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Leftists are perturbed because President Donald Trump, after years of boycotting the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, will attend the charity event tonight (April 25). It will be his first appearance at the black-tie spectacle since his presidential career began. Outraged media figures have discussed all week how to respond to his presence. Some urged journalists to protest and wrote angry social media posts while ostensibly planning for the sky to fall. The backlash was as predictable as the hypocrisy.
The Press Braces for Trump
More than 250 journalists signed a letter this week asking the WHCA to “forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump’s efforts to trample freedom of the press.” They claimed Trump has engaged in “the most systematic and comprehensive assault on freedom of the press by a sitting American president” and demanded a condemnation of his actions during the dinner. “These are not normal times,” they wrote, “and this cannot be business as usual with the press standing up to applaud the man who attacks them on a daily basis.” By “attacks,” one can only imagine they mean “criticize,” and the media has spared few words when rebuking Trump, regardless of how innocuous his actions and comments may sometimes be. They would apparently prefer to scrutinize the president without allowing him a rebuttal.
The ad hoc group of journalists also suggested that the organizers include a strong speech in defense of the First Amendment and a summary of Trump’s press-related wrongdoings. They even gave the WHCA a page-long bullet-point list of the president’s alleged offenses, which, if condensed into one sentence, would probably say something like: He’s mean.
Some media outlets are boycotting the event. Huffington Post pulled out this week, because its editor refused to “share laughs with a ruler who holds such a dreadful record.” One organization encouraged attendees to wear pocket squares touting the First Amendment. An article in The Atlantic called the president “the most anti-press president in the dinner’s 105-year history” – a bold claim considering he has given more time to the media than any president in recent memory. He is unusually accessible, takes questions in informal settings, engages in lengthy and unscripted exchanges with reporters, and maintains constant communication through social media. His answers may not always be agreeable, but his visibility and availability are difficult to ignore.
Former presidents have been much harsher on the media. Remember the Sedition Act of 1918? Woodrow Wilson’s administration used it to convict nearly 900 people. Before Wilson’s time, John Adams and Abraham Lincoln shut down newspapers and sent editors to prison. But Trump supposedly represents “the most systematic and comprehensive assault on freedom of the press by a sitting American president,” according to the letter to the WHCA.
The dinner is meant to finance the WHCA’s scholarships and awards. It began in 1921 as a gathering only for White House correspondents, but the annual tradition evolved into a red-carpet gala hosted by celebrities and late-night TV stars, complete with cheap one-liners and backhanded compliments. More than anything, it now seems like an excuse to dress up and have cocktails, a circus of self-important people taking turns congratulating one another as their industry declines. But this year, there’s a noticeable push to limit who gets heard – an asterisk on an evening meant to celebrate the First Amendment. On the upside, Trump’s appearance will make the dinner interesting again.
