House Speaker Paul Ryan poked fun at President Donald Trump, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and himself during remarks at a Catholic charity dinner on Thursday.
Ryan delivered the keynote address for the 72nd annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York. Time noted the event has close ties to the Catholic Archdiocese of New York and it raises funds for children living in poverty. The annual event typically draws presidential candidates in election years, and speakers are encouraged to poke fun at one another and themselves.
Ryan poked fun at the president, his colleagues, the media, and himself during his remarks.
“Enough with the applause, you sound like the cabinet when Donald Trump walks in the room,” Ryan began.
Ryan addressed Trump’s comments at the dinner the year before, noting that some people felt his comments crossed a line.
"Some said it was unbecoming of a public figure and they said that his comments were offensive. Well, thank God he's learned his lesson," Ryan said.
Taking a survey of the attendees, Ryan joked that he hasn’t seen “this many New York liberals, this many Wall Street CEOs in one room since my last visit to the White House.”
"I'm from Wisconsin,” Ryan said. “It's a great state to visit in the fall. Looking back, someone should have told Hillary.”
“Speaking of which, I got Hillary's new book,” he added. “This sums up today's politics perfectly. She took eight months, writing 10 hours a day, to explain what happened in 512 pages. The president explained it in a tweet. ‘Hashtag, I won.’"
“A lot of people, they ask me, you know, guy from Wisconsin, ‘what’s it like to work on a daily basis with an abrasive New Yorker with a loud mouth?’ But you know, once you get to know him, Chuck Schumer’s not all that bad.”
Ryan said he knows why Schumer has been so “hard” on Trump.
“It has nothing to do with ideology,” Ryan said. “Chuck is just mad he lost his top donor."
Ryan also said that Schumer, at 66, is part of the Democratic leadership’s “youth movement.”
He apologized for poking fun at Schumer since he was not in attendance at the dinner, adding that he wanted to “repeal and replace” the joke but “couldn’t get it through the Senate.”
Ryan said that last year “countless shocked Americans broke into tears over the election results.”
“But enough about the press,” he joked.
He added that every outlet "will report what happened here tonight differently.”
“Breitbart will lead with 'Ryan slams the president amongst liberal elites.' The New York Times will report 'Ryan defends the President in a state Hillary won.' And the president will tweet, '300,000 at Al Smith dinner cheer mention of my name,'" Ryan said.
He said the media "absolutely misunderstands and never records the big accomplishments of the White House."
"Look at all the new jobs the president has created — just among the White House staff," Ryan said.
Ryan said he begins his day as speaker of the House by checking Twitter "to see which tweets I will have to pretend that I didn't see later."
"Every afternoon, former Speaker John Boehner calls me up,” he said. “Not to give advice. Just to laugh."
Ryan also delivered lighthearted barbs directed at Boehner, his former running mate Mitt Romney, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.).
