← Straight Shooter with Stephen A.
Straight Shooter with Stephen A.
Stephen A's Take: Stephen A lays out Putin's potential roadmap to reclaim former Soviet Union.
00:20:40
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- [00:00]
Stephen A. Smith
You're listening to an iHeart podcast at.
- [00:05]
Chris Cuomo
And T has a new guarantee because most things in life are not guaranteed like getting through self checkout by yourself. Not guaranteed in a world where nothing is guaranteed at and T is bringing something new to the table at and T is introducing a guarantee with connectivity you depend on, deals you want and service you deserve or they make it right. Learn more@att.com guarantee@&t connecting changes everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.comguarantee for details. The Made for this Mountain podcast exists to empower listeners to rise above their inner struggles and face the mountain in front of them. So during Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast, focus on your emotional well being and then climb that mountain.
- [00:55]
Megyn Kelly
You will never be able to change or grow through the thing that you refuse to identify. The thing that you refuse to say.
- [01:00]
Stephen A. Smith
Hey, this is my mountain.
- [01:02]
Megyn Kelly
This is the struggle.
- [01:03]
Chris Cuomo
Listen to Made for this mountain on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:14]
Stephen A. Smith
Let me get to Washington, where President Donald Trump is threatening new sanctions on Russia in the coming days as he vents frustration at Russian President Vladimir Putin after Putin launched a new missile and drone attack on Ukraine over the weekend that left many dead. Here's what President Trump had to say about Putin yesterday when asked about the latest assault on Ukraine. Take a listen.
- [01:36]
Donald Trump
I'm not happy with what Putin's doing. He's killing a lot of people and I don't know what the hell happened to Putin. I've known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he's sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don't like it at all.
- [01:50]
Stephen A. Smith
Okay? And here's what Trump posted today about Vladimir Putin on Truth Social, his social media outlet. Quote, what Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia. And I mean really bad. He's playing with fire, end quote. Meanwhile, Democratic and Republican lawmakers are lobbying Trump to significantly ratchet up US Sanctions after the weekend attacks. However, Trump has said privately he is concerned that new sanctions could push Russia away from peace talks, end quote. First of all, let's call this what it is. That's an utterly ridiculous statement by a president of the United States. You're concerned about antagonizing Vladimir Putin and him becoming a bit more volatile. What are you talking about? What else does he have to do? What else does he have to do? Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not a historian and I'm not asking you to look at me as an historian, but can we be honest and forthcoming about what has been transpiring over the last couple of decades or so? At the very least, you got to remember since the dissolution of Russia, of the old Soviet union, rather, in 1991, after Reagan told Gorbachev teared down that wall and all of this other stuff, remember, the Soviet Union has never been what it once was. And that pained very, very few people on the planet more so than Vladimir Putin. It's been his mission for the rest of his life, since that period of time to reclaim territory and land that he believes belongs to the Soviet Union. I mean, I read some of these articles around here just from an historical perspective about the kind of stuff this man is fixated on. And it gets pretty damn scary. I mean, if you remember, remember when Bill O'Reilly told me to look up the Yalta conference and he talked about Harry Truman, he talked about the United States, and he talked about Winston Churchill in Great Britain, and he talked about Stalin, Joseph Stalin and Russia, how ultimately they were supposed to agree upon some things in the aftermath of World War II, and that Stalin essentially reneged and ignored it. They thought they that it was going to be about democracy. They thought that it was going to be about the three of them coming together and positioning themselves to police the world in a relatively democratic fashion. But Stalin wasn't going for it because he had his eyes set and his heart fixated and his soul fixated on the Soviet Union, on Russian dominance, not just in their parts, but throughout Europe. When we fast forward all of these years later, what does it look like with Putin right now? Except in Stalin, one could argue it was greed. In the case of Putin, he has the mentality this is stuff that belongs to us. Just like when we took over Crimea in 2014, we believe that's ours. Ukraine is ours, Poland is ours. Finland is ours. 14 other different countries ours. We believe that belongs to us and we're coming back to reclaim it. Everything that he's doing said. So we don't have to worry about his words. We're looking at his actions. We're looking at his actions. And oh, by the way, it doesn't help when we see our president in the Oval Office in the White House with Ukrainian President Zelensky acting like this. Y' all remember this? Check this out.
- [05:23]
Donald Trump
During the war, everybody has problems, even you. But you have nice ocean and don't feel now, but you will feel it in the future.
- [05:32]
Stephen A. Smith
God bless.
- [05:33]
Donald Trump
You don't know that God bless. God bless. You are not war. Don't tell us what we're going to feel. We're trying to solve a problem. Don't tell us what we're going to feel.
- [05:41]
Stephen A. Smith
I'm not telling you because you're in.
- [05:43]
Donald Trump
No position to dictate that.
- [05:44]
Chris Cuomo
Remember this.
- [05:45]
Donald Trump
You're in no position to dictate what we're going to feel. We're going to feel very good. We're going to feel very good and very strong. You will feel influence. You're right now not in a very good position. You've allowed yourself to be in a very bad position to be right about from the very beginning of the war. You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now with us. You start having cards right now. You don't have your place. You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War Three. You're gambling with World War Three.
- [06:22]
Stephen A. Smith
You see how we got distracted? We got distracted with the rhetoric that Trump was spewing, the fact that here was a president of a nation at war, and we were focused on the fact that he didn't say thank you enough. The fact that he was dressed in military garb or in an outfit, as opposed to. Remember when you saw GOP politicians talking about how dare this man show up in the Oval Office and not even have on a suit and a tie. Remember that? While his country was being bombed. Remember that? And then we're talking about Trump and we're saying, oh, my goodness, the respect or the lack thereof. Did you have to have this man on national TV embarrassing him like that? We're caught up in the wrong kind of stuff. Where our focus needs to be is on Putin. I'm reading from some articles here. Russia's territory has greatly diminished from the time when Moscow controlled one sixth of the planet's surface, including Finland, Poland and 14 other currently independent countries. This is based on an article in the Wall Street Journal, just from a couple of years ago. June of 2022, to be exact. Are we not paying attention? Do we not see what's going on here? The man's not playing. 14 independent countries. Press Poland. Press Finland. Okay, Estonia. Throw them in there. Montenegro, who Trump lamented, should American soldiers be dying over something over fights in Montenegro? That's what he said in 2018, if I remember correctly. This is what the former president, the 45th president, who's now the 47th president, said at that particular moment in time. And we're focused on what Exactly. Words, verbiage, tweets, how somebody's dressed, whether or not they said thank you enough and showed enough gratitude. We're talking about trying to prevent World War Three. And why am I concerned about it to that deep of a level? Because we keep lamenting the state or we keep saying that Russia's lamenting the state of its armed forces, the state of its military. And yet when Trump opens his mouth and he says there's a hefty price that they could play, they could pay, what happens? Putin goes out there and drops a bunch of bombs and a bunch of drones on them, more so than he has in the last couple of years. And then Trump says, I don't know what's wrong with him. He seems to have gone crazy. I don't know what's going. Like you're surprised, but that's not what Lindsey Graham and those guys are saying. A matter of fact, reading from an article in a Wall Street Journal just a couple of days ago, I'm here reading and I'll read you a graph here. Good news is that US Senate still has some genuine realists when it comes to Russia. As GOP Senator Lindsey Graham writes in a letter Nearby, he has 82 co sponsors on a bill that will hit countries that buy Russian oil and gas with tariff sanctions. Energy sales are Mr. Putin's financial lifeline. President Biden refused to apply these so called secondary sanctions. And Mr. Trump can't make up his mind what the hell is going on? So we got 100 senators, we got a vast majority of folks in the House that believe that Russia is the legitimate threat that we've all perceived them as being all of our lives. But somehow, some way, Trump thinks differently. Why? Why? For what? And by the way, I'm not here just to point the finger at Donald Trump like they said. President Biden at the time could have done something about all of this, but he refused to apply these so called secondary sanctions. Why not? See, this is why relationships with other nations or with specific dignitaries should have a proverbial eyebrows raised. Because it smells. What's up with Trump and Putin? Why are you not dealing with this man?
- [10:54]
Megyn Kelly
Why.
- [10:56]
Stephen A. Smith
Are you letting him do this to Ukraine knowing that it has most of Europe scared shitless? Because you see, if you are the United States of America and you decide not to provide Keef with heavy weapons that could deter Russia's advancement, where does that leave us? These are legitimate questions. But I'm going to tell you what the most significant part about this is. And by the way, don't listen. I'm not trying to point the finger just at Trump. 2008 Russia invades Georgia. They weren't sanctioned in any serious way at the time. And that was followed by President Barack Obama's attempt at a reset with Moscow in 2014. Intervention in Donbass, Ukraine and annexation of Crimea during Obama's second term prompted only half hearted sanctions. Reading from that same article, Wall Street Journal. Until last February, Germany had pushed the Nord Stream 8 on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project that would have allowed Russia's gas exports to bypass Ukraine. Up until April, the US and its allies refused to provide Kiev with the heavy weapons that could have deterred this year's war. Where does that leave us? Because I'm seeing a lot of people scared because they know that Putin's not playing. And if Putin gets a little bit, he's going to keep going. He's going to keep going and he's going to keep going. And I'm going to tell you what should scare us as American citizens. Who are we to believe? Because I don't know if y' all heard about that book that's come out okay, Original Sin, Jake Tapper from CNN and Alex Thompson. And it's Original Sin and it's basically highlighting and detailing Biden's deterioration from, for lack of a better word, we saw it, we spoke on it. I was vilified for it. A year before the debate last June 27th when Biden went on stage against Donald Trump. I called it out a year before that, as in two years ago, yo, he's not gonna get to the Democratic National Convention. He does not need to be the Democratic nominee. And I was excoriated. I was raped through the codes. Who the hell are you? What do you know? You're novice. Shut the hell up. Stick to sports. All of this stuff. I had two eyes I could see. And if there's one thing I'm pretty good at is witnessing a deterioration taking place before my very eyes. Because I do it with athletes all the time. So if I can see it in them, I'm damn sure gonna be able to see it in an 80 year old president that Democrats was in the state capitol chanting four more years for that happened. And why do I bring that up? And what's the relevancy to all of that? I'll tell you what the relevancy is. I wouldn't feel so vexed, I wouldn't feel so insecure, I wouldn't feel so nervous if I thought we had a government that was committed to doing what's right instead of supporting somebody for their own purposes or going against them for their own individual purposes, as opposed to being objective and neutral enough to just give us the information. Original Sin supposedly is highlighting how the information that was needed to be given wasn't given, that there was a concerted effort by members of the White House and beyond to hide the debilitating circumstances surrounding then President Joe Biden. Now, I could speak on it myself because obviously it's an egregious thing that transpired. And I think there's a whole bunch of people that should be ashamed of themselves. I can't wait to talk to Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson because I want to know personally. I want to know personally what role Jake Tapper played and not reporting on certain information. I told you, I watched the interview with Megyn Kelly from start to finish, ladies and gentlemen. She was sensational. She did a hell of a job. My point to you is that we saw it. How did Jake Tapper not see it? And as he continues to speak about all of this, where's his mea culpa? Because I don't see it. I haven't seen it yet. I'm going to be real interested in asking him about that when he comes on this show. The hatred for Trump was so deep that folks didn't want to report on his competition in any kind of negative way, then if the hatred for Trump was so deep that you were willing to compromise your own professional integrity, whether you're a journalist, whether you're a pundit, a commentator, a politician, et cetera, I mean, damn, who are we to believe now? But don't just take my word for it. Take Chris Cuomo's words for it. Listen to what he had to say on his show, News Nation. Check it out.
- [16:21]
Megyn Kelly
When it comes to Biden, you know how I feel. You didn't see and hear his obvious diminished capacity. What we mentioned here at NewsNation all the time. This is a shocker. And now the narrative gets a nudge from a book that is about deception and a cover up. They want you to believe the media was deceived into thinking Biden had no issues. Don't count me in on that. I knew, okay? And it was no secret because you knew, too. The book is titled Original Sin, claiming to detail how Biden's staffers made efforts to hide his decline from the public and the media. The COVID has Biden with his hands over his eyes, and it could just as easily be a picture of the writers of this book. Who are pretending they didn't see and hear what everybody else did. And look, I do believe the book is a cover for something, and it's a cover for something that's much more serious to me than Biden's age and and stage ever were. The reality that many in the media knew damn well that Biden was losing it, but they played it down because they wanted Trump to lose more. The original sin is not hiding Biden's age and stage, but hiding this preference.
- [17:38]
Stephen A. Smith
Amen. Amen. Chris Cuomo is absolutely right. But you know what the bigger problem is? It makes Trump look right, because that hatred for him that led people to compromise their own professional principles just to ensure that he didn't win the presidency. Well, if you were willing to do that, then all of a sudden, does it not buffer his arguments about lawfare being exercised against him? Does it not buffer his argument about fake news, fake news, fake news? Does it not buffer the credibility that comes to his arguments that it was a witch hunt? Does it not in some way buffer the notion that somebody might have cheated him in 2020? I don't believe that last part. He lost that damn election. And I get that. I'm talking about him genuinely feeling cheated as opposed to knowing he's lying because, oh, my God, the numbers say so why should he give a damn the rest of us, yes, why should he give a damn about the numbers? You see what hatred can do. You see what an absence of objectivity can do. You see how the corrupt actions of a few, whether it's him and a potpourri of his lies over the years, or Democrats and the lies that they were spewing leading up to the election. You see how we all got screwed, because now the American people are sitting here not knowing what to believe or who to believe anymore. And then you wonder why I'm pissed. In my perfect world, all I want is somebody in that office and on Capitol Hill, whether there's a senator or a representative who is free from influence, whether it be that of monetary value or emotional. You're just committed to doing the job in the best interest of the country so people can walk the streets of America every single day, going to work, coming to and from work, socializing with friends, families, and loved ones, living their best lives, understanding that, hey, we trust our officials to do their jobs. We don't have that luxury at this particular moment in time. Trump, now with Putin, makes no sense why he hasn't assisted other senators in imposing sanctions. Makes no sense. Just like the actions articulated in Jake Tapper's book acknowledging what those who hated Trump, obviously on the left were willing to do to subvert and evade the principles of our Constitution. They were willing to manipulate stuff at all costs just to ensure he didn't return to office. And as a result, we're sitting here with nobody to trust. What a damn shame. What a damn shame. Hopefully it won't lead to World War 3, but I ain't gonna lie to you. I'll be damned if I'm not worried about a few things. I don't know if I'm worried about that, but I'm worried about a lot of things. And you should be too.
- [21:51]
Chris Cuomo
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- [22:40]
Megyn Kelly
You you will never be able to change or grow through the thing that you refuse to identify.
- [22:44]
Stephen A. Smith
The thing that you refuse to say. Hey, this is my mountain.
- [22:47]
Megyn Kelly
This is the struggle.
- [22:48]
Chris Cuomo
Listen to Made for this mountain on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [22:55]
Stephen A. Smith
You're listening to an iHeart podcast.