While Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in Wisconsin, former President Donald Trump was the featured guest speaker at the 79th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York City.
Hosted and chaired by Cardinal Timothy Dolan and emceed by comedian Jim Gaffigan, this year’s sold-out fundraiser brought together thousands of guests to raise money for charitable organizations serving New York’s most vulnerable.
“I would not miss the Al Smith Dinner for anything in the world. I still remember coming here as a very young guy with my father … ” Trump told the crowd. “It’s an honor to be here to support the city and the community. It’s a great community that I love. I’ve been here a long time, and I love it.”
Since its founding in 1946, the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation has raised millions of dollars to support nonprofit Catholic organizations in the Archdiocese of New York. Established by Francis Cardinal Spellman in honor of Catholic New York Gov. Alfred Emanuel Smith, the Foundation supports organizations providing education, health care services and family resources.
In 2023, a record $7.3 million was raised to help the poor, sick and underprivileged in New York. Catholic Charities, Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center, Sisters of Life and the Inner-City Scholarship Fund are among the numerous impactful organizations that the Foundation benefits and supports.
Last year, because of the Foundation’s help, 175 special needs children received assistance at school, more than 400 foster children received mental health treatments, 120 children were tutored weekly and 763 students attended Camp Veritas.
The annual dinner is a cherished opportunity for people with different backgrounds and beliefs to unite in support of helping those in need. Since 1960, presidential candidates of major parties during election years have taken a night off to attend the dinner, engage in some light-hearted banter, and bring attention to the many worthy causes the Foundation supports.
In 1960, Vice President Richard Nixon and Sen. John F. Kennedy were the first presidential candidates to appear and give remarks at the dinner together emphasizing the impact and legacy of Al Smith.
As Nixon said, “Al Smith is a man who is bigger than his party … because the ideals for which he stood were as big as America itself.”
This is what the Al Smith Dinner is all about – an evening of cordiality for a common cause that benefits Americans in need.
Apparently, that was too much to ask of Harris.
In a break with precedent, Harris declined the invitation to attend the Al Smith Dinner, the first presidential candidate to do so since Walter Mondale in 1984. Instead, she sent in a pre-recorded video message.
If there was any question about Harris’ priorities, consider that her campaign found time for an appearance on the vulgar “Call Her Daddy” podcast but not for a fundraiser benefiting impoverished children.
With each passing day, more Americans are reminded of Harris’s abysmal record targeting Catholics as California’s attorney general and U.S. senator, and as vice president of the United States. (RELATED: CALLISTA GINGRICH: The Realignment Of Catholic Voters To The GOP)
As attorney general, Harris filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, calling on the court to force family-owned Hobby Lobby to violate its religious beliefs and cover the cost of contraception for its employees.
Recall the vitriol with which Harris questioned Catholic judicial nominees as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Harris implied that affiliation with the Knight of Columbus – a Catholic charitable organization that included JFK among its members – was grounds for disqualification.
And during her tenure as Vice President, practicing Catholics have been suspected and accused of domestic terrorism and violent extremism.
It’s no wonder that 50 percent of Catholic voters in swing states support President Trump while just 45 percent support Vice President Harris.
Kamala Harris’s absence at the 79th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is a reminder that she can’t hide her disdain for Catholics. It confirms what Catholic voters already know – Kamala Harris is the anti-Catholic candidate.
Ambassador Callista L. Gingrich is president and chief executive officer of Gingrich 360, a multimedia production and consulting company based in Arlington, Virginia. She is a former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. For more commentary from Callista Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com.
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