UPDATE (October 18, 2024, 12:37 p.m. ET): This post has been updated to reflect Fox News contradicting Trump’s claims about receiving help with a campaign speech.
Whenever Donald Trump says, “I shouldn’t say this, but…” it’s best to stop and pay close attention. It’s a phrase he uses often — about everything from health care to political violence to anti-worker tactics — and in nearly every instance, the Republican ends up causing trouble for himself.
In his appearance Friday morning on Fox News, he nevertheless used the line again.
Doocy: Your material at the Al Smith dinner "was real funny, who helped you with it?" Trump: "I had a lot of people helping, a lot of people, a couple people from Fox – actually, I shouldn't say that, but they wrote some jokes. For the most part, I didn't like any of them." pic.twitter.com/hQSFzPNDkd
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 18, 2024
“Fox & Friends” co-host Steve Doocy, sitting alongside the former president, praised Trump’s remarks Thursday at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner — better known as the Al Smith Dinner — and asked who helped write some of the funnier lines.
“Well, I’ve had a lot of people helping, a lot of people, a couple people from Fox, actually — I shouldn’t say that, but they wrote some jokes,” the GOP candidate said.
To be sure, the network soon after contradicted the former president, saying in a statement that “no employee or freelancer” from Fox News wrote jokes for Trump.
So, who’s telling the truth? The Republican or the network? It’s difficult to say with confidence, though if Trump did receive a hand from some “people at Fox,” it’s a meaningful media controversy.
Right off the bat, it’s worth emphasizing that Trump’s appearance at the dinner wasn’t exactly a roaring success. The New York Times published a report that noted, “Mr. Trump rushed through prepared remarks, stumbling at times as he read through pointed political jokes, bitter grievances and crude and at times profane personal attacks.”
Not to put too fine a point on this, but when prominent political leaders appear at a dinner to benefit Catholic charities, there’s a general expectation that they’ll avoid “bitter grievances and crude and at times profane personal attacks.”








