U.S. President Joe Biden took jabs on Saturday at former President Donald Trump with jokes about the mental fitness of his election opponent during a speech at the Gridiron Club dinner, a Washington tradition that began in the 1880s.Biden\u2019s appearance at the dinner, in which politicians and journalists trade humorous barbs in a white-tie formal affair, was the first time a president has attended in person since former President Donald Trump in 2018.Biden, 81, recently clinched the Democratic Party\u2019s nomination for this year\u2019s presidential election and will face off against Trump, 77, in a rematch in November. Biden is trying to court voters, boost his low approval ratings and allay concerns that he is too old to run again.\u201cOne candidate is too old and mentally unfit to be president. The other one is me,\u201d Biden said on Saturday, in front of more than 650 guests who included the Taoiseach of Ireland Leo Varadkar, Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, whose U.S. business could be banned by Biden.Trump\u2019s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Trump has also questioned Biden\u2019s mental capacity to be president.Biden reinforced the importance of the press, which he said is not \u201cthe enemy of the people,\u201d in stark contrast to previous remarks by Trump about the news media.He also spoke about the war in Ukraine with Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas, who attended Saturday\u2019s dinner. \u201cWe will not bow down, they (Ukrainians) will not bow down and I will not bow down,\u201d Biden said.After his speech, Biden descended to the floor and took selfies with reporters and called one guest\u2019s mother.Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, representing the Democratic Party at the event, also spoke on Saturday, as well as Utah Governor Spencer Cox, representing the Republican Party.Cox, 48, joked that he was announcing his candidacy for the presidency \u201cin 2052, when I still will be younger than both President Biden and President Trump.\u201dTurning more serious, he said there is a hunger among Americans for something more positive in politics.The club\u2019s 65 members, all representatives from news organizations, performed satirical songs and skits. One song poked fun at Biden\u2019s and Trump\u2019s ages to the tune of \u201cWhen I\u2019m Sixty-Four\u201d by The Beatles.At last year\u2019s dinner, Mike Pence, who served as Vice President under Trump, offered a forceful rebuke of his one-time boss, saying history would hold Trump accountable for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.Unlike its sister event, the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner in April, the Gridiron dinner is not televised and tries to retain its yesteryear vibe with men in white tie and tails and women in long dresses.No photos are allowed during the dinner and participants are asked not to post on social media until after it has concluded.(Reuters)speech. jabs, mental fitness, presidential election<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. President Joe Biden made jokes about the mental fitness of his election opponent, former President Donald Trump, during a speech at the Gridiron Club dinner. This event is a Washington tradition where politicians and journalists exchange humorous remarks. Biden’s appearance marked the first time a president attended in person since Trump in 2018. Biden, who is 81, has secured the Democratic Party\u2019s nomination for the upcoming presidential election and will compete against Trump, who is 77, in a November rematch. The dinner had over 650 guests, including notable figures such as the Taoiseach of Ireland Leo Varadkar, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Biden emphasized the importance of the press and discussed the war in Ukraine with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Utah Governor Spencer Cox also spoke at the event, with Cox humorously mentioning a potential candidacy in 2052. The Gridiron Club’s 65 members performed satirical songs and skits, including one that made fun of Biden’s and Trump’s ages. The event is characterized by its formal dress code and prohibition of photos and social media posts during the dinner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[246,383,492,186,1221,279,932,3,166,1600,283,658,1130,2288,756,2289,1020,456,301,1021,1670,1356,1792,1022,817,1875,114,1006,841,17,1379,293,2287,457,165,1100,18],"class_list":["post-4505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-amazon","tag-attack","tag-biden","tag-business","tag-campaign","tag-comment","tag-court","tag-cyprus","tag-donald-trump","tag-election","tag-guests","tag-history","tag-ireland","tag-jabs","tag-joe-biden","tag-mental-fitness","tag-nomination","tag-photos","tag-politics","tag-presidency","tag-president-joe-biden","tag-presidential-election","tag-prime-minister","tag-republican","tag-social-media","tag-tiktok","tag-top-news","tag-trade","tag-trump","tag-ukraine","tag-voters","tag-war","tag-washintons-gridiron-dinner","tag-white","tag-white-house","tag-women","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n