President cracks a few jokes
Challenges mounting as a new week begins
President Donald Trump wrapped up a tough week by poking fun at himself.
In his remarks Saturday at the Gridiron Club, he joked about losing more aides and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, losing a security clearance.
But last week’s announcement of a tariff plan will be revisited: Several nations already are bristling at the idea and may retaliate if it is set into place. And meetings are set with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – Kushner has been point man on a Middle East peace deal.
And another joke is coming into the new week: Trump said Saturday that Chinese President Xi Jinping made himself “president for life.”
“I think it’s great,” he said. “Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.”
WASHINGTON — Even President Trump himself is joking about chaos in his administration.
“It’s been really another calm week at the White House,” Trump cracked during a high-profile press dinner Saturday night in Washington. “We finally have it running like a fine-tuned machine . ... It’s fine-tuned.”
Amid investigations, surprising White House departures, and staff infighting over items from tariffs and security clearances, the president also is sending mixed signals over issues like guns, immigration and even the emotional state of his 14month-old presidency.
During his comedy routine at the
Gridiron Club, a group of journalists best known for its annual dinner featuring comedic skits and speeches by politicians from both parties, Trump even invoked his wife in a joke about rumored resignations at the White House.
“Now the question everyone keeps asking is, ‘Who’s going to be the next to leave? Steve Miller or Melania?’” Trump said.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, the Democratic speaker at the Gridiron, got in on the joke by saying Trump could attend a Mardi Gras-style parade dressed as “King Chaos.” (Trump laughed.)
Every week seems to bring new disputes and controversies to the White House.
In the coming days, Trump has meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Cabinet, and various officials as he confronts challenges such as North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and possible backlash over his tariff announcement. He also is planning to attend a political rally Saturday for a congressional candidate in western Pennsylvania.
Some White House aides said tales of chaos and confusion are overblown and irrelevant to their agenda.
“If I’ve learned anything in the 14 months here in Washington, on the White House, it’s that there’s all sorts of malicious leaks” designed to “hurt us,” said Trump trade adviser Peter
“Now the question everyone keeps asking is, ‘Who’s going to be the next to leave? Steve Miller or Melania?’ ” President Trump
Navarro on Fox News Sunday, commenting on claims of mutiny over new proposed tariffs.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, appearing on NBC’s Meet The Press, pushed back on reports that Trump is often angry at how things are going.
“His state of mind is fine,” Ross said. “If you went to the Gridiron last night, which I did and others did, he was very relaxed, he was self-deprecating, he had some very good humorous lines. I don’t see any problem with his behavior.”
For his part, Trump tweeted Sunday: “The Gridiron Dinner last night was great fun. I am accomplishing a lot in Washington and have never had a better time doing something, and especially since this is for the American People!”
Trump’s monologue capped an especially wild week, even by the standards of this hyper-kinetic administration:
❚ Jared Kushner, a top White House aide as well as the president’s son-inlaw, saw his security clearance downgraded, amid reports that he is feuding with Chief of Staff John Kelly. Business dealings linked to Kushner and his family continue to draw scrutiny from investigative reporters, to the point where Trump joked about his son-in-law at the Gridiron: “You know, we were late tonight because Jared could not get through security.”
❚ White House communications director Hope Hicks, one of the president’s closest and longest-serving confidantes, unexpectedly announced she would be leaving soon. Aides described Hicks as a calming influence on the often volatile Trump.
❚ At a meeting with members of Congress, two weeks after the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., Trump appeared to embrace gun control measures favored by Democrats and opposed by the National Rifle Association. At one point, Trump suggested taking guns from accused felons in advance of due process.
Earlier in the week, Trump raised eyebrows by describing some local deputies who responded to the Parkland shooting as cowards, and claiming that he would have run into the high school building to try and stop the shooting, even without a weapon.
❚ After aides had said Trump would announce tariffs on steel and aluminum on Thursday, they said early that day that there would be no announcement after all. The tariff story kept changing throughout the morning.
In the end, Trump called reporters into a meeting with industry executives to say he would place 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% tariffs on aluminum imports. The president said he would sign paperwork detailing these plans this week.
Gary Cohn, a top White House economic adviser, had threatened to resign if Trump imposed tariffs.
In the face of criticism that other countries would retaliate with their own tariffs on American goods, raising prices for all consumers, Trump triggered another kerfuffle with a Friday tweet saying that trade wars are “good” and “easy to win.”
As happens every week, Trump tweets generated controversy last week.
One primary target: The investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into any links between Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 and Russians who sought to influence that election through email hacks and fake news.