STEPHEN A. SMITH: Why Trump's Super Bowl gamble would be a disaster
Stephen A. Smith has warned President Donald Trump that he risks 'disaster' if he decides to send ICE agents to this weekend's Super Bowl.NFL fans are descending on the Bay Area ahead of the Patriots' clash with the Seahawks, which comes at a time of escalating tensions in America. Protests intensified following the shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, which came two weeks after 37-year-old Renee Good was fatally shot in her car by an ICE officer.There have been fears of more unrest at the Super Bowl, given Bad Bunny - an outspoken critic of ICE - is performing the halftime show. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem previously vowed: 'We’ll be all over that place.' Recent reports suggest ICE will now stay away from Sunday's end-of-season showpiece and Smith told Trump it 'would be very, very wrong' to continue his immigration crackdown around Levi's Stadium.The $100million ESPN star, who previously teased his own run for the White House, believes the president would pay a heavy price if he decided to disrupt the biggest day in the sporting calendar.Speaking to the Daily Mail in San Francisco, Smith said: 'There's no reason on earth to have ICE at the Super Bowl. If that happens, I think it would be a disaster for the President of the United States and those who have supported him. I think it will come back to bite him in a very, very negative way.' Stephen A. Smith warned Donald Trump it would be a 'disaster' to send ICE to the Super Bowl Bad Bunny used his Grammys speech to blast Trump and ICE ahead of the Super Bowl There have been warnings that ICE agents could continue their crackdown in the Bay Area Noem previously urged people to avoid the Super Bowl 'unless they are law-abiding Americans who love this country,' adding: 'We’ll be all over that place... we’re gonna enforce the law.' But earlier this week, the NFL's chief security officer Cathy Lanier said she is 'confident' that 'there are no planned ICE enforcement activities' around the Super Bowl.But Smith previously revealed to the Daily Mail how Trump called him during one of his failed attempts to own an NFL team. 'His exact words to me were - excuse my language: "If them motherf***ers get in my way, meaning the NFL owners, I'm gonna get them all back",' Smith said. '"I'm going to run for president."'And the ESPN star believes that if the president decides to deploy federal agents, it would not be borne solely out of a desire to weed out illegal migrants.'Super Bowl Sunday is about the game - it's about sports, it's about bringing folks together. It ain't about bringing people apart,' Smith, who is backing the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX, explained.'So there's no room for that. And if he did something like that, it's not just because of immigration, it's because of his feelings about some of the folks in the NFL... we all know that he's had an axe to grind.'The First Take host continued: 'So it's not just about ICE it's not just about deportations. It's about being an inconvenience to a sports league on their biggest day of the year. And you cannot sit idly by and be quiet if he does something like that, that would be very, very wrong.' Smith also took aim at former president Joe Biden, accusing him of making a 'huge mistake' by 'opening the borders' which prompted Trump to shut the door. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem previously vowed: 'We’ll be all over that place' Smith said 'there is no reason on earth to have ICE' around Levi's Stadium on Sunday afternoon'But in the same breath, that doesn't mean that you have to use such an incredibly celebratory moment like Super Bowl Sunday to have federal agents waiting outside of a stadium trying to arrest and incarcerate and ultimately deport folks,' he said.It was ahead of last year's Super Bowl in New Orleans that Smith hinted that he could launch a bid for the White House and, since then, he has continued to weigh in on political issues. The ESPN star, who last year agreed to a $100million deal with the network, maintains that he has 'no desire' to be a politician.But Smith vowed to 'leave his options open,' telling the Daily Mail: 'Who knows what God has planned? 2027 is a long time away.'The 58-year-old said that as a 'conscientious observer, an American citizen, [and] a voter,' he 'doesn't like a lot' of what he is seeing from both the Republicans and Democrats.'And I believe that if I decided to run, I'd have a shot to win. So because of that, I keep my options open,' he said. 'I'm not about going out and asking for campaign dollars. I'm not good at that. But you put me on that debate stage, and I got to go up against people that have been elected officials in this country, and you have to stand across from me trying to explain why you've done some of the things that you've done to divide us as a nation,' he said. The $100million ESPN star is pictured on Radio Row in San Francisco ahead of Super Bowl LX Federal agents detain a person in Minneapolis, where tensions have run high in recent weeks'We didn't do that... we're not sitting up there talking about people, calling them everything but the child of God. 'And then the next thing you know, you expect us to believe that you all get along and you negotiate with each other to do what's in the best interest of the American people?'Smith continued: 'You're going to stand across from me on a debate stage with millions of people watching and justify doing that? Good luck... I don't think I'd ever want to be a politician. I don't think I'd ever want to be in office.'But I have to admit, there is nothing that excites me more than the possibility of me standing on a debate stage against anybody from either side of the aisle, listening to them try to justify what they've done to this country to divide us, when everybody knows, if you talk with one another, you find that you have far more in common with each other than you have things that you differ about.'
