Trump was accompanied at the dinner by his wife, Melania, who has been an infrequent presence on the campaign trail.
“President Trump talked about migrants taking cats and eating them.
“I’m sorry, why is Vice President Harris not here?
Trump blasted Harris for declining to attend, accusing her in a social media post of being anti-Catholic.
“I also dare remind them that Al Smith was a happy warrior, that he was never a sore loser,” he said.
At the annual Al Smith charity dinner Thursday night, former President Donald Trump was the main attraction. Eight years prior, he was ridiculed for his scathing speech against his 2016 opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In the battleground states, where polls indicate the presidential race is extremely close, Vice President Kamala Harris chose not to travel to the event in person. However, she did make an appearance on camera for a brief speech at the dinner in a videotape.
It has historically given candidates from both parties the opportunity to exchange lighthearted jabs and demonstrate that they can get along, or at least appear to, for one night during the final stages of the election. The New York white tie dinner raises millions of dollars for Catholic charities.
Usually, it’s the final time the two candidates take the stage together before Election Day.
Melania Trump, Trump’s wife, who hasn’t been on the campaign trail much, went to the dinner with him. Since the Republican convention in July, the pair had not been seen together in public.
Along with former mayors and business executives, embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams was also present. Adams was accused last month of taking opulent international vacations and illicit campaign donations from Turkish businessmen and officials.
New York Gov. is among the other notable attendees. Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, Kathy Hochul, and House Speaker Mike Johnson successfully sued Trump for civil fraud.
The Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was met with cheers when he and his spouse, actress Cheryl Hines, arrived. Over the summer, Kennedy abandoned his independent presidential campaign and endorsed Trump.
The dinner, which costs $5,000 per person, is sold out and is emceed by comedian Jim Gaffigan. New York Catholic charities benefit from the sales.
Before attacking Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff for an extramarital affair he recently confessed to while married to his first wife, Trump acknowledged in his highlights that he had gone “overboard” in his attacks on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during his 2016 appearance.
“If she wins, my only recommendation would be to keep her husband Doug away from the nannies. Trump acknowledged, “That’s a nasty one,” and advised, “Just keep him away.”. “.”.
According to Trump, he had “never met a person who’s vegan who liked Turkey so much” in response to Adams’ alleged campaign finance offenses. “.”.
Trump once made light of the assassination attempts on him, joking, “I just don’t see the point of taking shots at myself when other people have been shooting at me.”. “.
Her video for the event was shared by Harris’ campaign. In it, comedian Molly Shannon, who popularized the role of a Catholic schoolgirl on “Saturday Night Live,” joined her. She tells Harris that this is one of the most important dinners since the Last Supper.
“Do you think there’s anything I should avoid talking about tonight?” Harris asks.
“Well,” Shannon says, “don’t lie.”. “You must not give a false account to your neighbor. “..”.
Harris jokes, “Yes, particularly the outcome of your neighbor’s election.”.
Harris responds, “I would never do that, no matter where I was,” to Shannon’s suggestion that “Maybe don’t say anything negative about Catholics.”. “That would be like criticizing Detroit in Detroit” — a jab at Trump’s remarks during a visit there last week.
Throughout the evening, Gaffigan cracked jokes at the expense of both sides.
Trump made remarks about immigrants stealing and consuming cats. This is the second time that grabbing a cat has been a campaign tactic, if you’re keeping track at home,” Gaffigan stated before criticizing Harris for not showing up in person.
“I apologize, but why isn’t Vice President Harris present? This is a layup for the Democratic nominee in front of a congregation of Catholics and Jews in New York City. “,”.
In the past, the Harris campaign stated that instead of spending time in heavily Democratic New York, it wanted her to spend as much time as possible campaigning in the battleground states that will determine the outcome of the election. Her team has informed the organizers that, should she win, she would be open to attending the dinner in her capacity as president.
Trump attacked Harris on social media for refusing to go, calling her anti-Catholic. He wrote, “Any Catholic who votes for Comrade Kamala Harris should have their head examined.”.
That tone sparked jeers in 2016 when Trump made an appearance at the dinner with Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent, and delivered a particularly vile speech in which he called her “corrupt” and accused her of “pretending not to hate Catholics.”. “,”.
Trump’s 2016 speech had started off less antagonistic, given the evening after their last debate.
When he was a Democrat, Trump joked that New York Democrat Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, used to adore him. “Actually a modest person,” he joked after pointing out that these dinner remarks usually start with a self-deprecating joke. “..”.
When he bemoaned the media’s bias against him, he said one of his best lines of the evening, at the expense of his wife.
“If you want evidence, consider Michelle Obama’s speech, which is praised by all. They think she is fantastic. He made fun of Melania’s convention speech that year, which contained some plagiarized passages, saying, “My wife, Melania, gives the exact same speech and people get on her case.”.
Trump’s comments quickly descended into resentment, however, as he discussed the inquiry into Clinton’s use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state and commended “the wonder of WikiLeaks” for its disclosures.
“Hillary thinks it’s important to mislead the public by having one public policy and a completely different policy in private,” he remarked into laughter. For instance, she is acting as though she doesn’t despise Catholics in public tonight. “.
Clinton also made her fair share of personal jabs, pointing out that the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of hope for immigrants, a sentiment shared by most Americans.
“Donald notices a ‘4’ on the Statue of Liberty,” Clinton jokingly said. “If she changes her hair and loses the tablet and torch, it might be a ‘5’. “.”.
Trump’s supporters frequently attribute his appeal to his sense of humor. At the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner, he famously scoffed at jokes made about him by former President Obama, but he also occasionally makes fun of himself.
He has commented on his hair after seeing a picture of himself on screen at a number of rallies this year.
What in hell are you capable of? Nothing I can do will change it. He made a joke during a rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, last month: “We’re stuck with it.”.
In 2020, a virtual version of the fundraiser—which was shifted online due to worries about large gatherings during the height of the pandemic—featured speeches by both Trump and President Biden, who is Catholic. Trump emphasized his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, while Biden talked about how his faith had helped him through difficult times. Both candidates used their speeches to appeal to Catholic voters rather than to make jokes.
The dinner’s main speaker, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, spoke to both men about the impending election. “I dare remind them that Al Smith was a happy warrior and never a sore loser,” he added.
The Alfred E. . The Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is named for the former governor of New York, a Democrat who, in 1928, lost his bid for the presidency and became the first Catholic to win a major party nomination.
Since John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, the event has become customary for presidential candidates. Kennedy showed up in 1960 together. Bill Clinton and his Republican opponent, Bob Dole, were not invited by the Archdiocese of New York in 1996, allegedly due to Clinton’s veto of a law that prohibited late-term abortions.
helped write this report.
