STEPHEN A. SMITH REFUSES TO BACK DOWN AFTER BEING CALLED OUT ON ‘THE VIEW’ — AND HIS DEFIANT RESPONSE JUST ONE DAY LATER HAS TURNED A SINGLE DINNER INVITATION INTO A MUCH BIGGER TV SHOWDOWN. The outspoken sports commentator found himself at the centre of an uncomfortable debate after a The View co-host publicly criticised his decision to attend a high-profile political dinner. Rather than letting the criticism pass, Smith appeared on the programme the following day and made it clear he had no intention of apologising for his personal choice. The tense exchange raised questions about public expectations, personal associations and whether the disagreement could be settled across the table.

After the Stephen A. Smith Show host joined the ladies Wednesday at the Hot Topics table, former Trump staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin asked him about the four-hour affair and why he wanted to attend.

Smith explained that Trump called Maher and asked him to come to the White House after the pair publicly tussled in recent years, and said that Maher told him Trump told the comedian to bring his “crazy leftist friends” with him — so, naturally, Maher thought of Smith.

“Evidently he forgot he knew me for 35 years, because I immediately said, ‘Yes, I’ coming.’ I came there with three agendas,” Smith said, adding that he wanted to pressure the president on issues related to unemployment among Black women in America, his opposition to the Protect College Sports Act, and other topics related to funding historically Black colleges and universities.

“I went to the White House to look him in the face and to address” things, Smith stressed. He said he confronted the president on policies he said are “basically impeding the willingness of folks in the private sector to be as charitable and as philanthropic as they’ve been in the past” toward HBCUs.

“To his credit, he said, ‘I actually didn’t think about that. I’m going to think about that a lot more and I’ll be talking to you about it.’ To his credit, thereafter, he called me after the meeting a couple of days later to ask me to reiterate what my points were about the HBCUs, because he plans on talking to people about that in the next few days,” added Smith.

He then turned his attention to people like Navarro, many of whom have balked at his decision to dine with the controversial president in the first place.

“It points to a bigger issue. There are so many people that have this mentality [of] why even waste time talking to him?” Smith observed. “Whether you like it or not, he’s the president of the United States of America. He’s not going away until 2028.”

Smith continued: “Until 2028, he has the power of the pen of the executive office of the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. Your’e going to have to deal with him, 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 interests of our community. I’m not apologizing for that to anybody.”

The View audience applauded Smith’s remarks, while moderator Whoopi Goldberg pushed back on the sentiment when she told Smith, “I’m tired of having to go back time and time again and explain why this man is not understanding” issues that others bring up in the media and beyond. “I have watched them do things to people, not just to Black people, but to Latinos, to women, that are just inexplicable to me.”

Smith advised, “This is The View, invite him, see if he comes” to discuss those things, to which Navarro remarked, “We’ve invited all of them” to appear on the show.

“He calls you all the time, why don’t you tell him to come?” panelist Sunny Hostin quipped, though Smith clarified: “He doesn’t call me all the time,” and that he “hadn’t spoken to him since 2014” prior to the recent White House dinner.

After a commercial break, Navarro took her turn asking Smith a question, adding that she feels Trump “acts like an authoritarian” every day, and asked if Smith pushed back on any problematic issues many Americans have with the president.

“I pushed back when he brought up Venezuela,” Smith said, adding that he also questioned him over the war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as his justification of the new war with Iran. Smith said Trump told him that the conflict with Iran will bring “trillions of dollars into this country,” and quoted Trump when he said the president thinks of himself as “the greatest president who’s ever lived.”

Smith finished the thought by telling Navarro, “I’m kind of disappointed that you’re asking whether or not I pushed back, because that shows me you’re not watching my SiriusXM show enough, because I push back on Trump all the time,” to which Navarro jabbed back: “That part is true.”

On Tuesday, Navarro got into a heated clash with cohosts Griffin and Sara Haines over issues related to the morality of dining with Trump, with the latter balking at Navarro’s vocal disinterest in conversing with Trump on any matter.

“It’s not Lady and the Tramp, you’re not going to slurp pasta,” Haines told Navarro, which made Griffin laugh. Navarro, however, shut down the quip, raising her hand to scold them: “No, but, listen, stop, this is not funny!”