth overall pick, where about six different quarterbacks were
selected before him.

Speaker 2 (01:31:19):
That came from the top of several franchises.

Speaker 1 (01:31:23):
I don't know why. I'm wondering why. One day, I'm
gonna find out why sooner than later. But for this moment,
all I'm gonna say is, I'm happy with Ammon Rodgers
being a stealer. I accept the fact that Joe Burrow
and Lamar Jackson is gonna be better than him, because
they're better than almost everybody outside of Patrick Mahomes and
obviously Josh Hanllen. But I'm telling you right now, Shador

(01:31:44):
Sanders better not end up being a better quarterback this
season than anybody the Stealers have, including Amon Rodgers. I'm
gonna be apoplectic if that happens, and I'll leave y'all
on that note. Tip for this edition of The Steph
Nate Smith Show, I hope y'all enjoyed it. Thanks again

(01:32:04):
to Will Caine for coming on the show, for Roland
Mark for coming on the show discussing the whole Trump
Musk fiasco. For my man Ryan Smith coming on the
show to break down what's happening in the Diddy trial.
I appreciate all of their contributions to the show very
much today and I thank them.

Speaker 2 (01:32:20):
Hope everybody has a wonderful weekend. Hope you all have
a wonderful weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:32:23):
God bless me safe and I'll holler at you on Monday,
right after Game two of the NBA Finals here in
Oklahoma City and see you in