Stephen A Smith, Clay Travis debates everything from politics to sport

Outkick -Founding Clay Travis and ESPN star Stephen A. Smith closed the day at the front office’s sports, which was set at the summit on Wednesday with a lively, respectful debate that covered a wide range of topics, including politics in sports, NBA, Trump administration’s plans to send National Guard to us cities and even their respective political aspirations.

The debate continued a little under an hour and started with a recognition from moderator Baker Machado from the Front Office sports about the tragic assault on activist and media personality Charlie Kirk, a master of respectful public discourse.

That was exactly what was on display throughout the debate between two guys who, although they may not agree on everything, clearly shares a mutual respect.

These are good things and we need more of it.

So let’s look at some of the bigger moments from the event.

CLICK HERE for more sports cover at Foxnews.com

Policy in sports

Of course, the focus was on this debate politics, sports and then the middle of the friend diagram. So it was appropriate to start with a question of whether sports are more political, or about the media and people like Clay and Smith have done it that way.

“I think we do it to some extent,” Smith said. “That’s not to say that there is no politics involved. There is politics involved. There is politics involved in everything and we understand it.”

He continued to discuss how athletes in previous generations felt more compelled to speak out because of pressure from their respective communities, an idea that he later affected in the debate again, and said that in a similar respect it was societal pressure that forced him to become more political after Trayvon Martin’s death.

After talking about the importance of civilian conversations like this, Travis talked about how sports are a “unique uniter.”

“I’m at an old school in some ways in it. I think Michael Jordan was right. I think it depends on what your brand is, but I think sports is a unique uniter,” he said. “Unfortunately, I have seen, unfortunately, my volunteers from the University of Tennessee, a win against the Georgia Bulldogs. Great game this weekend, but every time I’m in an arena every time I’m in a stadium when you’re not rooting to the home, or you’re sitting around people, you’re not with you, you don’t think of race, you don’t think of religion, you don’t think of the kernel, or whatever it is. just tall people.

The increase in support for Donald Trump among black men

After some discussion about the NBA’s turn to politics and how it has influenced its popularity, the conversation turned to the increase in black men who voted for President Donald Trump with 21% vote for him during the 2024 presidential election.

“I think it’s because men see the Democrat Party as emasculated,” Travis said. “And if you want my big picture view, I think a lot of the struggles we see in life are absent that fathers and men are not allowed to be men. I have three boys that I travel. I hear from them all the time, ‘toxic masculinity.’ We are not talking about toxic femininity.

Smith admitted that he did not think this was wrong, but joked that it was “far from right.” He offered another explanation.

“Black men are like most men; affordable prices, economics. You understand?” Said Smith. “I mean, yes, ‘How much money do you have to put in your pocket? How much in SKAT should I pay? How can I afford to take care of and protect my family?’ You want to have security on the streets.

Trump’s National Guard Tour

When we talked about safety on the streets, the discussion also talked about the president’s use of the National Guard to limit crime in Washington, DC, and his plan to do the same in Memphis, Tennessee.

Travis praised the president for the efforts to clean up the country’s capital.

“Politicians often pretend that there is no black violence and violence in the inner city,” he said. “Trump is actually trying to tackle it.”

As for Smith, he questioned the constitution of sending the National Guard outside Washington, DC, but said he doesn’t care if Trump decides to send troops to Chicago.

“In the city of Chicago, I don’t give anything what they say,” he said. “I have no problem with consignment in the national guard. They were a problem before Obama got into Office, when he was a junior senator. There was a problem when he was in office for Eight Years as the President. They Been a problem now, and I’ve Seen Black People Come On Television, Locally and Nationally, Crying for Support for Support, Whter its its The National Guard or Whatever It Takes.

Conversely, Smith claimed that other cities with well -known crime issues, such as Baltimore and St. Louis, should not get the National Guard treatment. He said this is because there have been statistical signs of improvement as far as crime is concerned.

Stephen A. says he could win the democratic nomination

One of the last topics had to do with Stephen A. Smith’s long-backed political hopes, including a possible 2028 race for president.

While Smith indicated that life is good these days, he talked about why he stopped slamming the door closed on questions about him running for the office.

“I have no desire to be a politician at all,” he said. “Life is really, really good. And I don’t really want to compromise on it at all, but I’ve been asked by different people – including my priest, including people in this business and others – to keep an open mind because you never know what the state has affairs in this country will be for a few years. And as a result, they told me, ‘could you at least stop saying no? Willing that you are unobstructed that you spin to me, 99% of what you want to be, that you want you to ever want you to ever leave the door open even if you are willing to be left to be tightened to be tightened, 9.

While questioning his ability to raise funds, Smith said he had total belief that his ideas could get the job done.

“But if I didn’t have to worry about all this, and it was just my ideas and my attitudes against yours, I think I would win the democratic nomination,” he said, before adding that he would really love an opportunity to come to a debate stage with politicians.

Clay was then asked if he would run against Stephen A. if he went into the race, but first noticed that there was a big thing the two agreed.

“I think what Steven A gets is that we are sick of professional politicians,” Clay said, before talking about how he was disappointed to hear that many politicians are not as intelligent and brave as he had thought, but instead is “morons and sweeps.”

So would he run?

“If Stephen A runs, I’ll run and I’ll kick his A–,” Clay said.

As you would expect, this was one last number the two disagreed with.

“No, he wouldn’t,” Smith said.