ESPN host Stephen A. Smith directly criticized liberals for pursuing criminal charges against former President Trump, saying they were "afraid" that they "can't beat him on these issues."
Smith made the comments during Tuesday's episode of "The Stephen A. Smith Show," which was also the second day of Trump's impeachment trial over his hush money affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels .
As the trial continued with the first six jurors being sworn in, Smith said the case amounted to an admission by Trump's political opponents that they could not beat him in the election and must resort to legal warfare tactics.
It's much ado about nothing. To my liberal friends, all you're doing is showing that you're afraid you can't beat him on issues and on substance," Smith said on the podcast .
The host went on to note that this is why Trump "keeps saying this is a political campaign against me."
"That's why he keeps saying they can't beat me in the election, at the ballot box. That's the only way they can do it," he said.
Smith also warned of the consequences of this strategy, especially if Trump was never put in prison, predicting that as a result "there will never be peace in this country."
What if you didn't put him in jail, and he continued to go from presumptive GOP nominee to official GOP nominee, and he went to the polls, even though he was going to complain about his victory and being rigged again, you would. “We have given more substance to this argument, which means we will never have peace in this country.”
"Because tens of millions of people see how far the other side is willing to go just to keep them out of power because they can't beat them on their own merits," he said. he added.