It looks like Donald Trump and comedian Jim Gaffigan will be co-headlining the Al Smith dinner together after Vice President Kamala Harris declined the invitation to appear at the annual event, which is the go-to final stretch campaign stop for presidential candidates dating back to 1960.
Asked if he still plans to serve as host of the annual white tie benefit for Catholic charities in his hometown of New York City on Oct. 17, Gaffigan tells the Daily Beast, “Yes! I’m very honored to be serving as Master of the Ceremonies.”
Gaffigan, who opened for Pope Francis at 2015’s World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia adds, “My hope is that the vice president’s schedule will open up. Heck, my wife Jeannie and I would love to have her and Doug stay at our apartment with our 5 children.”
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According to an anonymous Harris campaign official, the vice president and her team see more value in continuing to barnstorm the battleground states in the final weeks of the election than attending what is essentially a comedy roast dinner with her opponent in the safely blue state of New York—especially when Trump is refusing her offer of a debate rematch in October.
The comedian’s comments come after Trump posted on Truth Social Monday that it is also his “honor” to attend the event. “It will be great to see so many wonderful people there, including Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan,” he wrote, adding that “the Spirit of Al Smith, the first Catholic Nominee of a Major Party, and John F. Kennedy, the FIRST Catholic President, will be in the room with us that night.”
Trump went on to tout his “HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL” appearance at the 2016 dinner, at which he was widely criticized for “joking” that Hillary Clinton was “was “pretending not to hate Catholics.” In Trump’s telling, “The reviews of my remarks were TREMENDOUS.”
Then, perhaps previewing his roast material against his 2024 opponent, Trump added, “It’s sad, but not surprising, that Kamala has decided not to attend. I don’t know what she has against our Catholic friends, but it must be a lot, because she certainly hasn’t been very nice to them, in fact, Catholics are literally being persecuted by this Administration. Any Catholic that votes for Comrade Kamala Harris should have their head examined.”
Among the evidence Trump cited for why Catholics should reject Harris included the “flagrant, in-your-face ‘TRANSGENDER DAY OF VISIBILITY’ Kamala and Biden hosted at the White House on Easter Sunday.”
Trump did not mention in his digital rant that his own father, Fred Trump, was arrested in 1927 for participating in a Ku Klux Klan riot in Queens that was fueled by fears that none other than Al Smith could one day become the first Catholic president of the United States.
For more, listen to Jim Gaffigan on The Last Laugh podcast.
