Politics barack obama donald trump

Barack Obama’s hilarious roast of Donald Trump in 2011 is going viral again – for the very worst reasons

Poke Reporter. Updated November 8th, 2024

Is this the most consequential 2 minutes of jokes in world history?

In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s stunning re-election as US president, lots of people are trying to work out how someone with so much bad baggage could sweep the vote so decisively.

However, since Tuesday’s election, other people have gone back to the moment that, some argue, Trump’s march to power really began: when he was the butt of several of Barack Obama’s jokes at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2011.

During his joke-filled speech, Obama singled out The Donald in the audience to poke fun at. Leading up to this time, Trump had been a prominent Obama critic and a vocal advocate of the “Birther” conspiracy that believed Obama had not been born in the US and so wasn’t eligible to be president.

During the Correspondents’ speech – and mere hours after he ordered the mission to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden – Obama made fun of Trump’s beliefs in conspiracy theories, saying he didn’t believe in the moon landings or the deaths of Tupac and Biggie. Obama also took digs at Trump’s “credentials and breadth of experience” as a leader because of his role in the Celebrity Apprentice.

Here are Obama’s full comments (courtesy of Time):

‘Donald Trump is here tonight.

‘Now I know that he’s taken some flak lately. But no one is happier—no one is prouder—to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald.

‘And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter: Like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?

‘All kidding aside, obviously we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience.

‘For example … no seriously, just recently, in an episode of Celebrity Apprentice, at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks.

‘And there was a lot of blame to go around, but you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership, and so ultimately you didn’t blame Lil Jon or Meat Loaf, you fired Gary Busey.

‘And these are the kinds of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir. Well handled.

‘Say what you will about Mr. Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White House. Let’s see what we’ve got up there.’

Comedian Seth Meyers then got up and made even more jokes about Trump. ‘Donald Trump has been saying that he will run for president as a Republican, which is surprising, since I just assumed that he was running as a joke,’Meyers said.

Throughout it all, Trump can be seen in the audience, forcing a smile. And since 2016, lots of people pinpoint this moment as when Trump decided to run for President to seek revenge on Obama and the establishment, and dismantle his legacy (even if he denies that).

In light of this week’s election, Obama’s 2011 jokes seem a lot less amusing to many people on social media.

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Source: Twitter/X/robprovince