‘Give credit’: Stephen A. Smith says ‘no doubt’ Trump has worked harder to make peace than past admins

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said Tuesday on Fox News that President Donald Trump deserves recognition for his efforts to broker peace around the globe.

Trump has helped facilitate peace deals during his second term, including between India and Pakistan, Thailand and Cambodia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo and Azerbaijan and Armenia. Smith, during an appearance on “Hannity,” said Trump’s efforts have surpassed nearly all past presidential administrations — and suggested the president has acted largely selflessly.

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“There is no doubt that he has done more than practically almost any administration has tried to do when it comes to ending conflicts around the world. And he’s put himself in a position where the political capital that he stands to gain isn’t necessarily that great,” Smith told host Sean Hannity. “So his willingness to do so is obviously something that shouldn’t be ignored and something that should be, dare I say, applauded to some degree.”

“Again, that doesn’t mean I like everything he does. You and I can argue back and forth about a few things, but in the end, you are absolutely right when you point out that there’s not much to gain for him in a lot of this,” he continued. “Yet he engages anyway. And you have to give credit where credit is due.”

Trump is currently seeking to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war, which has been ongoing since February 2022 and is believed to have taken hundreds of thousands of lives.

The president hosted an Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday and welcomed a group of European leaders to the White House on Monday to discuss ending the conflict, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. He is currently working to plan a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.

Despite Trump’s efforts, ABC News and CNN seemed fixated on criticizing the U.S. president rolling out a red carpet for Putin when they met in Alaska. Moreover, CNN and MSNBC have been bringing on old and disreputable former foreign policy officials to complain about Trump’s handling of negotiations.

Smith on “The Stephen A. Smith Show” Monday also blamed Democratic presidents for the circumstances that led to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“[W]e ain’t gon’ act like [Trump] caused this now. It’s Democrats in office. It was Biden in office when a full-fledged war against Ukraine took place — courtesy of Russia’s instigation — no matter what they try to say to Trump,” Smith said. “It was Russia that invaded Crimea — and that was under the Obama administration! It was Clinton in office when you made a deal that disarmed the Ukraine — and therefore weakened them — leaving them dependent on the United States!”

During Trump’s first term, he also got the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Morocco and Bahrain to join the Abraham Accords and formally normalize relations with Israel.

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