Biden between irony and seriousness at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Steph Deschamps / May 2, 2022
The president and the jokes came back, and the masks went off, for the return of the White House Correspondents' Gala Dinner Saturday night in Washington, D.C., where Joe Biden poked fun while pointing to Russia.
I am very pleased to be here tonight with the only group of Americans whose approval ratings are lower than mine, the Democrat began his speech.
And to taunt his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, who never showed up to the party, he observed that the last few years had been tough: We had a horrible plague followed by two years of Covid.
Joe Biden then adopted a more serious tone, paying tribute to journalists covering the war in Ukraine and warning about the poison that is spreading in our democracy with disinformation increasing sharply.
And to pass the floor to the master of ceremonies, comedian Trevor Noah, he said: Trevor, the very good news is that now you will be able to mock the President of the United States. And unlike in Moscow, you won't go to jail, he added.
The comedian began by saying he was honored to be the master of ceremonies of the most distinguished supercontagious event in the nation. A reference to the fact that the gala was without a mask.
This televised dinner was back Saturday night in the U.S. capital after the pandemic and the Trump years, when the president's self-deprecation and support for the press were not really in fashion.
Approximately 2,600 people in formal attire, journalists and their guests, attended at the Washington Hilton.