Stephen A. Smith is standing firm on his decision to sit down for a lengthy White House dinner with Donald Trump, Bill Maher and Kid Rock, telling critics he has no intention of apologizing for showing up. The ESPN host says the meal, which stretched more than four hours, gave him a direct line to push the president on issues ranging from HBCU funding to the war in Iran.
Smith attended the Oct. 15 dinner at the White House alongside Maher and Kid Rock, according to USA Today, which reported Trump described the gathering as joined by the ESPN commentator. Smith later said he was invited after Maher was told he could bring someone along, according to TVInsider. Smith has said plainly that he is not sorry he went, telling HuffPost, “I’m not apologizing for this.”
Why Smith Says He Went
Smith has pointed to Historically Black Colleges and Universities as a central motivation for taking the meeting, with theGrio reporting that HBCU funding was his direct reason for going to the White House. Per the same TVInsider account, the dinner conversation touched on the potential effect of the administration's stance on diversity, equity and inclusion policies on HBCU donations. Smith also said he raised Venezuela, Russia's war against Ukraine and Iran directly with Trump, telling TVInsider, “I pushed back when he brought up Venezuela.” According to the New York Post's reporting on Smith's comments, he said he pressed Trump several times specifically about the war in Iran.
The dinner reportedly ran long, and Smith has said that wasn't his doing. He told USA Today the group was there for four hours because Trump wouldn't let them leave, and he described the president as exceptionally warm in person, telling HuffPost that Trump couldn't have been nicer or more complimentary. At the same time, Smith said Trump accused him of being nasty and mean over past criticism, per HuffPost's reporting. Smith has said he regularly pushes back on Trump during his own SiriusXM show, according to the Post.
Pressed on Impeachment and the Midterms
Smith framed the dinner as part of a broader strategy of staying close to power rather than standing apart from it, telling USA Today that pursuing change usually requires getting as close to the room as you can. He's argued that economic strain in the Black community made the meeting worth the discomfort, telling HuffPost, “Affordability is an issue, jobs have been lost, Black unemployment has risen.” Smith has also said Trump isn't going anywhere soon, telling the Washington Times, “Whether you like it or not, he’s the president of the United States of America. He’s not going away until 2028.”
According to the Post's account of his remarks, Smith predicted Republicans would hold the Senate while likely losing the House, and he said he was tired of the pomp and circumstance surrounding impeachment, adding that such efforts would ultimately be followed by people stepping in to save Trump anyway. That came as Sunny Hostin raised the possibility of impeachment after the midterms and pressed Smith on whether the dinner actually produced progress, per the Post's reporting. Smith's answer leaned on persistence rather than certainty, telling TVInsider, “He’s the president of the United States, and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to try.”
The View Pushes Back
Smith's appearance on The View to discuss the dinner drew sharp questioning from the panel. Sunny Hostin described Trump as having a clear history of racial bias, according to the Post's account, while Ana Navarro asked whether Smith had actually pushed back on the president during the meal. Navarro has been one of the loudest skeptics of the entire premise of dining with Trump, telling TheWrap, “No way in hell I would want to break bread or be in the same room with a man whose administration is hunting Latinos.”
That exchange reportedly turned into a broader argument among the show's hosts, with TheWrap reporting that Navarro and Alyssa Farah Griffin disagreed over whether face-to-face engagement with Trump can actually move policy, with Griffin arguing that sometimes policy changes only happen when you get in a room with someone to discuss. Nicholas Fondacaro, an associate editor at the Media Research Center's NewsBusters, told Fox News Digital that The View's cast could criticize people for meeting Trump because they would never be asked themselves and aren't relied on to champion the same cause. Fondacaro also said the hosts believe Trump fits the racist caricature pushed by liberal media, per that same statement, and argued they were stunned that Trump heard Smith out and reportedly called him again a few days later to discuss HBCUs further with others.
Kid Rock's Version of the Night
Kid Rock offered his own recap of the dinner during an appearance on Fox & Friends, describing a night that included Trump, Maher and Smith sharing food, laughs and difficult conversations as what he called two Democrats and two Republicans at the table. He said the group agreed that socialism and communism have no place getting a foothold in government, a characterization USA Today also captured when it reported Kid Rock's quote on the subject. USA Today separately reported that Maher and Trump spent hours arguing over issues on which they disagreed during the same dinner, a dynamic that underscores just how combative parts of the evening reportedly were even as Kid Rock called it a great conversation overall.
The dispute over HBCU funding sits against a longer federal backdrop. A June 2020 measure amended the Higher Education Act to permanently authorize grant funding for programs supporting Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions, according to a Congressional Research Service report. Smith's public account of the dinner, including his description of Trump's reaction to concerns about DEI-related funding pressures on HBCUs, has not been independently verified beyond his own retelling and that of his dinner companions.
