Former President Donald Trump said Thursday night that tradition called on him to tell some self-deprecating jokes at the Al Smith charity dinner in New York City.
"So here it goes," Trump said from the dais at the New York Hilton Midtown in an event that benefits Catholic charities. "Nope. I've got nothing. I've got nothing. There's nothing to say.
"I guess I just don't see the point of taking shots at myself when other people have been shooting at me for a hell of a long time. And they shoot, right?"
The dinner, which in a presidential election year traditionally features both major party candidates for some good-natured ribbing and roasting — Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris declined to attend Thursday night — is named after the first major-party Roman Catholic presidential nominee, four-term Democrat New York Gov. Al Smith, who lost to Republican Herbert Hoover in the 1928 election.
Trump's speech was simulcast on Newsmax.
The last Democrat presidential candidate to skip the event was Walter Mondale in 1984. In 2020, Trump and Joe Biden appeared at the event virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2016, Trump and Hillary Clinton spoke.
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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