WATCH: Stephen A. Smith Believes a Trump Win in 2024 Could Spark a Civil War

ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith thinks Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election would be so polarizing it could start a civil war.

In a recent interview with OutKick’s Clay Travis, Smith discussed his outlook on the upcoming election. He said that while he doesn’t outright oppose Trump, he acknowledges how “divisive” the former president is.

“I’m not as down on all of Trump’s policies as people are,” Smith told Travis. “There are some good things he’s done. I’m from an HBCU. I know that he did things for HBCUs. I think that he’s so divisive that he could potentially cause a civil war in this country. That’s my concern about him.”

Smith also questioned why Republicans seem committed to making Trump the candidate other potential candidates would enact similar policies in a less abrasive manner.

“What I would ask to Republicans is this: somebody like (Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis) would vote right along how (Trump) votes,” Smith said. “They’d try to implement policies just like he’s implementing. Nikki Haley, as well. I mean, what are you talking about? They would do the things that Trump does. They would just do it with considerably more decorum and — dare I say — decency as opposed to being so divisive where you ultimately cause civil war in this country.”

Regardless of who Republicans choose, Smith emphasized the need for a new president.

“On the other hand, there’s (President Joe Biden),” he continued, “and there are a lot of people with the Democratic Party — that I won’t give their names — but they made sure to contact me because they didn’t like the fact that I said this, Clay. We need a new president. The man is gonna be 82 years of age in the year 2024. There’s no way around it.”