(Bloomberg) -- Former President Donald Trump in his address at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York pounced on his rival Kamala Harris for not attending the Catholic charity event, which draws the city’s financial and business elite.
“My opponent feels she does not have to be here,” Trump said Thursday at the annual star-studded white-tie gala, calling the Democratic presidential nominee’s decision “deeply disrespectful to the event and in particular to the Catholic community.”
Harris, who decided to remain on the campaign trail, addressed the attendees in a brief video message, but Trump focused on her absence to jab at his election opponent.
“If you really wanted Vice President Harris to accept your invitation, 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 quipped, reminding the Catholics in the audience to remember him showing up when they vote in November.
And Trump hit at President Joe Biden, who exited the race and endorsed Harris after a disastrous debate.
“If Democrats really wanted to have somebody not be with us this evening they would have sent Joe Biden,” Trump said,
“We have someone in the White House who can barely talk, barely put together two coherent sentences, who seems to have the mental faculties of a child, is a person that has nothing going, no intelligence whatsoever. But enough about Kamala Harris,” he added.
The dinner, being held for the 79th time, has become a traditional stop for presidential candidates in election years, an opportunity to showcase a lighter side and poke fun at themselves while also displaying a more civil tone toward their rivals.
Trump, who is the first former US president convicted of a felony, joked about his own many legal challenges, saying he was glad to appear in New York without being required to by subpoena.
Trump also turned to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who faces a federal corruption indictment and multiple investigations into his administration.
“Mayor Adams good luck with everything,” Trump said to laughter. “They went after you, mayor,” he continued. “They’ve gone after me, Mr. Mayor. You’re peanuts compared to what they’ve done to me.”
Harris Video
Harris appeared in a brief video that also included fictional character Mary Katherine Gallagher, a caricature of a young, socially awkward Catholic schoolgirl made popular in skits on Saturday Night Live, and portrayed by comedian Molly Shannon.
In the video, Harris both praised the organizers for their charity work — calling the dinner “a rare opportunity to set aside partisanship and come together to do some good” — while also poking at Trump.
Asked by Harris if there is anything she shouldn’t say, Gallagher responded, “Well, don’t lie. Thou shalt not bear false witness to thy neighbor.”
“Indeed, especially thy neighbor’s election results,” Harris said.
Gallagher told Harris that there will be a “fact-checker” at the dinner — Jesus — urging her to not “say anything negative about Catholics.”
“I would never do that, no matter where I was. That would be like criticizing Detroit in Detroit,” Harris responded, referring to recent Trump remarks disparaging the city in remarks to a gathering of its business leaders.
The reaction to Harris’ video was largely muted, though she did receive applause at its conclusion.
During Trump’s address some in the audience sat stone-faced while some of his jokes were met with boos or groans.
Finance Figures
The attendees at the dinner — many from Wall Street and the corporate world — included prominent executives who are backing Trump in his third run for the White House. Blackstone Inc. chief Steve Schwarzman, a Trump donor, Cantor Fitzgerald LP’s Howard Lutnick, a co-chair of the Republican nominee’s presidential transition team, and New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and his wife Suzanne Johnson attended.
Also in attendance were Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer Ted Pick, Izzy Englander of Millennium Management, casino magnate Steve Wynn, New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft, CNN Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson, KKR & Co. Inc. Co-CEOs Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall, billionaire investor Ken Moelis and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell. Also on the dais was Trump’s wife, Melania Trump, who has largely been absent from the campaign trail this cycle.
Tickets for the lavish event were $5,000 per person, with some donating more, according to a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of New York. This year, they raised nearly $9 million, the largest tally in the dinner’s history.
Trump largely stayed away from campaign policies, but did remind attendees that he is vowing to expand the state and local tax deduction, a tax break favored by high-earning coastal households. Trump limited that write-off while president, but has since campaigned on expanding it as he seeks to win over some voters.
‘Civil War’
The event was hosted by comedian Jim Gaffigan, who ribbed Trump, who was sitting just feet from him as he spoke, and the cadre of business and political leaders on the dais.
“We have 19 days until the election,” Gaffigan said, adding “and likely a civil war.”
The comedian, who portrayed Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, on SNL, joked that he would be “fair and balanced.”
“I’m going to make jokes about both Donald Trump and JD Vance,” he said, referring to the GOP vice presidential nominee.
But Gaffigan also knocked Harris for not attending in person, saying: “This is a room full of Catholics and Jews in New York City. This is a layup for the Democratic nominee.”
And he noted Biden’s absence as well, saying “Biden couldn’t be here tonight, the DNC made sure of that.”
While traditionally a good-natured affair, Trump garnered few laughs in 2016, when he delivered a biting address that accused that year’s Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, of religious bias, claiming that she was “pretending not to hate Catholics.”
In 2020, both Trump and Biden addressed the festivities remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, where the Republican again used the dinner to assail the Democratic Party as a home to “anti-Catholic prejudice.” Biden is Catholic — only the second US president of that religion — and regularly talks about how his faith helped him deal with the deaths of his first wife and daughter and one of his sons.
Exit polls that year showed Biden carried the Catholic vote over Trump by 52% to 47%. A Pew Research Center survey conducted from Aug. 26 to Sept. 2, though, found Trump polling better with that group against Harris with 52% of Catholic voters backing him or leaning toward supporting him compared to 47% for Harris.
--With assistance from Stephanie Lai.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.