We’re used to unprecedented events during the second Trump presidency. Over the weekend, another such event took place at the annual dinner of the Gridiron Club.
The Gridiron Club is an elite club of Washington journalists whose history dates back to 1885. Over the weekend, per Politico, the Gridiron Club held its annual dinner in Washington, and for the first time in the group’s 140-year history, they did not toast the sitting president of the United States.
Instead, the Club toasted to the First Amendment.
+ Statement from PBS’s @JudyWoodruff, the current president of the Gridiron Club: pic.twitter.com/XB16BATb7T
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) March 16, 2025
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The president and vice president did not attend the white-tie dinner, and no administration representative spoke at the event. Since the club’s inception in the 19th century, every president, except Grover Cleveland, has appeared at the Gridiron Dinner, including Trump himself, in 2018. Mike Pence spoke at the dinner in 2017; Ivanka Trump did in 2019, and the event was canceled due to COVID in 2020.
“Nobody went because either we were busy working or we just don’t care to be recognized by that crowd,” a White House official told Politico.
Scott Turner, the HUD secretary, attended the dinner, although he did not speak.
“I invited the President, the Vice President, the National Security Adviser, and the Interior Secretary — all declined. I was told the Secretary of State would not be available,” Judy Woodruff of PBS said in a statement to Politico. “To close the evening — when the sitting President usually speaks — we showed video and audio excerpts of the past four Republican presidents, starting with President Trump in 2018. These demonstrated the good humor and fellowship this dinner is all about.”
At Gridiron Dinner, Jokes About Trump, Musk and Russia Abound – But President Trump wasn’t around to hear any of the barbs thrown at the annual D.C. event.
“One of the headliners was @GovWesMoore of Maryland, a rising star in the Democratic Party.”https://t.co/M1xO3BTnoZ
— Zachary A. Peters (@zapeters) March 16, 2025
Unlike the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner, which is broadcast live on television, the Gridiron Dinner is not, although journalists can report on what is said there.
According to the New York Times, there were plenty of jokes about Russia, Elon Musk’s predilection for fathering children, and “the breakdown of the global order.”
Among the speakers was the Democratic governor of Maryland, Wes Moore.
“If I actually wanted to be president, I wouldn’t do any of this,” Moore said in his speech. “Instead, I would take my case directly to the people who are in charge of our democracy. The Kremlin.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
