‘A horrible plague, then Covid’: Biden and correspondents joke in post-Trump return to normality

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White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is first attended by a sitting president in six years after Donald Trump’s snubs, then pandemic

Joe Biden celebrated the return of a flashy annual gathering of Washington’s political and media elites on Saturday with some humorous jabs at Donald Trump – and himself.The US president, sporting a tuxedo and slightly askew bow tie, spoke at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The gathering included the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and other cabinet members as well as journalists such as CNN’s Jake Tapper and MSNBC’s Joy Reid. Celebrities includingThe three-course dinner took place in a vast, crowded hotel ballroom despite the long shadow cast by the pandemic. Biden, 79, skipped the meal with the 2,600 guests, all of whom had to provide proof of vaccination and a same-day negative test.

The president made fun of the hypocrisy of conservative cable channel Fox News, which has required its own employees to be“I know there are questions about whether we should gather here tonight, because of Covid. Well, we’re here to show the country that we’re getting through this pandemic. Plus, everyone had to prove they’re fully vaccinated and boosted. So if you’re home watching this, and you’re wondering how to do that, just contact your favourite Fox News reporter.

When Biden shifted gear towards the end of his 14-minute speech to recognise the importance of journalism to American democracy, he again drew a contrast with his predecessor by insisting that a free press “is not the“Where the truth is buried by lies and the lies live on as truth, what’s clear, and I mean this in the bottom of my heart, that you – the free press – matter more than you ever did in the last century,” Biden said.

Noah also observed: “Ever since you came into office, things are already looking up. Gas is up, rent is up, food is up, everything.”

 

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