Stephen A. Smith took on Whoopi Goldberg during "The View" on Tuesday. He called out the Democratic Party’s messaging problem. Goldberg tried to defend it by comparing it to Trump.
Smith didn’t hold back. "If you think about him being impeached twice, 34 felony convictions, and they still elected him president, it’s not about him winning," he said. He argued it was an indictment against Democrats, not a victory for Trump.
He said Democrats lost their working-class roots. "They’re not known for that right now. Why? Because their message was catering towards others and other issues, and they forgot about the people that brought them there." That, he insisted, was why they lost.
Smith has been vocal about his concerns with the Democratic Party. Even as a Trump critic, he has repeatedly slammed their strategy.
Goldberg pushed back. She argued that Democrats still fought for key issues. "Making sure that families had what they need. SNAP, making sure stuff is there," she said. She added that Democrats stood for personal freedoms and opportunity.
Smith wasn’t convinced. "Before you brought that up, you brought up the message that the Democratic Party was disseminating. I’m challenging you on that. That is not what they were doing," he shot back.
Goldberg wasn’t having it. "Oh, yes, it was. I was here. We did it," she insisted.
Smith then shifted to immigration. He blamed Biden for the migrant crisis. "Now, remember, Barack Obama deported more people than Trump did," he pointed out. "You know what he didn’t do? He didn’t stick out his chest and bloviate about it, he just did it."
He criticized Biden for opening the borders. "Over 12-plus million people entered the country. You had stuff going on in the streets, there was a migrant crisis."
Later, Smith made another bold claim. He argued Trump had a real mandate from voters. "If you’re the Democratic Party and you lost 49.8% to 48.3%, that’s an excuse to say, what we did really wasn’t that bad, we should continue to do that," he said.
"No, don’t continue to do it," he warned. "Find a new strategy."
Smith demanded answers. He wanted to know how Democrats planned to win in the future. He vowed to keep pressing party leaders.
"I want somebody to step up and recognize that man in the Oval Office, whether you like it or not, is potent, he's coming, and he wins," Smith said. "You got to find a way to beat him."
He also called out the party’s leadership problem. The Democratic Party, he argued, has no real leader right now.