“The 2024 election is in full swing, and age certainly matters,” President Biden told the black-clad crowd. “I’m a grown man fighting a 6-year-old.”
Comedian Colin Jost later added, “Can I just admit how refreshing it is to see the President of the United States attend an event that doesn’t begin with the bailiff saying, ‘All stand up!'” Ta.
Trump ignored the dinner for most of the night, instead posting about presidential immunity and political witch hunts. After 1 a.m., he finally spoke to Truth Social. “The White House Correspondents Dinner was really bad. Colin Jost got hit with a bomb and Crooked Joe was a disaster! It can’t get any worse than this!”
So it’s basically another day of campaigning.
But for the denizens of Washington’s political media, it was a special occasion. The correspondents’ dinner was ostensibly about the codependent relationship between Washington politicians and the reporters who spend the rest of the year covering them, Trump’s court case, and what’s coming in November (and beyond). It’s a playful celebration of very serious issues, including the looming uncertainty of what will happen. Ukraine war. Israel-Gaza war.
I found it difficult to put all of that aside overnight. Especially Gaza. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators surrounded the outside entrance of the hotel, shouting chants such as “Western media cannot hide, we will accuse them of genocide!” He then confronted guests who arrived for dinner in tuxedos and gowns. Among the attendees were Protesters then formed a tight circle, shouting “Shame on you!” It was inches from my face until I was behind the police.
“I couldn’t hear exactly what they were singing because I came in through a different entrance,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., as he ran up the escalator to the lobby. “But tens of thousands of people are being blown to pieces in Gaza, so I can understand why they protest. I support the movement, but it depends on their opinion.”
The activists’ hard-won experiences appear to have left many people somewhat stunned. But inside the ballroom, there were smiles, hugs and slaps on the back.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) is all smiles and wearing a “FREE EVAN” pin in honor of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is imprisoned in Russia. , fascinated everyone. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) reported on his encounter with protesters outside, saying: And they shouted even louder. Then I asked them about concentration camps full of Uyghurs. And they shouted even louder. Then I went inside. ” New York Magazine political reporter Olivia Nuzzi, with typical presidential sarcasm, said, “I don’t hear anything here. I feel like it’s Biden.”
Biden’s own zinger It was almost completely directed at the other person.
“Mr. Trump got so desperate that he started reading Bibles that were being sold,” the president said. “And he came to his first commandment: ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’ Then he put down the book and said, ‘This book is not for me. “said.”
But the president quickly dropped his sarcastic remarks and pivoted to what felt like a stump speech about the clear and present danger posed by Trump and his movement. He called on journalists in the audience to report “truth rather than lies.” He implored them to stop talking about election races and focus on American democracy. “The stakes couldn’t be higher,” he said. There’s no punch line.
Officially, the night is nonpartisan, and the only toast of the night is given by the sitting president, regardless of party affiliation. Unofficially, the dinner has always been recognized as a hotbed for left-leaning Washington elites, regardless of media affiliation.
Trump, who famously berated President Barack Obama at a dinner in 2011, has never attended the dinner as president.His relentless criticism of the mainstream media led many news organizations to threaten to boycott the dinner. In 2017. President Trump announced that he would not attend. He even skipped the next two years and reverse-programmed a MAGA rally instead. As the party scrambles to strengthen its commitment to the role of a free press in a democracy, many will be less modest when crowds resume with Biden carrying the torch in 2022 after the worst of the pandemic. I breathed a sigh of relief.
The only person seen with President Trump at this year’s festivities was his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who recently became co-chair of the Republican National Committee. Her father-in-law wasn’t in the building, but comic impressionist Matt Friend emerged from the crowd doing a Trump impersonation as Bernie Sanders, Mitch McConnell and Obama saw off. He also told the first (and surprisingly only) dead dog joke of the night.
“It’s harder for me to kill this dinner than Kristi Noem kills a puppy,” says friend In a Trump voice, he said, mocking news that the Republican governor of South Dakota admitted in a recent book that he shot his 14-month-old dog because it was “untrainable” and aggressive. Ta.
To be honest, it’s a tough room for comedians. Jost, who co-anchors SNL’s Weekend Update, was joined by the president, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Harris, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, and WHCA President Trump, who is a senior White House correspondent for NBC News. I sat at the head table next to Kelly O’Donnell. His speech came after Biden and felt like something out of SNL. Some jokes elicited laughs, while others landed awkwardly.
Mr. Jost took several jabs at Mr. Biden, a “decent” man who reminded him of his beloved grandfather, who was a Staten Island firefighter. There were some odd comments about the press, but the press never laughs at themselves, so I don’t know if it was a good joke or a bad joke.
Jost also criticized the former president many times. “I like that President Trump’s two attacks on Biden are that he’s a stupid old man.” and criminal mastermind. I think you need to choose one. Personally, I don’t know of any criminal masterminds who ride bicycles to get ice cream. ” Regarding courtroom drawings What became clear from the trial was that “every single sketch of Trump looks like the Grinch having sex with the Lorax.”
Jost brought along the most glamorous celebrity of the night: movie star Scarlett Johansson, who he married in 2020. What began a century ago as an annual gathering of reporters and their subjects morphed into Nerd Prom 35 years ago, a red-carpet celebration of news. Organizations are vying to accommodate government officials, Hollywood A-listers, big business executives and anyone else who could soak up their 15 minutes of fame. The number of participants has swelled to about 2,600, including several who actually work as White House correspondents.
With a few exceptions, this year’s guest list includes Jon Hamm, Chris Pine, Keri Russell, Molly Ringwald, Rosario Dawson, Jon Cryer, Caitlyn Jenner, Billy Porter, and Lorne Michaels. It definitely fell into the B-list realm.
Before the speeches, WHCA presented awards of excellence. The overall award for excellence went to Axios’ Barak Rabid, the print award for deadline reporting went to Peter Baker of the New York Times, and the broadcast award for the same category went to NPR’s Tamara Keith. Both articles were selected to cover the aftermath of Hamas’s October attack. 7 Attack in Israel. The Times’ Doug Mills won the Visual Journalism Award for his striking photo of Biden, and the Courage and Accountability Award went to The Washington Post for its reporting on assault rifles and the impact of mass shootings.
The night ended, as always, with a passionate defense of democracy and the important role of the press in preserving it.
Mr. Jost had his own ideas about media. “Your words speak truth to those in power. Your words bring light into darkness.” Then he stopped and smiled. “Most importantly, your words will train the AI program that will soon replace you.”
Mr. Biden concluded by saying, “To a free press. To all our knowledgeable citizens. To an America where freedom and democracy endure. God Bless America.”
Ben Terris, Jesus Rodríguez, Will Sommer, Jeremy Barr and Kara Voght contributed to this report.
