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Stephen A. Smith remarked that President Donald Trump was an “upgrade” compared to former President Joe Biden amid their ongoing feud on Sunday.
Smith was asked about his and Trump’s back-and-forth comments regarding the latter’s decision to attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden in honor of the New York Knicks last week.
In spite of the barbs thrown between the two, Smith insisted that Trump was an “upgrade” compared to Biden in terms of sharpness, despite previously claiming Trump fell asleep during the Knicks game.
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Stephen A. Smith criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
“Well, I don’t know anybody that would associate the word ‘sharp’ with [Trump] because he doesn’t seem that sharp with some of the decisions that he makes sometimes, to be quite honest with you,” Smith said. “But I’m not here to denigrate or insult the President of the United States in that regard. He is certainly an upgrade from what we were seeing from Joe Biden in terms of his alertness and what have you. I certainly would say that I would not accuse him of that. But I‘m not going to insult the president.”
Though he continued to claim that Trump was “napping” during the game, the ESPN host shrugged off the concern, pointing out that the president has “got a lot on his plate.” However, Smith pushed back against Trump’s past comments referring to him as a “low IQ individual.”
“When he wants to sit up there and question my IQ and talk to me about people that would smoke me in a debate, well, why don‘t you do it yourself? Why defer to anybody else? Because I‘d be more than happy to sit across from the president and debate some of the decisions that he‘s made. And I‘m not interested in running or anything like that,” Smith said.
President Donald Trump referred to Stephen A. Smith as a “low IQ” individual for his comments. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
When reached for a comment by Fox News Digital, the White House referred to Trump’s Truth Social post on Wednesday slamming Smith.
“Stephen A. Smith is an arrogant fool, a low IQ individual. In other words, he’s ‘dumb as a rock,’ and totally unqualified to ever think of running for high political office, or even low political office, for that matter! He’d get annihilated in a debate by the most incompetent of politicians. Joe Biden’s now ‘fabled’ performance would look great by comparison to anything that this loudmouth huckster has to offer, which isn’t much! Within a few weeks, they’d laugh him out of politics!!!” Trump wrote.
The feud between Smith and Trump began after Smith criticized Trump’s decision to attend Game 3, calling it “selfish” and “narcissistic.” After the Knicks went on to lose against the San Antonio Spurs 115-111, Smith blamed Trump for the loss by claiming that his presence threw off the team’s momentum.
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In response to Smith’s comments, Trump appeared to mock Smith’s presidential aspirations in a comment to Fox News Digital.
“I think he’s a nice guy, but you need a certain aptitude to run for president,” Trump said. “You need a high IQ. I’m not sure that Stephen has that. I don’t think he does, actually.”
Stephen A. Smith declined to criticize Trump after the New York Knicks won the NBA championship. (Getty Images)
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By Saturday, Smith appeared willing to bury the hatchet after the Knicks won the NBA championship for the first time in 53 years.
“The Knicks just won the title. I don’t give a s— about politics or anything like that. I could care less. You could ask me tomorrow, you could ask me Tuesday. But right now, the New York Knicks just ended a 53-year drought. I’ve waited all my life for this moment. And I’m not going to let anything get in the way of that,” Smith told OutKick/Fox News Digital.