Stephen A. Smith talks for a living. But even he admits he wasn’t quite ready for the night he spent with the most powerful man in the country.
The sports critic wasn’t ready for the phone call that came after it, either.
Weeks later, he’s finally telling the whole story, and it’s far more revealing than the quick recaps that followed that night. It also comes only months after his bitter feud left fans questioning where he really stands.
What he says he heard behind closed doors is what has people talking. It covers the president’s critics, his own party, and the numbers he insists don’t lie.
The night in question was Oct. 15. Smith joined comedian Bill Maher and musician Kid Rock for dinner at the White House with Donald Trump.
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Smith has said Maher brought him along as his guest, and that the evening stretched past four hours. There was history there.
Back in June, Smith blamed Trump for jinxing the Knicks during the NBA Finals. Trump fired back by branding him an “arrogant fool” and a “low IQ individual.” Smith went anyway.
He has also said he used the evening to press Trump on HBCUs. He warned that the administration’s attacks on DEI had scared corporate donors away from Black colleges. Beyond that, most of what happened inside stayed under wraps.
That changed when Smith sat down with NBA legend Kevin Garnett for the premiere of “The KG & Stephen A. Show” on YouTube.
The nearly three-hour debut covered LeBron James, NIL and the state of today’s NBA.
Smith told Garnett the invite started with a text from Maher. According to Smith, Trump had told Maher he could bring “one of your crazy a— leftist friends.”
When Maher floated Smith’s name, Trump allegedly replied, “Bring him. I got a lot of stuff I want to say to him, too.”
Once inside, Smith said every guest was patted down and stripped of their phone. Only Trump and his communications director could reach the outside world.
The group arrived around 6:30 p.m. and didn’t leave until about 11:20 p.m. Smith said Trump repeated one line roughly 10 times: “I’m the greatest president who ever lived.”
Then, shortly after the dinner, Smith’s phone lit up with a Florida area code. “Mr. Smith, the president of the United States would like to talk to you,” the caller said.
Trump wanted a refresher on Smith’s HBCU points, and he couldn’t resist a familiar reminder. “That’s what I have the power to do,” Smith recalled him saying. “Because once again, you need to understand, I’m the greatest president who ever lived.”
The real fireworks came when Smith described how Trump talked about everyone else.
Smith refused to name names. But he said the president went off on “certain people in the political world,” calling one a “piece of s—t” and dismissing others as “trash” and “god awful.”
When he pushed back, Trump suggested his popularity is a well-kept secret. “It’s not the most popular thing in the world to admit that I’m loved, but I am loved,” Smith quoted him as saying.
The analyst then brought up Trump’s approval ratings. “That’s fake news,” Trump shot back.
Smith said Republicans weren’t happy with him either, and Trump claimed 99 percent of the party sides with him. Smith countered that he’d heard the number was closer to 82 percent.
“Again, fake news. I have the numbers,” Trump replied, according to Smith. “Trust me.”
Trump also brushed off blame for Republicans struggling ahead of the midterms. “It’s not my fault that these people don’t resonate the way that I do,” Smith recalled him saying. “I’m me. They’re not me.”
It’s a familiar move. Ten days after the dinner, Trump slapped the same “fake news” label on Maher’s “Real Time” in a 1,300-word Truth Social tirade.
Viewers had plenty to say. Under the episode, one viewer zeroed in on the Trump segment and wrote, “Trump is still the same.” Another called it “a helluva conversation” that gave them a “better understanding” of Smith’s mindset.
Others had side-eyed the dinner from the start. “Donald Trump sat down with a comedian, a music and a sport commentator. Yeah this was a serious meeting,” one X user joked when news of the meeting broke.
After Smith said he doesn’t trust either party, another replied, “Who trusts him? Not me.”
On Threads, one critic summed up the debate around Smith: “Either he really feels this way and he truly don’t give a damn or he’s knowingly putting on a show… I don’t know which is worse.”
Garnett, meanwhile, had a bigger vision. As Yahoo Sports noted, KG urged Smith to quash his beef with LeBron James so the two could unite for the Black community.
“We need a group with the same thought and energy to go up and speak to Trump. You can get us in the room,” Garnett said.
Smith admitted he’s hesitant to approach a man he believes “has been disrespectful and has mistreated me.”
Getting James into that room with Trump would be no small feat. The two have been at odds since 2017, when James called Trump a “bum” on social media after the president pulled the Golden State Warriors’ White House invitation.
A year later, Trump mocked James’ intelligence after a CNN interview. The feud flared again this year. After James signed with the Philadelphia 76ers in July, Trump suggested he was “maybe a racist,” adding, “I only like people that like me.”
Then in October, Trump branded James a “TOTAL DISGRACE” for warming up during the national anthem before his Sixers debut.
It’s the latest twist in Smith’s rollercoaster relationship with the president.
Over the summer, Trump escalated their fight on Truth Social and dared the ESPN host to respond. Maher, meanwhile, has been dishing on his own private Trump conversation.
