A day after they faced each other in their third and final debate of the election season, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be attending a white-tie charity gala at the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom in New York, where they are expected to make lighthearted jokes about each other.
Almost every election year, on the third Thursday of October, the Democratic and Republican nominees for US president are invited to speak at a dinner hosted by the Alfred E.
Smith Memorial Foundation in honor of Catholic charities. The first Al Smith dinner was the year after his death in The event, usually the last time the presidential candidates meet before Election Day, is hosted by the Archbishop of New York, who is sometimes seated between the two candidates. The dinners have taken on the air of a roast, with candidates giving humorous speeches and poking fun at their opponents. In , at the first dinner when both major-party nominees attended, John F.
Kennedy politely took aim at Richard Nixon. That is like the Observatore Romano criticizing the Pope. This is not the first time Clinton will be the subject of a joke at the roast. Hillary Clinton, I want to fight for you. Some people call you the elite. I call you my base. I understand governor Romney went shopping for some stores in midtown. The dinner is such a ritual that it has its own episode of The West Wing dedicated to it.
But there have been breaks in the tradition. In , neither presidential candidate was invited. Trump and Clinton, however, are both expected to attend tonight, though neither campaign has shared details about what the candidates will say. In an election season filled with unusually harsh and spiteful rhetoric, some good-natured humor might be just the antidote the American people need. Our free, fast, and fun briefing on the global economy, delivered every weekday morning.
