A Reality Joke?

Donald Trump skipped the Gridiron Dinner last year, an event which traces its history back to 1885 when President Grover Cleveland refused to attend. “Every president since has come to at least one Gridiron Dinner.”   Not wanting to be an exception, President Trump attended the affair last night.  I don’t know who wrote the jokes he shared with the attendees (journalists and lawmakers), but whoever it was did a great job.  The jokes even came through in print and provided me with several good laughs this morning.

“I was very excited to receive this invitation and ruin your evening in person.  That’s why I accepted.”

“We were late tonight because Jared could not get through security.”

“It’s been really another calm week at the White House.  We finally have it running like a fine-tuned machine,” he said.  “I like turnover.  I like chaos.  It really is good.  Now the question everybody keeps asking is, ‘Who is going to be the next to leave?  Steve Miller or Melania?”

“Nobody does self-depreciating humor better than I do.  It’s not even close.”

Mr. Trump said the evening was “one of the best times I’ve had with the media.”  Then added, “This might be the most fun I’ve had since watching your faces on election night.”

Mr. Trump has never been very happy or congenial toward the national press.  He expressed this criticism in a tweet written just hours before last night’s Gridiron Dinner:  “Mainstream Media in U.S. is being mocked all over the world.  They’ve gone CRAZY!”  His tweet apparently came from a story by a conservative pundit who said that Trump and his family are victims of “unparalleled” press attacks. 

A few hours after that tweet, Mr. Trump tells the press gathered at the Gridiron Dinner, “I want to thank the press for all you do to support and sustain our democracy.  I mean that.”

I wonder if he meant what he said at lunch yesterday at his Mar-a-Lago estate when he praised China’s President for extending his rule indefinitely?  Or was he just joking? He is reported as saying, “he might have to do something similar in the U.S. at some point.”  Trump said, “He’s now president for life.  President for life.  No, he’s great, and look, he was able to do that.  I think its great.  Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.”

"There's a long, long trail a-winding..."