President Donald Trump took the stage at the redo White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Friday, sharing an at times unifying, at other times polarizing message laced with lots of jokes and several roasts of the media and members of his own administration during his one-hour speech.
Three months after a gunman breached security in an attempt to assassinate Trump and members of his Cabinet at the dinner, Trump spoke candidly about the moment. He spoke to the resilience of the White House and the press corps in rescheduling the event and addressed the assassination attempt both seriously and with a sense of lightheartedness.
“Tonight we come back together to answer that heinous attack with unwavering resolve,” Trump said. “Every one of us are here this evening to show that in America we do not yield to political violence. We don’t, we can’t do that, can’t do it. In this country, we believe in freedom of speech. We settle our differences not with bullets, but with open and vigorous debate, and no deranged loser with a gun will ever change that.”
While thanking the Secret Service who provides his security detail, including agent Victor Gonzales, who stopped the gunman at the April dinner, Trump also mixed in several lighthearted comments and jokes about the evening and his previous planned speech. He said he switched his speech from what he had planned to say, noting that his planned speech was much harsher toward the press.
“I suspect some of you are lucky that our last dinner was cut short because I had brought with me what would possibly have been — I’m telling you, I had something — I was going to go after you. I was going to. I feel so badly doing this. It’s got to be such a letdown. But your lives were really in danger the last time for an opposite reason. But on the plus side, your careers were saved,” Trump said.
He also joked that when people yelled “get down!” at the last dinner, Nicki Minaj, a rapper and new Trump ally, started “twerking.”
In his speech topping one hour, Trump broke news, made jokes about reporters and politicians — several of which landed flat — and even called his own speech “frickin’ stupid.” Here are some of the highlights from his long-awaited time at the podium.
2028 buzz and term limits
Trump broke several news announcements during the speech, including that he would be returning to the WHCA dinner next year and saying he believes there should be term limits in Congress. He also floated, once again, the idea of him running in 2028, marking a contrast to his statement about Capitol Hill term limits.
“I’m pleased to announce my intention to, and this is somewhat of a scoop, my intention to run for a fourth term as president of the United States, I will be doing that,” Trump said, putting on a bright red “Trump 2028” hat.
He quipped about how he “won three times,” calling the 2020 election, which he lost to former President Joe Biden, a “rigged election” and petitioning for greater election security. He indicated that he was possibly joking by then saying, “but on a serious note, I want to say once again, I just want to thank you all.”
Despite making several indications in the past that he could run for a third term in 2028, Trump has more recently been vocalizing support for Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as possible 2028 heirs.
Earlier in the speech, Trump had endorsed the idea of term limits in Congress.
“All joking aside, I do think we need term limits in Congress. I think term limits are very important because I see what’s happening,” Trump said, speaking about the aging senators on Capitol Hill.
“The other day, a senator I knew got a text — a great guy — from his wife, and she said, ‘When you get home, I want to have you immediately come up the stairs and make love to me.’ And he said, ‘I can’t do both,’” Trump said.
Media digs
Some of the starkest and most tense moments of the night came as Trump ripped the media and came after individual members of the press corps, including moments where he made comments on their looks.
Trump individually made comments about CNN primetime anchor and White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, calling her award given at the dinner, which she received for reporting under deadline pressure, a “fake.” He also repeated comments about her looks and compared her to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, a moment which was met with groans in the room.
“She’s a young, attractive woman. She never smiles,” Trump said.
He also talked about Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Dawsey, who also received an award, calling him “unhireable,” but also talking about how many stories he can write.
“He’s been killing me for years,” Trump said. “And yet tonight he shakes my hand. He hugs me. Everything nice. He kills me. Josh is amazing.”
Trump also made several of his repeated digs at the media, calling CNN’s Jake Tapper, “Fake Tapper,” and ripping the “fake news media.”
After Trump left the podium, outgoing WHCA President Weijia Jiang defended her colleagues in her follow-up remarks, referencing Trump’s remarks as an example of the First Amendment.
“I just want to congratulate all of our award winners again. My friend Kaitlan, who has a beautiful smile, and Josh Dawsey, who is one of the most prolific journalists of our time,” Jiang said.
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Rips old foes and potential 2028 contenders
Trump also made several digs at old foes of his and possible 2028 presidential election contenders.
He referenced the weight of former Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) several times, as many of his jokes about the weight of his political adversaries fell flat in the crowd.
Trump also ripped possible 2028 contenders Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in his speech. He ripped Ocasio-Cortez for a speech in which she paused for several moments to answer a question about Taiwan at the Munich Security Conference and called Newsom a “low-IQ person.”
“Gavin Newscum recently did a career-threatening — one of the worst interviews I’ve ever seen — where he said that he can’t read a speech. He’s incapable of reading a speech. He’s a low-IQ person,” Trump said.
However, the president also made some quips at members of his own party, calling Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “a very different kind of a person.”
“I hope that everyone finally got to enjoy their entire very delicious beef tenderloins, very special beef, and I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy, who’s right here, personally ran over the cow in his car, and he cut it up and he brought it here for you to eat tonight, so it’s very fresh,” Trump joked to a room full of laughter.
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However, as several of Trump’s jokes fell on deaf ears, the president showed some frustration with his speechwriter. At one point, he pleaded with the room to laugh at one of his jokes about the old age of members of Congress.
“I thought that was actually pretty good. That was actually the only thing I thought was good in this stupid speech that they wrote,” Trump said.