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

SMR Empty class
•Video 7:07
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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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Mary Calvert for CNN
•Video 5:12
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
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)
Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
•Video 5:48
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?”
SMR RFK & VP
•Video 6:06
Can RFK Jr. get on nationwide ballots before November? 6:06
Mar 30, 2024
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is polling better than any independent Presidential candidate since Ross Perot in 1992 and he’s raised twice as much as Libertarian Gary Johnson in 2016. But what is the path for him to get on enough state ballots to impact the election?
SMR Coney Barrett Oath
•Video 5:20
Professor: Sotomayor should retire to prevent ‘catastrophic’ SCOTUS imbalance 5:20
Mar 30, 2024
Given what happened to RBG’s seat, says Law Professor Paul Campos, Justice Sonia Sotomayor should make the “statesmanlike” move of stepping down while Biden is President and Democrats hold the Senate, “rather than running the risk [of] a completely catastrophic development” in the Court’s ideological makeup.
SMR Piggy bank tuition
•Video 4:17
As college cost passes $90K, ‘the middle class is losing ground’ 4:17
Mar 30, 2024
The price of college just broke through the $90,000/year mark at several prestigious universities. “If you are an average family,” says Princeton Professor Frederick Wherry, “the idea of applying to a place that’s that expensive, it’s just beyond your imagination.” And with parents often still paying off their own student loans, “here again, the middle-class is losing ground.”
SMR Sesno Welker split
•Video 3:31
Media expert: ‘You can’t ignore half the country away’ 3:31
Mar 30, 2024
NBC hiring and firing former RNC head Ronna McDaniel “is a mess,” says GWU Professor Frank Sesno. “You can’t ignore half of the country away. That’s not responsible, it certainly isn’t journalism.”
SMR David Urban
•Video 3:11
GOP consultant: ‘America is the worse’ for NBC firing McDaniel 3:11
Mar 30, 2024
In the wake of NBC firing former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, says GOP consultant David Urban, “America is the worse for not having that kind of robust discussion.”

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.