[Video] Trump, Interviewed by Stephen A. Smith, Discusses the Midterms: Says He Was Not on the Ballot and Refuses Blame for the GOP Loss
Washington — President Donald J. Trump sat for a roughly 40-minute interview with sports commentator Stephen A. Smith in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on November 12, discussing the November 3 midterm elections. Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the election, and Republicans lost their majorities in both. The interview aired that evening on Smith's YouTube channel as an episode of Straight Shooter, and in it Trump said the losses were the Republican candidates' own problem, because he himself was not on the ballot.
According to the New York Post, Smith debriefed the interview on Fox News' Hannity on Thursday night, saying the two had discussed the Republicans' devastating losses in the midterms. Smith said he asked Trump directly whether he was willing to point the finger at himself, and that Trump was dogged and immovable on that point.
Smith recounted that Trump said in the interview: "I wasn't on the ballot." Smith replied on the spot: "That makes absolutely no sense, Mr. President. You said, put you on a ballot. That's what you told the American people to do." Trump answered: "Well, they didn't do it." Smith pressed further, asking what if voters did do exactly that and that was the reason Republicans lost; Trump still refused to accept the premise.
Smith said Trump believed the defeat came down to Republican candidates who were simply not good enough, and that if he himself had been running, it would not have happened. Smith said he disagreed, arguing that American voters had delivered a verdict on the president's own performance in office.
According to the New York Post, Smith also pressed Trump in the interview on the impact of the war with Iran and of tariffs on voter sentiment and the economy, and Trump pushed back. After the interview, speculation arose that Smith might become White House press secretary; Smith laughed it off, saying he would not take that kind of pay cut and that the job was not happening for him.
In the same interview, Trump also discussed the resignation of Nvidia's Jensen Huang, which GSM has reported separately.
(Source: Donald J. Trump)
Source: Donald J. Trump
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：特朗普11月12日在白宫 Roosevelt Room 接受 Stephen A. Smith 访谈，两人对谈画面。视频截图，来源：Stephen A. Smith 官方 YouTube 频道《Straight Shooter》。 / Photo: President Trump interviewed by Stephen A. Smith in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on November 12. Video frame from Stephen A. Smith's official YouTube channel, Straight Shooter.
