Trump Draws Laughs at Gridiron Dinner, But He Remains the Real Joke
Whoever wrote Donald Trump’s half–hour comic speech at Saturday night’s Gridiron Club dinner at a DC hotel ballroom actually managed to deliver some zingers. For the first time in over a year, journalists may even have been laughing with The Donald instead of at him (along with crying).
The roast, a cameras–off tradition among presidential administrations and members of the media since 1885, might have been therapeutic for Trump, who has been under legal fire like no other president in history. It truly must be exhausting creating so much daily chaos that he probably can’t even remember the last person he insulted. Just hours before the Gridiron started, Trump insulted journalists again by calling them “CRAZY!” in a tweet, and claiming they are “being mocked all over the world.”
Maybe he was just getting warmed up. His jokes not only targeted journalists—although there were plenty of digs at reporters and Democrats in equal measure—but also members of his administration and his own family, some of whom were sitting right next to him. The sharpest punch line of the night was about his own wife, or rather, about the first lady’s ire over Trump’s alleged penchant for trysts with porn stars and prostitutes.
“So many people have been leaving the White House. It’s actually been really exciting and invigorating…I like turnover. I like chaos. It really is good,” Trump said, according to a transcript provided to Talking Points Memo by pool reporter Hunter Walker. “Now the question everyone keeps asking is, ‘Who’s going to be the next to leave: Steve Miller or Melania?’”
On his son–in–law, Jared Kushner, who also is under intense pressure and scrutiny by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s probe, Trump said: “[B]efore I get started, I wanted to apologize for arriving a little bit late. You know, we were late tonight because Jared could not get through security…Ivanka, you’ve got to do something…Jared, but I will tell you, he’s a good guy. He has, he has suffered. He is a great guy. He really is.”
Vice President Mike Pence, who often likes to appear at a distance from the president and his problems (while simultaneously justifying them), also was on the receiving end of a Trump joke. “I saw him the other day. We’re in line shaking hands with men and women. A woman came over to shake his hand and he said, ‘I’m sorry. I can’t do that. My wife is not here.’ I never saw anything like it. He’s years ahead of his time.”