Leading members of the “White Dudes for Harris” campaign group have responded to Donald Trump‘s joke about their wives at the Al Smith dinner.
The former president headlined the annual white-tie event which raises money for Catholic causes in New York City Thursday night. Trump delivered a speech which made a series of jokes at the expense of Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democratic figures.
Among the one-liners Trump delivered was an attack mocking those behind the White Dudes for Harris movement.
“There’s a group called ‘White Dudes for Harris’ but I’m not worried about them at all, because their wives and their wives’ lovers are all voting for me,” Trump said.
Tim Fullerton, an organizer at White Dudes for Harris, responded with his own attack against the former president.
“I’m one of the White Dudes for Harris organizers. My wife would rather eat glass for a month than vote for that guy,” Fullerton posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during the 79th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York, October 17, 2024. Trump mocked the White Dudes for Harris campaign group during the event.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP/Getty Images
Ross Morales Rocketto, lead organizer, added: “Still plenty of time for persuasion conversations.”
Newsweek has contacted Trump’s campaign team for comment via email.
The White Dudes for Harris group was influenced by similar volunteer movements such as Black men, Black women or white women for Harris.
In July, a White Dudes for Harris Zoom call, which featured a host of celebrities and Democratic figures, raised more than $4 million for the vice president’s 2024 campaign.
Harris was not in attendance at the Al Smith dinner on Thursday as she was campaigning in the key swing state of Wisconsin. The vice president instead appeared via video link in a sketch alongside comedian Molly Shannon portraying her Saturday Night Live character Mary Katherine Gallagher, a Catholic schoolgirl.
Trump made repeated references to Harris’ absence while delivering his jokes at the event while also attacking the cognitive ability of President Joe Biden.
“If the Democrats really wanted to have someone not be with us this evening, they would have sent Joe Biden,” Trump said.
In another put-down, Trump said: “The fact is, we need new leadership in this country. Right now we have someone in the White House who can barely talk, barely put together two coherent sentences, who seems to have the mental faculties of a child. There’s a person that has nothing going. No intelligence whatsoever. But enough about Kamala Harris.”
Trump said he may have gone too far while making a reference to the affair Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff had during his previous marriage, and the unconfirmed reports the woman was a nanny to Emhoff’s children.
“The only piece of advice I would have for [Harris] in the event that she wins is not to let her husband Doug anywhere near the nannies,” Trump said, resulting in groans and gasps from the audience.
“That’s a nasty one…I told these idiots that gave me this stuff, that’s too tough,” Trump added.
Trump was also on the receiving end of some jokes at the dinner.
Comedian Jim Gaffigan mocked the former president for pushing the false claim that migrants were eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio, while making reference to the Access Hollywood tape.
The audio, which was unearthed shortly before the 2016 election, features Trump boasting in 2005 that he can grab women “by the p****”.
“During the first and only debate, President Trump talked about migrants taking cats and eating them,” Gaffigan said. “You know, if you’re keeping track at home, this is the second time grabbing a kitty has been part of a campaign issue.”
