By The opinion
President Joe Biden joked about his age and criticized former President Donald Trump during Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
Biden has increasingly used humor in recent weeks to criticize his predecessor and 2024 rival and counter concerns about his age.
“The 2024 elections are in full swing and yes, age is an issue. “I’m a grown man and I’m running against a six-year-old boy,” Biden said.
“Age is the only thing we have in common, my vice president actually supports me,” Biden said, referring to former Vice President Mike Pence not endorsing Trump in 2024.
But Biden’s speech took a serious turn when he talked about what was at stake in November’s presidential election, echoing themes from his campaign speeches by highlighting what he called Trump’s “attack on our democracy.”
The president urged the press to “to live up to the gravity of the moment.”
“Let us leave behind the horse racing numbers and the ‘gotcha’ moments, the distractions and sideshows that have come to dominate and sensationalize our politics, and focus on what is really at stake,” Biden said.. “I think in their hearts they know what is at stake.”
Biden also highlighted the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned in Russia for more than a year on espionage charges that he and his employer deny. His case has been classified as unjust detention by the United States.
The president asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to would release Gershkovich immediately, and added that the White House was also doing everything possible to bring home freelance journalist Austin Tice and businessman Paul Whelan.
Gershkovich’s parents and Tice’s mother were among the approximately 2,600 guests at the dinner, an estimate provided by NBC News political correspondent Steve Kornacki in a video played at the event.
The event, which took place at the Washington Hilton, was also attended by First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
High-profile politicians and administration officials also attended, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.
As dinner, a tradition dating back 100 years, took place inside the ballroom, Hundreds of protesters rallied outside to call for a ceasefire and criticize Biden’s response to the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Protesters chanted: “Shame on you!” as attendees passed by them to enter the hotel. They also shouted criticism of the media and a large sign read: “Stop media complicity in genocide.”
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