CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — Two days after engaging in their first debate, the two presidential candidates were together again Thursday night—but virtually this time—and with considerably less stress.
The two men addressed the annual Al Smith dinner for Catholic charities from their respective locations: President Donald Trump in New Jersey and former Vice President Joe Biden in Delaware.
It’s usually a night for some self-deprecating humor, but Thursday night there were no laughs.
President Trump made a pitch for Catholic support.
“Anti-Catholic bigotry has absolutely no place in the United States of America,” he said. “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. It was my great honor to help the Catholic Church with its schools. They needed hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide, and I got it for them. Nobody else got it for them. I hope you remember that on November third, but I got it for them.”
When it was his turn to speak, Biden recounted the challenges facing the nation.
“Because these are difficult times for our country: a pandemic, a recession, a reckoning on race, a changing climate. With each crisis, our faith is tested. Faith in our institutions, in one another, in truth, in science and reason,” said Biden.
“I know it’s hard to see right now,” Biden continued, “our problems are so systemic. The losses are so catastrophic at times it feels easier to say ‘we’re done, it’s over. what’s the point?’ But the American people don’t give up. There is no quit in America. Mark my words, one day we’ll look back in awe not at how far we fell, but how fiercely we fought back.”
Both campaigns reacted Thursday to word that the Commission on Presidential Debates may change its rules for the next two encounters to forestall a repeat of what happened on Tuesday night
The president tweeted that he opposes rule changes, while the former vice president said he would attend the two upcoming debates regardless.
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence campaigned Thursday in Iowa. Biden will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan Friday, whiile his wife Jill will be in Minnesota on Saturday. The president was there Wednesday night for a rally in Duluth.