The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Trump attacks jeered at charity gala night
US: Crowd show anger at Republican’s barbed remarks
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have traded sharp barbs and brutal putdowns at a supposedly light-hearted New York charity gala, with many in the well-heeled crowd turning on the Republican nominee midway through his remarks and showering him with jeers.
The annual white-tie Alfred E Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner – often the last time the US presidential nominees share a stage before election day – is traditionally a time when campaign hostilities are set aside.
But the night after their final presidential debate, Mr Trump, who had drawn big laughs earlier in the speech, appeared to lose the room as he repeatedly dug in with caustic swipes at Democrat Mrs Clinton, drawing rare boos at an event meant to raise money for impoverished children throughout New York.
He appeared to straddle the line when he talked about how “listening to Hillary rattle on and rattle on” had made him better appreciate his former nemesis Rosie O’Donnell. But he then seemed to cross it when he referred to her as “corrupt” during a lengthy riff on the FBI’s investigation into her use of a private e-mail server as US secretary of state.
“Hillary is so corrupt she got kicked off the Watergate Commission. How corrupt do you have to be to get kicked off the Watergate Commission? Pretty corrupt,” he said to loud boos and at least one call demanding he get off the stage.
He then almost appeared to segue into the standard attack lines of his rally speeches, setting aside jokes to bring up material contained in hacked Clinton campaign e-mails.
“Hillary believes that it’s vital to deceive the people by having one public policy and a totally different policy in private,” he said to growing jeers. “Here she is tonight, in public, pretending not to hate Catholics.”
Mrs Clinton also veered into personal digs, making one joke in which she said the Statue of Liberty, for most Americans, represented a symbol of hope for immigrants.
“Donald looks at the Statue of Liberty and sees a ‘4’,” she said. “Maybe a ‘5’ if she loses the torch and tablet and changes her hair.”
Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton sat just one seat apart for the evening, with New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan acting as the only buffer.
Cardinal Dolan called his seat “the place on the planet”.
Most eyes were on Mr Trump, who infamously glowered through Barack Obama’s jokes at his expense during the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
His biggest laughs came as he talked about Michelle Obama getting rave reviews for a recent speech. “They think she’s absolutely great. My wife Melania gives the exact same speech, and people get on her case,” he said. later iciest