ESPN loudmouth explodes on Trump for meddling in college football: ‘Who the hell does he think he is?’

When was the last time a sitting U.S. president tried to tell you what football game to watch? If that sounds absurd, wait until you hear what Stephen A. Smith had to say about it on his latest episode — because he was absolutely livid, and every word of it was must-listen radio. On Friday, Trump issued an executive order titled “Preserving America’s Game” — a directive aimed at carving out an exclusive broadcast window for the Army-Navy game on the second Saturday of December. The order instructs the Secretary of Commerce and the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission to coordinate with the College Football Playoff committee, the NCAA, and broadcast partners to establish a window during which no competing college football programming can air on any network. Smith read the order live on air — directly from White House letterhead — and then he let loose. “Who the hell does he think he is?” Smith asks, via YouTube. “If the Army-Navy game is on NBC, Fox and CBS should be excluded from having its own content on its networks? because the president issued some executive order that he doesn’t want anything competing with Army-Navy? That he wants the focus of the sports world on Army-Navy? Well, what if they don’t want that?” The ESPN host didn’t stop at the broadcast networks, either. With pressing national concerns ranging from the economy to healthcare, immigration to education, the idea that the President is spending executive energy on a football broadcast window pushed Smith to the edge. He made clear this isn’t a partisan attack — it’s a matter of principle. “(Because) you overstepping your damn bounds,” Smith said. Don’t you got enough things to be focused on? Now you trying to tell us what damn football games we should watch. Who the hell does he think he is?“