As the presidential election draws near, with Joe Biden and Donald Trump trading barbs at each other, the incumbent President delivered some sharp quips about his Republican adversary during an annual media dinner hosted on Saturday at the Gridiron Club in Washington.
The 81-year-old president not just mocked himself but also targeted Trump’s age and mental fitness, saying, “One candidate is too old and mentally unfit to be president. The other guy’s me.”
The dinner tradition, which goes back to the 19th century, is a white-tie affair that witnesses a mega gathering of government officials, media, and business to enjoy musical skits performed by journalists and some standups by politicians like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Utah Governor Spencer Cox.
The dinner hosted nearly 650 guests, including Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach of Ireland, Kaja Kallas, the Prime Minister of Estonia, Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and Washington Post owner, Vice President Kamala Harris and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.
Also Read: Donald Trump warns of ‘bloodbath’ if he is not elected, Joe Biden blasts his ‘thirst for revenge’
Key highlights from Biden’s speech: ‘Democracy and freedom are literally under attack’
Delivering his first speech as president at the annual white tie gala, Biden lashed out at the Republicans in Congress who initiated an impeachment investigation, saying they would “rather fail at impeachment than succeed at anything else”.
He blasted Trump for asking a prominent medical expert if those infected withCOVID-19could be injected with disinfectant to treat them. Biden stated that his government restored the US economy after the coronavirus outbreak “without encouraging the American people to inject bleach”.
The POTUS further talked about the Ukraine war and slammed Trump for bowing down to him. “Look, I wish these were jokes, but they’re not… 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”,” he said.
The US President claimed that Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who sat at the head table with Biden on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, “took one look at Congress and asked for another Guinness.”
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Recognising the presence of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, a prominent critic of Russia, at his table, Biden asserted, “We will not bow down, they will not bow down, and I will not bow down.”
Recalling the mayhem during the Capitol riot and Trump’s bogus claims about 2020 “rigged” election, Biden said that those incidents demonstrated that “poison was coursing through the veins of our democracy.”
The POTUS further underscored the significance of the press, saying it is not “the enemy of the people,” in sharp contrast to Trump’s earlier remarks against the news media.
A general election rematch between Trump and Biden is expected to be extremely close. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week placed the two candidates in a statistical tie among registered voters.
