Donald Trump’s presidential campaign called for the firing of Hillary Clinton campaign staffers who made anti-Catholic remarks in private emails revealed by WikiLeaks.
In one leaked email exchange, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta discussed his efforts to organize for a Catholic “Spring” movement akin to the Arab Spring that plunged the Middle East into turmoil. Another email exchange showed Clinton’s communications director Jennifer Palmieri mocking Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corp., in a discussion about how Murdoch’s children were baptized in a sacred place for Christians.
“We call on Hillary Clinton to apologize and to fire the staff who have engaged in this vicious anti-Catholic bigotry,” said Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway on a phone call with reporters. “All of this shows who these people are at the core. The American people need to know who they are, and their very radical agenda that will be an assault on Catholics and all people of faith and good will.”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told reporters that the emails revealed an “assault not just on Catholicism, but on people of faith.”
“Now we know what Hillary meant by “deplorables” was people of faith,” Gingrich said on the call. “I think that a Hillary Clinton Supreme Court given this kind of attitude toward religion would be the most anti-religious liberty, anti-free speech ever in American history.”
The Trump campaign staff on the call with reporters dodged answering a question about the GOP nominee’s previous feud with Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church. Trump calling the pope’s actions “disgraceful” in a statement posted on his website.
While the Clinton campaign staffer scornfully derided the Murdoch children’s baptism, Trump previously drew the ire of Christian conservatives when publicly describing the Christian sacrament of the Eucharist as “my little wine” and “my little cracker.”
Before the revelation of anti-Catholic remarks by Clinton staffers in the leaked emails, Clinton maintained a large lead over Trump among Catholic voters. A Public Religion Research Institute poll from earlier this summer showed Clinton ahead of Trump by 23 percentage points among Catholics, 55-32. In 2012, President Obama won the Catholic vote by 2 percentage points, 50-48, according to the Washington Post.
Clinton and Trump are scheduled to share the spotlight at the Al Smith Dinner, a white-tie event named for the first Catholic presidential nominee, after the final presidential debate. Whether the newest controversies cause the Catholics involved in organizing and hosting the event to change its planning remains unclear.
