Donald Trump returned to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday night, three months after the original event was cut short by a shooting.
The rescheduled dinner was held at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria under heavy security, after the April event at the Washington Hilton descended into chaos when suspected gunman Cole Allen allegedly opened fire before the evening’s programme had even begun.
Donald Trump opened his remarks by acknowledging the shooting that had forced the dinner to be postponed. “Tonight we come back together to answer that heinous attack with unwavering resolve,” he said. “In America we do not yield to political violence.”
He also revealed that his original speech for the April dinner had been significantly more aggressive.
“I was so psyched. I was going to rip people, and I don’t know. Just something changed,” he said.
“It’s really for the better.”
Secret Service officer Victor Gonzales, who was shot during the April attack but was protected by his ballistic vest and continued responding to the threat, received the White House Correspondents’ Association’s President’s Award for Exceptional Service at the ceremony.
Trump told a sex joke and nobody laughed
During the dinner Donald Trump told the room a joke about an elderly senator receiving a text from his wife saying she wanted him to come upstairs and make love to her when he got home. The punchline: the senator replied that he couldn’t do both.
The room stayed completely silent.
Trump stared out at the audience and explained the joke himself. “Can’t get up on the stairs and make love,” he said, pulling a face.
“Does anybody get that?”
He then laughed off the awkward moment.
“That was the only thing I thought was good in this whole frickin’ stupid speech they wrote,” he said.
“That was the only good one and that went down with not exactly great laughter.”
Trump debutes “Trump 2028” hat
Toward the end of his speech Trump teased what he called a big announcement and produced a red “Trump 2028” hat and told the audience he intended to run for a fourth term.
The US Constitution bars any president from serving more than two elected terms. Trump has made similar jokes on multiple previous occasions.
