WASHINGTON, DC – President Joe Biden was criticized for laughing at jokes made at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner that poked fun at the country’s skyrocketing inflation and the struggle of average Americans to pay for basic necessities as prices continue to go upward amid historically-high inflation.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner returned this past weekend at the Washington Hilton after being cancelled for two years due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The event featured entertainment from “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah, who during a comedy routine got the President of the United States to laugh at the financial bind that so many of his constituents are dealing with on a daily basis due to current 40-year high inflation woes.
“I think ever since you came into office, things are really looking up, you know,” Noah said. “Gas is up, rent is up, food is up, everything.”
The camera then cuts to Biden, who is seen laughing and clapping at the “joke.”
“No, it has really been a tough first year for you, Mr. President,” Noah sympathetically added.
However, Biden’s critics were quick to jump on the perceived insensitivity that he displayed. Not surprisingly, the clip of Biden reacting to Noah’s joke has already made its way into GOP advertising, including a new campaign ad for Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) that is currently airing in Wisconsin on cable TV beginning Tuesday.
“The same liberal Democrats and media elite who falsely attack Senator Johnson for exposing the truth are laughing it up in Washington, while America is dangerously off track,” a narrator for the ad says. “Record high gas prices. The worst inflation in 40 years. A violent crime wave. Chaos at the border. It’s not funny. Senator Ron Johnson is fighting to get inflation under control. Ron Johnson is fighting for law and order. Ron Johnson is fighting for freedom and for us.”
Inflation increased 8.5 percent in March, reaching a historic 40-year high; consumer costs are expected to jump by 8.4 percent, experts say, with inflation and gas prices sure to be a hot-button topic going into November 2022’s midterm elections.