Major CNN Trump critic Brian Stelter admits Trump 'was funny' during Al Smith Dinner: 'A few great jokes'

Brian Stelter, CNN chief media analyst and longtime critic of former President Trump, admitted that Trump’s address at Thursday night’s Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner in New York City "was funny" and heartfelt at points.

The CNN pundit, who recently returned to the network after his show was canceled in 2022, praised the former president’s jokes at the event as well as his self-deprecating remarks about the two assassination attempts against him.

"I thought he was funny. I thought he actually got a few great jokes in. I thought the best moment was when he talked about the assassination attempts and made light of what he’s experienced," Stelter said during a CNN broadcast following the famous dinner held to benefit Catholic Charities in New York City.

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During his address, the former president joked, "Tradition holds that I'm supposed to tell a few self-deprecating jokes this evening. So here it goes. Nope. I've got nothing. I've got nothing. There's nothing to say. I guess I just don't see the point of taking shots at myself when other people have been shooting at me for a hell of a long time."

Stelter continued, praising Trump for being able to joke about traumatic events he’s endured in recent months, including when he was shot in the ear in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, and the other assassination attempt at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September. No shots were fired by the would-be assailant in the latter incident.

"I think he’s experiencing real trauma, real PTSD as a result of the shootings," Stelter said, adding, "But he’s still able to have a light moment in this room, and he took advantage of the fact that Kamala Harris wasn’t there." 

Stelter did criticize Trump for mispronouncing Harris' first name during the event, adding, "It is frustrating though that he will not pronounce her name correctly. It’s not difficult. And he goes out of his way to insult her in a way that I think is racially tinged." Trump repeatedly referred to Harris as "Kamala" during the event, putting an emphasis on the middle syllable.

Other CNN pundits did not find Trump’s speech as amusing as Stelter did. CNN commentator Karen Finney told a "CNN This Morning" panel on Friday, "I don’t know if it was funny." She also praised Harris for skipping the dinner, saying that she appeared focused on her campaign rather than being in a room with "old" and "stodgy" "White men."

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"That is a stuffy room full of insiders, the quintessential backroom kind of old New York, old, stodgy, mostly White men… and she’s not of that," the commentator stated, adding, "That’s not who she is. That’s not where she comes from."

Harris’ absence from the event marked the first time a major presidential candidate has snubbed the Al Smith dinner in 40 years. 

In her place, the Harris campaign sent in a prerecorded video of Harris addressing the dinner’s attendees that was played just ahead of Trump’s remarks. The video also featured comedian Molly Shannon doing a bit as her "Saturday Night Live" character Mary Katherine Gallagher, a quirky Catholic student. 

Social media critics and even speakers at the dinner mocked Harris for her absence, with both comedian Jim Gaffigan and Trump ripping her from the podium.

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Finney continued defending Harris from this criticism: "You know, she is somebody — would be the first president who has served at the local, state and federal level. She’s, you know — women and usually women of color, we aren’t in those backrooms. We aren’t in those spaces." 

"So for her to be out with the people, that was a smarter campaign choice for multiple reasons. There was not anything for her to gain by going to that dinner. There was a lot more for her to gain in a hundred-day campaign in particular, to be on the road," the commentator concluded.