‘Shame on you’: White House Correspondents’ Dinner overshadowed by protests against Israel’s war in Gaza
The Hindu
War in Gaza protests overshadowed White House correspondents' dinner, with Biden joking about Trump and ignoring Middle East crisis.
The war in Gaza spurred large protests outside a glitzy roast with U.S. President Joe Biden, journalists, politicians and celebrities on April 27 but went all but unmentioned by participants inside, with Mr. Biden instead using the annual White House correspondents’ dinner to make both jokes and grim warnings about Republican rival Donald Trump’s fight to reclaim the U.S. presidency.
An evening normally devoted to presidents, journalists and comedians taking outrageous pokes at political scandals and each other seemed this year to illustrate the difficulty of putting aside the coming presidential election and the troubles in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Mr. Biden opened his roast with a direct but joking focus on Mr. Trump, calling him “sleepy Don,” in reference to a nickname Trump had given the president previously.
Despite being similar in age, Mr. Biden said, the two presidential hopefuls have little else in common. “My vice president actually endorses me,” Mr. Biden said. Former Trump Vice President Mike Pence has refused to endorse Mr. Trump’s reelection bid.
But the president quickly segued to a grim speech about what he believes is at stake this election, saying that another Mr. Trump administration would be even more harmful to America than his first term.
“We have to take this serious — eight years ago we could have written it off as ‘Trump talk’ but not after January 6,” he told the audience, referring to the supporters of Trump who stormed the Capitol after Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 election.
Mr. Trump did not attend Saturday's dinner and never attended the annual banquet as president.
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