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BumRushDaShow

(142,250 posts)
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 08:09 AM Oct 18

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

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






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
24 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Critics Slam Al Smith Charity Dinner For Normalizing 'Deranged Madman' Donald Trump (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Oct 18 OP
I wonder... littlemissmartypants Oct 18 #1
ettd, jimbo. i dont find him that funny anyway. mopinko Oct 18 #2
It must have been... littlemissmartypants Oct 18 #3
isnt he catholic? mopinko Oct 18 #4
I don't know his religious affiliation. ... littlemissmartypants Oct 18 #5
no. i'm just saying it wd mean he got a smaller paycheck. mopinko Oct 18 #6
Old time Catholic, I believe mountain grammy Oct 18 #10
his dad stuff i usually funny, the rest not so much. mopinko Oct 18 #14
I don't know -- I thought some of his anti-Trump humor and rich people shtick was pretty amusing. LauraInLA Oct 18 #15
LauraInLA... littlemissmartypants Oct 18 #17
Hahaha no but I liked hearing him pretty explicitly bring up the "pussy" comment. LauraInLA Oct 18 #18
Dolan didn't get the kitty joke. It was funny watching Schumer explain it to him. Marcuse Oct 18 #22
These are the rich owners of America wolfie001 Oct 18 #7
Agree republianmushroom Oct 18 #8
That was just warm up for MSG Trump Bund rally bucolic_frolic Oct 18 #9
it normalizes Catholicism too 4catsmom Oct 18 #11
Cardinal Dolan should be excommunicated. LogicFirst Oct 18 #12
Sadly he won't be. BlueKota Oct 18 #19
Can anyone tell me how Trump got chosen to be the keynote speaker? LogicFirst Oct 18 #13
The tradition was that both presidential candidates would speak and trade *light* humorous jabs with each other LauraInLA Oct 18 #16
Amen, National Catholic Reporter! And thanks to Lawrence O'Donnell for rightly crediting the Catholic Church's laity ancianita Oct 18 #20
Well the Catholic Church has always Farmer-Rick Oct 18 #21
There is no difference between his Al Smith slurs and his standard ad hominem attacks. Marcuse Oct 18 #23
No mention of trump donating anything to this either. Klarkashton Oct 18 #24

mopinko

(71,801 posts)
2. ettd, jimbo. i dont find him that funny anyway.
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 08:27 AM
Oct 18

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

(25,483 posts)
3. It must have been...
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 08:35 AM
Oct 18

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

littlemissmartypants

(25,483 posts)
5. I don't know his religious affiliation. ...
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 08:51 AM
Oct 18

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

(71,801 posts)
6. no. i'm just saying it wd mean he got a smaller paycheck.
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 09:20 AM
Oct 18

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

mountain grammy

(27,271 posts)
10. Old time Catholic, I believe
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 10:52 AM
Oct 18

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

LauraInLA

(1,304 posts)
15. I don't know -- I thought some of his anti-Trump humor and rich people shtick was pretty amusing.
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 02:11 PM
Oct 18

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.

wolfie001

(3,627 posts)
7. These are the rich owners of America
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 10:22 AM
Oct 18

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.

bucolic_frolic

(46,973 posts)
9. That was just warm up for MSG Trump Bund rally
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 10:35 AM
Oct 18
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.

BlueKota

(3,643 posts)
19. Sadly he won't be.
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 02:24 PM
Oct 18

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.

LauraInLA

(1,304 posts)
16. The tradition was that both presidential candidates would speak and trade *light* humorous jabs with each other
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 02:14 PM
Oct 18

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

(38,516 posts)
20. Amen, National Catholic Reporter! And thanks to Lawrence O'Donnell for rightly crediting the Catholic Church's laity
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 02:45 PM
Oct 18

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

(11,399 posts)
21. Well the Catholic Church has always
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 04:34 PM
Oct 18

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?

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