“Just recently, in an episode of ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around,” Obama deadpanned. “But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn’t blame Lil Jon or Meatloaf. You fired Gary Busey.

“And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night,” Obama said as Trump stared straight ahead at his table. “Well handled, sir. Well handled.”

Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative and Trump adviser who was convicted of obstructing a congressional probe into Trump’s first presidential campaign and possible ties to Russia, said the 2011 dinner changed U.S. history.

“I think that is the night he resolves to run for president,” Stone said on a 2016 PBS “Frontline” documentary titled “The Choice 2016.”

“I think that he is kind of motivated by it: ‘Maybe I’ll just run. Maybe I’ll show them all,’” Stone added.

How hard will Biden poke this proverbial bear?

Biden’s finale?

With Trump leading Biden — though many margins have narrowed recently — in polls of voters nationally and in battleground states, Saturday could be the last appearance by a sitting president for nearly a half-decade.

As president, Trump skipped the event three times. Organizers insisted the event did not lose any luster, contending it always has been about the First Amendment, not the president or celebrity guests. (It was canceled in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.)

The White House Correspondents’ Association also nixed the event due to the pandemic in 2021, with Biden bringing back the traditional presidential appearance when the dinner returned in April 2022.

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