Democrats are desperate to blame anyone but themselves for Kamala Harris's disaster of a campaign.
They settled on a convenient excuse.
But Stephen A Smith hit James Clyburn with a brutal truth about Kamala Harris that left him speechless.
Democrats resurrect tired excuses after getting crushed
Democrats lost big in November when Donald Trump swept all seven swing states and won the popular vote in a historic landslide.
Instead of looking in the mirror, they blamed sexism.
Michelle Obama kicked off the excuse-making last month when she told a Brooklyn crowd that America "ain't ready" for a woman president.¹
South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn jumped on that bandwagon during an appearance on sports commentator Stephen A. Smith's "Straight Shooter" podcast.
Clyburn tried claiming Harris lost because voters "couldn't get beyond gender" and that she happened to be a Black woman.²
That's retreat mode.
Smith wasn't having it.
"Well, let me say this, because I'm not going to say this behind your back and not say it to your face," Smith fired back. "I'm sitting right here in front of you. I emphatically disagree with what you just alluded to in terms of 'it might be gender-driven.'"³
Smith destroys the gender excuse with hard facts
Smith came prepared with receipts that demolished Clyburn's excuse.
Hillary Clinton got 2.9 million more votes than Trump in 2016.⁴
Harris pulled nearly 75 million votes in 2024.
Women serve as governors in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia.
Nancy Pelosi became one of the most powerful politicians in American history as Speaker of the House.
Smith pointed out that if sexism were really the problem, Democrats wouldn't have handed Harris the nomination with only 107 days to campaign.⁵
"I think about all of these things and I say those things don't hint towards a gender-driven agenda where it's, 'Okay, because she's a female, I'm not going to vote for her,'" Smith explained. "Because I think if that was the case, Kamala Harris wouldn't have been immediately inserted even though she had only 107 days to win the election."⁶
Smith even took a shot at Michelle Obama's claim that America isn't ready.
"I certainly disagree with Michelle Obama when she said she doesn't think we're ready," Smith said. "I think we're very ready as a country to elect a woman, because I think women by and large are smarter, more composed, more disciplined than the men have proven to be."⁷
The real problem wasn't Harris's gender.
It was Harris herself and the radical agenda she represented.
She ran a terrible campaign, couldn't articulate policies, and defended everything voters rejected about the Biden administration.
When voters looked at the economy, the border crisis, and inflation crushing their families, Harris offered word salads and celebrity endorsements.
Trump offered solutions.
Clyburn and the Democrat Party establishment want to pretend Harris lost because of sexism.
That lets them avoid the hard truth that voters rejected their failed policies.
"Is it possible that that's not what they did?" Smith asked Clyburn. "That instead, what they did was look at the Democratic side, and say they didn't like what they were getting, because the Democratic side didn't represent what James Clyburn stands for."⁸
Voters saw a Democrat Party that shifted so far left it became unrecognizable.
They chose Trump not because Harris was a woman, but because she pushed the wrong policies at the wrong time.
Democrats can keep blaming sexism if it makes them feel better.
But voters will keep rejecting their candidates until they figure out the real problem is their radical agenda, not America's readiness for women leaders.
¹ "Michelle Obama says America 'not ready' for woman president: 'We saw in this past election,'" Fox News, November 16, 2025.
² "Stephen A. Smith argues with Rep. Clyburn, says gender is not the reason people refused to support Harris," Fox News, December 19, 2025.
³ Ibid.
⁴ "Hillary Clinton Officially Wins Popular Vote by Nearly 2.9 Million," ABC News, December 22, 2016.
⁵ "Stephen A. Smith argues with Rep. Clyburn, says gender is not the reason people refused to support Harris," Fox News, December 19, 2025.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ Ibid.