When the very opinionated, loudmouthed ESPN sports personality Stephen A. Smith attended a dinner at the White House in October with Donald Trump, Kid Rock, and Bill Maher, he had one request for the president: Will you sit and answer my questions on camera?

Trump said yes, and he did exactly that in an interview that dropped on YouTube Thursday evening. The sit-down covered a variety of topics, from the GOP midterm election losses to Thursday’s shock resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang after revelations of multiple affairs, including one with a possible Chinese spy.

The bombastic Smith, who is not strongly partisan and regularly confounds critics on both sides of the political aisle, pressed the president on the midterm blue wave. He was not totally satisfied with the answer, though, as he told Fox News pundit Sean Hannity following the interview’s release:

"He said, ‘I wasn't on the ballot.’ I said, ‘That makes absolutely no sense, Mr. President. You said, put you on a ballot. That's what you told the American people to do.’ He said, ‘Well, they didn't do it.’ I said, ‘Well, what if they did do it and that was the reason you lost,’" Smith explained.

"He refused to accept that," he continued. "His attitude is that the candidates were not that great. If it were him that was running, this would not have happened. That's his mentality."

Smith is right that Trump repeatedly called for Republican voters to act like he was on the ballot, but Trump is also correct that many of them apparently didn’t listen. Turnout is almost always lower in a midterm vote than in a presidential election year, but it dramatically dropped among the Republicans this time around, while the Democrats came out in force.

In fact, Trump said he’d still beat Mr. Hope and Change — former President Barack Obama — if an election were held tomorrow:

Recommended
Richard Blumenthal’s Tough Guy Act Gets Roundhoused by a Texas Prosecutor Who Went There on Vietnam Rusty Weiss Hot Takes: Leftist 'Comedian' Learns the Joke's on Him After Twisted Ambush on Hyde-Smith's Staffers Sister Toldjah

“I have most of the state records, Texas I have the all-time record, Florida I have the all-time record,… I think I beat him easily, I think he’s highly overrated.”

A shocked Smith asked, what do you mean, Obama was overrated? Trump had the perfect answer (abridged):

SMITH: Oh my lord, how is Obama overrated?

TRUMP: He's a divider.

SMITH: And what would you classify yourself as being?

TRUMP: As a person that brings people together...through success.

When I call Smith a “loudmouth” or “bombastic,” it is not necessarily criticism, and I doubt he’d be offended by either term. Listen, some people love him, some people hate him, but he’s picked his lane and has made a lucrative career out of it. To his credit, he was willing to push back on the sitting president of the United States — but that doesn’t mean he always won the argument:

Stephen A Smith tried checking President Trump on his accomplishments for the black community.

Trump came prepared with 3 pages receipts

-Permanent funding for HBCU

-Criminal Justice reform

-Opportunity zones.

-jobs for black community

-Trump accounts every black child $1000

-Expanded Medicaid access for sickle cell

And many more. Stephen A regrets this question 🤣

Stephen A. Smith is not everyone’s cup of tea, and I don’t agree with him much of the time. I give him credit, though, for showing up prepared and willing to ask the tough questions. He, in turn, gives Trump kudos for answering them:

I give him credit. I asked a question, and he answered, and he didn't run from anything.

One thing we know for sure, at least according to Smith: He will not be the next White House Press Secretary:

Watch the entire sit-down here: