Stephen A. Smith

I think reality is still reality. Let's say the Biden administration had been able to get a bunch of reporters. Inflation is an example. It did not matter what The New York Times or CNN or Semaphore or anyone else wrote about inflation. People still went to the grocery store and were paying more for eggs or milk or whatever. That is reality.

I think reality is still reality. Let's say the Biden administration had been able to get a bunch of reporters. Inflation is an example. It did not matter what The New York Times or CNN or Semaphore or anyone else wrote about inflation. People still went to the grocery store and were paying more for eggs or milk or whatever. That is reality.

The thing that is, I think, harder is people are less informed about what's happening now because it's harder to get news. And you have this gigantic gap now. We saw this in a bunch of the polling. There was NBC polling before Biden dropped out. You had Navigator Research polling afterwards, which just shows that the biggest gap in politics is not left and right.

The thing that is, I think, harder is people are less informed about what's happening now because it's harder to get news. And you have this gigantic gap now. We saw this in a bunch of the polling. There was NBC polling before Biden dropped out. You had Navigator Research polling afterwards, which just shows that the biggest gap in politics is not left and right.

It's news consumers and non-news consumers. And Which does go to the irony, which I'm sure you might find quite sweet, that all the Democrats who've been screaming at myself sometimes, including who've been screaming about New York Times headlines, turned out to be the New York Times readers are the ones who were most likely to support Biden or Harris and the people who did not read the news.

It's news consumers and non-news consumers. And Which does go to the irony, which I'm sure you might find quite sweet, that all the Democrats who've been screaming at myself sometimes, including who've been screaming about New York Times headlines, turned out to be the New York Times readers are the ones who were most likely to support Biden or Harris and the people who did not read the news.

You do just sort of have this question. To me, that chasm is growing so much larger, really since 2020, I think. And how... That to me is a crisis for democracy. All this stuff, you mentioned Elon 50 times, as you should. It's one of the biggest stories maybe in generations of American politics.

You do just sort of have this question. To me, that chasm is growing so much larger, really since 2020, I think. And how... That to me is a crisis for democracy. All this stuff, you mentioned Elon 50 times, as you should. It's one of the biggest stories maybe in generations of American politics.

We have the world's richest man possibly running rush shot over laws and rules and norms to just reshape government without any sort of accountability. How many people are actually consuming any of that? How do you get that information to them? Is that your job, I guess, is the question.

We have the world's richest man possibly running rush shot over laws and rules and norms to just reshape government without any sort of accountability. How many people are actually consuming any of that? How do you get that information to them? Is that your job, I guess, is the question.

I mean, those are all really good questions. I mean, I think, I mean, I guess I would say, like, it's certainly nothing like the democracy that we grew up in in the 20th century with a very kind of state, unusually stable, unusually centrist media. It's a lot like 19th century American democracy, right? I mean, it's a lot like, and I think that...

I mean, those are all really good questions. I mean, I think, I mean, I guess I would say, like, it's certainly nothing like the democracy that we grew up in in the 20th century with a very kind of state, unusually stable, unusually centrist media. It's a lot like 19th century American democracy, right? I mean, it's a lot like, and I think that...

There is something about what we're seeing is a kind of small-D democratic media that's an absolutely chaotic, hyper-partisan, untrustworthy mess. um, that is very embedded in the history of democracy.

There is something about what we're seeing is a kind of small-D democratic media that's an absolutely chaotic, hyper-partisan, untrustworthy mess. um, that is very embedded in the history of democracy.

So, and I, so, and I don't, I'm not, I'm not saying that as a good thing, but I do think that like the, the kind of thing that we know that honestly, by the beginnings of our careers was already in trouble, the sort of broadcast, the, you know, the Walter Cronkite thing, that was the blip, right? I mean, this is the norm.

So, and I, so, and I don't, I'm not, I'm not saying that as a good thing, but I do think that like the, the kind of thing that we know that honestly, by the beginnings of our careers was already in trouble, the sort of broadcast, the, you know, the Walter Cronkite thing, that was the blip, right? I mean, this is the norm.

You talked to a lot of Republicans, talked to a lot of Democrats. Um, do you think Republicans better understand this media environment than Democrats?

You talked to a lot of Republicans, talked to a lot of Democrats. Um, do you think Republicans better understand this media environment than Democrats?

I think that in this moment after the election, everybody thinks that the winning side figured it out and that the losers are morons and everybody is gearing up to refight the last war and every CEO, every politician is going to be booking themselves onto a bunch of podcasts nobody listens to for the next four years. But that in fact, and that always the world changes faster than they expect.

I think that in this moment after the election, everybody thinks that the winning side figured it out and that the losers are morons and everybody is gearing up to refight the last war and every CEO, every politician is going to be booking themselves onto a bunch of podcasts nobody listens to for the next four years. But that in fact, and that always the world changes faster than they expect.