Donald Trump’s jokes about his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, received a lukewarm response from the audience at the Al Smith charity dinner in New York on Thursday.
At the event, Trump made several jokes about Obama. However, the dinner itself has been criticized for “normalizing” Trump, a former president known for his divisive rhetoric and fearmongering, who is also the current Republican nominee.
Despite his attempts to be humorous, Trump’s jokes mostly fell flat, evoking the kind of awkwardness seen in Michael Scott’s character from “The Office.”
At one point, Trump even admitted with some embarrassment, “Nobody got that one.”
Trump began by suggesting that his successor, President Joe Biden, was upset about Trump being the main focus on stage, since Democratic nominee Kamala Harris had decided not to attend. Instead, Harris stayed on the campaign trail and sent a video message.
Trump said: “So [Biden] called, looked at me and said, ‘Don’t.’”
The audience’s response was underwhelming, with few laughs.
“Does anybody understand that?” Trump asked, before adding, “Yes, that was… I thought it was actually very good until just now.” Ironically, this admission got more laughs than the original joke.
Trump continued, saying: “It was announced this morning that at a funeral yesterday, in a rare moment of clarity, Joe told Barack Hussein Obama that…”
Trump’s use of Obama’s full name ― a known tactic to reference his earlier, debunked “birther” conspiracy theory ― only elicited a single laugh from the audience.
“Heh. Only a few people got that. Or, as Rush Limbaugh used to say, Barack Husseeeiiin Obama. Remember? He was a piece of work. We miss him,” Trump added, referencing the late right-wing radio host known for promoting conspiracy theories.
He then tried another joke: “But as he told Barack Hussein Obama, quote, ‘She’s not as strong as me. She’s not as strong, do you understand that?’ And Obama agreed, saying, ‘That’s true.’ Other than that, I think the Democrats are getting along quite well, right?”
This, too, was met with mostly silence.
Trump finally conceded: “Nobody got that one.”
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