In a pre-recorded message to a gala dinner supporting Catholic charities, an event that has typically been apolitical and full of humor, Donald Trump stated that the Democrats have a deep-seated anti-Catholic bias, the Associated Press reports.
For the record, Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden is Roman Catholic.
The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, which has been held annually since 1945, is typically a good-natured roast of politicians, typically by themselves. Trump drew boos from the crowd in 2016 when he went on a rant calling Hillary Clinton “corrupt.”
Defending his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, who is Roman Catholic, to the Supreme Court, Trump inexplicitly said “We will not stand for any attacks against Judge Barrett’s faith. Anti-Catholic bigotry has absolutely no place in the United States of America. It predominates in the Democratic Party. And we must do something immediately about it, like a Republican win, and let’s make it a really big one.”
In actuality, Biden has mentioned his faith frequently throughout the campaign, and his faith was not an issue in the primary or at any point during his Democratic campaigns. If Biden is elected, he would be just the second Catholic president, the first being John F. Kennedy.
“I know, for me, my Catholic faith has helped me through the darkness as I’ve had to bury pieces of my soul deep in the earth, and eventually found purpose to live a life worthy of those I lost,” Biden said in his recorded remarks.
The annual dinner is an opportunity for politicians to put politics aside. Both John Kennedy and Richard Nixon appeared at the dinner during the 1960 campaign.