ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and radio host Charlamagne tha God called out former Vice President Kamala Harris on “The Stephen A. Smith Show” Monday for complaining that “the system” was “broken.”
Harris claimed on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” Thursday that she decided against running to become governor of California due to disillusionment with “the system” that she said was “broken.” Smith and Charlamagne argued on the episode on Smith’s YouTube channel that Harris’ claim was not logical because she had spent so many years in elected office. (RELATED: ‘She Comes With Baggage’: California House Dems Split On Possible Kamala Harris Comeback)
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“[W]hen I heard her say that the system is broken and she wants to take a step back from the system — her whole career has been the system,” Charlamagne said.
“It made no sense!” Smith replied.
Harris served as district attorney of San Francisco from 2004-2011, attorney general of California from 2011-2016, senator from California from 2017-2021 and finally vice president from 2021-2025.
“Yeah. Her whole career has been the system,” Charlamagne said. “I just don’t see how now she’s going to take a step back away from the system.”
While Charlamagne expressed optimism about Harris’ plans, which include returning to public life and “listening to the American people” and “helping elect Democrats” nationwide, he predicted the Democratic Party would strongly oppose her if she were to run for president again in 2028.
Smith agreed and said that was one reason he believed Harris doesn’t “have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning.” He also noted that her 2020 presidential campaign ended before the Iowa Caucuses and that she secured the 2024 nomination despite having no primary voter approval.
Moreover, Smith likened Harris’ statement about “the system” to when she asserted during an October 2024 interview on “The View” that she would not have done anything differently than former President Joe Biden.
“You’re a career politician. You’ve been there practically all your life. You’ve been an attorney, a state attorney general. You’ve been a prosecutor. You’ve been a senator,” Smith said. “You’ve been a vice president. My god, you’ve been a part of it. And now you’re saying it’s broken. That means you couldn’t do but so much to fix it when you was in it.”
“The system was broken long before [President] Donald Trump got into office,” Charlamagne responded.
Harris did not rule out a 2028 presidential run in her statement about her decision on the governor’s race, writing that she was excited about “sharing more details in the months ahead” regarding her future aspirations.
Political analyst Mark Halperin forecast on “The Morning Meeting” July 28 that Harris would ultimately retire from politics.
“I think she’ll find it’s so hard raising money to run for president that she’s done with politics would be my guess,” he said.
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