Michael Smerconish

Host

Michael Smerconish is the host of the weekly Saturday TV program on CNN fittingly called "Smerconish." He is also the host of The Michael Smerconish Program on SiriusXM, an author and public speaker.
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Latest

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• Video 4:41
CNN
Video Smerconish: Trump motivates Americans who are not interested in voting 4:41
Oct 12, 2024
CNN’s Michael Smerconish explains why he thinks former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric is meant to persuade Americans who are not interested in voting.
<p>CNN’s Michael Smerconish discusses Americans are distracted by salacious headlines about the 2024 presidential election despite a new report from the Commission on the National Defense Strategy that warns about a "near-term major war" the US could face and numerous dangers abroad.</p>
• Video 5:33
Clipped From Video
Video New report warns of ‘near-term major war’ while Smerconish says Americans are distracted by the 2024 election 5:33
Sep 21, 2024
CNN’s Michael Smerconish discusses how Americans are distracted by salacious headlines about the 2024 presidential election despite a new report from the Commission on the National Defense Strategy that warns about a “near-term major war” the US could face and numerous dangers abroad.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump
• Video 6:41
Getty Images
Video Smerconish: The two reasons a presidential prediction can’t be made yet 6:41
Sep 7, 2024
CNN’s Michael Smerconish explains why the presidential election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is too close to call.
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• Video 5:14
CNN
Video ‘It’s when, not if’: Smerconish on Biden’s ABC interview 5:14
Jul 6, 2024
“It’s when, not if,” CNN’s Michael Smerconish weighs in on President Joe Biden’s high-stakes interview on ABC. 
Brownlee
• Video 3:08
Video Was Stone sentencing recommendation too harsh? 3:08
May 30, 2024
President Trump called Roger Stone’s recommended sentence ‘unfair.’ Beyond the controversy of AG Barr stepping in, is it unusually harsh? Attorney John Brownlee says yes.
SMR Empty class
• Video 7:07
Video Why is there an absenteeism pandemic in US schools? 7:07
Apr 13, 2024
More than a quarter of US public-school students were “chronically absent” during the last year - missing 10% or more of the school days. “Some of this is transportation difficulties, the need to work, other poverty-related factors,” says Nat Malkus of the American Enterprise Institute. “But the real cause is the change that happened over the pandemic.”
SMR RCP Poll Biden Trump tie
• Video 6:14
Video Does Biden have ‘The Big Mo’? 6:14
Apr 13, 2024
After months of struggle, President Biden is pulling even with Trump in polls, aided by several factors in the news. So, asks CNN’s Michael Smerconish, does Biden now have “The Big Mo” - momentum?
SMR Snickers economy
• Video 7:12
Video How does the price of a Snickers bar impact Americans’ views on inflation? 7:12
Apr 13, 2024
“As consumers, when we think about inflation, we remember the price of something we buy very frequently,” like a Snickers bar, says Paul Donovan, author of The Power of Inflation. “It’s a little bit irrational to put so much emphasis on there.”
SMR William J Brennan
• Video 5:42
Video Attorney: Manhattan jury pool selection ‘tough’ for Trump 5:42
Apr 13, 2024
“A lot of times in criminal law, you play for the fumble,” says William J. Brennan, who represented the Trump Organization in the fraud case before the same New York judge as the hush money case. “If you get one juror is a holdout that hung jury can really be a game changer…..but I think it’s tougher when the defendant is this particular defendant and it’s just the island of Manhattan that provides the potential jury pool.”
SMR fair trial?
• Video 4:11
Video Smerconish: Can Trump get a fair trial in Manhattan? 4:11
Apr 13, 2024
CNN’s Michael Smerconish asks, can Trump field a fair and impartial jury in Manhattan, where he won only 12.3% of the vote in 2020?
SMR Haidt
• Video 7:03
Video Author: Protect kids from phones’ mental health impact 7:03
Apr 6, 2024
“Human beings had a play-based childhood from time immemorial,” says author Jonathan Haidt. What caused teen mental health decline is “between 2010 and 2015, phones, screens come sweeping in…The most important thing that parents can do is delay the age at which their child gets immersed in internet culture.”
SMR Workplace
• Video 6:20
Video Law proposed to protect workers’ ‘Right to disconnect’ 6:20
Apr 6, 2024
A bill in California would give employees the legal right to ignore non-emergency work communications and demands outside of business hours. “This is the consequence of a technology that has left us 24/7 available,” says Assemblyman Matt Haney, “It shouldn’t leave us 24/7 working.”
SMR Border Abortion
• Video 8:16
Video Smerconish: It’s border vs. abortion in 2024 race 8:16
Apr 6, 2024
In the border and abortion, says CNN’s Michael Smerconish, each side has a strong get-out-the-vote issue for 2024. The result could be determined by a newsworthy case near election day - over which the campaigns have no control.
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• Video 5:12
Mary Calvert for CNN
Video Why the nostalgia for the Trump administration? 5:12
Apr 6, 2024
According to polls, says CNN’s Michael Smerconish, when compared to Biden’s administration, America seems nostalgic for the chaotic Trump years - despite the fact that in 2020 voters rejected his presidency. As a result, “The Biden campaign is about to spend a lot of time and money trying to convince voters that memories are faulty.”
SMR Selfies
• Video 4:58
Video Smerconish: It’s time to mingle 4:58
Apr 6, 2024
The societal impact of smartphones ‘is the most important issue of our time,” says CNN’s Michael Smerconish. “We’re replacing the real-life human encounters that produce meaningful relationships with inch-deep, online connections…We can’t solve anything consequential if we continue to fray as a society.”
VANDALIA, OHIO - MARCH 16: Guests listen as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally at the Dayton International Airport on March 16, 2024 in Vandalia, Ohio. The rally was hosted by the Buckeye Values PAC. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
• Video 5:48
Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
Video Smerconish: ‘A mistake’ to ignore or disrespect Trump and his supporters 5:48
Mar 30, 2024
After Ronna McDaniel’s hiring and firing, says CNN’s Michael Smerconish, it’s a mistake to ignore or disrespect Trump and his supporters. “Of course, no one’s views should be aired without challenge. That’s a journalist’s responsibility…I’m advocating for balance. Why would anyone want to watch a discussion of the news that only reinforces beliefs, and doesn’t challenge people to think?”

About

Michael Smerconish is the host of the weekly Saturday TV program on CNN fittingly called “Smerconish.” He is also the host of The Michael Smerconish Program on SiriusXM, an author and public speaker.

Smerconish hosts “The Michael Smerconish Program,” a daily talk-radio program heard exclusively since 2013 on SiriusXM’s POTUS Channel 124. Smerconish delivers the program live from 9am-Noon and it replays from 9pm – Midnight. Previously he was nationally syndicated in more than 100 markets on terrestrial radio, after a successful stint as a morning drive host for CBS in Philadelphia. His eponymous CNN program debuted in 2014. CNN’s “Smerconish” airs on Saturday mornings at 9:00 am EST and he appears regularly as a guest on other CNN programming. He has authored seven books: two are New York Times best sellers, and his novel TALK! was optioned for television by Warner Brothers.

His latest book is titled Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right: American Life in Columns. “Clowns” is a compilation of 100 newspaper columns, each with a contemporary afterword, drawn from the 1,047 commentaries Smerconish published in the Philadelphia Daily News and Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer in the first 15 years following 9/11. The book gave rise to a speaking tour dubbed “American Life in Columns,” featuring the author sharing stories from the book with live audiences in two dozen small theatres all across America. When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, Smerconish was about to embark on a new tour called “Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Talking,” a one-man show commemorating his 30th anniversary in talk radio. A taped version of that presentation was aired worldwide as a one-hour CNN special on July 11, 2020, (shown here), and the full show will be released on December 8, 2020 by Virgil Films on VOM and DVD (shown here).

Smerconish is an attorney who once served in the Administration of President George Herbert Walker Bush when he was just 29-years old. He and his wife Lavinia have raised four children in suburban Philadelphia.