Washington
CNN
—
President Joe Biden will attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night, giving the president a stage and a prime-time slot to embarrass the media and his rival, former President Donald Trump.
Biden is scheduled to address about 3,000 journalists, celebrities and politicians, continuing a tradition dating back to Calvin Coolidge of giving a dinner address at least once during each president’s term. Trump did not attend the dinner as president, but had previously attended as a private guest.
Biden has been poking fun at his hair in recent weeks, using an instinct that doesn’t always come naturally to him: his sense of humor to counter his rival. President Trump’s social media company’s stock price falls. And then there’s the former president’s new effort to sell Trump-branded Bibles to help alleviate some of the extraordinary attention and coverage Trump is receiving during his criminal trial.
“I didn’t have a chance to watch the trial because I was campaigning,” Biden told supporters at a campaign reception in New York on Thursday, according to a pool report.
Although Biden has given many such speeches in the past, this will likely be his last White House Correspondents’ Dinner. His approval ratings are stagnant, with voters and donors alike questioning whether he is mentally strong enough for the task.
When Mr. Biden made remarks announcing that he had signed a major bill that would send $61 billion in aid to Ukraine and $26 billion to Israel and Gaza, new critics were by his side. That person is Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-chairman of Biden’s re-election campaign and former president. Content Studio DreamWorks.
Mr. Katzenberg has often advised Mr. Biden on his message to donors and voters. This week, he was on the scene to observe firsthand how Biden delivered off-script and to help the 81-year-old president deliver the punch line to reporters covering him.
“He’s a Hollywood guy,” an administration official told CNN. “He’s an entertainer.”
Administration officials said Mr. Katzenberg led daily strategy sessions in the White House residence this week, making tweaks to Mr. Biden’s comedy set drafted by his longtime speechwriter Vinay Reddy. The session lasted several hours at the White House residence, with longtime aides Mike Donilon, Steve Ricchetti, Anita Dunn, and press secretaries Karine Jean-Pierre and Annie Tomasini helping organize the materials. He helped Mr. Biden fine-tune his delivery and tone.
The group held its longest meeting, lasting about four hours with a short break, on Friday, when the president returned from a two-day business trip in New York City, with key aides able to agree on content a full day earlier than usual. Reached. Since they were close to the deadline, they were forced to change clothes for the event in the West Wing.
With Biden expected to spend much of his time targeting his Republican opponents, the White House announced that the night’s other headliner, Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost, wanted to ensure that he spread his vitriol across the political spectrum.
Biden administration officials said they also sought to share their concerns with Kelly O’Donnell, president of the White House Correspondents Association and senior White House correspondent for NBC News, and with Jost’s team at NBC Entertainment.
“Our dinner entertainment is most successful when it reaches both parties and the national media,” O’Donnell told CNN. “This is part of the discussion that took place repeatedly behind the scenes at every stage of this year’s planning. That is the intention of the WHCA each year.”
Mr. Biden has attacked Mr. Trump in recent weeks, including over his predecessor’s legal problems. Derisive comments and jokes at President Trump’s expense have become an increasingly entrenched part of the president’s public pronouncements, including Saturday night’s Biden speech in the cavernous ballroom of the Washington Hilton. It is likely to be one of the themes, a person familiar with the matter told CNN.
Although Mr. Biden has increasingly used comedy to go after Mr. Trump, his default rhetorical style typically doesn’t seek punchlines.
“He used the expression ‘I’m not kidding, guys’ more than the actual joke,” said one former aide.
If a comedic speech is to be given, the task of writing it is usually done in groups, with jokes submitted from different parts of Biden’s orbit. Katzenberg, in particular, has called on Biden to include more self-deprecating jokes about his age.
Mr. Biden will give writers some direction as they begin this process, including naming areas they think should be off-limits or places they want more serious warnings about.
Staff outside of the speechwriting team also submit joke ideas, some of which are accepted into the speech and some of which are rejected.
Over the past few years, Rob Flaherty, former director of digital strategy and now deputy campaign manager, and senior speechwriter Dan Cluchey have been named to send selected materials.
During his time as vice president, Biden also sought outside help for comedic speeches at the annual Gridiron Dinner and other light-hearted events. Among the people Mr. Biden turned to was John Max, a top writer for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” who was the host of dozens of Oscar ceremonies and a wide range of acquaintances. The host also writes. A person involved in the process when Biden was vice president recalled a post from Seth Meyers, then the lead writer for “Saturday Night Live.”
Before a big speech, Mr. Biden practices with a group of his inner circle because timing and rhythm are important, especially in comedic speeches.
At previous dinners, Mr. Biden has oscillated between being funny and being serious. Against the backdrop of war and hunger crisis in Gaza and unrest on college campuses across the country, toeing that line could be a more delicate balance at this year’s dinner, during which some police is protesting that war, which used coercive tactics to disperse groups of students.
Although the dinner is intended to be a light-hearted affair, some past events have had far-reaching political implications.
When President Trump was a guest at a dinner in 2011, President Barack Obama mocked the then-reality TV star, referring to the unsubstantiated and false “birther” conspiracy theory promoted by President Trump and “The Apprentice” conspiracy theory. ” he teased during his appearance.
“You didn’t blame Lil Jon or Meatloaf. You fired Gary Busey,” President Obama said, joking about President Trump’s experience in difficult situations. “And these decisions are the kind that keep me up at night.”
Just before attending the dinner, President Obama said the policy greenlighted the attack that led to the death of Osama bin Laden. Many have speculated that President Obama’s treatment of President Trump at a dinner in 2011 may have inspired him to run for president.
This year’s dinner will be broadcast live on CSPAN, and CNN will air a special segment featuring Biden’s remarks and Jost’s performance.
Asked before the weekend whether Biden was looking forward to or dreading the dinner, a senior adviser told CNN that the president likes to spend time with reporters and was not actually looking forward to the dinner. He claimed to be having fun.
But the advisor quickly added: “He’ll never admit it.”
