Crickets were the background noise for a speech by Donald Trump on Saturday night, at a black-tie dinner for the Alfalfa Club in Washington DC.
While Donald Trump tried to put on a comedy routine, it flopped, with no one finding it funny and many people at the event rolling their eyes. As he went through the motions of trying to be funny, it was greeted to long stretches of silence.
The black-tie dinner was an elite, invitation-only event, gathering a selection of Washington’s power brokers. The event is held each year on Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s birthday.
As noted by Donald Trump, Trump’s jokes “landed with a thud, and the room fell silent repeatedly.” This reaction to his speech seemed to catch the present off guard, according to those in attendance. At one stage, the president warned his audience that he might “cut the speech short,” a reaction that revealed how poorly the room was responding to his “comedy.”
The dinner was held at the Capital Hilton, and marked Trump’s first appearance to the exclusive organization. These are people known for their dry humor and the tradition of presidents poking fun at themselves. Each year, around 200 Alfalfa Club members gather, including CEOs, Washington insiders and political figures. Meanwhile, the dinner event is strictly off the record and closed off to the media.
The Washington Post reports that at the Alfalfa Club’s annual dinner in Washington, D.C., in late January 2026, Donald Trump said “I never meant to make Greenland the 51st state. I want to make Canada the 51st state. Greenland will be 52nd. Venezuela could be 53rd.” pic.twitter.com/761gdyf6gA
— Chris Goodwin 😎 (@ChrisGoodwin79) February 3, 2026
As Trump begins to speak, he acknowledged the tension of the crowd, saying, “So many people in the room I hate. Most of you I like,” and adding, “Who in the hell thought this was going to happen?”
Instead of lightening the mood with comedy, this line set the tone for a speech leaning towards grievance and provocation. Trump delivered his words to an audience that included a number of people the president has publicly clashed with in the past, or targeted.
These included David Rubenstein, whom Trump fired as head of the Kennedy Center, and Jerome Powell, the outgoing Federal Reserve chairman who is currently being investigated by the Department of Justice. Meanwhile, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dixon was there, whose bank the president is currently suing.
Trump’s quip did nothing to loosen the tension in the room. Instead, the speech leaned heavily towards grievance and provocation, delivered to a crowd of people that included a number of people the president has publicly targeted, or clashed with.
As he continued addressing his audience, Trump quickly turned to foreign policy, while making a joke that he needed to wrap up the speech quickly so he could watch “the invasion of Greenland,” before explaining this was a joke.
“We’re not going to invade Greenland. We’re going to buy it,” he said. “It’s never been my intention to make Greenland the 51st state. I want to make Canada the 51st state. Greenland will be the 52nd state. Venezuela can be 53rd.”
Donald Trump’s speech to the Alfalfa Club comes at the end of a difficult week for the president, which included the screening of the documentary about First Lady Melania Trump. Moreover, Trump complained that he was not getting enough credit for his achievements, and has fixated on his proposed $300 million White House ballroom.
At another point of his speech, the president address Kevin Warsh, his nominee for the next Federal Reserve chairman. “If he doesn’t lower interest rates, I’m suing his a** off,” Trump said. A moment later, he added, “I’m kidding.”
When Trump was asked later about that comment, he brushed it off, while saying he does wish Warsh would lower the interest rates.
“It’s a roast. It’s a comedy night,” he said. “I mean, if you watch him on television, you know, because I’ve watched interviews and statements, I hope he’s going to lower them. But he’s going to do what he wants to do.”
During his speech, Trump made sharp jabs at his political opponents, including the revival of long-standing nickname for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, “Pocahontas,” referring to her claims of Native American heritage, while saying she was supposed to attend the dinner, “but couldn’t find her reservation.”
While noting that Condoleezza Rice was present at the dinner event, he said he had once assumed she would become the first female president.
“Never in a million years would I have thought Joe Biden would beat her to it,” Trump added, implying that former first lady Jill Biden was the real power – a joke that had little if any response from the crowd.
Trump further teased a nasty joke about Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, saying, “I had the nastiest, most vicious joke about John Roberts,” and adding, “If you think I’m going to tell that joke you can forget it.”
Meanwhile, referencing Roberts’ central role in cases, involving his administration, he quipped, “I’m going to kiss his a** for a long time.”
People were quick to react to Trump’s performance, and in this case they were laughing, but not with him, rather at him, including, “He’s going to have that crowd arrested for not laughing at his amazing jokes.”
Another joked, “Read the room Donny boy – no one fears you. They smell your incompetence.”
When Trump boarded Air Force One after the dinner, and while flying to Mar-a-Lago, he addressed reporters while still clad in his tuxedo.
“We had a good time at the Alfalfa dinner,” Trump said. “I think we did well, I hope we did well. But it was very good. Tremendous people.”
