As sports media star Stephen A. Smith teased talk of a presidential run in 2028 this weekend, there is one thing that he and those advising him must surely know: The Democratic Party does not nominate outsiders.
This is a lesson that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., learned in both 2016 and 2020 as his populist socialist movement was blocked at every turn by party leaders. To his credit as a politician, Sanders and the socialists, after a decade of work, have now all but taken over the party.
The more relevant example to Stephen A’s would-be grab for the golden ring in 2028 is not Sanders, it is Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., whose mistreatment by the DNC led him to endorse President Donald Trump in 2024.
Smith, tellingly, told CBS News that he wants “to be on the debate stage,” when Democrats compete for the nomination starting next year. This is exactly the ask that RFK Jr. made two years ago when he was, not so cordially, told to kick rocks.
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What Kennedy intuitively understood and what Smith seems to as well, is that a heterodox, actual centrist on a presidential primary stage is a nightmare for what we used to call the Party of Jefferson and Jackson.
Central to the Democrats’ national narrative is the increasingly strained idea that figures like Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger or even former Vice President Kamala Harris, are somehow centrists compared to Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and the Squad.
Owing to a compliant news media, this story has been working, even if it’s a lie. Immediately after being elected, Spanberger raised taxes and threw her support behind a slew of progressive bills. But hey, she looks and sounds kind of normal.
Part of the reason this ruse works is that it goes unchallenged within the party itself. But that all goes out the door the moment that the combative Smith steps into the fray.
Without Smith there, a so-called centrist might get away with a weak non-answer on men in womens’ sports, for example. But can you imagine Stephen A, with his arsenal of insults and pained facial gestures just letting that slide?
When it comes to President Donald Trump, the Democrats’ whole identity is predicated upon his allegedly being a criminal authoritarian. But Smith doesn’t see it that way. He calls balls and strikes, and that kind of common sense makes hair-on-fire progressives look downright silly.
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Democrats have a real problem here, because if they use their usual backroom self-dealing tricks to deny Smith a place on the debate stage, he can do exactly what RFK Jr. did, and say, “I gave it a shot, but these people are crazy. At least I can talk with Republicans.”
When Kennedy pulled that trigger, he brought with him to Trump’s side an army of Make America Healthy Again moms across the nation who may well be the biggest reason Trump lives in the White House today.
Smith also has influence over a key demographic: the original manosphere, that of sports talk radio and media. Forget about the alt-right influencers on social media. Every 27-year-old dude with a FanDuel account knows and respects Stephen A.
In fact, there was a moment in the 2024 race when political sharps knew it was over. It was when the International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ internal polling showed that President Joe Biden’s double-digit lead over Trump among members, flipped into a 20-plus-point Trump lead with Harris atop the ticket.
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That kind of shift, that fast, almost never happens. So how do the Democrats get Teamsters back? Well, Teamsters drive trucks a lot, and guys who drive trucks a lot also tend to listen to sports radio a lot. Smith, literally, speaks their language.
Interestingly, back in 2015, the first public figure who I heard say that Trump would win, not that he had a chance, but would win, was Mike Francesa, the pope of New York City sports radio. Later, I realized these hosts talk to working-class guys all day for their job, so, of course, it gives them insights into voters.
Democrats are in a tricky spot here. They really can’t allow Smith to shine and expose just how far left they have lurched. But if they do him dirty, he is not without leverage. In fact, he very well could give one whopper of a speech for the nominee at the 2028 Republican National Convention.
