Trump Jokes About Impeachment, Melania Leaving Him at Gridiron Dinner

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump attended and address his first Washington media dinner on Saturday, telling jokes to the gathered crowd in an roast-like atmosphere that belied his public antagonism toward to news media.

The event was the Gridiron Dinner, a white-tie event held by the oldest journalism organization in Washington, the Gridiron Club, which dates back to 1885.

Just hours before, Trump tweeted that “Mainstream Media in U.S. is being mocked all over the world. They’ve gone CRAZY!” He was responding to coverage of a chaotic week at the White House, including new questions raised about his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s handling of his official duties as senior adviser and his own real estate businesses.

But joined by his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, he was in a much different mood on Saturday.

Trump’s most controversial joke: “I like turnover. I like chaos. It really is good. Who is going to be the next to leave? Steve Miller or Melania?”

His wife was present, and he asked her is she still loved him. He said she told him, “Behave.”

At one point, Trump joked that Vice President Mike Pence was a good, “straight man,” who begins every day by asking, “Is he impeached yet?”

On the reported talks with North Korea, Trump quipped that it was Kim Jong Un who faced “the risk of dealing with a madman.” He said that North Korea had to “denuke” first.

Trump skipped the dinner last year, and also declined to attend the higher profile White House Correspondents Association event. Just as he had during the campaign, Trump routinely bashed the media, often calling it “fake news,” but also, at one point in a February, 2017, tweet, the “enemy of the American people.”

The event at the Renaissance Washington Hotel may be prelude to whether he decides to go to the WHCA event, which is slated for April 28. Michelle Wolf, who recently landed her own Netflix series, will be the featured entertainer, and she has said that she doesn’t plan to withhold from scathing humor about the president.

Trump was roasted by Comedy Central in 2011, but he has not been as well received at other events that typically call for a mixture of light barbs about opponents and plenty of self-deprecating jokes. In 2016, just weeks before the election, he addressed the Al Smith Dinner along with Hillary Clinton. While he made some jokes, he also was booed when he used the platform to attack her.