ESPN analyst and political commentator Stephen A. Smith went off on a left-wing caller after they tried to claim that those who consider themselves part of the Make America Great Again movement are mentally ill.
Smith blasted the claim, calling it ridiculous, and said it was coming from a party that supports allowing gender transitions for minors without parental consent. He went on to say that while he typically votes Democrat, he despises the progressive left and what he sees as their policies in states like California and New York, including high taxes and other issues.
He argued that Republicans have their problems, but said the problems of the left helped lead to Donald Trump winning the presidential election with votes from over 77 million Americans.
🚨 STEPHEN A. SMITH NAILED IT PERFECTLY:
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 17, 2026
CALLER: Some of MAGA are mentally ill
SMITH: "Nope, nope, nope, don't talk to ME about mental illness on the side of the right — but you have people talking about transgender without parental consent!"
"And men transitioning to women… pic.twitter.com/lO3QGiVH4d
"No, no, no, you don't get to do that," Smith said. "Don't talk to me about mental illness on the side of the right, but you have people talking about transgender without parental consent and men transitioning to women and playing in women's sports and thinking that that was okay and people could be incarcerated and they could have sex changes and stuff like that. Oh, no, no, no, no."
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You don't get to sit up there and just point to the right about that. And I act like there wasn't craziness on the left too. I'm a moderate. I'm a moderate who primarily votes Democrat. And I'm here to tell you something right now. I don't recognize this left, or not this one, not the one that I've been seeing over the last few years. I'm a moderate who will lean left on everything but dollars, meaning taxes. I can't stand high taxes in California, New York, New Jersey, okay? I'm a fiscal conservative with my money. I'm liberal with everything else.
And I'm still appalled by how far left the left has leaned. It's disgraceful. No common sense. And, oh, by the way, when you talk about world culture and cancel culture, don't come to me with the Republicans. It wasn't the Republicans that was trying to get people fired for pronouncing the wrong pronoun. That's the left. And you're appealing to a community, and in the meanwhile, you're turning your back on black folks who supported you since the 60s.
Don't get me started with all of that. I got a lot of problems with Trump. I got a lot of problems with some of the things that I've seen from the Republican side. Most recently and more immediate is the Affordable Care Act and the fact that they still haven't had a plan. All these damn years, you've had an opportunity to have a plan, and we still wait for the GOP to have a damn plan. You holding up everything, but you ain't got no damn plan. That's disgraceful. But I'm not going to act like it's just them.
"Oh, hell no. The left, the extreme left is what I'm talking about, not the moderate left. The extreme left is a damn problem. And that's why 77 million people stood up and said Donald Trump is closer to normalcy than some of those folks," he added.
Editor's Note: President Trump is leading America into the "Golden Age" as Democrats try desperately to stop it.
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