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Opinion Why Stephen A. Smith could be the next president  Opinions - Campaign | 51 minutes ago

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Why Stephen A. Smith could be the next president 

Stephen A. Smith, the sports commentator, recently floated the possibility of running for president. He should run — not because he is a politician, but because he isn’t.

At a moment when voters distrust bought-and-paid-for voices, authenticity has become political currency. Smith has built a career on saying exactly what he thinks, the moment he thinks it, in language that doesn’t need translation. That alone sets him apart from a field of candidates who sound like they were made in a lab and released into the wild only after extensive safety testing.

The Democratic Party now stands in a position that feels eerily familiar. In 2015, Republicans possessed governors, senators, donors, and data. What they lacked was a voice that could actually speak to a restless electorate.

Donald Trump was never the party’s plan, but he was its wake-up call. He ignored the consultants, said the quiet parts out loud, and made millions feel heard for the first time. Trump injected some badly needed adrenaline into a party that had been sleepwalking toward irrelevance.

Democrats face the same problem, only from the other side. They have seasoned lawmakers and impressive resumes. What they don’t have is a single figure who inspires genuine hope.

Earlier this month, former President Barack Obama suggested that Democrats’ struggles stem in part from aging leadership. That diagnosis misses the mark. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) rallied the left well into his seventies. Age is a distraction. Exhaustion is the disease — stale ideas, stale language, stale imagination. Smith could change the atmosphere.

Smith understands presence. For decades, he has commanded rooms filled with athletes, executives and audiences primed to disagree. He is loud when necessary, precise when it matters, relentless when he senses evasion. What his critics call theatrics, his supporters call truth. He doesn’t bury the point in qualifications. He hammers it home. In a political culture drowning in euphemism and carefully calibrated language, that kind of directness feels almost revolutionary.

He also speaks in the rhythms of everyday life. He speaks like the neighbor who corners you at the barbecue, the friend hollering at the TV, the uncle who calls it like he sees it and dares you to disagree. Voters who feel abandoned by both parties know that voice. It doesn’t feel like Washington. If anything, it feels like home. It feels like someone they know. Someone who actually gives a damn.

The electorate is shifting in ways neither party has fully grasped. Many traditional Democratic voters feel economically crushed and culturally invisible. Meanwhile, a growing slice of the right has grown weary of permanent outrage, exhausted by the relentless drama that has become the wallpaper of American political life. Even some who once cheered the insurgency feel the fatigue now. With 45 percent of Americans now identifying as independents, that exhaustion is a wide-open door. Even if Smith runs on the Democratic ticket, as he has suggested, he could walk straight through it.

Smith is a powerful orator. But more than that, he has a powerful story. He grew up in genuine poverty in Queens. He is a man who lived through struggle, survived it, and built a fortune. He is the American dream made flesh. And that booming voice, shaped not by privilege but by survival, could speak directly to that disillusioned middle in ways no career politician ever could.

Skeptics will dismiss the idea as absurd. A sports commentator running for president sounds like the setup to a bad joke. Yet modern politics already rewards performance. Campaigns are broadcast events. Debates are ratings contests. Candidates are judged less by policy fluency than by their ability to command attention in a crowded media landscape. Smith doesn’t need advice on how to hold an audience. Anyone who has watched him for five minutes already knows that. He has been doing it for years, effortlessly, in front of millions.

There’s also a strategic logic that cannot be ignored. A Smith candidacy would throw a live grenade into a race that risks becoming a coronation. He would force sharper arguments. He would rattle opponents. He would pull the conversation out of the seminar room and into the living room — where votes actually live. California Gov. Gavin Newsom will likely run, and he is a serious candidate. But Smith’s entry would make the Democratic primary something it desperately needs to be — unpredictable, competitive and alive.

Granted, he would face scrutiny, skepticism, and the sudden realization that politics demands patience as well as passion. He would need a serious policy team and a disciplined campaign. Yet disruption has its uses.

Democrats don’t need another careful custodian. They need a voice that cuts through the static, matches the right’s energy, and captures the deep-seated dread consuming America.

Smith may seem like an improbable nominee. But improbable is no longer disqualifying in American politics. The man currently in the White House made sure of that.

John Mac Ghlionn is a writer and researcher who explores culture, society and the impact of technology on daily life.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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