Donald Trump mocked Stephen A. Smith’s intelligence after the ESPN star criticized the president’s decision to watch Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday night.
Trump took his seat in a VIP box for the game between his hometown New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs after being invited by Knicks owner James Dolan.
But the President was brutally jeered by thousands of Knicks fans during the national anthem at Madison Square Garden, leading him and granddaughter Kai to smirk through the chorus of brutal boos.
It came after Trump shut down large swathes of Manhattan ahead of his arrival, with a steel ring erected around the famous arena and watch parties canceled in anticipation of his arrival in the Big Apple.
Many slammed the President as ‘selfish’ for deciding to attend New York’s big homecoming night, and fans made their feelings clear ahead of the game when he was shown on the jumbotron inside MSG.
Trump, who later denied the booing ever happened, was berated by Smith earlier on Monday during his ESPN show ‘First Take’. He called the President ‘selfish and narcissistic’, adding ‘it is ridiculous that he is coming to this game.’
Donald Trump claimed Stephen A. Smith ‘doesn’t have a high enough IQ to run for president’
Smith blasted the President’s decision to attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals in New York City
But when Trump was about to board Air Force One to take him home after the game, he mocked Smith’s IQ when questioned about the pundit’s rant.
‘I think he’s a nice guy,’ Trump said. ‘But you need a certain aptitude to run for President. You need a high IQ.
‘I’m not sure Stephen has that. I don’t think he does actually.’
Smith, a native New Yorker and Knicks superfan who signed a $100million deal with ESPN last year, has become increasingly political in recent years and has even floated a possible run for President.
In addition to his work with ESPN, Smith is a prominent figure at SiriusXM – hosting a daily sports show and weekly politics show – while he also hosts his own YouTube show.
He let loose on Trump on Monday morning, saying: ‘This President has no business showing up in New York City. I am dead serious. It is selfish, it is narcissistic, it is ridiculous that he is coming to this game.
‘I would say the same thing if it were Obama, George W., Clinton. I don’t give a damn, we went back to Reagan.
‘This is not a football stadium in some space in Texas where you got a whole bunch of outlays and all of this. This is the Garden. This is Midtown Manhattan. You have any idea what the congestion is going to be like in New York City here?
‘I get off my radio show at 3 o’clock. I’ve been instructed that I got to go straight to the Garden for an 8:30 game. Because that’s how bad traffic is going to be.’
Trump, invited by Knicks owner James Dolan, and granddaughter Kai were viciously booed
Trump watched Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs silence Madison Square Garden with a win
Trump took a shot at ESPN star Smith while talking to reporters before boarding Air Force One
Smith continued his rant against the President’s decision by saying that if the Knicks lost, which they did, that Trump is the one to blame.
‘Anything that disrupts it, if it causes the New York Knicks to lose, I’m blaming him. I’m blaming the President of the United States. I’mma stay on that. I’mma stay on that.
‘And damn it, I hope the GOP lose votes because of it. If we lose tonight, I’m going to be against them all. All of them. I’m telling you that right now. We better not lose tonight’s game. We better not lose tonight’s game.
‘You understand what I’m saying? We better— I’ve been, I’ve been fair-minded, down the middle as an independent for a long time. Hell hath no fury like Stephen A. scorned if the New York Knicks lose tonight. I’mma be in their ass like back pockets, like white on rice. I’m telling you that right now.
‘We better not lose tonight’s game. We were riding, we were flowing, and this man gonna sit up there and show up to the Garden tonight. I mean, you gotta be kidding me. You got people gotta show up 4 or 5 hours before the damn game.’
