President Donald Trump’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech drew sharp criticism from CNN pundits immediately after it finished.
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On Friday night, Trump delivered his first speech as president at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and it took just over an hour. Shortly after it wrapped, CNN pundits tore into it, with conservatives even having trouble defending it.
“It just wasn’t funny at all,” political commentator Van Jones said. “It just wasn’t funny. It was mean and small, but you could be mean and small and funny. This was mean and small and not funny.”
CNN anchor Laura Coates said that Trump “shot himself in the foot” by missing an opportunity to speak to people. Jones agreed, saying, “He didn’t talk about any American besides himself and his enemies” when he could have talked about people at home “and maybe make fun of their enemies.”
Former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin said that “even from a performance standpoint” and compared to previous presidents, “he bombed. He objectively bombed.” She also pointed out “missed opportunities.”
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Conservative CNN pundit Scott Jennings noted that Trump started the speech by denouncing political violence and ended it by saying he respected journalists and people in their profession.
“Now the middle of it is going to be controversial because some of the jokes landed and some of the jokes didn’t,” Jennings said, noting he liked Trump’s jab at RFK Jr. during the speech. “Some of the jokes veered off into very, sort of, ornery insults, and that’s not going to land for many audiences.”
Jones made a joke of his own about Trump’s speech, saying, “It was just bomb after bomb after bomb. It’s like, we’re not Iran. We’re the American people. Quit bombing.”
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