Stephen A. Smith said he does not identify with the modern Democratic Party during a conversation with Dave Rubin, describing himself as a moderate aligned with Democrats of past decades rather than the party’s current progressive wing.

“I will say this, I am in no way identifying myself with today’s Democratic Party,” Smith said.

“When I’m talking about Democrat I’m talking about me being a moderate,” he continued. “I’m talking about the Democrats that existed in the 80s and the 90s, the Clinton Democrats and stuff like that.”

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“I’m not talking about this strong progressive left,” Smith added.

He criticized what he described as the direction taken by some on the left.

“You know, with some of the nonsense that they they’ve spewed and the positions that they’ve taken, oh no,” he said. “If I, if I would have ever run for office, I wouldn’t listen to them at all. I wouldn’t take that nonsense from them one bit.”

Rubin pressed him on whether a moderate path was still viable inside the party.

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“Do you think there’s a way to do that, like a genuine way to do that,” Rubin asked, “just seeing that the energy of the progressives seems to have taken over the party, as opposed to Bobby Kennedy? Tulsi Gabbard? All the people that moved over.”

Smith said the issue of priorities had become central to his concerns.

“I’m glad you asked that question,” he replied.

“So let’s say, for example, you know, when you had folks within the Democratic Party on the progressive side talking about transgender, obviously that wasn’t, quote, unquote, their focal point, but it was something that the GOP was able to market in a fashion that would favor them.”

“But the bottom line is this,” Smith said. “What the hell are you doing talking about less than 1% of the population like it’s a very, very serious issue when 13% point 6% of the population, which was the black community, has been giving you more than 80% of its votes since the 1960s.”

“How dare you do that?” he asked. “How dare you come up at us with that stuff?”

“How dare you be somebody that will go on stage and will talk about a vote for us is against you know, a vote for Trump is a vote against us?”

“Well, wait a minute,” Smith continued. “We don’t have a right to care about the economy? We don’t have a right to care about our borders? We don’t have a right to care about safety in the streets?”

“We don’t have a right to care about the things,” he said. “If we’ve decided to vote based on that premise, it’s really not on that premise. It’s really a vote against women.”

“It’s like, come on now you can’t,” Smith said. “Because that’s emotional blackmail, and that’s not taking into account the potpourri of issues that affect us as a community.”

He said he would oppose that approach.

“So I would be against stuff like that, and I would fight against that,” Smith said.

“And I think that what the left being pulled even further left by a small cadre of individuals that describe themselves as the progressive left,” he continued.

“No, because what you gonna do, you gonna vote for the right,” Smith said. “Where you going, you’re the progressive left.”

“Where you at, you all the way, you all the way over here,” he said. “What you gonna do go all the way over there?”

“I’m standing right here,” Smith added. “You gonna bypass me and go all the way over here? Because you didn’t get what you want.”

“You better fly straight and get your pro you get yourself right,” he said. “You. I’m not capitulating to something like that.”

Smith closed by outlining what he described as his guiding principle.

“We’re going to do what’s reasonable and what’s in the best interest of the country,” he said.

“That’s my mentality, whether it’s as a pundit or ultimately as an elected official,” Smith added. “If some miracle happened and I decided to do that down the line, that is how I think.”

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