Are we about to see Joe Biden go on the attack against the Republicans?

After a six-year absence, a president was back speaking at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner over the weekend – with Joe Biden keen to show his comedy chops.

That gap was thanks to Covid-19 – leading to a two-year hiatus – and to Donald Trump’s shunning of the event during his term in office. Given that, the current occupant of the White House was at pains to talk up the need to maintain a free press and to defend the values of democracy.

As for Trump, he was an easy target. “We had a horrible plague, followed by two years of Covid,” was Biden’s quip – accompanied by a reference to Trump’s repeated false claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him. “Just imagine if my predecessor came to this dinner this year... now that would really have been a real coup if that occurred.”