President Donald Trump and Stephen A. Smith, November 12, 2026 (Image from Stephen A. Smith's interview)
- In a White House interview with Stephen A. Smith, President Donald Trump talks about his work to improve the black community, saying, “The black community is the biggest beneficiary of what I’ve done.” He also complimented Mississippi Senator-elect Scott Colom’s campaigning.
Stephen A. Smith sat down with President Donald Trump (R) for a White House interview that aired Thursday, just over a week after the General Election where Democrats won control of both chambers in Congress.
In the interview, Smith, while talking with Trump about what he has done for the black community, said, “There’s a black U.S. Senator in the state of Mississippi for the first time since Reconstruction.”
The reference was to Mississippi Senator-elect Scott Colom, the Democrat who beat incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith despite being endorsed by Trump.
“I don’t know the gentleman, but I give him credit,” Trump told Smith. “You know what he did? He campaigned on lines, I heard it the other day, where I had a rally there, and we had lines that went 10 miles long, and he campaigned on that line, telling everybody in the line what a good job he did. I give him a lot of credit for that. I don’t know him.”
A week before the General Election, Trump appeared with Hyde-Smith at a campaign rally in Corinth. As people waited to enter the arena, Colom walked the line and campaigned, talking to potential voters and sharing the interactions on his social media. Colom also held a press conference near the event alongside 1st Congressional candidate Cliff Johnson, a Democrat who list to incumbent Republican Congressman Trent Kelly.
The reference to Colom’s win by Smith and Trump came after the President touted his work to improve the black community.
Trump read off a list of initiatives from his administration to Smith, including criminal justice reform, hundreds of millions sent to HBCUs, establishing a presidential board of advisors with HBCU presidents, the creation of Trump accounts for newborn babies, the passage of the working families tax cut, making opportunity zones permanent, and more.
“The black community is the biggest beneficiary of what I’ve done,” Trump told Smith. “I don’t understand, any black person that votes for a Democrat, I don’t understand it.”
You can watch the full interview below.
