As pundits and analysts continue to offer their views on what led to Kamala Harris’ resounding loss, Stephen A. Smith told “The View” on Thursday that, for him, a big piece of the puzzle was her appearances. More specifically, he thought the lack of certain appearances — like on Joe Rogan’s podcast — hurt her the most.
During his appearance on the ABC talk show, Smith noted immediately that, while he was surprised by the final numbers, he saw Trump’s victory “coming from a mile away.” But, Smith also admitted that he doesn’t blame Harris herself for the campaign she ran, but rather those who crafted it.
At one point in the discussion, host Alyssa Farah Griffin raised the fact that people have started referring to the 2024 election as “the podcast election,” given the influence hosts had, and questioned whether Smith believed Harris should’ve appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast.
“I think it was a huge mistake for her to go on Joe Rogan’s — the man has over 17 million subscribers,” he replied bluntly.
“When you know that Trump is going to do it — I really, really believe wholeheartedly that wherever Trump went, she should have gone,” he added. “She should’ve been right on him saying ‘I’m not going anywhere. I’m right up your you-know-what, let’s get it on.’”
That said, Smith caveated again that he doesn’t blame that decision on Harris herself, but on those who ran her campaign. He added that, on a larger scale, those who make the decisions tend to take the wrong approach, beginning with picking the candidate.
“The Democrats tend to do this from time to time. You know, Joe Biden wanted to run in 2016, you said it’s Hillary’s turn, OK,” Smith lamented. “And then in 2020, it was Biden’s turn, particularly after he was successful in South Carolina because Representative Carver got involved, et cetera, et cetera. The Democrats, I believe, make the mistake of trying to tell us who’s time it is.”
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
