The jokes were mostly on Donald Trump on Saturday as he spent the evening with a few hundred of his least favorite people -- the Washington press corps -- at its annual Gridiron Dinner. The president, though, as the guest of honor, got the last laugh, and even thanked the media.
No, really.
Trump wrapped up his comments by lauding the assembled reporters “for all you do to support and sustain our democracy. I mean that.”
In a more-than-30-minute speech, Trump cracked jokes about Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, Vice President Mike Pence -- “he is one of the best straight men you are going to meet” -- and son-in-law Jared Kushner. He didn’t spare Stephen Bannon, the former White House strategist (“that guy leaked more than the Titanic”) and even mocked his own relentless cable TV-viewing habit.
Trump in 2017 turned down the traditional invitation extended to the commander in chief by the journalists’ group, and also skipped the White House Correspondents Dinner.
But he flew back Saturday from his club in Palm Beach, Florida, to attend the annual white-tie charity event, a kind of celebrity roast at which some of the country’s best-known print and television journalists perform musical skits that lampoon Washington’s most powerful politicians.
True to Form
While still in Florida, Trump stayed true to form, saying said on Twitter that the “Mainstream Media in U.S. is being mocked all over the world. They’ve gone CRAZY.” The comment was appended to a tweet from his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr, highlighting article from a conservative website.
Trump, arguably, warmed up his comedy chops in Florida earlier in the day. According to CNN, he talked to a Republican donors meeting about Chinese President Xi Jinping becoming “president for life,” and added “I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.”
Trump and wife Melania were joined at the head table for the Gridiron dinner by members of the Cabinet and top military officials, along with White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, advisers Kushner and Ivanka Trump, and others.
Trump joked that he was late to the event “because Jared could not get through security,” referring to how his son-in-law was recently stripped of his top security clearance.