Donald Trump made rapper Nicki Minaj the butt of a joke during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, just weeks after calling her “hot” at another event.

During Friday’s dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C. — rescheduled following April’s shooting incident that abruptly ended the initial gathering — Trump, 80, made a slew of jokes aimed at journalists including CNN’s Kaitlan Collins before turning his attention to Minaj.

The 43-year-old “Anaconda” singer has become one of the president’s most vocal allies in the music industry. Naturally, Trump used her as a punchline in a joke alluding to the gunman who attempted to storm the original April dinner.

“After hearing the gunshots, many people yelled, ‘Get down! Get down!’ which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking,” he said. “Do you believe it? Get down. She’s the only one that really understood what that meant.”

The bizarre joke comes just weeks after Trump hosted Minaj for a lunch at the White House Rose Garden patio, giving her a sensual shout out during the event.

“We also have a woman that is so respected and so hot and so great and such a great friend of, I don’t say conservative, I say of common sense,” Trump said before going on a rant about Democratic Socialists and Communism.

Turning his focus back to Minaj, Trump added: “She’s a fantastic person and she’s a woman that’s respected by everybody, and she’s got real talent, Nicki Minaj. Nicki, stand up, please. Such a great person and respected by everybody,” the president added, according to The Daily Beast.

The rapper shared several photos and videos of her day at the White House, including ones of her posing in front of Trump’s “Presidential Walk of Fame,” and next to the image of an autopen Trump installed in place of a portrait of former President Joe Biden.

“Whoa!!!! #WhiteHouseBarbie with her favorite President of all time!!!” she wrote alongside a photo of her and Trump in the Oval Office.

Minaj previously visited the White House in January to promote Trump Accounts, the children’s investment accounts established by the current administration to help boost financial independence for American kids.

Trump also seemed to be enamored by the rapper then, and brought up her skin and nails unprompted during an address to mark Black History Month a month after she visited.

“I love Nicki Minaj. She was here a couple of weeks ago. She’s so beautiful. Her skin’s so beautiful,” he said in February, later obsessing over her nails, saying, “Her nails, her nails. They’re like that long.”

For her part, Minaj opened up about her support for Trump earlier this year, saying on The Katie Miller Podcast: “When I saw how he was being treated over and over and over, I just couldn’t handle it. I felt that…a lot of that bullying, and the smear campaigns and all of the lying, I felt that that had been done to me for so many years.

“And I was watching it in real time happen to someone else, and I didn’t think he deserved it.”

While there is good awareness of the potential dangers of pets overheating in high temperatures during summer months, recognising that the sunburn itself can be a source of harm is also important.

We might think that our furry friends are protected from the sun’s harmful rays thanks to their typical hairiness, but in reality, we need to protect them too.

This is especially important for pets with light-coloured hair, pale, pink skin or those with fine or thin coats such as the sphynx cat or the xoloitzcuintle dog that lack natural protection.

For pets that live outdoors or spend a lot of time in the sun, this can also be a significant problem.

Pink skin lacks the pigment, melanin, that provides a natural level of protection from sunlight. As a result, pets with exposed areas of pink skin can become painfully sunburned, even on days that might not appear overly sunny. The tips of cats’ ears are commonly affected, as are horses with pink muzzles and other lightly pigmented areas of their body.

Dogs can also be affected on their noses and bellies – I have even known one unfortunate pooch to suffer sunburn on his scrotum after a period of garden sunbathing. Essentially, just like us, any unprotected area of skin that is exposed to the sun can become painfully burned, with both short and more prolonged effects.

Even minor areas of sunburn are associated with reddening of the skin, irritation and discomfort. More severe cases of sunburn can cause blistering, crusting and scabs to form on affected areas. While these signs typically heal and resolve quickly, they can be painful and distressing for our pets.

The longer-term consequences can include significant damage to the skin and may increase the risk of certain forms of skin cancer developing.

There is also the potential for thermal burns to occur after exposure to intense sunlight, especially over the backs of animals. These can be severe, affecting the full thickness of the skin and causing significant distress.

Consequently, protecting our pets from the pain of sunburn is important.

How to protect your pet

An easy way to keep your pet safe both from the damaging UV radiation in sunlight and high temperatures, is to limit their access outdoors during the sunniest and warmest times of the day. This might mean exercising your dog early in the morning and later in the evening, providing shade and shelter for horses and encouraging cats to sunbathe safely indoors.

The use of sunscreen can be a useful protective method to limit harm to exposed areas of skin, but do select a pet-safe sunscreen. Many human sunscreen preparations contain ingredients that can be toxic for our pets, especially if accidentally licked and ingested.

Reapply sunscreen regularly and don’t forget to apply it to the areas most likely to be exposed, such as ears, noses and pink-skinned or lightly coated areas of the body.

For some pets, suitable protective clothing and coverings, including UV eye protection might be appropriate, although do take time to get your pet used to wearing and moving in these before use.

What if your pet has been sunburned?

If your pet gets a mild sunburn but seems comfortable and not in distress, a cold compress can offer some soothing relief. Gently apply it to the affected area to help ease discomfort. Keep a close eye on the healing process, and be sure to protect your pet from further sun exposure.

In more severe cases, contact your vet for advice and additional treatment. Painkillers or antibiotics might be needed and these can only be prescribed for your pet by a veterinary surgeon.

Equally, if you find unusual areas on your pet’s skin such as non-healing or unusually crusty sores and are concerned that it could be a sign of skin cancer, speak to your vet for guidance and support.

Global UV levels are increasing. This means that in the same way that we have increased exposure to potentially harmful levels, our pets do too. By managing how our pets experience sunshine and by using protective options where possible, we can go some way to avoiding the pain and distress of sunburn, as well as the more serious possible long-term consequences such as skin cancer.

With hosepipe bans in force across several English regions and more restrictions likely to follow, gardeners face some tough choices.

When every drop counts, which plants deserve your precious water from the water butt, and which should you leave to fend for themselves?

As someone who has researched how British gardeners need to adapt to respond to our changing climate, I can tell you that not all garden plants are created equal when it comes to water needs.

Some plants will bounce back from a summer scorching, while others may never recover.

Top plants to prioritise for watering

1. New woody plants

Any woody plant installed in the last 12-18 months should be your absolute priority. These haven’t yet developed the deep root systems needed to find moisture reserves and going without enough water the first year or so after planting could kill them.

Water thoroughly and add a deep mulch of wood chips to help the soil hold water. For young trees you can install a watering bag around the trunk but you still need to top it up.

2. Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas adopt a conservative strategy when it comes to drought. They shut their stomata (leaf pores) rapidly when they sense dry soil, and keep them closed until consistent moisture returns. They often drop their leaves too.

This can mean many weeks without growth, after even a relatively short drought period. So if you want to keep them looking at their best, they need consistent watering. You can cut growth back to reduce water loss, and save the the plant at the cost of flowers.

3. Moisture loving trees

Japanese maples (Acer palmatum), along with other moisture-loving trees like birch and beech, are prone to serious die-back during summer droughts. Their shallow root systems and large leaves make them particularly vulnerable to water stress. Water and mulch them.

4. Soft herbaceous plants

Astilbe, dicentra, filipendula, heuchera, primula, trollius and many other soft herbaceous plants require good moisture levels and may not survive prolonged drought.

5. Shallow-rooted shrubs

Rhododendrons and azaleas are shallow-rooted shrubs particularly susceptible to drought stress, especially the large-leaved evergreen species which are also prone to wind damage when stressed.

6. Clematis

Many clematis varieties struggle with drought. Since they’re often grown for their spectacular flowering displays, maintaining adequate moisture around the roots is crucial, especially for autumn-flowering varieties, or spring-flowering varieties which flower on the previous year’s growth.

A gravel mulch can help keep the roots cool and damp. However, clematis orientalis, terniflora, and evergreens such as C. cirrhosa can be surprisingly tolerant of a hot dry period.

7. Ripening vegetables

If you’re growing vegetables, prioritise crops approaching harvest and those that split when moisture returns after drought, such as carrots. Runner beans and courgettes need moist soil to keep cropping and potato yields are heavily influenced by water levels.

8. All the pots

Anything in pots has limited access to soil moisture reserves and will need regular attention. Move containers to shadier spots if possible. Always use a pot saucer to hold water and prevent it draining away.

Plants that can survive without extra water

Research into plant water-stress shows that many common garden plants are surprisingly resilient.

Forsythia adopts a risk-taking strategy. It keeps growing and photosynthesising even when soil moisture becomes limited, gambling that it can regrow after damage. This makes it remarkably drought-tolerant. It is also tolerant of heavy pruning which can save it in severe conditions.

Mediterranean shrubs like lavender, rosemary, sage and thyme are naturally adapted to dry conditions. Their grey, hairy or waxy leaves are evolved to conserve moisture. Soil conditions are crucial though. If the plants are deep rooted they will draw water up, but if your soil is shallow or compacted they might well be less drought tolerant.

Sedums, sempervivums and other succulents store water in their fleshy leaves and can survive extended dry periods. RHS research identifies Sedum spectabile as particularly reliable under stress.

Ornamental grasses generally have efficient root systems and many species actually prefer drier conditions once established.

Established shrubs including cistus, phlomis, buddleja, cotoneaster, berberis and viburnum have deep roots and proven track records for drought survival. The RHS report identifies these as garden stalwarts, with high stress resilience.

Some trees, including eucalyptus, bay (Laurus nobilis) and holm oak are remarkably drought tolerant.

Those to sacrifice

Grass lawns are thirsty and can be left to go dormant. If you have a newly seeded or turfed lawn from this year, some limited watering may be justified. But in general, embrace the golden colour of water-stressed lawns. As long as you don’t create too many bare patches from over-use, the green colour and growth will come back when it rains.

Annual bedding plants like busy lizzies and begonias have shallow root systems and high water demands. However, they are only there for one season and are easily replaceable, so prioritise them for watering only if they’re particularly important to your garden’s summer display and you can spare the water. You could save some by potting them up and enjoying a display that needs less water.

When you do water, research shows that technique is crucial. Water thoroughly but less frequently to encourage deep root growth. Focus water at the base of plants rather than on leaves, and water in early morning or evening to reduce evaporation.

Consider “split-root” watering for established shrubs – water one side of the plant thoroughly, then switch to the other side two to three weeks later. This keeps plants hydrated while chemical signals from the dry side’s roots prevent excessive new growth that would increase water demands.

This drought is a taste of Britain’s gardening future. The plants struggling most in this year’s drought are likely to become increasingly unsuitable for British gardens without intensive irrigation.

Be willing to swap out plants that suffer in drought for new plants that are more tolerant. Refresh plantings to adapt to the new climate.