Former US special counsel Jack Smith attends a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, September 29, 2026.
A Republican strategist blew his top on Tuesday about his party's self-inflicted humiliation when interrogating prosecutor Jack Smith. As they attempted to impress President Donald Trump and his supporters by proving Smith lied about being in Atlanta, and by implication meeting with another anti-Trump prosecutor Fani Willis, Sens. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and John Kennedy (R-LA) touted as evidence that a giant board showing that Smith had supposedly attended an Atlanta Hawks game.
In fact, however, Smith had attended a basketball game with the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, one that was held in Smith's home state of Maryland. Soon right-wing commentators like Sean Hannity and Benny Johnson, who promoted the moment as Schmitt and company catching Smith both committing perjury and conspiring with Willis, were frantically deleting their social media posts.
Discussing the matter on CNN on Tuesday, GOP adviser Shermichael Singleton was indignant at his party's embarrassing faux pas.
"We have races in Texas, Georgia, Michigan, Maine, Ohio and North Carolina that are either toss-ups or slightly leaning Democrat," Singleton told CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins. "We're going to have to spend a lot of money to get these people across the finish line. A lot of our base, working-class people, men of color, are struggling. They're barely getting by. There are a lot of people who are wondering how their children and grandchildren will get through college and afford a house. So as a strategist, a Republican one, I want to talk about those issues, the tangible issues the American people are saying they want to hear about from their political leaders."
He added, "I couldn't care less about Jack Smith in this particular moment, when we're weeks away from a midterm and I want to focus on drawing a contrast with the other side and figuring out the policy solutions to the issues that are clearly impacting everybody in this country right now. That must be the focus of my party and the messaging going into November."
Collins asked Singleton, "Are you saying Republicans should not have invited Jack Smith to Capitol Hill today?"
Singleton agreed.
"For what?" he asked. "What in the h - - - are we getting out of this? I'm just being very honest about this" Pointing out that Republicans need to enthuse their base and win over both low-propensity voters and independents, he dismissed approaches that focus on the president's wishes by saying that "Trump isn't on the ballot. They're not happy about the economy. These are very real structural things that, operationally, we must figure out a way to address."
This is not the first time Singleton has criticized his own party for failing to connect with the voters it needs to win. In August, he told CNN's "The Arena" that they were failing the Black men who had helped put Trump over the top in the 2024 election.
“I've critiqued my own party about meeting particularly Black men, who really showcase some diversity in their political thought in 2024, in terms of voting for Trump and Republicans to actually deliver electorally, deliver legislatively,” Singleton said at the time. “We're not supporting Black male candidates. We should be supporting legislation that empower Black men. And the party has completely failed, in my opinion.”
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