I didn’t say it was easy, or that people who smoke are stupid, I said it was a choice. If you choose to quit smoking then you’ll succeed.

Ah, the Yoda solution. "There is no try."

Want to quit != want to want to quit, see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher-order_volition

There are literally millions of people who choose to quit smoking and fail, every single day.

I don't think it's 'fail' so much as 'change their mind'.

I know several people (including family members) who spent several decades "trying" to quit smoking, but "couldn't"... until they started having health problems and a doctor told them very clearly and in a serious tone that if they didn't quit, they would die.

At that point, they quit literally overnight and never went back. And I'm using "literally" literally here.

So yes, I know it's hard, but I'm pretty sure people who don't manage to quit just don't want to quit hard enough. They "want" to in the same sense that I want to learn martial arts: I've always thought that it would be great to master a martial art, and sometimes fantasize with it, but I know fully well that I'm never going to do it because I'm not willing to do what it takes (the time, the discipline, receiving blows, etc.)

In other words, I don't think wanting to snap a finger and magically never feel like smoking anymore qualifies as wanting to quit smoking.