By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2024-10-18 03:47:54 | Updated at 2024-10-18 06:18:00
2 hours ago
No one was safe from former President Donald Trump’s zingers Thursday night at the Al Smith dinner — as he panned Vice President Kamala Harris for skipping out, roasted New York City Mayor Eric Adams and dragged top Democrats in the rowdy audience.
Trump, 78, blasted Harris for being the first presidential candidate to decline the invitation to Manhattan event, which raises funds for Catholics charities supporting children, since Walter Mondale in 1984.
“I guess you should have told her the funds were going to bail out the looters and rioters in Minneapolis and she would have been here guaranteed,” Trump needled.
The former president quipped that Harris is actually out “receiving communion from Gretchen Whitmer,” in reference to the Michigan governor appearing in a bizarre viral video feeding a Dorito to a social media influencer on her knees.
The Republican presidential nominee slammed Harris for being “disrespectful to Catholics” and compared her to Mondale, who also skipped the dinner and went on to only win his home state in the race against Ronald Reagan.
“Shows there is a God,” Trump laughed about Mondale’s results.
The 45th president then directed his jokes at many others in the crowd, including Mayor Adams.
Trump wished “good luck” to the Big Apple mayor, who is under federal indictment on federal corruption and bribery charges.
The former commander in chief also warned that second gentleman Doug Emhoff shouldn’t “be allowed near nannies.”
Emhoff recently acknowledged that he had an affair during his first marriage to Kerstin Emhoff, years before he met Harris.
“There’s a group called White Dudes for Harris but I’m not worried about them. Their wives and their wives’ lovers are voting for me,” Trump cracked to a roaring audience after eating dinner alongside his wife Melania.
He slammed Sen. Chuck Schumer: “But look on the bright side Chuck considering how woke your party has become, if Kamala loses you still have a chance to become the first woman president.”
Meanwhile, Harris addressed the crowd in a pre-recorded clip in which she was interrupted by Mary Katherine Gallagher, the Catholic main character from the 1999 film “Superstar.”
Gallagher, played by Molly Shannon, warned Harris to not make jokes about Catholics, and that there will be a “fact-checker” at the dinner: Jesus.
Harris responded in the clip that making fun of Catholics at the Al Smith dinner would be like “insulting Detroit when you’re in Detroit” — in an apparent reference to Trump saying the Michigan city is in decline.
The VP’s video earned some chuckles but the crowd was visibly left confused at the Millennial movie reference.
Harris’ presence was felt as some in the audience booed the announcement that she would not be appearing in person, but sending a video instead. The dinner has featured major party candidates for nearly every election cycle since 1960.
Trump and President Biden both gave speeches in 2020 virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the roast session was full boar in 2016 when Trump took several shots at Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, claiming she “hates Catholics.”
Comedian Jim Gaffigan joined in on the fun Thursday night and poked fun at President Biden, saying the Biden family are “secret Trump voters” after his own party forced him out of the 2024 race.
“President Biden couldn’t be here tonight. The DNC made sure of that,” Gaffigan ragged.
The comedian also blasted Harris’ video, saying the audience was left dazed and confused.
“As I watched that, I couldn’t help but think of how my kids felt when I call — I FaceTimed into a piano recital,” he said.
Harris and Trump are unlikely to see each other face-to-face in the run up to Election Day just weeks away.
The dinner was supposed to be about “unity,” Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York, said before the event, expressing that he was “disappointed” Harris couldn’t make it.
“I am a little nervous, obviously still disappointed because the vice president isn’t coming,” Dolan told The Good Newsroom in an interview.
“I really thought and I tried to press this, Jim, with their people, this is literally up her alley,” Dolan told Gaffigan in the interview. “I mean, here you got somebody talking about ‘Oh, can’t we bring amity and unity?’”
“It’s not a campaign speech. It’s not a stump speech,” Dolan added. “Now, some candidates might use it for that, but that’s not the nature or purpose of the evening, either. You know, Ronald Reagan’s line [was] the Al Smith dinner is the rare time where politicians act like statesmen.”
