BS BULLETIN:
- Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed raised reparations during a lengthy interview with Stephen A. Smith.
- Smith immediately hit him with a rather large obstacle: “Because we’re $40 trillion in debt!”
- When El-Sayed blamed Republicans, Smith wasn’t having that either: “That’s all of us! Every administration has contributed to debt.”
Abdul El-Sayed wanted to have a conversation about reparations.
Stephen A. Smith wanted to have a conversation about the bill.
The Michigan Democratic Senate nominee joined Smith on SiriusXM’s “Straight Shooter” this week for a wide-ranging interview, and toward the end of their discussion, El-Sayed argued for government policies designed to build generational wealth in minority communities.
He suggested “revolving loan funds in local communities” before turning the conversation toward racial disparities in school funding and reparations.
“Why aren’t we willing to have a conversation about reparations?” El-Sayed asked.
Smith didn’t let him get much further. “Because we’re $40 trillion in debt!” he fired back.
El-Sayed responded by questioning who created that debt and placing much of the blame on Republicans.
That didn’t work either. “That’s all of us!” Smith shot back. “Every administration has contributed to debt.”
El-Sayed argued that the debt tends to grow more under Republican administrations because of tax cuts for wealthy Americans and military spending. He pointed specifically to the Trump administration’s spending and the war with Iran.
Smith countered by bringing up the trillions spent during the COVID-19 pandemic. El-Sayed again pointed toward Republicans, noting that much of the initial pandemic stimulus spending occurred during President Donald Trump’s first administration.
The exchange came after El-Sayed had already publicly embraced a national discussion about reparations. During an August appearance on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” El-Sayed argued that America needed to confront what he described as the unpaid debt owed to black Americans stemming from slavery and subsequent discriminatory government policies.
WATTERS: “Reparations. You support that?”
EL-SAYED: “I think we need to have an honest conversation about the incredible debt that was put upon black folks…I just think that’s fair.”
WATTERS: “We have you on the record as backing it.” pic.twitter.com/e5YeXx1QBS
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 25, 2026
He said the country should discuss how to make affected communities “whole.”
El-Sayed is no longer merely a progressive activist making provocative arguments on television. He defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary and is now facing Republican Mike Rogers in the general election.
That makes exchanges like this one considerably more consequential.
And Smith, who has increasingly waded into political interviews on his SiriusXM program, wasn’t interested in letting either political party pretend it had clean hands when it came to Washington’s spending problem.
MY QUICK TAKE
Stephen A. nailed the most important part of this argument in about five seconds.
Washington is already more than $40 trillion in debt, and the answer from politicians always seems to be another program, another fund, and another pile of money we don’t have. And when El-Sayed tried to turn it into “Republicans did it,” Stephen A. nailed that too.
Both parties helped build this mountain. The American taxpayer is the one stuck underneath it.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- Mediaite — Stephen A. Smith fires back at Abdul El-Sayed over reparations
- Breitbart — El-Sayed says America should discuss the “debt” owed to black Americans
- Mediaite — Jesse Watters challenges El-Sayed over his policy agenda
- SiriusXM — Abdul El-Sayed joins Stephen A. Smith’s “Straight Shooter”
- Washington Examiner — El-Sayed discusses his campaign and Hasan Piker with Stephen A. Smith
