Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Will Share the Stage Again Tonight — and It Might Get Awkward
Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton “nasty” at Wednesday night’s debate. She called him “dangerous.” They left the stage without shaking hands.
Thursday night, amazingly enough, they will be on stage together again — in a tradition that is supposed to reflect candidates’ friendly rivalry, not their dire warnings about the other.
Both are scheduled at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. For decades, the two major party presidential candidates have appeared together at the dinner, taking a break from the acrimony on the campaign trail to each share moments of levity. The jabs at each other have been polite, and the best jokes have been the ones they have made about themselves.
At the 2008 dinner (below), John McCain mocked his place in the polls, as well as the rivalry between Barack Obama and Clinton. “There are signs of hope. Even in the most unexpected places, even in this room full of proud Manhattan Democrats,” he said. “I can’t — I can’t shake that feeling that some people here are pulling for me…I’m delighted to see you here tonight, Hillary.”
At the end of his speech, McCain actually congratulated Obama for his achievement as the first African-American nominee of a major party.
“Though I do trust we can keep the turnout amongst deceased and fictional voters to a minimum, I have come out on both sides of elections and I have never lost my confidence in the judgment of the American people,” he said.
Contrast that tone to now: On Thursday, Trump said he would accept the results of the general election — if he wins. Clinton has staked much of her fall strategy on characterizing her opponent as unfit for the presidency.
To say the least, it will be an awkward moment — and the speculation is that each candidate will simply try to avoid the other as much as possible.
But perhaps there will be a surprise or two this evening. The dinner itself is for Catholic charities, and is named for the former New York governor who was the first Catholic to garner a major party nomination, in 1928. Smith was defeated by Herbert Hoover.
He had a quote that was apt for an occasion like this. “If you can make a man laugh, you can make him think and make him like and believe you,” he said.
The dinner remarks are scheduled to start at about 8:50 p.m. ET, and will be shown on C-SPAN.
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