Harris says Americans done with Trump’s ‘gaslighting’ as she criticizes January 6 remarksMeanwhile, in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, Kamala Harris slammed Trump’s performance at the Univision town hall yesterday, when he referred to 6 January 2021, when rioters stormed the capitol and injured over 140 police officers, “a day of love”.
“The American people are exhausted with his gaslighting. Enough. We are ready to turn the page. We’re done,” she said.
During the Univision town hall, a Republican voter told Trump the former president had lost his vote due to his response to the January 6 riots and the coronavirus pandemic. Trump responded: “Nothing done wrong at all.”
“There were no guns down there. We didn’t have guns. The others had guns, but we didn’t have guns,” he said. “And when I say we, these are people that walked down – this was a tiny percentage of the overall which nobody sees and nobody, nobody shows. But that was a day of love.”
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Trump’s speech ends and he receives warm applause from the crowd. We will end our coverage of this event now.
Trump says he will bring back the SALT tax deduction. Some context from NBC’s Sahlil Kapur:
At the Al Smith dinner in New York, Trump calls for bringing back the SALT deduction that he capped in his signature tax law with the support of nearly every Republican, a deduction that Democratic leaders are pushing to restore but can’t due to GOP opposition.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 18, 2024nn”}}”>Bizarro World —> At the Al Smith dinner in New York, Trump calls for bringing back the SALT deduction that he capped in his signature tax law with the support of nearly every Republican, a deduction that Democratic leaders are pushing to restore but can’t due to GOP opposition.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 18, 2024
Trump makes another transphobic joke.
Trump repeats claims that he has been treated worse than any other president.
He takes a jab at Gaffigan, saying that hopefully his role as Tim Walz will be short-lived.
Trump makes a joke to boos, then says, “That’s nasty. I told the idiots who gave me this stuff.”
The joke was about Harris’s support for childcare and was directed at her husband, Dough Emhoff and paid child care workers.
“Last time I did this I was wondering against crooked Hillary…I had the meanest guy you’d ever seen write stuff up and man was the room angry,” Trump says.
They said “It’s too much, but I did it anyway.”
Trump jokes that he is meant to make self-depracating jokes, then says, “So here goes. Nope! I got nothing”.
“Chuck Schumer is here looking very glum, Trump says. “But look on the bright side chuck, considering how woke your party has become, if Kamala loses you still have the chance to become the first woman president,” Trump says – it is a transphobic joke.
Trump again refers to Harris not appearing in person, and says she is “receiving communion from Gretchen Whitmer,” to claps and cheers.
“If the Democrats really wanted someone to not be with us this evening, they would have just sent Joe Biden,” Trump says.
Trump claims – not clear if joking – that Biden is having second thoughts and wants to come back. There is no evidence of this.
Trump says the term “fake news” is no longer in vogue.
He refers to President Barack Obama as “Barack Hussein Obama” – dog whistling for the baseless ‘birther’ conspiracy theory that Obama is secretly a Muslim born in Kenya.
Trump says of Harris, “I like her a lot, but now I can’t stand her.”
“Catholics you gotta vote for me,” Trump says. “I’m here and she’s not.”
Trump lists good deeds done by Catholics.
“If you wanted Harris to accept your invitation you should have told her the funds were going to bail out the rioters and looters in Minneapolis,” Trump says, to loud whoops and cheers.
Trump is referring to the George Floyd protests that took place in the historically Catholic city of Minneapolis in 2020.
“The last Democrat not to attend this important event was Walter Mondale,” Trump says, “And it did not go very well for him. He lost 49 states and he won one: Minnesota. So I said there’s no way I’m missing it.”
Mondale “was expected to do well, then it didn’t work out,” Trump jokes. “It shows you there is a god.”
Trump then says that Harris is weird and it is weird that Harris isn’t here tonight – saying the word several times, referring to the insult Harris and Tim Walz direct at Trump and his supporters.
“Always: It’s a rule, you gotta go to the dinner, you gotta do it, otherwise bad things are going to happen to you from up there,” Trump jokes, getting a laugh – he is referring to God.
“But my opponent feels that she does not have to be here which is disrespectful to the event and in particular to our Catholic community,” Trump says. The crowd claps.
“They’ve gone after me. Mr Mayor, you’re peanuts compared to what they did to me,” Trump says.
“Mayor Adams, good luck with everything, they went after you,” Trump says to a big laugh.
More on New York Mayor Eric Adams, the first mayor in city history to be indicted on federal corruption charges:
Trump is receiving a warm response from the crowd.
“They told me under no circumstances are you allowed to use a teleprompter and I get up here and see there is a beautiful teleprompter,” he says.
Unclear if that is a joke or more of Trump’s obsession with whether Harris is using teleprompters or not.
“You know, here’s the thing that’s so amazing about Donald Trump. It is impossible not to have a strong opinion about Donald Trump. You either think he is endearingly outspoken and brash. Or you think he is a sociopath and you’d like to be his running mate,” Gaffigan jokes. “Donald Trump and I have a lot in common. We both have five children and we both have a lush mane of golden hair. And we both try to travel as much possible to get away from our families.”
Gaffigan then turns to Trump: “I want you to know if you are re-elected, I always liked you. And I’m not saying that because I don’t want to be sent to a labour camp. Well, I guess that’s the reason, sir,” Gaffigan says.
He invites Trump to the stage.
The crowd boos that joke. Someone to Gaffigan’s right said, “We talked about leaving that out.”
“I was gonna leave that out,” Gaffigan says, to laughter.
“As I watched that I couldn’t help but think now I know how my kids felt when I face-timed into a piano recital they were at,” Gaffigan says.
The crowd cheered – not hugely enthusiastically, but more than just politely – following Harris’s appearance.
Gaffigan says, “Shortly I will introduce President Trump, who will likely talk about how vice president Harris’s absence likely proves she hates Catholics, Americans, and babies. Then CNN and MSNBC will say he went to far, and Elon Musk and Fox News will say he was pitch perfect.”
Gaffigan turns to Trump’s baseless claims about immigrants eating cats and dogs. “You know this is the second time grabbing a kitty has been a campaign issue,” he says.
He is referring to Trump’s – much talked about in the 2016 election – “grab em by the pussy” comments.
As Harris turns to face the screen, she says the dinner “provides a rare opportunity to set aside politics”.
She lists various philanthropic activities achieved by the church.
“In the spirit of tonight’s dinner, let us commit to reaching across the divide,” Harris says.
Source : The Guardian