The annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington on Saturday featured jokes about President Trump, the breakdown of the global order, Russia, Democrats’ uncertain future and, of course, Elon Musk.
One of the headliners was Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, a rising star in the Democratic Party. He acknowledged that his speaking slot was a sign of his own political ambitions, while making a jab at the White House’s current occupant.
“If I actually wanted to be president, I wouldn’t do any of this,” he said. “Instead, I would take my case directly to the people who are in charge of our democracy. The Kremlin.”
Even after all these years, jokes about Mr. Trump and Russia still play with the official Washington crowd. Those in the Hyatt basement, which was packed with reporters, editors, television anchors and ambassadors, laughed along.
But Mr. Trump wasn’t there to hear any of it.
He and top members of his administration skipped the dinner, which is one of those old-fashioned Washington rituals. Presidents dating back to William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt have attended the event hosted by the Gridiron Club, an association of top journalists that was formed in 1885.
It has historically been a chance for a president to schmooze with the people covering him, as well as to show an ability to make jokes about the political fights of the day — and take a few, too.
Mr. Trump skipped the dinner in 2017, the first year he was president, but he did attend in 2018. That year, he made some self-deprecating jokes about the turmoil of his administration. (“I like chaos. It really is good. Who’s going to be the next to leave? Steve Miller, or Melania?”) That was the first and last time he attended.
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. went last year and cracked jokes about the upcoming presidential campaign that have not exactly aged well. (“One candidate’s too old and mentally unfit to be president,” he said that year. “The other guy’s me.”)
This year, with no president present, lesser political and media players were left to fill the void. The jokes they told offered a snapshot of this moment in the capital.
The PBS journalist Judy Woodruff opened up the room with jokes about Mr. Musk’s fathering so many children and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s drinking. She ripped on the Democrats, too: “At the joint session, they were more lost and disorganized than Patrick Mahomes at the Super Bowl,” she said, referring to the Kansas City quarterback.
The Republican headliner was Representative Lisa McClain of Michigan. “I was also told Robert Kennedy was going to be here tonight, but unfortunately he couldn’t make it,” she said, “he’s got the measles.”
“Now let’s talk a little bit about Pam Bondi,” Ms. McClain said. The rumor, she said, was that Mr. Trump wanted his attorney general to be someone with “daily experience about how the criminal justice system worked, which makes sense.”
“But unfortunately,” she added, “we had to pick Pam because the Menendez brothers were unavailable.”
The representative also went in on Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, who has faced a fierce backlash for opposing and then supporting Republicans’ spending bill this past week to avoid a government shutdown. “Look, I feel very sorry for Chuck Schumer and the way he’s been treated by his own party, even the sanctuary cities won’t let him in.” That got a few low laughs. “Too soon?” Ms. McClain asked.
There were also skits.
One song-and-dance number involved a man dressed as Mr. Musk in his tech support T-shirt waving a chain saw around, singing about his turn toward the far right: “I’ll turn the G.O.P. into the AfD,” he sang.
One of the less successful acts centered on two men pretending to be the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and Mr. Schumer, the Senate minority leader, covered in leaves. “Lost in the woods” was the chorus. (“No one cares about your pronouns when you’re lost in the woods.”)
Another number portrayed Mr. Biden dressed as an Amtrak employee. It seemed to get a marginally better reception that the one with the leaves.
Yet another featured a portrayal of two other high-profile Democrats, with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York fighting with Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. She accused him of being a MAGA adherent in disguise, and he accused her of being a communist. Another act had a mock Usha Vance singing about being a phony populist.
There were jokes that few people outside that wonky room might understand, such as when Terry McAuliffe, the former Virginia governor, made a reference to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a nonpartisan think tank. (It is being targeted by the Trump administration.)
Margaret Brennan of CBS shouted out members of the diplomatic corps from Britain, France, Australia and the European Union. “You know,” she said, “all of America’s enemies.”
Then she introduced the Ukrainian ambassador — there was no joke told — and the many journalists in the room stood up to clap.
