Pundit and commentator Stephen A. Smith walked off the stage of a NewsNation town hall at the Kennedy Center Wednesday night, after expressing frustration and sympathy for a voter who told panelists during the event he was working two jobs to pay for his child’s tuition during the government shutdown.
“I don’t think Washington understands how ticked off we truly are. … A young man walked up to the microphone and said that he had to leave here to go and work on DoorDash to help pay for his daughter’s tuition. Meanwhile, everybody up here getting paid, but he ain’t,” Smith said to a panel that included NewsNation host Chris Cuomo, pundit Bill O’Reilly and several Democratic and Republican lawmakers during the two-hour special.
“It’s this kind of stuff right here,” Smith said, raising his voice. “That’s how you know. And I’m not accusing any of you, directly or personally, of feeling this way. I’m just talking about the apparatus that is Washington, the nation’s capital. This is why you have so many Americans, excuse my language, so pissed off at Washington, because somehow, some way, you get to have these conversations, engage in specific elements of it, to talk about what we need to do to get things better.”
The man, who said he was an air traffic controller from Dallas, told the panel he had been working for DoorDash to help pay for his child’s education and noted he has worked for the federal government during previous shutdowns in the Obama and Trump administrations.
“A government shutdown is going on right now. A man has to work on DoorDash when he’s really an air traffic controller that we applauded, and we’re up here talking about how much some money is going to cost, and the only person that don’t have a check coming is him,” Smith said. “You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to take a break.”
A visibly frustrated Smith walked off the stage before joining the panel again shortly after.
The town hall, hosted by Cuomo, featured a number of prominent current and former lawmakers including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Trump administration officials like border czar Tom Homan.
NewsNation is a cable news channel that is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.
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