Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Stephen A. Smith Tells Democrats To ‘Shut The Hell Up’ Over ‘Threat To Democracy’ Rhetoric

Screenshot/YouTube/ Stephen A. Smith

SiriusXM’s Stephen A. Smith on “Straight Shooter” Wednesday told Democrats to stop accusing their opposition of being “a threat to democracy,” calling the claim hypocritical.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris became the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee despite garnering virtually no primary voter approval after former President Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed her on July 21, 2024. Smith said on his show that the Democratic Party has anointed their nominees in recent elections rather than letting Americans choose them — unlike Republicans since President Donald Trump entered politics.

WATCH:

“See, when I talked about voting for Kamala Harris, I wasn’t excited about her. And as far as I’m concerned, she didn’t earn it because she didn’t go through a primary. And the Democrats talking about ‘a threat to democracy’ — shut the hell up,” Smith said. “I don’t want to hear that because you didn’t care about that when you circumvented the democratic process to make sure that the vice president, the former vice president, would be able to bypass a Democratic primary and go straight to the Democratic nominee for the presidency of the United States.”

“You could have got Joe Biden out earlier, but you didn’t do it because you wanted her there because it was her turn. In 2016, when Hillary had competition, Hillary Rodham Clinton — oh, it was her turn,” he continued. “When Biden was getting smoked in the primaries before [Democratic South Carolina] Representative Clyburn came to save the day, it was his turn. That’s my problem with the Democrats.”

Biden and Harris both campaigned in 2024 on Trump supposedly threatening American democracy. Moreover, Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett has repeatedly compared Trump to Adolf Hitler, while Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have accused Republicans of being fascists.

Furthermore, independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in May agreed with comedian Akaash Singh on “Flagrant” that the Democratic Party was “a threat to democracy,” based on its presidential primary process since 2008.

“I’m not going to argue with that point,” Sanders said. “And that’s why I’m proudly an independent.”

Even left-wing voters and former President Bill Clinton adviser Doug Schoen asserted at the time of Harris becoming the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee that they were dissatisfied with the process.