Critics Slam Al Smith Charity Dinner For Normalizing 'Deranged Madman' Donald Trump

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Huff Post

Oct 18, 2024, 03:11 AM EDT


Critics condemned the appearance of Donald Trump at the Al Smith charity dinner in New York on Thursday, saying it “normalized” the former president and current GOP nominee’s divisive and hateful rhetoric.

Trump spoke for 30 minutes at the bipartisan white-tie dinner, which this year was emceed by comedian Jim Gaffigan and is usually known for the lighthearted jabs by and at the politicians in attendance.

Democratic nominee Kamala Harris did not attend in person and instead appeared via a pre-recorded video message as she campaigned in Wisconsin.

Gaffigan, who plays Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz on “Saturday Night Live,” faced accusations on X, formerly Twitter, of legitimizing Trump.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-al-smith-dinner-slammed_n_6711fdc4e4b069ea0f05fe71

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Ron Filipkowski
@RonFilipkowski
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Kamala Harris absolutely made the right call not to attend the Al Smith dinner with Trump. You don’t normalize a deranged madman who wants to annihilate the Constitution by joking around with him at a roast. Obviously the elites in DC/NYC don’t get us, but that’s how we feel.
9:46 PM · Oct 17, 2024

[littlemissmartypants]

1. I wonder...

How much did Gaffigan get paid to humiliate himself? Because he wasn't funny at all.

[mopinko]

2. ettd, jimbo. i dont find him that funny anyway.

1st few times i saw him i laughed, but i bailed on his latest netflix at about 10 min.
hope it was worth it.

[littlemissmartypants]

3. It must have been...

A big payday for him. I wonder how many people they asked before he accepted? I bet the list is long.

[mopinko]

4. isnt he catholic?

vaguely recall that. which generally means he got a small check, cuz ‘the cause’.

[littlemissmartypants]

5. I don't know his religious affiliation. ...

Are you saying he did it out of the goodness of his heart? Because that is a strange way to use the "goodness of one's heart' to normalize a fascist.

[mopinko]

6. no. i'm just saying it wd mean he got a smaller paycheck.

that’s how those things work.
it was extremely stupid on his part.

[mountain grammy]

10. Old time Catholic, I believe

with 6? or 8? kids anyway a whole bunch. He's funny in short doses, like his Tim Walz, but I too only made it 10 minutes into his special

[mopinko]

14. his dad stuff i usually funny, the rest not so much.

[LauraInLA]

15. I don't know -- I thought some of his anti-Trump humor and rich people shtick was pretty amusing.

The “two kitties” line and the joke about Melania being the only person to meet the Biblical criterion of forgiving 70x7 times were pretty gold, IMO.

[littlemissmartypants]

17. LauraInLA...

Tell the truth...
You're not his comedy writer are you?

[LauraInLA]

18. Hahaha no but I liked hearing him pretty explicitly bring up the "pussy" comment.

[Marcuse]

22. Dolan didn't get the kitty joke. It was funny watching Schumer explain it to him.

[wolfie001]

7. These are the rich owners of America

They don't GAF!!! Hopefully, we have enough to win this election that shouldn't even be close. I'm very disappointed with Gaffigan. That was quite the gaffe.

[republianmushroom]

8. Agree

[bucolic_frolic]

9. That was just warm up for MSG Trump Bund rally

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/10/trump-madison-square-garden-rally-nazi-comparison

Trump plan for Madison Square Garden rally compared to infamous Nazi event

The Democratic state senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, whose district includes much of the west side of Manhattan where a date on Trump’s “arena tour” rally has been booked at Madison Square Garden, called on venue owners to cancel the event.

“Let’s be clear,” Hoylman-Sigal wrote on X. “Allowing Trump to hold an event at MSG is equivalent to the infamous Nazis rally at Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939.”

Hoylman-Sigal was referring to a pro-Hitler rally, organized by the German American Bund, that was attended by more than 20,000 people and featured a portrait of George Washington flanked by swastikas. Many attendees came from Yaphank, Long Island, where the Bund was headquartered and had a summer camp teaching Nazi ideology.

In 2019, Hillary Clinton used a speech at the same venue to decry “an assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our democracy”, referring to the infamous Bund rally.

[4catsmom]

11. it normalizes Catholicism too

[LogicFirst]

12. Cardinal Dolan should be excommunicated.

[BlueKota]

19. Sadly he won't be.

They harbored pedophiles, and allowed their catholic school teachers to brutalize children both physically and mentally. It's not surprising to me at all that many of them think of Donny as a role model.

Not all of them were or are twisted hypocrites, but many fit the Trumpian mold. It's why I left the church.

[LogicFirst]

13. Can anyone tell me how Trump got chosen to be the keynote speaker?

[LauraInLA]

16. The tradition was that both presidential candidates would speak and trade *light* humorous jabs with each other

and politicos in general. It was once an event where people from both sides of the aisle came together for a “worthy cause” and put aside serious animus for an evening. Obviously that all changed in 2016.

[ancianita]

20. Amen, National Catholic Reporter! And thanks to Lawrence O'Donnell for rightly crediting the Catholic Church's laity

of the NCR Editorial Staff for rightly confronting those bow to power worshippers and purveyors of political violence.


"... Yes, the Al Smith dinner was once a place where, even amid the sharp-elbow politics of a presidential campaign, normal humans could sit with each other, share a meal and some levity and walk away with dignity and reputation intact. *Trump changed all that.* And it is absurd at this point to act otherwise...

The sin here is not that Kamala Harris had the good sense to reply, "No thank you, I'm previously engaged."

The real scandal is that the good Catholic cardinal of the great city of New York would not have the courage to say, this year, that the current Republican candidate is a walking example of so much the Catholic Church finds repugnant in today's politics that he would suspend the normal invitations.

The real controversy is that an event that touts its history of raising funds for society's most needy is going to host someone who is one of the culture's greatest threats to that kind of caring.

The real outrage is that Trump, given the public nature and extent of his repulsive record, should be invited to a fundraiser for an organization, Catholic Charities, that has long worked in the trenches to save and transform lives on society's farthest margins.

It is tragic that the guest of honor this year is someone whose personal example and policy wishes are in a collision course with the principles of Catholic social teaching.

We are triply disappointed, Cardinal Dolan, that in the name of the church and its witness to the wider culture, you did not suspend the norm this year and invite someone worthy of the event's cause.

We are disappointed you didn't have the courage to stand up to Trump, a looming threat to the democratic ideals that allow the church to host such a high-profile public gathering."

https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/editorial/editorial-cardinal-dolans-al-smith-dinner-disappointment-misdirected?fbclid=IwY2xjawF_mUJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRjZLTwDAscUC61amAGqdItN1Tlalf8DGnV8fYj_47CkSV2mqlHXIxwqzQ_aem_yC2aUDKyHDla9P7t_Oo57Q

[Farmer-Rick]

21. Well the Catholic Church has always

Been a religion that likes to buddy around with fascists, dictators and war mongers. After hundreds of years of supporting the status quo at the expense of the down trodden, why change now?

[Marcuse]

23. There is no difference between his Al Smith slurs and his standard ad hominem attacks.

[Klarkashton]

24. No mention of trump donating anything to this either.