By Tyler Arnold
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 18, 2024 / 13:55 pm
Former president Donald Trump and comedian Jim Gaffigan took jabs at Vice President Kamala Harris during the annual Al Smith dinner for her decision to skip the event that both major party candidates traditionally attend during presidential election years.
“My opponent feels like she does not have to be here, which is deeply disrespectful to the event and in particular to our great Catholic community,” Trump said to applause from some of the guests.
The dinner, held Thursday, Oct. 17, commemorates Al Smith, governor of New York in the 1920s and the first Catholic to be nominated for president by a major political party. Hosted by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York, the $5,000-a-plate dinner was expected to raise as much as $10 million for Catholic charities in the state.
Normally, the two candidates trade lighthearted jokes about each other and themselves. In 2016, however, Trump diverted from this precedent with harsh criticisms of his opponent, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Harris, who was campaigning in the battleground state of Wisconsin on the day of the dinner, instead sent a prerecorded video to address the guests.
“Instead of attending tonight, [Harris is] in Michigan receiving Communion from [Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer,” Trump joked, referencing a TikTok video of the Michigan governor feeding a Dorito to a podcast host, which mimics a viral trend but was interpreted by some Catholics as appearing similar to receiving holy Communion.
Trump noted that the last major party candidate to skip the event was Walter Mondale in 1984, which he said “did not go very well for him.” President Ronald Reagan won reelection that year in a landslide against Mondale, taking 49 of 50 states.
“It’s been a long tradition for both Democrat and Republican candidates for president of the United States to attend this dinner, always,” Trump said. “It’s a rule — you’ve got to go to the dinner.”
“Otherwise bad things are going to happen to you from up there,” the former president added and pointed upward.
Trump took repeated jabs at Harris during his speech, saying he “hoped that she would come because we can’t get enough of hearing her beautiful laugh,” something he has mocked in other speeches. He also said that to get Harris to attend, the archdiocese “should have told her the funds were going to bail out the looters and rioters in Minneapolis and she would have been here.”
Gaffigan, the Catholic stand-up comedian and actor who hosted the event, also criticized Harris for not attending the event, saying: “Catholics will be a key demographic in every battleground state.”
“I’m sorry, why is Vice President Harris not here?” Gaffigan said. “I mean, consider this, this is a room full of Catholics and Jews in New York City. This is a layup for the Democratic nominee.”
Before Trump’s speech, the organizers played a video clip from Harris, which was received with a smattering of applause, some cheers, and a handful of boos. The clip included an appearance by former “Saturday Night Live” comedian Molly Shannon, who played one of her recurring fictional characters from the show, a Catholic school teenager named Mary Katherine Gallagher.
In the clip, Harris asks the character for advice on what to speak about, to which Shannon says: “Don’t say anything negative about Catholics,” to which Harris responds: “I would never do that no matter where I was — that would be like criticizing Detroit in Detroit,” referencing a Trump event in Detroit which the former president criticized the condition of the city.
“The Al Smith dinner provides a rare opportunity to set aside partisanship and come together to do some good by supporting the tremendous charitable work of the Catholic Church,” Harris said.
“The Church cares for the sick and feeds the hungry, supports families with housing and education, and in times of disaster, provides not only essential supplies but also and so importantly, a sense of hope,” she said and then quoted the Gospel of St. Luke.
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“In the spirit of tonight’s dinner, let us recommit to reaching across divides, to seek understanding and common ground,” Harris added. “And in honor of the great Al Smith, let us fight to build a better future with faith in God, our country, and in each other.”
Trump also commended the charitable work of the Catholic Church, saying: “You’re helping the poor, educating children, and supporting the vulnerable.” He used some moments during the speech to make campaign pitches as well.
“You’ve got to get out and vote and Catholics you’ve got to vote for me,” Trump said. “Just remember, you better remember I’m here and she’s not.”
Trump made some crude remarks that received mixed reactions from the crowd, including a reference to an allegation that Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, committed adultery during his first marriage. He also commented on the group called White Dudes for Harris, saying he’s “not worried about them” because “their wives and their wives’ lovers are all voting for me.”
The former president also took repeated jabs at Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who was seated next to the podium where Trump was speaking. This included a comment alleging that Schumer pushed President Joe Biden out of the presidential race and one presumably questioning the majority leader’s masculinity.
“Considering how woke your party has become, if Kamala [Harris] loses, you still have a chance to become the first woman president,” Trump told Schumer, to which the Senate leader shook his head with a grin on his face.
Before the event, Trump took part in an interview on EWTN’s “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo” in which the former president discussed abortion, religious freedom, and his admiration for the Catholic Church.
Some recent polls show that Catholic voters are nearly evenly divided on the 2024 presidential election. According to a September Pew Research Center survey, about 52% of Catholics support Trump and 47% support Harris. A poll conducted by the National Catholic Reporter found that Catholics in the seven most tightly contested swing states preferred Trump 50% to Harris’ 45%.
