(LifeSiteNews) — Donald Trump has called out the Biden-Harris administration for its “persecution” of Catholics, warning American Catholics against voting for Kamala Harris for president.
In a Monday post on Truth Social, Trump declared it will “be an honor” to attend the 79th Annual Al Smith Dinner, an annual fundraising dinner for Catholic charities held in New York City that is a tradition for the two major party presidential nominees to attend.
“It’s sad, but not surprising, that Kamala has decided not to attend. I don’t know what she has against our Catholic friends, but it must be a lot, because she certainly hasn’t been very nice to them,” Trump wrote.
“In fact, Catholics are literally being persecuted by this Administration. Any Catholic that votes for Comrade Kamala Harris should have their head examined,” Trump concluded.
Indeed, Harris has repeatedly targeted Catholic Americans during her political career. For example, as Attorney General of California, she directed law enforcement to raid the home of Catholic pro-life journalist David Daleiden after his organization exposed abortion businesses’ trafficking of aborted baby body parts.
Harris herself is an extreme supporter of abortion, having voted as U.S. senator against legislation that would require medical care to be provided for babies born alive after botched abortions.
As senator, Harris also attacked a Trump nominee over his membership in the Catholic Knights of Columbus group. Two months ago, Trump ripped into Harris for this move, declaring during a Turning Point USA event, “As a senator, she viciously attacked highly qualified judicial nominees simply because they were members of the Knights of Columbus, suggesting that their Catholic faith disqualified them from serving on the federal bench.”
Under the administration of Joe Biden, in which she has served as Vice President, the FBI has targeted Catholics who attend the Traditional Latin Mass, citing concerns over a so-called “Radical Traditionalist Catholic Ideology” that the FBI claimed was “anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT,” and advocates “white supremacy.”
The Biden-Harris administration has repeatedly tried to coerce Christian medical professionals to perform “sex change” surgeries, force religious health plans to pay for abortions and “gender transitions” or face crippling lawsuits, and make faith-based schools embrace gender ideology or lose lunch funding. They’ve even taken Catholic nuns to court to defend Biden’s transgender surgery mandate.
In addition, under the Biden-Harris DOJ, Catholic father of seven Mark Houck had his home raided by a SWAT team in 2022 after engaging in pro-life activism and confronting a man who was, according to his wife, saying “crude … inappropriate and disgusting things” to their son.
The DOJ’s targeting of conservative Christians and Catholics under Biden and Harris has been so pronounced that many commentators have slammed the administration for its political “weaponization” of the federal agencies against pro-lifers, Trump supporters, conservative Christians, and medical freedom advocates.
Two recent polls, one conducted by EWTN and the other by Pew Research, show conflicting data on which presidential candidate Catholic voters are supporting. EWTN found that Trump is trailing Harris among Catholics 50 percent to 43 percent with 6 percent undecided. Pew said 52 percent of Catholics were backing Trump compared with 47 percent favoring Harris.