'Democrats stopped letting people decide': Stephen A. Smith weighs in on H-1B debate, says at least Republicans allow debate

ESPN analyst and podcast host Stephen A. Smith said debates surrounding H-1B visas within the Republican Party are healthy and are the type of conversations that have been silenced by Democrats.

On a New Year's Eve episode of "The Stephen A. Smith Show," the longtime sports broadcaster said policy debate is essential, but Democrats have refused to allow such disagreements.

"At least in the Trump administration, there appears to be a debate allowed. What has ailed the Democrats? It's not an ideology alone. It's not their feelings alone," Smith began. "It's the fact that if you refute it, what they said, if you are part of their party, cancel culture kicked in. If you were not a part of their party, it was ostracism, and it was ultimately hate-mongering and fearmongering that was thrown into the equation. There was no room for debate, and enough voices weren't being heard," Smith yelled.

The broadcaster then stated that despite there being diversity of people among Democrats, a diverse set of opinions didn't matter to the party.

"Diversity amongst those voices not being heard. You're black, you're white, you're gay, you're lesbian, you're heterosexual, you're transgender. It don't matter. You still have to have one form of thinking if you fell under their umbrella, otherwise you were pushed out," Smith continued.

'You must obey the party line, or you're out on your ass.'

Smith said he agreed with X owner Elon Musk's position that the United States should bring in the "top ~0.1% of engineering talent" to keep the country "winning."

However, Smith added that even if he didn't agree with the position, he felt there should be an "open, robust debate about it," because that is "not something that the Democrats allowed."

"The Democrats stopped letting people decide," he remarked, referring to the Democratic Party's lack of primary ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

"One could easily argue their mentality seems to be, you must obey the party line, or you're out on your ass. That seemed to be what they were saying, censorship, cancer culture. There was no debate. That's why they're home and Donald Trump is on his way back to the White House."

Defending the idea of "America first" and favoring "people born in this country" is a discussion worth having Smith explained, claiming intense debate strengthens the party and sharpens the argument.

"I just think these kind of discussions are good for the country, and wish I saw more of it on the left," he concluded.

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