‘We’re $40 Trillion in Debt!’ Stephen A. Smith Fires Back at Abdul El-Sayed for Promoting ‘Reparations’

Stephen A. Smith fired back at Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed after the Democrat pushed for “reparations” despite a $40 trillion-plus national debt.

El-Sayed joined Smith on Smith’s Straight Shooter show on Thursday and at the end of their interview, El-Sayed threw out a pitch for a debate on reparations. The candidate was discussing creating “revolving loan funds in local communities” to build “generational wealth” in minority-heavy communities he argued are mostly ignored by federal funding and corporate tax cuts that don’t produced promised-jobs.

“Why are we still allowing racial and residential redlining to pattern how we fund our schools? Why aren’t we willing to have a conversation about reparations, right? How are we still in a system —” El-Sayed began as Smith jumped in to remind him of the seriousness of the growing debt.

“Because we’re $40 trillion in debt!” Smith said.

“Well, the $40 trillion in debt part, like, let’s who created that,” El-Sayed responded, blaming Republicans for most of the debt.

“That’s all of us! Every administration has contributed to debt,” Smith reminded him.

El-Sayed maintained his position on Republicans and pointed to President Donald Trump’s administration’s Iran strikes and more as what’s causing the most debt accumulation at the moment.

“But Stephen A., you know that always grows more under Republicans because they do two things. They cut taxes for billionaires, and they send us to wars we have no business fighting. So what are we doing now? One big ugly bill, cut taxes for billionaires, and fighting a war we don’t need to fight,” he said.

“Covid too. That wasn’t the war. Covid’s not a part of it,” Smith said, referencing the more-than-$5 trillion added to the debt due to pandemic-era spending.

“But remember, remember, that was also a Republican administration. I mean, like, a lot of that stimulus came out of the Trump administration because they failed to manage the pandemic in the first place,” El-Sayed fired back before Smith moved on.

The national debt crossed the $40 trillion line this month after doubling under Trump and former President Joe Biden. The national debt sat at around $19.95 trillion when Trump first took office in 2017.

El-Sayed has faced some backlash within his own party for past progressive positions and quotes, and his association to far-left streamer Hasan Piker. He still managed to top Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in the Democratic primary and he’ll now be facing the Trump-backed Republican Mike Rogers in his midterm election.

Watch above via Straight Shooter.

Jason Cohen contributed to this report.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!