Sleepy Trump, 80, Struggles to Stay Awake at White House Dinner

President Donald Trump demanded that Washington’s biggest media dinner get a second chance after a terrifying security scare derailed the original event. But by Friday night, the 80-year-old president appeared to be fighting a very different battle: staying awake.

Trump headlined the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., three months after the original April event was abruptly thrown into chaos when a gunman opened fire near the ballroom minutes after the evening began.

The redo was billed as a defiant return for an event centered on press freedom. Instead, it quickly became another deeply awkward Trump-era spectacle, complete with jokes that fell flat, barbs at journalists, digs at his own allies, and repeated moments where the president appeared to close his eyes for extended stretches while others spoke.

The night opened with Trump sitting through a video that roasted him over press freedom and reminded the room that America is a country of “no kings,” a pointed message for a president who has spent years attacking the press and pushing the boundaries of executive power.

The mood grew even more uncomfortable when The Wall Street Journal was honored for its reporting on a lewd letter Trump allegedly sent to notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The mention landed inside a ballroom already buzzing with tension, as Trump watched from the head table alongside White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Eventually, Trump took the stage and tried to turn the night back in his favor. He joked about the media’s long-running hostility toward him and floated the idea that future dinners should be held in his White House ballroom and renamed after him.

“I’ve been informed by CBS News’s David Ellison, he’s the owner… next year they’re going to call it the Trump White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” Trump told the crowd. “He told me that, and I like that very much. Change the name of it, OK?”

The room did not exactly erupt.

Trump then returned to one of his familiar targets: CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. In a moment that reportedly drew little laughter, he described Collins as “a young attractive woman” who “never smiles” before comparing her appearance to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

“I said, Kaitlan, do you ever smile?” Trump said. “You have a nice position. You’re at CNN fake news. You should be a happy person. So smile, Kaitlan!”

The remark landed with the kind of silence that has become increasingly common when Trump tries to turn personal insults into punchlines in rooms that are not packed with his supporters.

But the president did not limit his mockery to the press. He also took aim at members of his own administration, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom Trump called “a piece of work” and a “different kind of person.”

Referring to Kennedy’s infamous admission that he once dumped a dead bear in Central Park, Trump told the dinner guests, “I hope that everyone finally got to enjoy their entire, very delicious beef tenderloin. I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy is right here and he personally ran over the cow.”

Kennedy attended the dinner with his wife, actress Cheryl Hines.

Trump also mocked White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, taking another swipe at his body after previously outing him as someone who used “fat drugs.”

“Don’t ever wrestle Steven,” Trump told the room.

The jabs came during a night that was already heavy with uneasy symbolism.

Friday’s dinner was far smaller and more subdued than the original April event. The first lady, Melania Trump, who was seen looking terrified during the earlier shooting scare, did not attend. Vice President JD Vance, who recently welcomed his fourth child, was also absent. Secretary of State Marco Rubio missed the event as well while traveling in Southeast Asia.

The original dinner had drawn around 2,500 guests. Friday’s scaled-down version had about 700. Gone were the red carpet, the full week of glamorous parties, and much of the celebrity buzz that once surrounded the annual Washington ritual.

Security, however, was impossible to miss. Fencing, barricades, a heavy police presence, and tighter protocols were put in place across downtown D.C. after the April incident, when 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen allegedly stormed a security checkpoint and opened fire outside the ballroom where Trump, Melania, Cabinet officials, journalists, and guests were gathered.

Trump insisted the dinner be held again, saying political violence has no place in America.

“This has not been an easy evening, all these awards,” Trump said, later adding, “But just like my presidency, the second time is always better, and the third time will be better.”

He also made light of the heightened security.

“Everyone’s looking really good tonight, and I know it’s not easy finding shoes to go along with your bulletproof vest,” Trump told the crowd, “which many people didn’t want to wear because they’d rather die than look 20 pounds heavier.”

The joke received a muted reaction, with some journalists reportedly looking down at their phones.

The venue itself added another layer of Trumpian irony. After decades at the Washington Hilton, the dinner was moved to the Waldorf Astoria, the former Trump International Hotel.

The night was meant to be a show of resilience for the press after an act of violence rattled one of Washington’s most visible media events. Instead, it became a revealing snapshot of the strange relationship between Trump and the journalists who cover him: hostile, performative, tense, and impossible to ignore.

And as cameras captured the president repeatedly appearing to struggle to keep his eyes open, the optics were hard to miss.

For a politician who has spent years branding his opponents as weak, tired, and unfit, Trump’s own sleepy appearance at one of Washington’s most watched political gatherings gave his critics a ready-made image: the president who demanded the dinner go on, then seemed to have trouble staying awake for it.