| ESPN sports commentator Stephen A. Smith, who helped platform MAGA propaganda in the past, continued that trend Wednesday during a town hall exchange with Donald Trump, in which the president spread falsehoods about his administration’s assault on college campuses and his support for historically Black colleges and universities. Smith let the president slide on two claims I found particularly egregious at the event, which featured the “First Take” host on a panel with right-wing commentator Bill O’Reilly and NewsNation host Chris Cuomo. The first came after Smith asked Trump about his blatantly partisan attacks on colleges and universities. Smith asked Trump about Harvard and whether his administration’s attempts to force changes at the university constitute an attack on academic freedom — but Trump randomly pivoted to talking about “riots” in Harlem and claimed that New Yorkers “went up” and protested against Harvard — which is in Massachusetts — for some reason, before making the baseless claim that Black people support his crackdown on the university. READ MORE |
