New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, lambasted former President Donald Trump as “f***ing crazy” in a monologue at an elite D.C. event for journalists over the weekend.
Sununu was one of several speakers at the annual Gridiron Club dinner Saturday evening, which returned after a three-year hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The event, attended by political and media elites, features skits and speeches from a bipartisan roster of lawmakers, all of which involve roasting one another. The New Hampshire governor, according to Politico, initially pretended to praise the 45th president’s “experience,” “passion,” “sense of integrity,” and the “rationale” he brought to his tweets.
“Nah,” Sununu, who is considered a 2024 contender, continued, “I’m just kidding. He’s f***ing crazy,” causing the Renaissance Hotel ballroom to erupt in laughter.
“Are you kidding? Come on,” the Republican governor said, jokingly asking the crowd if they thought he was seriously praising the former president’s tweets. “You guys are buying that? I love it.”
Sununu then revealed that Trump “just stresses me out so much,” before pledging that he was “going to deny” he ever said what he had.
Sununu, who has served as governor since 2017, went on to joke that “the press often will ask me if I think Donald Trump is crazy. I’ll say it this way: I don’t think he’s so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution. But I think if he were in one, he ain’t getting out.”
The governor also told the story of when the then-president was visiting the Granite State and offered him a ride in the presidential limo, known as The Beast. According to Sununu, Trump pointed to a crowd of people holding signs outside and remarked, “They love me.” The problem, he said, was that the man he pointed to was holding a sign that actually read, “F*** Trump.”
Trump has yet to respond to Sununu’s digs at the white-tie affair.
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The governor earned the most headlines out of the event, though he wasn’t the only one to speak. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who previously served as the Democratic governor of Rhode Island, and President Joe Biden, albeit virtually, also made an appearance.
Biden recorded a video for the event in which he jokingly thanked Sununu for “helping Democrats keep the Senate” and explained that he couldn’t make the event because “the truth is, I just couldn’t find a 7-hour-and-37-minutes gap in my schedule.” The comment appeared to be a dig at his presidential predecessor.
“We hope we’re a link between the way we were and the way we can be again — somehow,” Tom DeFrank, the club’s president, said in a welcome speech, according to the Washington Post. “We need good humor and good fellowship. And more than ever, we need the unity that can come from both.”
Raskin, who served as a lead impeachment manager during the House’s second effort against Trump, took aim at the recent controversy surrounding Rep. Madison Cawthorn, a Republican from North Carolina who recently alleged that he had been invited to orgies by members of Congress and witnessed lawmakers do cocaine.
“I was especially stunned that Madison Cawthorn and Matt Gaetz weren’t here, because nobody loves a good party more than those guys do,” Raskin said. “And so, I called Madison up to say, ‘What’s up, dude?’ And it turns out, it was a simple scheduling conflict: The Republicans have their own formal black-tie and white-powder orgy taking place tonight in the Capitol.”
The Maryland Democrat continued by joking that he then thought, “Well, why was Sen. Roy Blunt, who’s seated at table seven … not invited to this late-night meeting of the Sexual Freedom Caucus? I contacted the GOP Cocaine and Marijuana Study Group, and they explained it was all a big misunderstanding: They thought that ‘Roy Blunt’ was an alias for a local marijuana dealer, and they’re having a cocaine–themed event.”
Taking aim at Gaetz, a Florida Republican facing sexual misconduct allegations, Raskin joked that “for those of us who are in Congress … we rent our tuxedos for the very infrequent parties and occasional orgies we get invited to. Look, it’s really tough to find a rental tuxedo this time of year: It’s high school prom season, and Matt Gaetz keeps getting the tuxedos that I want.”
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Raskin did not only go after Republicans, though, also mocking Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who was in attendance.
“Speaking of silverware, tonight, I do have a tiny complaint: No one ever brought me a fork for my pasta. But it worked out OK, because the great Sen. Klobuchar was kind enough to let me use her comb, which she had taken out of the dishwasher earlier today,” he told the crowd.
In her remarks, Raimondo poked fun at herself and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, joking about how no one knew who she was. She also jokingly claimed that Buttigieg wanted to steal her spot as “designated survivor” at this year’s State of the Union so he could finally get a shot at being president.
