I Am Hopeful That Soon I Will Be Able to Laugh at This Video Again

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

The annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner is usually one of the worst nights in DC, a chance for the city’s elite to hobnob and congratulate each other while pretending that politicians can successfully land a joke. It’s one of the few norms of the city that Donald Trump has thankfully broken. But back in 2011, when he still had some of his first-term groove and on the same night that he ordered the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, Barack Obama managed to nail some actual zingers. 

Sadly, though, those jokes have been cringeworthy to watch for the past few years since the humiliation of Obama’s takedown might have been the catalyst the imbecile-in-chief needed to start his future presidential campaign. But I hope someday soon, I might be able to just enjoy this video again without fretting over the current state of the world, not having to think about the all-too-real predictions of how a President Trump would debase the White House, because damn, Obama’s jokes slap. (And honestly, given his interest in A$AP, it is a shame that Trump hasn’t devoted any energy these past four years to figuring out what happened to Biggie and Tupac.) —Patrick Caldwell

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate