ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith refused to apologize for dining with President Trump at the White House, telling “The View” hosts that talking to the president is not something to regret.
Stephen A. Smith sat on ABC’s “The View” and drew a hard line. He would not say sorry for meeting President Donald Trump.
The ESPN host told the panel he went to the White House on Oct. 15 because Trump is the president of the United States, and he plans to keep dealing with that reality through at least 2028. Co-hosts pressed him anyway. Sunny Hostin raised what she called Trump’s “history of racial bias.” Ana Navarro had already said there was “no way in h***” she would take such a meeting.
Fox News reported the exchange after Smith’s Wednesday appearance, which a photo caption dated to Oct. 21, 2026. The dinner itself had included Trump, Smith, comedian Bill Maher, and Kid Rock.
Hostin put the question in blunt terms. She tied the meeting to race and doubted it produced anything.
She asked Smith:
"He has this history of racial bias that is so clear. Did you think meeting with him, that you got anywhere?"
Smith did not fold. He answered from what he called a constitutional baseline. Trump holds the office. Ignoring him, Smith said, is a wasted posture.
He told the hosts:
"I don’t know. We’ll find out, but he’s the president of the United States, and I’ll be d***ed if I’m not going to try."
He added that too many people ask why anyone should “waste time talking to him,” then stressed the calendar. Trump, he said, is “not going away until 2028. At least.”
Hostin also floated midterms and impeachment. Smith waved off the theater.
He predicted Republicans would keep the Senate and probably lose the House. That mix, he said, could produce impeachment votes that go nowhere once the Senate steps in. He called the pomp “disgusting” and said he was “sick and tired” of treating it like a real solution while Trump remains in office through the term.
“You’re going to have to deal with him,” Smith said.
Navarro pressed whether he pushed back in the room. Smith turned that around. He said the question itself showed the panel was not watching his SiriusXM show, where he said he challenges Trump “all the time.” He also said he pressed Trump several times on the war in Iran and that Maher grilled the president during the same sit-down.
Smith framed the dinner as work, not surrender. He said he wants results and will exhaust every avenue he can.
His closer on the apology demand was plain:
"And when it comes to getting things done, I’m all about exhausting every means and every measure to try to do what’s in the best interest of our community. I’m not apologizing for that to anybody."
Nicholas Fondacaro, associate editor of the Media Research Center’s NewsBusters, told Fox News Digital the “View” cast treats Trump as a “bumbling racist caricature” sold by liberal media. He said the hosts attack people for meeting Trump while knowing they will never be asked themselves and are not counted on as champions of any cause. Fondacaro also said the panel looked shocked to learn Trump seemed to hear Smith out on HBCUs and called him again days later before meeting others on that issue.
Kid Rock described the dinner on “Fox & Friends” that Friday. He said he sat with the president, Maher, and Smith and that the group agreed socialism and communism have no place in the government. He referenced Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in that context.
He called the night “epic” and said the best part was two Democrats and two Republicans breaking bread, laughing, and having hard conversations.
Smith’s point on “The View” matched that picture more than the panel’s. The president is in office. Meetings happen. Refusing contact is a choice, not a virtue.
Talking to the president is still how adults try to move the country. Pretending otherwise is performance, not principle.
