Trump torches Stephen A Smith after Knicks' Game 3 loss
President Donald Trump responded to ESPN's Stephen A Smith's critique about showing up to the New York Knicks' NBA Finals game.

Trump tears into Stephen A Smith as feud grows: 'Arrogant fool, a low IQ individual'

by · Fox News

President Donald Trump took another swipe at ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith as the two traded barbs over the president’s attendance at the New York Knicks’ NBA Finals game.

Smith initially said Trump’s attendance would be a detriment to NBA fans and the city. Trump was asked to respond to Smith’s comments by Fox News Digital/OutKick on Monday night. The president said he wasn’t sure that Smith had the "aptitude" or a "high IQ" to run for office.

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President Donald Trump, left, and ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith, right, are shown in a split image after Trump responded to Smith’s comments about the Knicks’ NBA Finals loss. (Getty Images)

The ESPN "First Take" star criticized Trump further on the show and on his own podcast. He questioned Trump’s America First policies, policies toward the affordability crisis and getting involved in conflicts in the Middle East.

The president shot back Wednesday morning.

"Stephen A. Smith is an arrogant fool, a low IQ individual," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "In other words, he’s ‘dumb as a rock,’ and totally unqualified to ever think of running for high political office, or even low political office, for that matter!

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President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on June 10, 2026. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

"He’d get annihilated in a debate by the most incompetent of politicians. Joe Biden’s now ‘fabled’ performance would look great by comparison to anything that this loudmouth huckster has to offer, which isn’t much! Within a few weeks, they’d laugh him out of politics!!!"

Smith has teased a possible presidential run in the past.

He added that he was only being critical of Trump for going to the Knicks’ game – nothing political.

"To go there, knowing the inconvenience it would cause and knowing that thousands of people who would be displaced right outside the Garden with their watch parties, which built and fomented a level of momentum, you should be able to appreciate because you were alive at the age of 26, the last time we had anything like this in New York City and you being a Queens, New York, native, you should know better," he said. "But this was the latest example of you thinking about yourself."

Stephen A. Smith (C) attends a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks at Crypto.com Arena on March 06, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)

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The Knicks are back in action on Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs for Game 4. New York owns a 2-1 series lead.

Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.