Stephen A. Smith's gotta be scratching his head this morning after President Donald Trump ranted to him about Harlem and Black people ... when Stephen A. asked him about Harvard.
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00:00This is, wow.
00:02Buckle up, because there was a town hall meeting with President Trump on News Nation last night.
00:08You had Chris Cuomo, you had Bill O'Reilly, and a guest to this arena.
00:16Stephen A. Smith.
00:16Stephen A. Smith, who of course is the famed sports pundit, NBA expert,
00:22but last night he wasn't talking playoffs, he was talking politics with the president.
00:25And at one point during the conversation, Stephen A. brought up a very big issue right now for the president,
00:32which is his battle with Harvard University, and withdrawing billions of dollars of grants to the university.
00:40So Stephen poses that question.
00:43Why in the world President Trump's response was basically that they love me in Harlem?
00:48I don't know. Watch this, and then we're going to get into it.
00:51When people think about Harvard, what they're basically talking about is they're asking,
00:56what do you say to those who view your actions as an attack on academic freedom rather than a defense of fairness?
01:03What do you say to that?
01:04Well, I say this. We had riots in Harlem, and frankly, if you look at what's gone on,
01:12and people from Harlem went up and they protested, Stephen, and they protested very strongly against Harvard.
01:18They happened to be on my side.
01:20You know, I got a very high black vote.
01:24You know that.
01:25I did opportunity zones for one of the greatest economic deals ever for the black and Hispanic community.
01:33I got tremendous.
01:34They agree with what I'm doing with respect to Harvard.
01:37Harvard gets $4 or $5 billion a year from the United States government in the form of grants,
01:45and they have $53 billion, and yet they don't treat the people right.
01:50So the president meandered into the real discussion of Harvard.
01:5630 seconds.
01:56But the Harlem thing and the black voters support him and all of that.
02:01Number one, I wonder, did somebody pass him a note because he was on the phone and say, it's about Harvard?
02:11The question was about Harvard, sir.
02:12Why did he start with a Stephen A. Smith question?
02:15I mean, one way.
02:16That was specifically, by the way, not just about Harvard, but he said about academic freedom.
02:21Right.
02:22And then immediately starts talking about Harlem and black people.
02:25You guys didn't understand that answer?
02:28No, it did make sense.
02:29If I had to guess, I would think that he originally misheard Stephen A. Smith's question,
02:34and then I think you're right, Harvey or Charles, I don't know who said it.
02:37I think somebody probably did whisper or slip him a note like, hey, you didn't ask about Harlem here.
02:41Yeah, but—
02:42That or he's got talking points.
02:43But, Mike, academic—he specifically said academic freedom.
02:46So there's no way—even if you misheard, even if he did hear Harlem instead of Harvard,
02:53what the hell does academic freedom have to do?
02:55Well, why don't you close the loop and say what you think?
02:57Because you think he said it because Stephen A. Smith is black.
03:00I mean, that's what you're saying, right?
03:01Yes, because he immediately saw that the person asking the question was black,
03:05and so let me give him what he believes to be his credentials in the black community before anything else,
03:12even though it has nothing to do with the topic.
03:14There is absolutely no question in anyone's mind who watched that video
03:18other than he saw a black man speaking to him, and he saw that association,
03:22and started talking about Harlem.
03:24Now, I don't say he did this with malice, that he hates black people,
03:26but in his brain somewhere, subconsciously, a black man speaking must be talking about a black topic.
03:30I gotta suck up to the guy who's asking me the question,
03:32so he'll like me, and he won't follow up and ask me a harder question.
03:36Hi, my name is Medusa.
03:38I'm reporting live from Philly, and my comment is that Donald Trump is a liar.
03:42He don't know nothing that he's talking about.
03:44All he do is lie.
03:45As far as we know, we know that majority of black people voted for Kamala Harris.
03:50He must have us mistaken for the Latino community.
03:54But as far as the black community goes, we don't care for you, and he know that.
03:57So, bye, Donald.
04:00Look, he did get more support from the black community than I think pretty much any Republican this century.
04:09But that ain't going to help it.
04:11That was weird.
04:14You know, the Jews love me, Harvey.
04:16The Jews love me.