# Stephen A. Smith spars with Whoopi Goldberg on the real cause of Democrats' 2024 loss

ESPN host Stephen A. Smith challenged  "The View" on Tuesday over the Democratic Party's messaging problem after the liberal host attempted to defend the messaging by comparing it to President Donald Trump.

"If you think about him being impeached twice, 34 felony convictions, and they still elected him president, it’s not about him winning. It was an indictment against the Democratic Party and what the Democratic Party was offering to American citizens. We might sit up there and talk about, 'Hey, you should be a party for the working class,' which the Democrats was once known for. 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 elevated the Democratic Party to what it was over the last few decades. That’s why they lost. He didn’t win. The Democrats lost," he told the co-hosts of "The View."

Smith, a Trump critic, has regularly  and their messaging ahead of the election as well as after Trump won.

Co-host Whoopi Goldberg attempted to push back on Smith and said she wanted to remind people of what those issues were, arguing they included, "Making sure that families had what they need. SNAP, making sure stuff is there. Making sure that the America that we all grew up in where you could come and be whoever you were supposed to be or want to be, you still have that right. All these things are the things that the Democrats have always said."



Stephen A. Smith challenges Whoopi Goldberg on Tuesday after the co-host of "The View" tried to defend Democratic messaging.

She then compared that to President Donald Trump's early executive actions, specifically in cutting federal jobs, as Smith pushed back.

"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 said.

Goldberg shot back, "Oh, yes, it was. I was here. We did it."

Smith went on to argue that Biden contributed to a major migrant crisis and wondered why, pointing out that former President Barack Obama deported more migrants than Trump.

"The bottom line, you’re Joe Biden, you open borders. Now, remember, Barack Obama deported more people than Trump did. You know what he didn’t do, he didn’t stick out his chest and bloviate about it, he just did it. What does Joe Biden do? Who is the Democrat, who is the vice president under Barack Obama? He opens borders. Over 12-plus million people entered the country. You had stuff going on in the streets, there was a migrant crisis," Smith said.



Stephen A. Smith accepts the Gil Nickel Humanitarian Award during the 27th Annual UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation’s "Taste for a Cure" event on May 10, 2024, in Beverly Hills, California.



In the second segment,  that Trump did have a mandate from the American people, pointing to his gains within minority groups.

"If you’re the Democratic Party and you lost 49.8% to 48.3%, and looking at that 1.5% difference, that’s an excuse to say, what we did really wasn’t that bad, we should continue to do that. No, don't continue to do it, find a new strategy," he said.

Smith demanded to know what Democrats were doing to win future elections, and said he would continue to interview prominent Democratic figures and ask them that question.



"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, you got to find a way to beat him," he said.

He also told the co-hosts, who all supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in the election, that the Democratic Party has no real leader right now.
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