ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith said President Donald Trump refused to accept any personal responsibility for the Republican Party’s heavy losses in the 2026 midterms, even after Smith pressed him directly on the subject during a 40-minute White House interview.
Smith recounted the conversation Thursday on Fox News’ “Hannity,” telling host Sean Hannity that he and Trump discussed what Smith called “devastating” midterm results that saw Democrats take control of Congress.
“We talked about the devastating losses in the midterms and how the GOP essentially got slaughtered,” Smith said. “I asked him, is he willing to point the finger at himself, and he was dogged… he was immovable in that regard.”
During his campaigning for midterm candidates, Trump had urged voters to treat the elections as if he himself were on the ballot. Smith said Trump walked that framing back in their interview.
“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 recounted.
According to Smith, Trump maintained that the losses came down to weak candidates rather than his own standing with voters. “He refused to accept that,” Smith said. “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 said he disagrees with that reading of the election, arguing the results reflected broader dissatisfaction with Trump’s presidency. “I think that he is somebody that is convinced his way is what it is. I just don’t agree with him,” he said. “I think the American people made a statement against what they were seeing from him in terms of him not having his eye on the ball and coming across as a bit detached in their eyes.”
Smith said Trump also pushed back on him when the conversation turned to the Iran war and tariffs, and how each may have shaped voter sentiment and economic conditions.
Smith addressed reports that he had been offered the job of White House press secretary, dismissing the idea outright. “That was absolutely hilarious,” he said. “Evidently, they don’t know about the life that I live and the kind of affluence that ESPN and Disney have blessed me with. I wouldn’t take that pay cut for almost anything but the presidency. That ain’t happening. Press secretary? Please.”
Smith, who has criticized figures in both parties, also turned his attention to the Democrats, warning that the party’s progressive wing poses a real threat to its cohesion. “I definitely think that right now, the Democrats have a challenge on their hands because clearly there’s a lot of people out there that view the Democratic Party as a divided party,” he said. “Now they will tell you they’re a very big tent and there’s room for everybody, but I think that the progressive left has shown you there isn’t room for everybody.”
“If you’re not willing to capitulate to their desires, their wishes and their ideological beliefs 100%, then they got a problem with you,” he added.
Smith said he appreciated that Trump sat for the interview at all, contrasting it with Democrats he said have avoided similar engagements. “[Trump] was just very rigid and immovable in his thinking that it was blown by the people who lost and that the candidates on the Republican side simply were not good enough. It was not about him,” Smith said. “I give him credit. I asked a question, and he answered, and he didn’t run from anything.”
