Being the daughter of Trump is the "most difficult job in the world": NPR

With greens on the menu and Amy Klobuchar, Senator from Minnesota, on the list of speakers, it was impossible that the salad was not the joke of at least a joke at the Gridiron annual dinner in Washington, DC on Saturday.

Klobuchar, Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana and Ivanka Trump were among the speakers at the annual white tie dinner organized by the Gridiron Club and Foundation, an exclusive group of top Washington journalists. The 134-year-old tradition is an opportunity for reporters, politicians and other influential figures to mingle and roast each other and the absurdities of Washington's political scene.

Klobuchar, a Democratic presidential candidate for 2020, made several derogatory jokes referring to her reputation as a stern boss, including an anecdote quickly became infamous.

"How did everyone like the salad?" Klobuchar joked referring to the report that she had eaten a salad with a comb and then asked a staff member to clean her up after reprimanding the assistant for not bringing her a fork. "I thought it was OK, but I just needed a little scalp oil and a pinch of dandruff."

Klobuchar also joked that before speaking, she was asked if she wanted a microphone or if she preferred to shout. (For the record, she spoke with a microphone to the crowd sitting at tables in a Washington, DC hotel).

Klobuchar also attacked President Trump, highlighting one of the advantages of his Minnesota status to run for president: "The Russians will not try to meet me because Minneapolis is still too cold for them."

On his presidential aspirations, Klobuchar said he is confident that he has everything he needs to win, in part because of his mining history of his networks to raise funds – including from D & C. Former boyfriends, a group she said her husband base expanding. "

Klobuchar promised that his campaign would combine "the brief and enthusiastic speeches of Joe Biden, the common touch of Michael Bloomberg, the collegiality of Ted Cruz, and the dynamic and optimistic personality of Bernie Sanders".

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a Republican speaker for the evening, set the tone for his speech with this introductory phrase: "I'm nervous like a pregnant nun".

Kennedy, known for his sense of colorful humor, has launched a series of edgy jokes leaving the audience alternately laughing and shaking. Very few, including the stereotypes of the South, seemed to be banned.

On some of the media networks where he appeared as a guest: "They call me folk, I think that means that they are surprised that I have a university degree."

But, added Kennedy, "I love them and I trust them, I trust them, like sushi stations, I trust them like Bill Cosby as a bartender."

Kennedy told reporters filled with reporters that he adored the newspapers jokingly: "We made learning compulsory reading in Louisiana about 10 years ago."

Kennedy went on with another joke aimed at the south: "You know why Alabama raised the age of consumption to 32? They wanted to prevent alcohol from entering high schools."

On the Super Bowl: "If I'd wanted to see the guys do not score for three hours, I'd have taken Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders to a singles bar."

In a joke, he evoked the blackface scandals that raged on Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, suggesting that "a modest new tax on Virginia Democrats in the United States." blackface would raise billions of dollars. "

He also urged members of the media not to rush into their findings on the investigation of a possible collusion between President Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia. "No member of the Trump administration has secretly worked for the United States," joked Kennedy.

The Venn diagram overlapped between the old theater nerds and the journalists, one might guess, the speeches and dinners are traditionally interspersed with musical sketches and parodies of songs that would burn political figures.

Among the highlights was a skit evoking President Trump's recent anticlimactic summit in Hanoi with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. During this performance, a prominent member of the NPR Politics team (who will remain anonymous by professional courtesy) made an appearance dressed from head to toe in nuclear warhead. At the end of the show, CNN's Jake Tapper and Fox News's Bret Baier wore powdered wigs (though it was not clear from a distance if they were actually powdered) and made a valiant effort with the musical at success. Hamilton.

President Trump, renowned for his aversion to the press, was not present – although he appeared last year, calling the journalists "opposition party". Vice President Mike Pence represented the administration in 2017.

Several members of the administration were present this year, including economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who, according to the Washington Post, arrived in the same Brooks Brothers costume that he wore in 1986 (disclosure, after an unexpected wardrobe challenge, your correspondent attended the dinner wearing the same black dress as that she Wore at Gridiron dinner two years ago and at her wedding rehearsal dinner in 2003).

Maybe wearing new clothes is good economic advice?

In place of Trump were his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband and Trump advisor, Jared Kushner. Ivanka spoke briefly, saying that her father had asked her to appear "just this afternoon," causing laughter.

"No, it's not a joke," she told the crowd.

Ivanka said that she did not have time to write jokes, "so I figured that the funniest thing I could do was read excerpts from the Green New Deal, "a blow against legislation promoted by Democrats, including New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The package of measures designed to stimulate the economy and fight climate change has been sharply criticized by many Republicans, who would consider it impractical and expensive.

Ivanka Trump joked that she had been criticized for wanting people to work despite her privilege, "as if being Donald Trump's daughter was not the hardest job in the world".

In the absence of his father's dinner, Ivanka said: "The opportunity to make fun of the media is not an opportunity not to be passed lightly."

In a way, she added, "for my father, every day is a dinner in Gridiron".