Stephen A. Smith argues with Rep. Clyburn, saying Harris did not lose because of anti-female bias
Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith objected to Rep. Clyburn's claim that former Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election due to sexism.
Commentator Stephen A. Smith locked horns with Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., on Thursday, arguing that then-Vice President Kamala Harris' gender is not the reason why she lost to President Donald Trump.
Clyburn condemned Trump during his appearance on Smith’s "Straight Shooter" podcast, describing him as a man who "looks for opportunities to insult Black women" day in and day out.
"That's one of the categories," Smith replied. "Because, to me, he insults everybody."
"Well, nobody should be voting for him," Clyburn argued. When Smith highlighted that, nonetheless, millions of people did, Clyburn responded by arguing that the American people are confusing boisterous behavior with leadership.
Rep. James Clyburn suggested that Americans refused to support Vice President Kamala Harris because she was a woman. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"Is it possible that that's not what they did?" Smith asked. "That instead, what they did was look at the Democratic side, and say they didn't like what they were getting, because the Democratic side didn't represent what James Clyburn stands for. It didn't represent what others have stood for that are traditional members of the Democratic Party. They saw a change shifting within the Democratic Party that leaned a bit further left that were deemed to be just as unreasonable as folks on the far right and as a result they chose what they deem to be the best of two evils per se."
"Well, the question is why they didn't see it," Clyburn said. "Maybe they couldn't get beyond gender and our nominee happened to have been a Black or an African American, Asian American woman."
In the clip flagged by The Daily Caller, Smith locked horns with Clyburn on this, warning, "Well, let me say this, because I'm not going to say this behind your back and not say it to your face."
Commentator Stephen A. Smith. (Kostas Lymperopoulos/NBAE via Getty Images)
"I'm sitting right here in front of you," Smith continued. "I emphatically disagree with what you just alluded to in terms of ‘it might be gender-driven.’ I think about Hillary Rodham Clinton getting 2.9 million votes more than Trump in 2016. I think about Kamala Harris getting nearly 75 million votes… I think about governors in New York, governors-elects in Jersey and recently Virginia. I think about former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi who was considered one of the most influential figures in our nation's history."
He went on to argue that if it were so obvious that there is a clear bias against having a female president, Harris would not have been chosen as Biden’s successor with only 107 days to campaign.
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Kamala Harris' 2024 loss continues to be pored over by political pundits. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)
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"That's my opinion," Smith said. "And I certainly disagree with Michelle Obama when she said she doesn't think we're ready. I think we're very ready as a country to elect a woman, because I think women by and large are smarter, more composed, more disciplined than the men have proven to be."
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and did not receive immediate reply.
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