President Biden roasts DeSantis and Trump at Gridiron Club dinner: ‘Too old and mentally unfit’
President Biden used his appearance at the Gridiron Club Dinner Saturday evening to rib former President Donald Trump and try to turn the tables on the age-old question haunting his reelection.
“One candidate is too old, mentally unfit to be president. The other’s me,” Biden, 81, quipped during his roughly 10-minute speech at the white-tie media event.
The jabs come as Biden and his campaign have sought to put more of a spotlight on Trump’s verbal flubs and flagrant mishaps.
Earlier in the week, both Trump, 77, and Biden locked down enough delegates to clinch their respective parties’ nominations to be standard bearer for president.
A melange of polling has pegged widespread voter unease about Biden’s age. Last month, for example, an ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 86% of voters feel he is too old for another turn.
Earlier this month, he delivered a feisty and combative State of the Union address that his allies claim belied narratives about infirmity.
“Even the press has to admit, I crushed it,” Biden said, per the Wall Street Journal. “The expectations were so low, I just had to show up and remember who the president is.”
Every year, the Gridiron Club, an organization of journalists mostly based in Washington, DC holds a dinner that presidents are invited to attend. It is usually a jovial affair with comedic sketches.
The club was founded in 1885. Almost every president has attended at least one of those events since the club’s formation. This was the first time in his presidency that Biden addressed the annual bacchanalia
Trump was far from the only target of Biden’s mockery during the dinner.
“The Republicans would rather fail at impeachment than succeed at anything else,” Biden chided at one point.
“Republicans were going to do a skit tonight,” Biden went on, according to the Wall Street Journal. “But they couldn’t get a speaker.”
At one point, he skewered Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, taking aim at his height.
“We’re committed to helping the little guy,” Biden jabbed, according to the Daily Mail, “Ron DeSantis, but he won’t take our calls.”
Other notable pols in attendance included Vice President Kamala Harris, Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Taoiseach of Ireland Leo Varadkar, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Amazon’s executive chairman Jeff Bezos, and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.
It wasn’t all fun and jokes during the dinner. Biden also took a serious tone at points and warned about the stakes of the Nov. 5 presidential election.
“Look, I wish these were jokes, but they’re not,” Biden stressed.
“We live in an unprecedented moment of democracy — an unprecedented moment in history. Democracy and freedom are literally under attack. Putin’s on the march in Europe. My predecessor bows down to him and says, ‘Do whatever the hell you want,'” Biden warned.
He rattled through a litany of concerns such as the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot as well as efforts to thwart the 2020 election, which he described as the “greatest threat to our democracy since the American Civil War.”
The 81-year-old president ominously described “a poison coursing through the veins of our democracy.”
“Every single one of us has a role to play in making sure American democracy endures. This year, you, the free press, have a bigger role than ever. Let me state the obvious: You are not the enemy of the people. You are a pillar of any free society,” he said.
The dinner took place at the Grand Hyatt and prohibited media photography or TV cameras. The president underscored the importance of the free press during his speech.
Biden emphasized that his administration is still working tirelessly to bring back journalists Evan Gershovich and Austin Tice, who are being held in Russia and Syria respectively.
“Good journalism holds a mirror up to society,” Biden said, the Associated Press reported. “We need you.”
Biden also directly responded to Trump’s perennial taunts to debate him, telling a CNN reporter, “I don’t know if he’s serious.”
The Post contacted the Trump campaign for comment.
