Joe Biden takes on the role of Comedian-in-chief at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. And with his irony he attacks his rival Donald Trump.
“We are in the middle of the election campaign. Age is a problem, I am an adult running against a six-year-old child”, said the president from the stage of the Hilton hotel in Washington, outside which dozens of demonstrators protested for the Gaza shouting at journalists attending the dinner “shame on you” for covering the war. The protests also welcomed the president and First Lady Jill.
Calling Trump “Sleepy Don” for nodding off in court during his porn star payment hearings, Biden stressed that “age is the only thing” that connects him with the former president, “even though I can count on a vice president who supports me”, he joked in reference to the now broken relationship between the former president and his former deputy Mike Pence. On the criminal case against Trump, the president joked: “he has had stormy days”, he said with a pun on the porn star Stormy, which he means stormy. “Did you hear what Donald said on the Civil War battlefield? He said: Gettysburg, wow. His speech was so embarrassing that Robert E Lee gave up again,” Biden added to laughter from the room.
The president then changed to a more serious tone. He assured that he will continue to fight for American journalists detained abroad. To the media present he said: “there is someone who tells you that you are enemies of the people. But this is wrong and dangerous. You risk your life for your job”. While not asking the media to take sides or take a position, Biden urged them to “realize the gravity of the moment. Each of us has a role to play in making sure democracy lasts. I have a role, but with everything You have respect too. In the age of disinformation, credible information that people can believe is more important than ever.”
Biden’s words were followed by those of Saturday Night Live comedian Colin Jost, who spared no one with his jokes, not even the president. “It’s after ten and Sleepy Joe is still awake,” he began to applause, including Biden. His irony animated the room and, surprisingly, the comedian closed his speech with an endorsement of Biden. “I lost my grandfather this year. President, you were the last person you voted for” in Staten Island, an area of New York that mostly votes for Trump.
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