Donald Trump confirmed Monday that he will be the sole guest speaker at this year’s “Al Smith Charity Dinner” in New York, a bipartisan and generally good-natured and socially sociable political and charity event that Vice President Kamala Harris has eschewed in favor of campaigning in a key swing state.
The former president and Republican presidential candidate confirmed in a message posted Monday on his Truth Social network that he would speak on October 17, calling Harris’ decision not to attend “sad, but not surprising.”
The gala, benefiting Catholic Charities, has traditionally been used to promote goodwill, with candidates from both parties appearing on the same night and trading barbs. But Harris’ campaign said Saturday that with less than three weeks to go before Election Day, the Democratic nominee preferred to campaign in a swing state rather than heavily Democratic New York.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is playing a leading role in the gala, has been highly critical of Democrats in the past, including in a 2018 open letter to the Wall Street Journal titled “Democrats Are Abandoning Catholics.”
In his post on Truth Social, Mr Trump wrote that Ms Harris “certainly hasn’t been very nice” to Catholics, saying Catholic voters who support her “should have their heads examined”.
The Al Smith Charity Dinner raises millions of dollars for Catholic charities and has traditionally shown that those vying for leadership of the country can get along, or at least pretend to, for a night.
It has been a tradition for presidential candidates since Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy appeared together in 1960. In 1996, the Archdiocese of New York decided not to invite then-President Bill Clinton and his Republican opponent, Bob Dole, apparently because Mr. Clinton had vetoed a ban on late-term abortion.
Mr. Trump and Joe Biden, who is Catholic, both spoke at the fundraiser in 2020, when it was moved online because of COVID-19.
Mr Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton both attended in 2016. Mr Trump was booed after calling Mrs Clinton corrupt and saying she hated Catholics.
