The annual White House Correspondent’s Dinner has always been an opportunity for some no-holds barred gags at the expense of the President.
But with Donald Trump once again refusing to attend it was instead Press Secretary Sarah Sanders who bore the brunt of a particularly savage roasting this year.
Comedian Michelle Wolf pulled no punches and didn’t let the President off the hook, introducing her speech with: “Like a porn star says when she’s about to have sex with Trump, ‘Let’s get this over with’.”
On Sarah Sanders
“We’re graced with Sarah’s presence tonight. I have to admit I’m a little star-struck - I love you as Aunt Lydia in the Handmaid’s Tale.”
“Every time Sarah steps up to the podiumI get excited because I’m not sure what we’re going to get. A press briefing, a bunch of lies, or divided into softball teams. ’IT’S SHIRTS AND SKINS AND THIS TIME DON’T BE SUCH A LITTLE BITCH, JIM ACOSTA.”
“I actually really like Sarah, I think she’s very resourceful. Like she burns facts then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye. Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies.”
“I’m never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders,” she said. “Is it Sarah Sanders? Is it Sarah Huckabee Sanders? Is it Cousin Huckabee? Is it Auntie Huckabee Sanders? What’s Uncle Tom, but for white women who disappoint other white women?”
And Sanders wasn’t the only person who was a target.
On Kellyanne Conway
On Trump
And Clinton For... Balance
The set prompted some to express sympathy and a begrudging respect for Sanders.
But of course many others did not.
Trump skipped the event for the second year in a row, presumably still smarting from being the brunt of a now-legendary routine from Barack Obama in 2011.