Thursday night’s Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner was a gruesome affair, which made it a fitting metaphor for the entire campaign. There was Donald Trump giving a horribly off-key speech to wreck another longtime American political tradition (albeit a silly one). There was Hillary Clinton performing vastly better than Trump but still delivering her one-liners with less skill than recent nominees from both parties. (What happened to whoever wrote Obama’s and McCain’s very funny speeches in 2008?) And there was the assorted cast of New York’s worst deplorables—from unsmiling former Mayor Rudy Giuliani to still-grinning former war criminal Henry Kissinger.
But apparently all was not lost. Indeed, Politico reported Friday that Clinton and Trump actually spoke warmly of each other in the presence of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, who had the honor of sitting between the two candidates. Or, as Politico explains:
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton did more than trade barbs Thursday… “I was very moved by the obvious attempt on behalf of both Secretary Clinton and Mr. Trump to kind of be courteous, to get along, to say nice things privately to one another,” Dolan said on NBC’s Today. “I was very moved by that. That was pleasant.”
Yeah sure. There is nothing “private” about behaving in such a way that you know—as both candidates surely did—will be reported on in the media the next day. They were putting on a performance, as Dolan, too, must be aware. Instead, he restricted himself to saying nonsense like the following:
But the purpose of the evening is to break some of that ice, and thanks be to God, it works. The Al Smith Dinner by its nature literally tries to—I’m sitting there between the two—and literally I’m supposed to be kind of a bridge to bring these two people together. And I try my best, and there were some very touching moments.
Look, it’s nice that Dolan has taken time out from his busy schedule of paying off Catholic priests who molested children and shielding church money from potential lawsuits to host a dinner meant to bring political adversaries together. Really, we are all grateful. But his account does get at something grotesque about this entire election. As the Politico piece continues:
Dolan said the three of them prayed together. “And after the little prayer, Mr. Trump turned to Secretary Clinton and said, ‘You know, you are one tough and talented woman,’ ” he recalled. “And he said, ‘This has been a good experience in this whole campaign, as tough as it’s been,’ and she said to him, ‘And Donald, whatever happens, we need to work together afterwards.’ Now I thought: This is the evening at its best.”
Excuse me, but what is nice about this? Trump is obviously not being truthful, believing as he does that Clinton should go to jail, and frequently dismissing her “stamina.” (I thought lying was a sin, but never mind.) Clinton was not so much lying as mumbling whatever she felt she had to say to get through an awkward evening. I don’t envy her. Either way, this “private” cordiality was neither private nor genuinely cordial and should not be treated as such by the press. (It’s telling that Trump’s comment was similar to the one he was lauded for at the end of the second debate; he wasn’t wrong to sense that people could be easily fooled.)
The only redeeming moment of the evening occurred at the end of Clinton’s otherwise dreary remarks, when she not-so-subtly talked about bigotry in America’s past, and talked about the importance of tolerance and respect. It was a pointed jab at Trump, but it should also have landed with his enablers. Dolan is not going to endorse before the election, for obvious reasons. But he also didn’t need to invite a man who regularly engages in bigotry—including bigotry against other faiths—to such an event. Nor did he have to pretend that there was something nice or charming about Trump’s comments on Clinton’s strengths. Trump should be treated like what he is, no matter what he tells Cardinal Dolan in a “private” moment.
