Trump Spends Night With `Crazy' Media at White-Tie Gridiron Ball
The jokes were mostly on Donald Trump when he spent the evening with the Washington press corps.
(Bloomberg) -- 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.
Fox Fan
The president suggested he needed to wrap up his comments quickly, noting, “I have to be up early tomorrow morning -- six o’clock -- to be listening to Fox and Friends.” And in a tribute to his favorite news network, he offered to reduce the carbon footprint of White House travel by shrinking the press pool to only Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs and Judge Jeanine.
In an up-to-the-minute crack about tariffs, Trump said that many dying American industries come to the White House begging for help, “but it may be too late for print media.”
Now in its 133rd year, the dinner, held at a downtown Washington hotel, raises money for college scholarships and journalistic organizations.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ros Krasny in Washington at rkrasny1@bloomberg.net, Kate Queram in Washington at kqueram@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Shepard at mshepard7@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, John McCluskey
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