President Donald Trump made light of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting on Friday during his first public event since Saturday night’s chaotic incident.
The President, 79, appeared in front of a large crowd at the Villages in Florida, a retirement community that’s nearly as large as Washington, DC, and boasts more than 150,000 residents.
He talked about the new security concerns surrounding him after a gunman tried to rush through a Secret Service checkpoint at the Washington Hilton and has since been charged with attempting to assassinate the President.
‘You know, I shouldn’t be here. There was just an attempt – I won’t use the word – an attempt, they say, on my life,’ Trump began.
‘I should be indoors at a secure facility where I can quietly, beautifully, and safely play out my term, destroying everything that comes in our way – like bad countries that want to get nuclear weapons,’ he said, a clear reference to Iran.
‘So they want me to be in a secure place,’ he continued. ‘I say, “what’s more secure than the Villages?”‘ he said to cheers.
He noted how the ‘seniors were waiting at the Villages’ and remarked how he received ’97 percent of the vote.’
Trump supporters on hand told the Daily Mail they weren’t concerned about their safety.
President Donald Trump made light of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner during a trip to the Villages in Florida on Friday. ‘What’s more secure than the Villages?’ he said
President Donald Trump moments before gun shots could be heard outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton during Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The suspect has since been charged with attempting to assassinate the President
‘Nope, I’m not worried,’ said 71-year-old Marilyn Conte. ‘I trust God to keep me safe. There are Secret Service and police everywhere. God has protected the President so far and I believe he’ll continue. So I wasn’t worried to come here.’
Rick Conte, 73, chimed in, ‘Only evil people want him dead and my God is stronger than evil. I’m not worried.’
Gina Maria Richardson, 60, said she ‘thought about the risk.’
‘But I think the odds aren’t very high. And when am I going to have the opportunity to see a President speak in person?’
The seniors were treated to a number of the President’s greatest hits – including his attempt at a French accent, impersonating French President Emmanuel Macron, and the backstory on how he tried to get the ‘fat drug’ reduced in price.
He went after Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, making the bold, unverified claim that she married her brother for immigration purposes, even incorporating a sex joke.
Trump riffed about acing a cognitive test – even suggesting that former President Barack Obama, who’s 15 years his junior – couldn’t pass one, and voiced concern that First Lady Melania Trump is now a movie star.
‘No family can have two stars,’ the President said he told his wife.
Supporters of President Donald Trump gathered Friday at the Villages Charter School at the Villages, Florida for Trump’s first public event since a gunman tried to run through security at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Dr Phil (left) was beckoned onstage by President Donald Trump (right) during his Friday afternoon event at the Villages in Florida
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz (right) listen to President Donald Trump speak at the Villages in Florida on Friday
Trump brought along Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr Mehmet Oz and confessed to finding Oz’s chatter about the government-funded health programs dull.
‘He’s great,’ Trump said of Oz, a failed Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania. ‘It was the most boring trip I’ve ever made.’
‘He’s telling me about Medicare, Medicaid,’ Trump said. ‘All I want to do is take care of you, I don’t care. I said you work out the details, I did say give them the max. That’s all I care about. Whatever the hell the max is.’
Oz was later captured on camera at the rally helping an attendee who had experienced a medical episode.
Beyond Oz, a longtime TV doctor, Trump brought along Dr Phil, another TV doctor, bringing him briefly onstage to talk to the seniors.
‘Give them a little lecture, but very short, give them a little lecture on life. Talk about life for two minutes or less,’ Trump said.
When Dr Phil, whose real name is Phil McGraw, took over the podium, he remarked that his wife had a ‘different reaction’ when he said he was coming to the Villages.
‘She said, “Oh no, not without me, you’re not, those people are crazy partiers,”‘ McGraw told the crowd.
