“Such ingratitude.” That’s just one of the many posts Elon Musk has shared on X. He was aiming at former President Donald Trump as a public feud between the two continues to unfold. From claiming Trump wouldn’t have won the presidency without his support, to suggesting, without evidence, that Trump’s name appears in the Epstein files. The world’s richest man isn’t holding back on one of the most powerful figures in American politics. Enter Stephen A Smith.

Amid his flurry of posts, Musk has also started floating new political ideas—ones that veer away from Trump’s influence. And one of those ideas has clearly caught the attention of Stephen A Smith. On Thursday, Musk, whose net worth sits at $387.9 billion, took to X and posed a question: “Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?”

With 16 hours still remaining in the poll, 81% of respondents had already voted “Yes.” Sports analyst and commentator Stephen A Smith didn’t just agree—he amplified it. He retweeted Musk’s question, adding: “Mr. @elonmusk I’m all for moving America to the CENTER. I’m definitely down for that cause! Sign me up!!!” Woah!

The NBA world is not the only thing that Stephen A Smith, in recent years, has become famous for providing his insights on. The 57-year-old has also been heavily vocal on the political front, supporting several of Trump’s ideas due to him being ‘not happy’ with today’s Democratic Party. Back in April, the sportscaster went viral for suggesting that he has ‘no choice’ but to consider a run for President in the 2028 US Elections.

He wrote on X that he “Hate the thought of being a politician” but noted feeling “sick of this mess.” If he had the option of running as a third-party candidate, however, with strong backing from people like Elon Musk, then Smith would certainly be less comfortable about launching his own campaign.

Smith spent a major portion of the recent episode of his ‘The Stephen A. Smith Show’ discussing the Trump-Musk feud when it was still in its early stages. Since then, however, the fight has gone from a Level 1 to a Level 100. Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, claimed that “This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted”.

Musk had been openly sharing his disagreement with Trump’s latest policy proposal, which has already passed the House and is due for a vote in the Senate. He called it a ‘disgusting abomination’, and suggested that the bill would add to the US budget deficit and place a “crushing” debt on Americans. By Thursday, Trump publicly said he’s “very disappointed with Elon Musk,” and implied Musk has “Trump Derangement Syndrome”. Thus began the fight on X, and the rest is history.

As of now, Stephen A Smith has not chosen to add anything more to the escalation of this feud. Where can he get the time from, since Game 1 of the NBA Finals is also now underway? However, this is not the last we hear from the sportscaster. After all, along with defending Trump, Smith had also been a vocal supporter of the billionaire.

Stephen A Smith defended Elon Musk’s role within DOGE

Before the Trump-Musk feud, the duo ranked among the most talked-about figures in U.S. politics and government. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO had spent $277 million to help get Trump elected. This instantly outraged people. The backlash grew even stronger after the administration announced Musk would take on a government role—as an unpaid special government employee.

He did that by leading DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), a new advisory body reportedly created to cut wasteful spending and boost efficiency. The move sparked widespread pushback from Democrats in Congress and federal workforce unions. Despite the controversy, Musk still had thousands of supporters behind him—including the ESPN sportscaster.

Back in late February, Stephen A Smith made an appearance on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show. During the same, he revealed that “Let me tell you I think the argument. I think the Democrats are really messing up when it comes to Donald Trump at this particular moment in time. I will openly confess. You know, Elon Musk … you know, he’s not born here. And they’re making this argument he’s not an elected official. He hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate.” Smith further revealed that he “gets the discomfort” with Musk. Despite that, he argued “what they’re missing is that you messed up things so badly over the last several years. Give the man a chance to see what he does.”

After Musk’s exit from DOGE, it was seen that he was right to give the billionaire a chance. DOGE earlier published a running total of estimated savings on its website. That stood at $175 billion on May 29th. However, an analysis by the BBC, on April 23rd, reportedly found that they itemised only $61.5 billion of that amount. Furthermore, evidence of how the savings were achieved was available for just $32.5 billion. Even that amount was a worthy one.

If Elon Musk is escalating the feud right now, a major reason is that they estimate Trump’s recent spending bill to add $5.2 trillion to US debt. Moreover, it might increase the budget deficit by about $600 billion in the next fiscal year. Stephen A. Smith will certainly speak out on this, given that he has been vocal on this topic earlier. It will be interesting to see whose side he chooses.