ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith dramatically interrupted a NewsNation panel debate on the government shutdown, delivering a passionate critique of Washington’s disconnect from everyday Americans’ struggles before storming off the stage.

“You know what I’m going to do?” he asked his co-guests on the panel, including Republican Jim Jordan (OH), as well as Democrats Ro Khanna (CA) and Madeleine Dean (PA). “I’m going to take a break.” He then walked off the stage in the middle of the televised NewsNation town hall, held Wednesday at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, returning calmer a few minutes later.

The NBA analyst became visibly upset after a member of the audience shared how being an unpaid air traffic controller forced him to also work as a delivery driver.

“We’re looking at a president that just gave $20 billion to Argentina,” Smith raged. “We’re witnessing what I consider to be a retribution tour. And even though, to some degree, I don’t blame him because of how people went after him, still it appears to be counterproductive.

“We’re listening to this kind of stuff while a young man walked up to the microphone and said he had to leave here to go and work on DoorDash to help pay for his daughter’s tuition. Meanwhile, everybody up here gets paid, but he ain’t.”

“Somehow, some way, you’re supposed to be doing something constructive and productive enough to make sure that we don’t have that kind of deficit,” Smith told his panel. “It isn’t happening.”

Smith, who has hinted at a potential 2028 presidential run, shocked host Chris Cuomo, who admitted he “would never have guessed” that Smith would be the one to storm off the set.
https://www.rawstory.com/government-shutdown-2674204853/