One of the reasons Trump is coming to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner? He needs us
TThis should be the most fun weekend in Washington: the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
And of course, all eyes will be on Donald Trump, who will make his first appearance at this dinner as President of the United States. Much has been made of Trump’s return for the first time since he last appeared, in 2011, when President Barack Obama and his host Seth Meyers mercilessly mocked him — and perhaps goaded him into running for president.
There’s also the fact that instead of a comedian, the evening will feature mentalist Oz Pearlman as host.
Many are shocked and upset that the Washington press corps insists on dining with a guy who routinely mocks us, whose Federal Communications Commission threatens to block us, and whose White House has taken control of the press pool. And it doesn’t mean anything to stop the Associated Press from covering the White House’s refusal to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
Some called on reporters to confront the president at the dinner. People wonder if journalists hate themselves — many of us do, but not for these reasons — or if we are somehow “complicit” in the Trump presidency. Certainly, some in the MAGA world must find it absurd that the president would want to dine with the “enemy of the people,” even if it’s just to “get the liberals.”
But in a strange way, it makes sense, because, even if he can’t tell it to the masses at his MAGA rallies, Trump needs the press more than he wants to admit publicly.
It’s only fitting that Trump would attend the party the week after Wrestlemania. As a member of the WWE Hall of Fame, he has mastered the concept of wrestling. Kayfabewhich makes the viewer believe that what is happening on the screen is real.
Of course, Trump loves to make us, in the press, the “heels” of his drama series. His White House even put The Independent on his list of “media offenders”. But a few days later, Karoline Leavitt answered questions from Andrew Feinberg, my colleague at the White House.
And of course, there are the phone calls. Nowadays, it has become common for everyone in Washington to have Trump’s cell number. Journalists call him at all hours of the day, he tells what he thinks, journalists rush to publish it. This prompts editors across town to ask their reporters to call Trump, only for him to give conflicting information. And so the cycle continues.
This is not necessarily bad. Any journalist wants to talk to any president. And Trump’s re-election proved that Americans can’t take their eyes off the Trump spectacle for too long. Actually, The Independent called Trump to talk about the shooting down of an F-15 crewman in the middle of the Iran war.
But Trump’s ability to bypass normal channels of media coverage could also work to his advantage. The New York TimesMaggie Haberman, probably the most astute Trumpologist working today, laid out Trump’s strategy of calling out reporters clearly earlier this month.
“I mean, he just asks everyone to call him for a few minutes, and it’s a way to avoid answering more difficult questions,” she said. It’s a strategy he perfected during his years working in the tabloids on New York’s newsstands.
“This guy was buying the entire news industry with a single phone call,” the late Jimmy Breslin wrote in 1991. “Journalists provided Trump with the currency of his life, publicity, and he believed it was real and the news people believed it right away.”
Little has changed. In another life, Trump wouldn’t be at the head of the table at the Correspondents’ Dinner, but he would be working the red carpet and asking CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Jake Tapper who they are wearing and making sarcastic comments about a CNN editor’s attire. The Washington Post or the fact that I can never figure out how to tuck in my tuxedo shirt properly.
But Trump’s talkative impulses now have consequences. Conflicting statements may determine whether the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed or whether NATO wishes to continue negotiations.
And unlike pro wrestling — where more experienced viewers know that John Cena and CM Punk really don’t argue — most viewers won’t know that Trump is primarily playing adversarial to the press and think he’s really sticking it to us as a way to “fight.” fight. to fight.”
Maybe we should have a little more shame. But in reality, if we’ve gotten this far in this business, we probably lost our shame somewhere in journalism school.
And that may be the only thing we share in common with the president. That, and the fact that whatever they serve us probably won’t be as good as a Big Mac and fries.
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