Full Show: Scottie Pippen states he's the GOAT. Rappers explain Trump event performances. TikTok is not banned.

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Stephen A. Smith Show Episode Title: Full Show: Scottie Pippen states he's the GOAT. Rappers explain Trump event performances. TikTok is not banned.
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Host: Stephen A. Smith and iHeartPodcasts

---

1. Inauguration of Donald Trump on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Timestamp: [01:31] - [02:15]

Stephen A. Smith opens the episode by reflecting on the juxtaposition of celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy on a day overshadowed by Donald Trump’s inauguration. He emphasizes the dissonance between the ideals of peace and the contentious political climate.

Notable Quote:

Stephen A. Smith [01:31]: "You would think that on a day we celebrate the memory and the contributions to our society made by the late, great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That it would be a day of peace and tranquility."

---

2. Backlash Against Rappers Performing at Inauguration Events

Timestamp: [05:00] - [21:22]

Stephen and Daniel Jeremiah delve into the controversy surrounding prominent rappers—Snoop Dogg, Nelly, and Soulja Boy—who performed at events linked to Trump's inauguration. They discuss the criticism these artists faced, with accusations of betrayal from their communities.

Key Points:

• Nelly’s Position: Nelly clarifies his stance, emphasizing support for the office of the presidency rather than Trump personally.

  Quote:

  Nelly [06:07]: "Is two different things. Endorsing people is two different things. Am I a Trump supporter? I support the office..."

• Snoop Dogg’s Defense: Daniel highlights Snoop Dogg’s long-standing relationship with David Sacks and his philanthropic efforts, arguing that performing was a professional decision rather than a political endorsement.

  Quote:

  Daniel Jeremiah [08:21]: "He wasn't there for Trump. He was there for David Sacks..."

• Soulja Boy’s Reasoning: Similar to Nelly, Soulja Boy performed for financial reasons, aiming to support his ventures.

  Quote:

  Stephen A. Smith [06:15]: “Soulja Boy... pulled out a bag of money and said, did anybody offer me to perform?”

• Stephen’s Critique: Stephen criticizes the community's harsh judgment of these artists, questioning the rationale behind labeling them as traitors for their professional choices.

  Quote:

  Stephen A. Smith [14:19]: "What if this person voted for him because they're in a crime-ridden neighborhood and they feel leftists aren't having the streets patrolled well enough?"

---

3. Scottie Pippen’s GOAT Debate

Timestamp: [58:29] - [70:20]

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to Scottie Pippen’s controversial statements about being the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) in basketball. Stephen A. Smith critically examines Pippen’s claims, comparing his achievements to legends like Michael Jordan and LeBron James.

Key Points:

• Pippen’s Assertion: Scottie Pippen claims his six NBA rings make him more successful as a team player than LeBron James.

  Quote:

  Scottie Pippen [58:29]: "My success as a team is more successful than LeBron. I got six rings."

• Stephen’s Counterarguments: Stephen challenges Pippen’s assertions by highlighting his defensive prowess and questioning his offensive leadership compared to other NBA greats.

  Quote:

  Stephen A. Smith [59:17]: "I challenge anybody to find me a better defensive player than Scotty Pippen."

• Emotional Response: Both hosts express frustration with Pippen’s claims, arguing that his contributions, while significant, do not singularly place him above other basketball icons.

  Quote:

  Daniel Jeremiah [62:21]: "You need to be drug tested, too. All of you."

---

4. TikTok Ban and Restoration

Timestamp: [70:20] - [90:14]

The discussion shifts to the tumultuous situation surrounding TikTok’s temporary ban and subsequent restoration in the United States. Stephen and Daniel engage in a conversation with Representative Ro Khanna to unravel the complexities of the issue.

Key Points:

• Government Overreach Concerns: Ro Khanna criticizes the initial ban as government overreach, advocating for data privacy laws instead of outright bans.

  Quote:

  Ro Khanna [78:44]: "If I really thought the Chinese Communist Party was doing this... I'd be concerned."

• Impact on Users: The hosts highlight how the ban affected everyday users, especially those who rely on TikTok for business and community-building.

  Quote:

  Ro Khanna [79:41]: "I talked to a mom... she makes 60 to 70 grand to take care of her kids."

• Political Hypocrisy: They discuss the hypocrisy in politicians advocating for the ban while simultaneously using TikTok to engage with younger voters.

  Quote:

  Ro Khanna [80:33]: "The Texas Project, for example, says make sure all the data is managed by Oracle and you can't have any of the data leave the United States."

• Future Legislation: Khanna outlines potential legislative measures to protect American data without imposing bans, emphasizing the need for balanced solutions.

  Quote:

  Ro Khanna [86:53]: "Rand Paul and I have legislation to try to repeal the legislation that calls for a ban on TikTok..."

Representative Ro Khanna's Insights: Ro Khanna provides a nuanced perspective, advocating for data protection without stifling the positive aspects of platforms like TikTok. He emphasizes the importance of allowing users to benefit from such platforms while safeguarding against potential foreign interference.

---

5. Closing Remarks and Reflections on MLK Day

Timestamp: [51:42] - [52:21]

In his closing segment, Stephen A. Smith reflects on the significance of celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy amidst the current political and social challenges. He underscores the need to honor MLK’s contributions while addressing the contentious issues discussed in the show.

Notable Quote:

Stephen A. Smith [51:42]: "One of the greatest human beings that have ever existed on this planet Earth... a man of peace, of sacrifice, who loved his people."

---

6. Additional Topics Briefly Covered

Throughout the episode, Stephen A. Smith also touches upon:

• NFL and NBA Analyses: Brief insights into ongoing sports events, including NFL playoffs and NBA games.
• Advertisements: Multiple sponsored segments promoting Talkspace and other podcasts, which are excluded from this summary as per instructions.

---

Conclusion: This episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show offers a robust discussion on the intersection of sports, politics, and social issues. From critiquing rappers' participation in political events to challenging the validity of GOAT claims in basketball, and dissecting the complexities of TikTok’s regulatory landscape, Stephen A. Smith delivers his signature blend of commentary and debate. Notably, the conversation with Representative Ro Khanna provides a balanced view on digital privacy and political maneuvering, enriching the episode's depth.

---

End of Summary

Transcript

[Talkspace Sponsor]

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself, talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences, and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You, you'll meet on your schedule wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner or just need a little extra one on one support, Talkspace is here for you. Plus, Talkspace works with most major insurers and most Insured members have a zero dollar copay. No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code SPACE80 when you go to talkspace.com Match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com Save $80 with code SPACE80@Talkspace.

[Greg Rosenthal]

What's up everyone? It's Greg Rosenthal and I'm teaming up with the King of Spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL draft season. From DJs, mock drafts to my top 101, free agents will have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You would think that on a day we celebrate the memory and the contributions to our society made by the late, great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That it would be a day of peace and tranquility.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Yet as things change, they remain the same.

[Stephen A. Smith]

There's an inauguration that took place on Capitol Hill this afternoon. People ain't happy about that.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

There's stuff that's transpiring already at the border.

[Stephen A. Smith]

People ain't happy about that.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

I even got rap artists being excoriated throughout the United States of America because of their supposed political positions or apolitical positions. We're getting noise about that help.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Even Scottie Pippen's opening his mouth and engaging in blasphemy. And not just about Michael Jordan. It's supposed to be a day of peace, but it's America, ladies and gentlemen. Do we even Know what the damn meaning of the word is these days? The Stephen A. Smith Show's in the house. It's a lot to talk about. Let's roll.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

What's up, everybody?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Welcome to the latest edition of the Stephen A. Smith Show. Coming at you, as I love to do at the very least three times a week over the digital airwaves of YouTube, I hope you all had an absolutely, positively wonderful, wonderful weekend. Obviously, I always thank my subscribers and followers for the love and support that you have given me. Keep it coming. And I'm going to keep on coming over the Digital Airways of YouTube and of course, iHeartRadio to continue to like and follow the show. Just click the bell to be notified of all of our new content and you too shall be considered the latest member of the Stephen A. Smith show family. While you're doing that, please make sure to pick up a copy of my New York Times bestselling book, Straight Shooter, A memoir of Second Chances and First Takes, now in paperback. Just go to straight shooter book.com to get yourself a copy. Once again, that straight shooter book.com to get yourself a copy. I will get into a whole bunch of things today. TikTok has made news. It went dark for a little while and then it came back up, and a representative out of California has fought for that to happen. We'll see what obstacles lie in wait for TikTok and why that may be the case. We'll touch on that a little bit later on in the show. Of course, I'm going to get into Scottie Pippen, who appeared on a PBD podcast. Patrick Bet David, who's become a friend of mine. He's a wonderful, wonderful man to know, incredibly knowledgeable and successful. Uh, he interviewed Scotty Pippen on his podcast, the PBD podcast. Those are some elite brothers over there. I've gotten to know them, got a lot of love and respect for them. It's a great interview that PBD did with the one and only Scottie Pippen. It wasn't great. What the hell came out of Scottie Pippen's mouth, but it was great. It was great interview. I'll get into all of that a little bit later on in the show, too. And I'm about to get into the inauguration, but before the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States, to be specific. For those of you who didn't know and are living under a rock or just flat out ignorant, nevertheless, that's gonna have to wait. That's gonna have to wait. And also what's gonna have to wait is me getting into Jaden Daniels, the rookie quarterback for the Washington Commanders, who.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Might win the super bowl, who might win the super bowl as a rookie.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'll touch on that a little bit later on in the show as well. I ain't going anywhere.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

I gotta start off the show with.

[Stephen A. Smith]

My boys, Snoop Dogg and Nelly.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Now, obviously, if you don't know any.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Better, you've been living under a rock.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Or what have you, you might be.

[Stephen A. Smith]

A bit put off because these brothers are taking an awful lot of heat. And that's why I have to start there. Remember, Donald Trump was sworn in as President of the United States for the second time today. He entered office with plenty of controversy surrounding them and many Americans wondering what to expect this time around. And I told you I'm going to get into that. But part of that is starting off with Snoop Dogg and Nelly and Soulja Boy and others for their decisions to perform at events surrounding the inauguration. Nelly was on with Willie D, you know, formerly the Ghetto Boys this weekend, and he was talking about some things because he was taking a lot of heat for performing at events surrounding the inauguration. Before I get into it, let's hear Nelly's explanation. Listen to this.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Performing for somebody and voting for somebody.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Is two different things. Endorsing people is two different things. Am I a Trump supporter? I support the office.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

I support the president of the United.

[Stephen A. Smith]

States regardless of who's in office. I'm not a politician, man. You didn't see me out there on the campaign. You didn't see me out there saying, you should vote for this candidate. But I'm honored to be out there performing for the office, for the president of the United States. That was his position because obviously he's taking some heat. You've got people all over social media and beyond calling them sellouts and coons and traitors to their race and all of this other stuff that's been coming.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Out of their mouth.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And Snoop Dogg is especially taking some.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Hits, not just because he elected to perform at the Crypto Ball, which was.

[Stephen A. Smith]

The event, one of the events surrounding the inauguration, an event Trump did not even attend, by the way, even though he was supposed to be the guest of honor.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

But not only is Snoop Dogg taking heat for that, Snoop Dogg's taking heat for what we saw him say about any potential performers at the inauguration of Donald Trump back in 2017. So to be fair, let me make sure before I let you know what my position in all of this is. Let's see Snoop Dogg from back there in 2017 and what he had to say about any potential performer performing at Donald Trump's inauguration back then. Listen to this, Snoop Dogg.

[Stephen A. Smith]

So ain't nobody gonna perform for Donald Trump, huh? Which one of you jigaboo ass gonna be the first one to do it? I'm waiting. I'm gonna roast the out one of you Uncle Tom ass n for doing. Which one of you gonna do it first? Ozzy's the one that performs for himself. That was Snoop Dogg. So obviously to.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

This past weekend at the Crypto Ball, knowing what was being put out there about him, had to.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Call my boy, because that is my dog. Make no mistake about it. I ain't apologizing for that to nobody. That's my brother. I love that brother, okay? Even when he wrong, he right. All right?

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Even when he wrong, he right with me because I know where his soul lies. Having said all of that, I still have to be fair to our audience. And I reached out to Snoop and.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm gonna tell you exactly what the brother said to me.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

He wasn't there for Trump. He was there for David Sachs, who's gonna be running Crypto and AI. He's gonna be that crypto and AI Czar for the present administration. That's who David Sacks is. David Sacks is somebody that Snoop has had a relationship with for decades. David Sacks is that cat with nobody else put their hand out offering dollars to Snoop's football league and beyond. That brother does it. That brother's ready to do it now. So we got to take all of that into consideration. Nelly threw out the money as well. He ain't trying to be political. He's an artist, and he was paid to perform, and that's exactly what he did. Don't get me started with what Soulja Boy said. He said the same exact thing. Now, he said it in a very abrasive and excited, excessive fashion. And I thought that was unnecessary. But if that's his lingo, that's his lingo. The point is the point. He sat up there and pulled out a bag of money and said, did anybody offer me to perform? That's what they did. So we see all of that going on and we understand what that is. But back to Snoop Dogg, because that's who I know. Back to Nelly, because that's who I know. Nelly is not a political person. Nelly doesn't get involved in the campaigns. Nelly does perform for people who will pay the right fee, etc, etc, as an artist. And he is somebody that don't want to get involved in all of that. And believes in respecting the office because of the power that comes with it. That's his position, like it or not. You got to respect it, because there's plenty of hypocritical asses out here in this world acting like they don't do it, and they do it every day. But you gonna come at him because he went and sang a few songs at the incoming president. See, that's the BS right there. And that's what the. That's the kind of stuff that's gotta stop. Back to Snoop, who I know. Not that I don't know Nelly, but I know Nelly. That's my brother.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I love him. Death, but not.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

We ain't as close as me and Snoop.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Did y'all know that Snoop never exercised his right to vote in his life until 2020? Did you know that? I'm telling you what Snoop told me.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

I have permission from him to say this to y'all. If he didn't want me to tell y'all, I won't be telling y'all none of this, because I ain't violating nobody's trust. I can have my opinions without violating trust, but he's given me permission to say everything that I'm saying to you.

[Stephen A. Smith]

He never voted in his life until 2020. I never knew that. Had I known that, I got in his ass. I'm his brother. I believe in exercising your right to vote. Your ancestors and the sacrifices they made. Damn it. One power tool you have is to make sure you vote. People died for you to have the right to vote. I'd have got Snoop.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

I love him.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I love him to death. I'd have gotten his ass.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

You gotta vote. He voted in 2020.

[Stephen A. Smith]

He voted for Joe Biden. Spoke against Trump in 2016, spoke against him in 2017, voted against him in 2020.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

So everybody want to be like, well, what's the problem now? What's the problem? I'll tell you what the problem is now. But before I get into the problem, let me show y'all a full screen.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Of Mr. Keith Boykin. This guy is a political commentator, I assume. I don't know his background. I'm not casting any Asperger's on him, disrespecting him in any way. I'm sorry. I've just been busy, and I didn't have time to get into it. I saw him on CNN giving political commentary on AB on Abby Phillips show. And while he was on there, he said this. I want y'all to See this stuff on the full screen?

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Cause you need to know any black.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Person who performs at Trump's inauguration. Dishonors.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Quote, black families he refused to rent to the night to in the 1970s. The black kids he wanted to execute.

[Stephen A. Smith]

In the Central park case in the.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

1980S, the black Haitian immigrants he lied about in the 2024 election. Remember when Trump was saying, they're eating dogs, they're eating cats. Remember that? That's what Keith Boykin is talking about. Along with various other things. Along with various other things.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Let me explain to you why I'm pissed. I'm not talking about Keith Boykin. Mad respect to you. Keep doing what you're doing. I hope your career continues to elevate my brother. I'm not speaking against him, only his position. And the reason that I preface my comments by saying that is because I'm going to show a level of respect to him that most people don't show to me.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

You don't like my opinion, so you attack me. You personalize it with your petty bs. You can disagree without being disagreeable. So I'm not talking about Keith Wicket. I don't know him.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm talking about his point. Here's what pisses me off about that.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

You don't have any respect for anybody.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Who performs at Trump's inauguration or the events surrounding his inauguration. So does mean, does that mean you don't have any respect for anybody black who voted for. I'm not talking about myself because I didn't vote for them. Does that mean you don't have any respect for black people who sat there and said, I'm interested in the economy, I'm interested in inflation, I'm interested in.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Protecting our borders, I'm interested in elevating our national security.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm interested in keeping the streets of.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

The United States of America as safe as possible. What if their reasons and their rationale for voting strictly pertain to that? What if this person voted for him because they broke and they think he gonna put more money in their pocket? What if this person voted for him because they're in a crime ridding neighborhood and they feel leftists aren't having the streets patrolled well enough? What if they want to call 911 but they live in an environment that people were supporting defunding the police, and as a result of that, you either have a paucity of police officers or you have police officers that ain't yet interested in protecting and serving because they don't want to get vilified. What if the job Market matter. There's a. A whole bunch of reasons why people vote the way that they vote. To sit up there and just blanketly state that you don't respect anybody that showed up to an inauguration. Soulja Boy ain't got no right to go make some money. They're different. Everybody quick to say, man, if it was me, it's a different way to make the money. You sure about that? Sure about that? I saw Soulja Boy pull out some cash. I couldn't see that well. I couldn't count, but it looked like at least six figures. What it took most people, or what it takes most people to make in a year, the brother made in one night. You sure? You sure about that? You sure you could have found a way to go and make the kind of cash that he making? Snoop Dogg worth over a hundred million dollars. He got a youth football league. This brother sending cats to college. He's sending cats to the NFL. We just gonna ignore that because he performed at the inauguration. Let me tell you something right now. Some of you in our community. I didn't say y'all community, I said ours. I'm a black man who's entitled to feel whatever the hell I want to feel. Some of y'all, when you turned against Ice Cube.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's unforgivable.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

It's unforgivable. Ice Cube, nwa, Ice Cube, Dre, Eazy, E. All of them. And then Snoop came aboard. Not nwa, but Snoop came aboard. Warren G and the whole crew. They took the rap game to another level. You know how many black people made money off of hip hop? You know me. Black people have been employed because of hip hop. It transformed this world. Is everything perfect about them? Hell, no. Is the way some of them carry themselves right? No. The way some of them speak? Hell no. I get all of that. But damn, before they came along, you had white folks in the music industry worshiping the devil and singing whatever the hell they wanted to sing. Nobody said anything. But the brothers come along, it's a problem. And now that the brothers come along and they make something of themselves and they got opportunities that they're willing to exploit, and they choose to be apolitical, you want to get in their ass?

[Stephen A. Smith]

What if they got in your ass, Keith Boykin?

[Daniel Jeremiah]

What if they got and by you?

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm not talking about you specifically, bro. Again, I respect you of what I know of you. I don't know much, but I like listening to you on television. I respect you. I truly do. What I mean by you is I'm talking About lefties.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

See, I'm a registered independent. Y'all are trying to roll out there, talk about. And I'm gonna have on my lower third grip. Make that lower third for me. Put Stephen A. Smith, still a registered independent. I ain't changing. Thank you, Griff. I ain't changing. I ain't no damn Republican. I ain't no conservative, nor am I a Democrat. I'm an independent. Why?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Because I don't like none of your asses.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

I don't trust you as far as.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I could throw you.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Conservatism, fiscally, taxes, border security, crime. That's me. Liberal.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Any liberal policy that you got in terms of support of the LGBTQ community, I'm good with it.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Abortion rights.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm good with it.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

I'm not a Roe v. Wade advocate, meaning I'm more pro choice than pro life. Not that I believe in abortion, because I don't. I just don't believe any man should.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Be telling what a woman what to do with their body.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

But I certainly understand if people during the election were not concerned about those issues. And people like the Keith Boykins of.

[Stephen A. Smith]

The world never brought that up. And I'm saying, yo, bro, nobody's saying you wrong about what you feeling as it pertains to those issues, but you do understand there's a lot of people that don't care about the issues you might care about. They might have other priorities.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

And in Soulja Boy's case, it was making money. And in Nelly's case, it was being an artist. And in Snoop's case, it was about supporting his new. His Snoop Youth League and all the things he has done and plans on doing. And by the way, all of these years he's been doing it, he's been coming out of his own pocket. And you got David Sacks looking at him is like, I'll support you. And we got a whole bunch of people here in the crypto world, in the AI world, in the bitcoin world and beyond who's going to look to help you. And he's thinking about how financial literacy is something that's going to be taught to these kids, and these kids going to be able to go out in the world and be better young men and probably professional football players and college graduates and civilized contributors to our society. And we find a way to have a problem with that. Really. That's what we doing. So Snoop could do all of these things, and he spews a few cuss words and shows up.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Drop it like it's high.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Drop it like it's hot at the inauguration or the inauguration event, and that's a problem.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Y'all done lost y'all damn minds. But I had enough of y'all shit. I'm gonna get into how you've lost your minds. Y'all gonna stop talking about my boys like that. You gonna stop going after my boys like that.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

And oh, by the way, let me.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Tell you something right now. Who's the cat that from?

[Daniel Jeremiah]

From Rude boys that interviewed Nelly? Again, I'm sorry, I drew a blank. Willie D. Now, we all know Willie D's come. We all know Willie D's come after me. He had a problem with me or whatever.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But you see, I'm a grown ass man. So, Willie D, I got something to say to you too. Good job. That's a damn good interview with Nelly. You gave the brother an opportunity to speak. You asked all the right questions, the kind of questions that people wanted to know and the kind of answers that folks wanted emanating from him. Good job. See, that's what grown men do. I'm not gonna go back at Willie D because he came at me in the past. He had a difference of opinion than me. I wish that man nothing but the best. I hope his podcast continues to flourish and shine. He did a damn good job with that Nelly interview. Some of y'all others out here, y'all lost y'all ever loving minds. And Back to you, Mr. Boykin, respectfully, I got some things to point out that I'd like you to consider the next time you go on. The kind of diatribe you went on on cnn, by the way, again, that was on CNN with Abby Phillip, a reporter that now has her own show on cnn. And when I have time and she asked me to come, if I have time, I go and support her and Laura Coates because they're my sisters. I ain't apologizing for that to nobody. Ain't gonna stop me from going on Hannity. Ain't gonna stop me from going on Chris Cuomo. But if the sisters call and I got time in my schedule and I'm available, I happily do it because it helps them. I saw what you said and I trolled the audience to some degree what you said. I didn't play the whole sound, Keith Boykin, because we didn't have approval from CNN to play that sound. Otherwise I would have made sure to play it all so I could contextualize it properly. So I just want you to know that. But I heard what you said. I watched it from start to finish. And there was some things you left out. There's some things the Democrats always want to leave out. I'm sick and tired of the bullshit from the left. And if I sound ticked off, ladies and gentlemen, that's why I feel hoodwinked by the Democratic Party. That's why I'm pissed. I'm not pissed because I'm a Trump supporter. I didn't vote for him before. I didn't vote for him this time. I'm pissed off because I feel hoodwinked, and I don't like to feel hoodwinked. I'll elaborate with more about that in a minute. Stephen A. Smith Show Back with more in a second.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

All right, everybody, listen up. With all the big time sports action that's happening each and every day.

[Stephen A. Smith]

NFL games, NBA games, in the college football playoffs, the Stephen A. Smith show wants to make sure you are taking advantage of all of it.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

That's why we've partnered with Prizepix, the largest fantasy sports platform in all the land, to help you cash in on all your sports knowledge. You see, Prize Picks is a daily.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Fantasy app where you pick two or.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

More of your favorite players and then you select more or less on their.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Projected stats for the game.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Choose from any of your favorite players.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Travis Kelsey, Patrick Mahomes and Shay Gilgis Alexander, all in the same entry.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Sit back and watch.

[Stephen A. Smith]

The list is endless.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

And now with Prize Picks Flex Friday option, you can still cash out even if your lineup isn't perfect.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's right, every Friday.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Just look for the protected play. So win or your cash back and get this Prize Picks now offers MasterCard for quick and easy deposits into your.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Account during this sports season. Make your picks in less than 60 seconds and turn your sports opinions into real money all season long on prospects.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

So download the app today and use Code SAs to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Again, download the app and use Code SAs to get $50 instantly after your first $5 lineup. Prospects run your game.

[Talkspace Sponsor]

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself? Talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences, and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner or just need a little extra one on one support, Talkspace is here for you. Plus Talkspace works with most major insurers and most insured members have a zero dollar copay. No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code space80 when you go to talkspace.com, match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com save $80 with.

[Greg Rosenthal]

Code [e-mail] I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite sized stories of missing and murdered Black women, women and girls in America. There are several ways we can all do better at protecting Black women. My contribution is shining a light on our missing sisters and amplifying their disregarded stories. Stories like Tameka Anderson. As she drove toward Galvez, she was in contact with several people talking on the phone as she made her way to what should have been a routine transaction. But Tameka never bought the car and she never returned home that day. One Podcast, One Mission Save Our Girls. Join the search as we explore the chilling cases of missing and murdered Black women and girls. Listen to Hunting for Answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Welcome back to the Stephen A. Smith Show. I wanna make sure that as I go forward, everybody knows that I'm not getting personal and I'm not personally attacking anyone. I might attack what you say and how you feel and what you expressed, but I'm not going to attack you. And I'm certainly wasn't attacking Keith Boykin. I wasn't attacking anybody. Having said that, let me get to a more sensitive issue. Because if you go on video right now, if you scan the digital stratosphere, social media and beyond, you're going to see footage and pictures of Mexicans waiting for appointments for the CPB1 app as basically border patrol and people trying to come into the country or what have you, you're going to see an abundance of Mexican citizens crying. For anybody who enjoys that, who speaks of that with glee with a smile on their face, you really got to question their humanity because what's happened to them is incredibly unfortunate. Fortunate. Upon being inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States within the hour, President Donald Trump discontinued the CPB1 app, leaving migrants in Mexico heartbroken. Reading from the report here with many reportedly seen crying after their appointments were canceled. Coming in heavily. To deliver his promise of restricting immigration into the United States, Donald Trump banned the CBP1 app that facilitated the legal entry of nearly 1 million people into the United States by granting them work eligibility. The decision was announced just minutes after Trump was sworn in as the 47th president. The impact of this move was immediate as people in Mexico who were waiting for this CBP1 parole appointments were reportedly left devastated upon hearing the news. According to a post shared on X by a gentleman by the name of Arellis R. Hernandez, a journalist with the Washington Post, some migrants in Mexico were seen crying when they learned that their appointments were no longer valid. They denied entry. I'm going to repeat what I said seconds ago. Anybody who speaks on this subject in favor of Donald Trump's decision with glee, with joy coming out of their mouth, with their facial expressions, in their heart and soul, you really, really need to question their humanity. This is cruel. This is so unfortunate. This is so sad. But necessary. You see, when we're talking, and this is one of the problems that exist in politics, see, the one side only talks about the other side and what they do wrong. You ain't talking about what they did right. You're not talking about the wrong that they committed. That was a necessary wrong. You see, that's what happens when you let. When you allow 14 million immigrants to enter the country illegally.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

If you didn't do that, Joe Biden, who, by the way, made sure he.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Departed out of office pardoning or granting clemency to over 2,500 people for nonviolent.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Offenses, not to mention all of his family members. All of them. All of them. Okay. Made sure they couldn't be touched. If you didn't have open borders your first week on the job in 2021.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It might not have come to this. You see, Trump talked a lot of.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Smack, and this is the part that.

[Stephen A. Smith]

He'S not giving credit for. He talked a lot of smack about mass immigration and deportation and stuff like.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

That in his first term. He even talked about ending birthright, citizenry, citizenship. Remember that? But what did he actually do? He talked about building a wall, a great big wall, and the Mexicans are gonna pay for it. And then they deduced that he probably built about 2% of the wall. You know why he couldn't get things.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Done to the degree that he had.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Portended and had campaigned on back in 2016?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Because Barack Obama was the deporter in chief.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

He didn't advertise it, but he wasn't having it. He didn't allow folks to come en masse into our country. Nobody else allows it but us. Nobody. You can't go into Mexico like that. You can't go into Venezuela like that. You can't go anywhere in this world with those kind of open borders that Joe Biden okayed. Barack Obama didn't do it. And the reason why Trump had a hard time was because Barack Obama was the deporter in chief. They said he just didn't advertise it. He didn't boast or brag about it. But had he done it, had he not done it, I'm sorry. Then Trump could have lived up to his campaign promises. But you know why Trump couldn't do that when he was in office first go round? Because he would have mirrored Barack Obama or looked worse. We have to pay attention to what's going on. I bring up what Mr. Boykin said on CNN. Why? Because you're talking about what respect you have or lack thereof for black people who would perform at the inauguration. So obviously you feel the same way about people who voted for Trump. I did neither. I did neither. But when are you going to understand?

[Stephen A. Smith]

And I know you do, sir.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Just like I know my man Roland Martin does. Y'all know this better than me. This is y'all lane. It's not my lane compared to y'all. I got that part. Some people try to sit up there and say Joe Biden deported more people than Donald Trump. Whatever. You opened the borders. 14 million people crossed. It cost this country billions, which is a subject we'll get into in just a second. But the reason why I brought up what we got to start doing. We can't keep talking about the right. We can't keep talking about conservatives. We can't keep talking about what a danger Donald Trump is to our society without mentioning the left, meaning Biden. You want to bring up the Central park case?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Donald Trump was clearly wrong, should have apologized.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

But we all know that when that was broached, particularly during the Democratic National Convention and the campaign trail, it was used as a tool to point to what some would deem racial insensitivity or racist behavior. When America was worried about their own wallets, they don't care. Because the vast majority of Americans are still white in this country. Hispanics don't make up 30% of the population. Blacks don't make up 50% of the population. It's still a predominantly white society. That's not gonna fly with them anymore because they got Their own bills to worry about and the old streets to worry about walking in. They ain't falling for it. So we got that issue. You brought up Donald Trump and being a landlord and not wanting to rent to black folks.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Did you mention Joe Biden and his relationship with segregationist Robert Byrd.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

West Virginia, KKK member? To bring that up? See, if you bring up Donald Trump with that, you got to bring that up. If you bring up Donald Trump with that, you got to bring up Joe Biden, Senator, prominent senator, with Clinton's crime bill that was widely accused of contributing to mass incarceration that disproportionately affected black people in this nation.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Gotta bring that up at least.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Did you forget to bring that up, or did you not want to point.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Out how the Congressional Black Caucus has something to do with persuading Joe Biden to take the positions that he took as a senator at that particular moment in time, in the 90s, when Bill Clinton was in office? You gotta mention it. Did you have any problem with Joe.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Biden going on the Breakfast Club and.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Trying to define who was black and who wasn't in terms of you choosing him or Biden? If you don't vote for me, you vote for Trump.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

You ain't black.

[Stephen A. Smith]

We can't have it both ways is all I'm saying. And right now, that's what got the Democrats booted out of office. That's what has them being the minority in the House and the Senate and.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

How they've lost the White House. Yeah, there's some thing on social media.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right now with Elon Musk and giving a Nazi sign not once, but twice.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

You're hearing about Trump and how he's determined to do away with entitlement programs and what have you. And you've got minorities in this country wondering what the hell is going on. First you're attacking immigration, and then you're attacking entitlement programs. So everything is going to be catered to white people. I already know what everybody's saying. I'm not here to say you wrong. We gonna see. We gonna see.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But while we looking to see what Trump does, we already know what the left has done, which is why we've tired of hearing stuff like this. From Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, better known as aoc. Take a listen.

[Talkspace Sponsor]

Well, we are on the eve of an authoritarian administration.

[Greg Rosenthal]

This is what 21st century fascism is starting to look like. Republicans really model themselves after Orban's Hungary. And so you can look to see how Viktor Orban runs hungry to get A taste of how they will try to govern and control media and companies in the United States. And this is a kind of an entree to that as far as what we do. You know, some.

[Talkspace Sponsor]

This is a time of experimentation.

[Greg Rosenthal]

A lot of people will still use platforms, can still use platforms, but I also look towards platforms, places where you have more ownership as well and develop your audiences there. Like blue sky. You own your audiences at protocol, decentralized protocol.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Did you say control the media aoc, by the way, I appreciate your work. I appreciate what you do for your constituencies in the Bronx, but. Constituency in the Bronx. But did. Did you talk about controlling the media? Is that what you brought up? So the left has had no control, huh? So the left has not engaged in bullying tactics. So woke culture didn't exist where people had to make sure they. They echoed the right pronoun in order to keep their job security. Where you had to sit up there and God forbid, you. You. You literally challenged somebody with regards to transgender issues, and you were considered to be transphobic. Where one minute we were called upon to protect the young ladies and the women in our society, and then that got thrown out the window the second a male was transitioning to female and wanted to participate in female sports. And then all of a sudden, it wasn't any consistency with the stuff that.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Had been being spewed beforehand and ultimately enforced. So that is the Republicans that we need to be worried about, but not y'all. Y'all would never do such a thing. Oh, my goodness. It would never be you. It would never be y'all. That would never happen. Huh? Really? Really?

[Stephen A. Smith]

This is exactly why Trump is in office. Racist, fascist, and all of these other names.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Yet that's what you do when you're on the left, not paying attention to the fact that a vast majority of American people tired of that. When you gonna tell us a message we want to hear? When you gonna tell us a message we need to hear right now?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Let me read to you.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Read to you from the Wall Street Journal today. Allow me to put on my reading glasses and read this to you verbatim from the Wall Street Journal. President Trump plans to sign executive orders to overhaul border and energy policies and end diversity programs across the federal government, unwinding signature Biden administration policies on the first day of his second term. Trump's immigration plans include ending birth citizenship, deploying troops, and declaring a national emergency at the southern border, as well as ending asylum by speeding deportations. Trump said as he was sworn in on Monday, quote, with these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense. Those were his words.

[Stephen A. Smith]

What ammunition would he have to say such a thing? How about everything I pointed out? Trump didn't win the election. You all lost. You put him in there.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

And let me get real raw with this. It got so bad with Biden in.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Office, Racism was thrown aside.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Transgender issues don't make up 1% of this population. Black people make up nearly 14% of this population. And for a vast majority of the last few years, that issue has been more important than issues pertaining to black people.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It seems.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

That is. That is just the truth.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And I didn't even bring up the money. We don't have money for police officers. We don't have money to keep the streets safe. We don't have money to make sure there's no inflation or that if there is inflation, it doesn't drastically affect us. Because you got enough people in America making a hard earned, honest, fruitful living. But we got enough money to let in 14 million immigrants illegally. We got enough money for $53 million in prepaid credit cards in the state of New York. We got enough money to allow 17 cities in the United States to be sanctuary cities at least. We got enough money to throw billions to Ukraine. We got enough money for all of that, but we don't have enough money to address American needs. I've said to y'all on repeated occasion, what is my ultimate claim to success? It happened in 2009 when I got fired and I had to take a long, hard look on myself, at myself. It's in my book, Straight Shooter, a memoir of second chances, of first takes. Really should read it. It's very motivational and inspirational. You really should check it out. What did I say back then? An epiphany hit me, and I learned to wake up every day because 99% of us have a boss.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

And I learned to wake up every.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Day and learned that my mantra is.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

How do I make my bosses more money?

[Stephen A. Smith]

How do I get some of it? Because the system is rigged, ladies and gentlemen. The power brokers that be, almost all of whom are white, have designed a system to ensure they're going to get theirs.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

And in order for you to get.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yours, even while you're getting yours, they gonna get theirs.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

You just saw me talking about Drake and Kendrick Lamar the other day, both of them under the Universal Music Group umbrella.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You don't think there's white folks in power at the Universal Music Group umg? You don't think so? You don't Think all these artists out here that's making money, there's somebody white near the top or at the top that's making sure they get their share. Agents, lawyers, accountants. The system is designed to make sure they get paid. The trick is figuring out how you get paid, too. And what the Democrats did over the last few years was somehow managed to figure out a way to convince you, somehow, some way, you were going to.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Omit, eliminate and eradicate them and have.

[Stephen A. Smith]

The fruits of your labor all to yourself.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

And the Trump administration is a declaration of the obvious.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Hold on, not so fast. Our system don't work that way.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

You can go ahead and get yours.

[Stephen A. Smith]

We gonna get ours. We ain't gonna sit here doling out all of this money with one thing after another that ultimately compromises our pockets instead of bloat them. That's what happened. That's the truth. And the comeuppance arrived to the left because what they tried to do was eliminate an entire system of government that the American people are not only comfortable with, but addicted to. And everything you see right now is them reminding you of that. That's why Trump and his administration teased Biden out the door, showing a picture of him in a White House and an eviction notice. That's why Elon Musk is up there doing whatever damn symbols and signals he's doing. It's why change came. And as alarming as the change is, it seemed closer to most American citizens, to normalcy than what we've been experiencing the past four years. This ain't about the right anymore. More, it's about what the left tried to turn this nation into and guilted us and fear mongered us and intimidated us into supporting. No more. No more. Independence is the way to go. The hell with the right and the left. Do what's best for you and do what's best for this country. Bump what they think, what they feel, or how you should be. Enough's enough. Independence is the way to go. Because of that reason more than anything else, one person who should just be quiet, not independent, but quiet, is Scottie Pippen. I'm. I'll tell you why in a minute. You're watching the Stephen A. Smith Show. Back with more in a second.

[Talkspace Sponsor]

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know, when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself, talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace. Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences, and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner or just need a little extra one on one support, Talkspace is here for you. Plus, Talkspace works with most major insurers and most insured members have a $0 copay. No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code SPACE80 when you go to talkspace.com match with a licensed therapist today at Talkspace. Do save $80 with code [e-mail] I'm.

[Greg Rosenthal]

Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite sized stories of missing and murdered Black women and girls in America. There are several ways we can all do better at protecting black women. My contribution is shining a light on our missing sisters and amplifying their disregarded stories. Stories. Stories like Tameka Anderson. As she drove toward Galvez, she was in contact with several people talking on the phone as she made her way to what should have been a routine transaction. But Tameka never bought the car and she never returned home that day. One Podcast, one Mission. Save Our Girls. Join the searches we expect. Explore the chilling cases of missing and murdered Black women and girls. Listen to Hunting for Answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Welcome back to the Stephen A. Smith show right here over the digital areas of YouTube and of course, iHeartRadio. Once again, this is the day we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I know it didn't sound like we were doing that over the first two segments because unfortunately there were issues that we had to delve into that seems antithetical to that kind of stuff. It's a shame. It really, really is. One of the greatest human beings that have ever existed on this planet Earth. A man of peace, of sacrifice, who loved his people, who loved what he thought this country could be. On a day like today where we celebrate his, you know, just everything about him, It's Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. It's not his birthday. His birthday was January 15th. Today is the day we celebrate him. A day designated just for him. It seemed weird, to say the least, that on a day that we're celebrating him is the day that Trump would be inaugurated. And obviously there's a lot that black folks may feel they should be complaining about when it comes to Trump. But there's an awful lot of black folks out there, a heightened level of black folks who have supported him and felt that liberal policies are the kind of things that they should have been complaining about more. And they showed that at the voting booth. So it is what it is. We are where we are. But no matter where we are in this country, we always pause to celebrate one of the greatest human beings God ever placed on this earth. An angel, without question. Let me say this, moving on to the world of sports. Before I get into Scottie Pippen and his appearance on the Patrick Bet David podcast, pbd, to be exact, a couple of things I wanted to point to. Number one, I'm here in Atlanta, Georgia for the national championship game tonight between the Ohio State Buckeyes and of course, Notre Dame. Notre games. Notre Dame's got one chance. They have to be incredibly physical. They have to be the more physical team. There's no other way that they're going to beat Ohio State. Ohio State just have skilled individuals at practically every damn position. Jeremiah Smith is the truth. A freshman, he's probably the best receiver in football. He is sensational. Will Howard can throw that football. Igbuka is no joke as well. Trevion Henderson running out of the backfield is no joke. Ohio State, with their $20 million nil roster, with 11 NFL caliber players having return to the lineup this season, they're the best team right now. There is no way that Notre Dame should win this game unless they have a lot of luck and that's going to be facilitated by an elevated level of physicality. Their defense is no joke. But offensively, Riley Lynn has got to run the football effectively and he's got to throw the football accurately and not kill himself by committing turnovers. So I want to get that out the way. I've got Ohio State winning this game. I would love to see Marcus Freeman win the game. A Martin Luther King holiday in Atlanta, Georgia, a black coach winning the national championship in football for the first time and it's oh my Lord, I would love it. I just don't see them beating the Ohio State without an absolutely perfect game and complete panic and choke job on the part of Ohio State. So I got Ohio State winning this game, number one. Number two, we saw Lamar Jackson lose last night in the AFC divisional playoff game to the Buffalo Bills. I know he committed a turnover through a Bad interception. I know. He also committed a foolhardy turnover and losing the ball that was ultimately scooped up by Von Miller and returned a few yards before Buffalo scored those seven points. But I can't put the weight of the loss to the Buffalo Bills on Lamar Jackson. Mark Andrews is one of the most reliable tight ends in all of football. He got stripped of the ball in the middle of the field while they were driving by Terrell Bernard. I saw Todd Monkin again, knowing that the Ravens were running the football effectively, still refusing to run it as much as he should. First game they blew out Buffalo 35 to 10. During the regular season they accumulated 271 yards rushing. Last night it was 176. Not bad at all. But you still could have ran the ball more. Then I saw Lamar Jackson drive the Baltimore Ravens down the field 88 yards in crunch time with the game on the line, needing to having to have it 27:19 was the deficit. You needed the touchdown and the two point conversion. Lamar Jackson got you that touchdown and then he threw the two point conversion right into the hands of Mark Andrews who dropped it. Lamar Jackson was not perfect. They got to stop turning the football over. Those turnovers don't happen. They probably win this game. But it was still theirs to win. And Mark Andrews messed up not once but twice. Cannot, can't take that away from Lamar Jackson. Last sports subject is Jaden Daniels for the Washington commander. Ladies and ladies and gentlemen, this brother's the truth. Now I know that the Detroit Lions had a bunch of dudes on injured reserve, on the injured list, rather on the defensive side of the ball. I don't give a damn. Jaden Daniels is that dude. Now he's got the biggest challenge of his life going up against the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend in Philadelphia in the NFC Championship game for the right to go to the Super Bowl. I get that part. But I will remind all of y'all that Jayden Daniels has played in two playoff games as a rookie in his career he's accumulated over 650 yards, six touchdowns, three interceptions, completing 70 of his passes, 65 of his passes. I'm sorry. The brother's the real deal. No panic in them and Washington knows what they have on his hands. He's better than RG3 was. An RG3 was fantastic before Holodina nearly had his leg amputated with that vicious hit. Even before then, as great as RG3 looked, he didn't look like this. Jayden Daniels is the truth and a half. And if he beats Philadelphia, with Vic Fangio's defense coming at him and he finds a way to pull this off. I think Jaden Daniels might win the Super Bowl. I think Jaden Daniels might be Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen. I don't know that yet, but I think he could. I just want to say that. Now let me turn my attention to Scottie Pippen, six time NBA champion, Hall of Famer, one of the top 75 players in the history of basketball, who recently sat down with Patrick, bet David and turned heads with a lot of things that he was saying that quite frankly, I felt were utterly nonsensical. Give me, take one with Scottie Pippen talking about six rings versus LeBron. Listen to this.

[Scottie Pippen]

Would you put yourself ahead of LeBron as a team standpoint? My success as a team is more successful than LeBron. I got six rings. Okay, so then if I, if I talk to an NBA owner, by the way, this is very helpful because. This is very helpful because for me as a fan, I've followed this. So if I speak from an NBA standpoint, owner, and I want to find an all around player to be my number one, you think the average owner is going to pick you or LeBron? I don't know. Got it. Okay. So that you want individual accolades or you want championships? Because I didn't chase mine.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Scotty, come on, bro. Excuse my language. That's some straight. Stop. Stop. I challenge anybody to find me a better defensive player than Scotty Pippen. Michael Jordan has said on many occasions he doesn't win six rings without Scotty. And I get that. Scotty, you were never that dude offensively stopped. Stop it. Now. I'm as critical of LeBron James as anybody who's fair minded. Not these haters out here and not these people that you know. I'm neither a hater nor am I the one that kisses his tush every chance you get. LeBron James is one of the top two, three players in the history of basketball and you know it. How do we know you know that there's certain times you flirted with him being better than Michael Jordan and you know that's blasphemy. But you were never that offensive player. Scotty, you know how we know? Because when Jordan retired the first go round, you had an opportunity to be that dude. You were an All Star. You're an All Star game mvp. You took them to the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Hugh Hollins call was awful. Against Hubert Davis. On you, I got that. Against you, rather on Hubert Davis, I got that part But Scottie Pippen, you didn't get it done. And if you were that dude, how come you couldn't be like Kobe and be like, yo, I want to. I want Shaq gone. I want to show you what the hell I could do without Shaq. In your case, without Michael Jordan. No, when Michael Jordan was on, you kicked up your feet to show you were wearing Jordans, begging him to stop playing baseball and to come back. You forgot that, Scotty. The hell are you talking about? And we can accuse LeBron James of a lot of things. The brother got four rings, Scotty. He's got four. He's been to 10 NBA Finals. And by the way, he never had a migraine in a game seven. It never happened. Only to you. But I digress. Let's hear from Scottie Pippen again, because he wasn't. He didn't stop there. He was talking about who his goat is. Magic is goat. Listen to this.

[Scottie Pippen]

It's not even worth talking about the two of them. When you ask who's better, LeBron or Michael, you can't ask me, who's the goat between LeBron and Michael. Neither one of them are goats. They both won differently. You can't put them at the top of the pinnacle. Magic Johnson, to me, is a bigger goat than anybody because of how he led, how he brought a whole team, how when the greatest scorer in the game, Kareem, was not there, and him as a rookie center, steps in and plays a position that no one even knew he could play. That's transcending what you can do as a player.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

See, that's the bullshit right there. That bullshit right there. Right, right there, Right there. You just told her yourself. I'm gonna get to that in a second. Once again, great job by Patrick Bett Davis. Great job. But Scottie didn't stop there when it came to the goat. Listen to what he said here about himself.

[Scottie Pippen]

You saying I want to be remembered as the greatest of all time? How much of that was really what you believed in? How much of to sell a book? And how much of that was somebody behind closed doors flattering? You saying you didn't get enough credit for what you did during the Chicago's run? I think it's just me believing in myself, in the way that I played the game. I did it where I won. I played the right way. My teammates loved the way that I played, and people, my peers respected the way that I played. And I feel like that I got out of the game everything that I put into it. Flattery Is divisive to put a little wedge between you. I know it's not a comfortable thing to probably talk about, but did any of that happen where someone was saying, come on, Scotty, Michael would have never won six without you. Come on, Scotty.

[Stephen A. Smith]

This.

[Scottie Pippen]

And Michael said it himself. But from your standpoint, no, it's. That's. You know, the reason why I say stuff like that is because when you play the game the way that I played it, you play on both ends. Why can't I say that?

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's okay.

[Scottie Pippen]

You can say that. So no one's saying you can't say yeah and say it and mean it. Oh, so you do believe that I'm saying yeah. Look at my. Look at the stats. I got six rings, too. Look at my accolades. I got defensive player, all NBA. So playing the game the right way and winning means something to me. And it meant a lot to me. I don't have the MVPs, but guess what? Somebody that was with me got it.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Oh, my God. Drug test him now. I want test. Take him into. Get a urine sample, get a blood test. Drug test him now. You got to be kidding me. I can't believe what we just heard. I can't believe it. And damn it, Patrick bet Davis. I love you. But let me tell you something right now. If you're trying to tell me that Scottie Pippen is justified in calling himself the best, you need to be drug tested, too. All of you. All of you. How you gonna be. How you the best when you weren't even the best on your own team? How you the best when you weren't even the number one option? I mean, what. Oh, this hurts me because I don't want to do this. If you're the best, why would you call it for Jordan? If you're the best, why were you pouting on the bench when Phil Jackson called Tony Kukoch's number instead of yours in a playoff series against the Knicks? If you the best, why were. Why was Bill Cartwright in the locker room crying while excoriating you from abandoning your teammates? You led. You led. You also quit. You quit. You had a migraine in 87. I mean, you had a migraine in a game seven against the Pistons. Michael Jordan was left crying on a bus in his daddy's arms talking about, when we gonna win? Bill Cartwright already told you he was crying. What are you talking about?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Michael Jordan averaged over 30 about eight or nine times. You played defense.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Michael Jordan wasn't first team. All NBA defensive team nine times. You had to play defense because you weren't that great offensively. Tremendous athleticism. 6, 9. Could dunk on anybody. As Patrick Ewing would tell you, had a sporadic jump shot. You were big enough and physical enough and talented enough to score in an open court. But our number one option, Key Dupont, that wasn't your game. That was LeBron's game. That wasn't your game. That was Kobe's game. That wasn't your game. That was Michael Jordan's game. Hell, Vince Carter was the number one option. Helen Iverson was the number one option. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Goat? You.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You wanted the great ones.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

You wanted a great one, Scotty. But the goat, when your teammate was Scott, was Michael Jordan. Oh, by the way, I didn't even bring up when you went to Portland. Cause you wanted your money. You went to Portland. Wasn't that you and Portland Trail blazers up about 15 in that game. 7. When Kobe threw the alley oop to Shaq, who brought down the house, wasn't that your team? Was y'all one trip away from the finals? Wasn't that two? What are you talking about? Are you talking about. I got a question. Patrick bet David. I got a question. Because you like your basketball. You know your basketball. A lot of people don't realize how much you know about basketball. What a big NBA fan you are. I got a question for you. Was there ever a time Patrick bet Davis.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's right. I'm calling you out, my brother, because I love you. You know I love you and the crew. Y'all know that. I was just hanging out with you the other day.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Let me ask you a question, man. Is there any time in your lifetime watching basketball that you either said yourself or heard somebody say Scottie Pippen was.

[Stephen A. Smith]

In a goat conversation ever?

[Daniel Jeremiah]

I got another question for you.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Has Scottie Pippen all of these years ever said that he's been asked about Jordan and LeBron or Jordan vs. LeBron or Jordan vs. Kobe forever?

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Scottie Pippen never told nobody.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Nah, it's actually me that should be in that conversation. But the book is out now, and the book's been out for a while. And he's still salty about the Last Dance because it was about Jordan instead of the team not realizing the power of television.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

And television knew that selling, talking about.

[Stephen A. Smith]

The Bulls as the last dance, if.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

It didn't come through the prism of Jordan would have never been popular. But he doesn't get that this television, it's film. If it didn't go through the prism of Jordan. It'll never sold, but neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Do.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

We have a picture of his book? Do we have a picture of the book cover? I mean, we got to get that at some point.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Put it up on full screen. We got to do that.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

We got to do that for Scotty.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Because clearly he wants to sell a book.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Because we heard this before. We ain't heard this before. You gotta be kidding me. Yeah, I'll be kidding me. Oh, my Lord. Everybody need to get drug tested first. Even me. Hell, I need to get drug tested.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I might start smoking some weed just so I can get.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Let me do something. I might start smoking some weed just to get this damn thing just damn thinking out of my head. This is blasphemy.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Better than LeBron, better than MJ. Come on, man. Come on, man. You know better than that. I'm gonna leave this alone for now. I might have to revisit this in a couple of days, but I gotta move on. Cause I gotta get on out of here.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Maybe the biggest story of the week.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And bigger than the NFL playoffs and this Scottie Pippen stuff and all of that, any inauguration, combined with the shutdown.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

And subsequent restoration of Tick Tock, which.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Is being credited to Trump by many.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

By the way, including those at Tick Tock.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That'll be up next. That's what I need to discuss. R.O. connor, representative out of the 17th district of California, Congressional figure. He's up next. Don't go away. Got something to show y'all about Tick Tock. You don't want to miss it. Before I get on out of here today, right here on the Stephen A. Smith Show. Cause I gotta head on over to the national championship game between Notre Dame and the Ohio State tonight in Atlanta, Georgia. Let me touch on this story involving Tick Tock, the restoration of Tick Tock, because it was canceled. It blacked out. You know, it was blacked out in the United States of America, as you can see there. You know, people crying, kids crying, everybody going crazy and stuff like that. And then it ultimately was restored. And naturally, now President Donald Trump, then President elect Donald Trump, was taking credit for its restoration at its celebration and stuff like that. But before I get into that, I want to show you Donald Trump speaking about TikTok years ago when he was the president, and then him speaking about it recently and taking credit for its restoration. Take a look.

[Ro Khanna]

When I wanted to disable TikTok three years ago, I was met with opposition from Rhinos, Democrats and everyone else. They actually went to court in an effort to stop me. We're looking at TikTok. We may be banning TikTok, we may be doing some other things. There are a couple of options, but a lot of things are happening. So we'll see what happens. But we are looking at a lot of alternatives with respect to TikTok. We gave them until September 15th. After that they got a close shop. Okay, that's Tick Tock. We're looking at Tick Tock.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

We're thinking about making a decision.

[Ro Khanna]

We're going to be watching the hearings today very closely because there's no question that what the big tech companies are doing. And as of today, Tick Tock is back. So, you know, I did a little TikTok thing. We have a guy, TikTok Jack, he's a young kid, like 21 years old. And we hired this guy and I went on TikTok. Can you believe what I'll do to win an election? And we went on TikTok. And Republicans have never won the young vote, the youth vote. They win a lot of votes, but they never won the youth vote. We won the youth vote by 336 points. So I like TikTok.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I like it. Now he likes it. Amazing what election time can do for you. So now he's got TikTok, because the executive for TikTok was at the inauguration, of course, Jeff Bezos for Amazon was there. Mark Zuckerberg for Meta, Facebook, Instagram, he was there. And of course, Elon Musk for X is there. Notice how you're now president is insulating himself with individuals who control airwave, spin, etc. Because all the newspapers in the country, all the television networks, they don't have the reach these streaming platforms have. And you have an opportunity to control dissemination of messages the world over. Everybody don't have ESPN and Fox News and all of this stuff, but they got Tick Tock, they got X, they got meta, Facebook, Instagram, that kind of thing. They got that these, most of them do. Anyway, before I get to Representative Connor on his show with me, I wanted you to see what Roland Martin had to say about this whole Tick Tock brouhaha. And now President Donald Trump. Take a look. So let me explain to y'all real quick. The con artist, Donald Trump. It was Donald Trump who called for the ban of Tick Tock. It was Donald Trump who pushed Congress to get it done. More Republicans voted to ban Tick Tock than Democrats. Go look at Charlie Kirk, okay? Trump's biggest ass kisser, you know what he was saying? He was tweets saying, we've got to get rid of Tick Tock. The Chinese government owns it now. It's, oh, we have to save Tick Tock. So Donald Trump is going to try to set him up as oh, I saved Tick Tock when he was the one who initiated the ban. Y'all gotta stop falling for the Okie doke with this con artist, okay? Just stop falling for it. And so if he tries to force to be sold to American, he wants it to be sold to his conservative folks so they can control Tick Tock, Twitter, meta, Instagram and all the platforms. Don't be conned. Exactly.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

Roland Martin is absolutely right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

The only thing Roland Martin did wrong in that video was the outfit that he was wearing because the Houston, Texas just got sent home by the Kansas City Chiefs. Although controversially, I might add, because so many people thought that that phantom call against in favor of Patrick Mahomes against Will Anderson and those boys was ridiculous. But the only thing wrong with what Roland Martin showed you there was the outfit he was wearing because they home and Kansas City Chiefs are in the AFC championship game yet again. Having said all of that, he's not wrong. We could see that. Boo Boo the fool could see that. We know exactly what Donald Trump is doing with this regard because he wants TikTok to be purchased, you know, away from ByteDance, which is China owned and owned by some US corporation, probably some conservative arm. And yet as a result, they'd be beholden to him and his messengering. And so you have a situation where It'd be, again, TikTok, Meta, Facebook, Instagram, X, et cetera. You know, Amazon with its distribution arm, because it ain't just goods and services they got. They got a streaming arm itself that is formidable and is growing every single day with Jeff Bezos at the helm. Okay, I got news for you. Look at who Donald Trump has surrounded himself with. He's insulated himself. And at any given moment, as the President of the United States, he's going to have a heavy hand. The Dems saw this, but you still messed up because you didn't have a candidate to beat them. It's that simple. You did this to yourself. That's just the truth. But that's a different subject for another day. Staying with TikTok, there is a Democratic representative that's been doing good work and has been saying some very productive things on this subject for very substantive reasons. He is a representative out of the 17th district of California. He is Mr. Ro Khanna. He is with me right now Representative Connor, how are you, sir? How's everything going?

[Ro Khanna]

Good, Steven. Thank you for having me on your show. I've been a fan for years, so I'm glad to be on.

[Stephen A. Smith]

The honor and privilege is mine. So before I even get into these questions about TikTok, I'm assuming that yourself, your family, your homes are safe and everything is okay with you out in California. I think it'd be appropriate to start there, sir.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

How are.

[Stephen A. Smith]

How are things?

[Ro Khanna]

I appreciate it. I'm up in the north of the state, Silicon Valley, so we've been safe. Unfortunately, some of the constituents have family friends in la, which has just been devastated. I'm glad we were talking earlier and I'm glad your home is okay. But I'm sure you know a ton of people who just lost their homes, devastated. Some people haven't been able to move back in. It's just been awful. And I hope the country can come together to rebuild and forget the politics. People's lives are at stake. Their homes are at stake. We gotta come together on this.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I completely agree with you, absolutely. And that's something that we're gonna talk about in the. In the days, the weeks and the months to come. Make no mistake about that. But one of the other things that have basically rocked the foundation of Americ, least for. At least for a little bit, was the specter of TikTok being canceled. And obviously, you've been a preeminent voice on that issue. Just to educate my audience, tell the audience about what the whole TikTok issue is about and what your position on it has been all along.

[Ro Khanna]

There is a concern that TikTok is owned by a Chinese Communist Party's affiliate, some company connected to the Chinese Communist Party. Now, 60% of the investors are American, but the concern was, could our data go to the Chinese government or could the Chinese government interfere with the algorithm? And what I said is, okay, if you have those concerns, first of all, show evidence of it. Show evidence that it's TikTok doing it and not data brokers or other social media. And let's pass a law saying it's illegal to take any American data and give it to the Chinese Communist Party. Or pass a law saying the Chinese Communist Party shouldn't be interfering on any social media algorithm, but instead what the law did, is it called for banning it? And I'll tell you, I talked to some of the people on TikTok. Folks think it's all song and dance or just sports.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's not.

[Ro Khanna]

I mean, I talked to a mom her husband cheated on her, she's got four kids, two toddlers, two special needs kids. She was broke on one of her friends couches for four months. And then she started telling her story on TikTok and she makes 60 to 70 grand to take care of her kids. Someone else is paying rent and all of this was going to get shut down. And so we had 1.3 million people in 48 hours sign a petition saying keep this up. And fortunately, even though it went dark, it's now up. And I don't think banning the app.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Is the solution when people wanted it banned. Who exactly were these people? Number one.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

And number two, what was the most.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Profound argument you were concerned was being made to indeed ban Tik Tok?

[Ro Khanna]

Well, a lot of these people were China Hawks. They, they said that we can't have China have any control over Americans data. And if I actually thought that our data was getting in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party through TikTok and that there was no other way to prevent it, I'd be for the ban. But there are other solutions. The Texas Project, for example, says make sure all the data is managed by Oracle and you can't have any of the data leave the United States. If I really thought the Chinese Communist Party was doing this, algorithms to manipulate things, I'd be concerned. That was the concern. But look, Steven, I. We have a history in this country of using national security concerns for government overreach. We interned all the Japanese with FDR, McCarthy era. We called everyone a communist. I think this was government overreach.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You know, I thought about that myself. The thing that kind of scared me, what have you, is when they kept like, you called them China hawks. I mean that's, that's an appropriate way to label those folks. But when they brought in issues of using these apps, these algorithms, et cetera, to sort of spy on us, to indoctrinate our children with certain things. And then you see, I have two daughters and you see how addicted these young minds are to TikTok. The part about adults using it as a small business essentially to generate revenue for themselves. That's entirely different than youngsters using it. It being a form of education for them, a news outlet for them, in various situations, many situations, I might add. What about those China Hawks who made those concerns? How much did that move you, if at all?

[Ro Khanna]

Well, the young people reaching out moved me a lot. I had a lot of nephews and nieces who I've been in Congress eight years, who have never cared about a single thing I did. Who suddenly started texting me saying, please save TikTok. And there's a lot of good uses of TikTok, even for young folks, whether they're building community of whether they're learning on education. Now, social media has harms, and I'm not going to deny that some of the social media has harmed young people, particularly young girls with eating disorder issues or suicidal thoughts. And so, fine, let's pass. There's a Kids Online Safety act that says let's create a standard so that any of these apps, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, should not be proliferating things to young folks that are going to cause harm. But you can't just ban the app and take away a sense of community for folks. And this evening, most of the people in Congress. Here's the hypocrisy that I want to point out. They voted for the ban, and then they go tell their campaign teams, go get me the most followers on TikTok, because that's where the voters are. And everyone, every member of Congress, every senator, everyone running for president wanted to grow their following. So there was a lot of hypocrisy in the whole thing.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

We saw it ahead of TikTok.

[Stephen A. Smith]

The owner of TikTok, he was seen at now President Donald Trump's inauguration. What are we to make of that in your eyes?

[Ro Khanna]

I'm sure they have some kind of an agreement. You know, I believe that he's probably trying to curry favor with Trump. In my view, we shouldn't allow Trump to be the savior here. It should be a position that even Democrats say that there should be American investment but not a ban. But my guess is that that was orchestrated with Trump and the TikTok CEO, that it would go dark for 12 hours and then Trump would reinstate it. And they probably have some agreement already.

[Stephen A. Smith]

How much from a percentage standpoint, Representative Connor, how much would you say in terms of support you received from the left as opposed to the other side of the aisle on the right? How would you, percentage wise, what kind of percentage would you place on a level of support you've received with your position on this?

[Ro Khanna]

You know, it's been both, actually. I think a lot of it. On the TikTok position, of the 1.3 million signatures, probably over half, because I'm on the left and as a Democratic politician, over half of it has been the left. But we've also had conservatives. And the reality is there are a lot of young people who have out of the mainstream views, whether it's on foreign policy, whether it is on policies that are more conservative. And they're saying, you get all these politicians saying, we want young people involved. Then they get involved on these apps and they're taking those apps away. So I, you know, I think we're moving in this country not to left, right, but more towards people questioning the establishment and wondering, are you for people or are you going to just do what this beltway establishment has done? And frankly, I think for the Democratic Party to get on the right side of this, we gotta be listening to people. It's one of the reasons I enjoy your commentary even when I don't agree with you, because you don't just listen to what the think tank and groups tell you. You know, one of the biggest myths in Washington, they tell you 200 groups are for something. And I want to know how many people, because a lot of times it's 200 groups with 130 people and they just make these organizations up and they're not listening to people on the ground.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You know, I really, really appreciate it more than, you know, you saying that about me, Congressman? Because here's the thing. I don't pretend to be right all the time, not by a long shot. What I'm saying is the information that is available to us, I look at it and deduce what my opinion should be based on the information that's given. Somebody like you is significantly more informed. You'll know more than I do.

[Daniel Jeremiah]

So will others.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But you know the argument I make to people like that, I say to them, I'm the voter, because most voters aren't, as you know, in tuned with all of the intel and all of the information. What are you going to say to the voter out there? You don't know? Excuse me. They know enough to decide what they want to vote about and what they want to vote in favor of. And I think it's important that you mention that because I think that's one of the things that so many people miss. They're really ready to come back and talk about what's right and wrong as opposed to looking at the information that's disseminated and understanding. People are basing their feelings, their emotions, their passions based off of the intel that has been presented to them. So I think it's important to say that. Having said that, there are different versions of TikTok in other countries. Could you explain why that is and whether or not that is a concern you may have?

[Ro Khanna]

Well, look, this is one of the reasons other countries like India or others have banned TikTok because they felt that TikTok was going to propagate false information or propaganda. A couple things. One, I actually think the free speech tradition in America is very strong and there are multiple apps and we can educate young people and our citizens to have common sense. I wouldn't under self undersell yourself, Stephen. I mean, you may not have all the details, but you've got common sense and you have an independent opinion. Like, I don't know, a lot of times I see people on tv, I can tell you exactly what they're going to say. I can finish their sentences. In your case, I don't know. Is he going to be for the Democratic position? Is he going to agree sometimes with the independent or Republican position? Because it's common sense. That's what most people are. And I think what we need to focus in this country on is making sure in high school and junior high school kids have the ability to think for themselves and then be on multiple platforms instead of being so hyper concerned about where they're going to get their information.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Got it. Should the fact that TikTok is banned in mainland China be of concern? Because it clearly is. I mean, I'm not, I don't want to accuse you of not being concerned about it, but certainly it doesn't supersede which whether you feel. Are you concerned about that at all?

[Ro Khanna]

Well, I'm concerned about China in general banning not just TikTok. But why? Why do they ban X? I mean, I think Elon Musk had a reasonable point that if we're going to allow TikTok, you should be allowing X, you should be allowing Instagram. But look, China is not the United States of America. I mean, the reason everyone around the world wants to come to the United States of America is because we're a free country. Because you can have differences of opinion. I mean, yeah, China has created a huge manufacturing base, they've created a trillion dollar export economy, but you can't have an opinion there. You can't criticize gping, you can't go run for office, you can't be a commentator with a podcast. I don't want to live in that society. So is China playing fear? No. But does that mean that America should model ourselves over China? Absolutely not. We're a better organized society.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You've led legislation, right? To keep the app. Where do you go from here? Because it was canceled and now it's back up, but we don't know how long. What do you think is next?

[Ro Khanna]

Well, Rand Paul and I have Legislation to try to repeal the legislation that calls for a ban on TikTok and have something more common sense that says protect Americans data with a data privacy law, protect American social media from foreign interference by the Chinese Communist Party or other adversaries. But if that legislation doesn't pass and it's an uphill battle to get enough House and Senate members, I'm going to work with Michael Waltz, who's President Trump's national security adviser. He and I were colleagues on the House Armed Services Committee in Congress and to work with him to see how do we have a resolution to this so that you don't have this drama happening every 90 days, but that we get TikTok operational compliant, assuring people that their data is going to be safe.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Representative Ro Khanna, Representative, congressman from the 17th district of California. It's been an honor and a privilege to have you on today, sir. Thank you so much. You take care.

[Ro Khanna]

My honor. Thank you for having me and talking about this.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yes, sir. You heard what he had to say. It's a lot to think about, and especially taking into account what he explained and what Roland Martin pointed out and what we've seen is the visuals alone. We need to keep our eyes on what exactly is going to happen with Tick Tock. Yes, it's been restored, but for how long? What legislation, if any, will be passed now that the Republicans have control of the House and the Senate and the White House? And then in the aftermath of all of that, if it ultimately is confiscated from the hands of some Chinese entity and it's placed in the hands of someone in America or businesses in America, how beholden will those businesses be to Donald Trump and how will the narratives be influenced? Influenced now and for years to come? You can call it whatever you want. They could call it fascism or whatever the case may be. Hell, in the end, we don't know. They might be right. But all it would mean, if you're a Democrat, if you're a Democratic representative, if you're a member of that side of the aisle, all it would mean is that you did it, not the American people. Had you taken care of us the way you were supposed to, by making sure the right things were important to the constituency, it would not have come to this. It's on y'all. Not us. Not people like me who voted for you, and not people like Donald Trump supporters who voted against you and voted for him. You did this. He was done in 2021. You resurrected him. Live with that. We know we have to, but we damn sure don't have to listen to you tell us, especially when you're the ones at fault in the end. I'm out y'all. Stephen A Signing off. See you in a couple of days. Peace and love.

[Talkspace Sponsor]

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself, Talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences, and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner or just need a little extra one on one support, Talkspace is here for you. Plus, Talkspace works with most major insurers and most insured members have a zero dollar copay. No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code space80 when you go to talkspace.com match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com save $80 with code space80@ what's up everyone?

[Greg Rosenthal]

It's Greg Rosenthal and I'm teaming up with the King of Spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL draft season. From DJs, mock drafts to my top 101, free agents will have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.