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Joe Biden used his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner to poke fun Donald Trump.
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“Yes, age is a problem. I’m a grown man taking on a six-year-old,” Biden said.
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Biden has used humorous and sarcastic comments to ramp up his attacks on Trump.
Often referred to as Washington’s “nerd ball,” hundreds of journalists, politicians and celebrities met Saturday night at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
The evening often features a presidential roast aimed at reporters and other guests in the audience. But this year, Joe Biden used the speech to mock his Republican rival in the 2024 election race, Donald Trump.
“Yes, age is a problem. I’m a grown man running against a six-year-old,” Biden joked, referring to media concerns that he is too old and mentally unfit to run for president. Biden is 81. Trump is 77.
Biden then mocked Trump for feuding with his former vice president, Mike Pence, who challenged him over the 2020 election results and refused to back his former boss in March.
Biden said: “Age is the only thing we have in common. My vice president actually supports me.”
The president also made comments about Trump’s hush money trial taking place in New York, where he is accused of falsifying corporate records to cover up a hush money payment to adult film performer Stormy Daniels.
He called his opponent in the 2024 election “sleepy Don,” referring to reports that the former president fell asleep during the legal proceedings.
“Donald has had some rough days lately,” Biden said. “You could call it stormy weather.”
Biden’s jokes are offensive
The use of humorous jabs at Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner highlighted a growing theme of Biden’s reelection strategy as he steps up his attacks on his 2024 opponent.
Trump has long used derogatory nicknames and puns against his political competitors. He called Biden “sleepy Joe” and called Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, his main opponent in the Republican primaries, “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
At the North America’s Building Trades Unions Washington DC conference last week, where Biden received the union’s endorsement, the president got personal with Trump when he joked, “Remember when he was trying to deal with COVID, and he said that you just had to inject a little bleach into your body? your vein? He missed it. It all went to his hair.”
The Union crowd stood and applauded, a report said. Biden added: “I shouldn’t have said that.”
The president’s campaign has referred to Trump, who claims to be a multi-billionaire but is struggling to post a $454 million court-imposed bail, as “Broke Don.”
It appears to be a shift for Biden, who just a month ago declined to go beyond referring to Trump as “my predecessor” in his State of the Union address.
Trump responded to Biden’s comments on his Truth Social platform, saying: “The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was really bad. Colin Jost bombed, and Crooked Joe was an absolute disaster! It can’t get much worse than this!”
Later in his speech to White House correspondents, Biden also made some light-hearted jokes at the expense of the media. “Some of you have complained that I don’t answer your questions enough. No comment,” he chuckled.
He added: “The New York Times issued a statement criticizing me for ‘actively and effectively avoiding independent journalists.’ Hey, if that’s what it takes to get The New York Times to say I’m active and effective, then I’m for it. .”
The president ended his speech on a more serious note, urging the media to keep the fallout from the November election in mind.
“Put past the horse racing numbers and the gotcha moments, and the distractions, the side issues that have come to dominate and sensationalize our politics, and focus on what’s really at stake,” he said.
Read the original article on Business Insider
