Trump Roasts Harris At Al Smith Dinner While Courting Catholics
NEW YORK — Former President Trump headlined the New York Archdiocese’s annual Al Smith charity dinner on Thursday night, trading a few jabs with Vice President Kamala Harris while also using the event as an opportunity to connect with Catholic voters.
Harris did not attend the event in person — the first time a presidential candidate failed to appear since Walter Mondale, a Democrat, in 1984 — and instead appeared in a pre-recorded video.
“There’s a group called ‘White Dudes for Harris.’ Have you seen this?” Trump said. “But I’m not worried about them at all because their wives and their wives’ lovers are all voting for me.”
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The 79th Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner raised $10 million for Catholic charities and has traditionally offered both major party candidates a chance to trade jokes with a few weeks left before voters cast their ballots. It has invited both the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates since 1960.
The dinner, hosted by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, took place at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York. Comedian Jim Gaffigan, a practicing Catholic, emceed the event. House Speaker Mike Johnson, New York Mayor Eric Adams and a host of other lawmakers also attended the event.
“This is very exciting, right? We are 19 days until the election — and likely a civil war,” Gaffigan said.
The comedian also took a shot at the current commander in chief.
“President Biden couldn’t be here tonight. The DNC made sure of that,” Gaffigan joked.
Harris spent the day campaigning in the battleground state of Wisconsin. Trump, meanwhile, was accompanied at the black-tie event by his wife, Melania, who is also a Catholic.
Skipping the dinner, Trump told the crowd, was “disrespectful to Catholics.”
"Catholics — you gotta vote for me,” he added.
The latest Pew Research Center survey, conducted over the summer, found that 61% of white Catholics will vote for Trump or will lean towards voting for him.
Trump also joked that Harris missed the dinner because she was too busy “receiving communion from Gretchen Whitmer” — a jab in reference to the viral video of the Michigan governor feeding a Dorito to a social media influencer like she was giving her communion.
In yet another jab, Trump said, “If you really wanted Vice President Harris to accept your invitation, I guess you should have told her the funds [from the dinner] were going to bail out the looters and rioters in Minneapolis and she would have been here, guaranteed,” citing her promotion of a bail fund during the 2020 riots.
While Trump delivered some below-the-belt barbs, Harris appeared via video with “Saturday Night Live” character Mary Katherine Gallagher, played by Molly Shannon who reprised her role as an awkward Catholic schoolgirl.
In the short skit, Harris asked Mary Katherine for advice on how to address the mostly-Catholic gathering.
“Is there anything that you think that maybe I shouldn't bring up tonight?” Harris asked.
“Um, well, don’t lie," Mary Katherine replied.
“Thou shalt not bear false witness to thy neighbor,” Harris said.
“Indeed, especially thy neighbor’s election results,” Mary Katherine retorted.
The dinner is named after Alfred E. Smith, a former New York governor who was the first Catholic to be nominated in 1932 to a major party’s presidential ticket.
Prior to the event, Dolan said he was disappointed that Harris did not attend in person.
“This year will be imbalanced because sadly, Kamala Harris isn’t coming,” he said on his podcast that aired Tuesday. “It's a shame because the nature of the evening is to bring people together. The nature of the evening is civility, patriotism and humor. It's not a campaign speech. It's not a campaign stop.”
Clemente Lisi is the executive editor of Religion Unplugged. He previously served as deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and a longtime reporter at The New York Post. Follow him on X @ClementeLisi.