US President Donald Trump has announced he will not attend the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on 29 April.For the last 30+ years, the WHCA dinner has also been a bit of a roast of the siting president. That's something that Trump has demonstrated that he can't take. He has the insult-equivalent of a glass jaw: He can say thoroughly nasty things about other people, but he can't take a verbal punch.
The glitzy event draws celebrities, journalists and politicians, normally including the US president.
Mr Trump said he would not attend a day after the White House excluded several major broadcasters and newspapers from a press briefing.
Also, the dinner is normally billed as "a celebration of the First Amendment". It's clear that Trump hates that particular amendment.
Poor widdle snowflake, afraid that somebody may be mean to him. Tweener girls have more spine than Caudillo Donald
Someone I read suggested getting Alec Baldwin to do the gig for him.
ReplyDelete-Doug in Oakland
Joy. They should have a leper section cordoned off with black crepe for the attendees from the WaPo, NYTimes, CNN and the rest on Trump's Do Not Send Love and Kisses List
ReplyDeleteGiven that the Press has even less respect for Trump (and shows it even less respectfully) than you do, and can't behave, why should he bother? It won't be lighthearted jabs, but mean spirited, nasty statements. Not his fault that the Press can't be civilized.
ReplyDeleteAll through my younger days I was always told that anyone can demand respect. But in reality, the only people who get respect are those that EARN respect.
ReplyDeleteThe office of POTUS should be respected. However the 'man' currently holding the office gets none from me. And as far as those mean-spirited statements go, those he has earned himself. If Trump wants the respect of the office, then start acting like a president. The lies, disinformation, blatant divisive commentary, and general ignorance currently coming from the west wing should stop. And in place of them should be a well thought out direction that will take this country forward instead of back to the 1950's and 60's.
Dale
I like the Baldwin idea. Also, maybe Obama can start his career as a standup comic as the substitute president.
ReplyDeleteThe media owes nothing to the government and government owes nothing to the press either; their relationship should be adversarial. It should be a badge of honor to be banished by such a neo-Nazi as trump. Besides, this profoundly stupid and vulgar plutoctatic would-be dictator is already so hated the leaks will be like the Titanic. Since trump does nothing but lie the media should boycott his briefings entirely until only nazi outfits like stormfront attend. The massive leaks cannot be stopped and the news can be gathered quite easily without accepting trump's abuse and calumny.
ReplyDeleteMinds and opinions are not changed by truth and facts anyway, change toward democratic socialism will only come when this toxic old man and his frightened and cowardly foolish followers are dead.
B, if by uncivilized, you mean the press tells the truth about Trump's lies, then yes, that is an outrage.
ReplyDeleteAnd you know, there was another President who kept blaming the media for their problems, remember "nattering nabobs of negativism"?
No, I mean the way they express theri displeasure at Trump in general....they are rude, and cheap and tackly and mostly act like children. It happened for Bush and Obama too, but there, people knew their limits. Today's press apparently doesn't know how to act like adults and doesn't know how to behave like civilized persons.
ReplyDeleteThere is a difference....and if you could look at it logically without the hate of Trump you'd see it. But different standards and all that.
The hate for trump is logical and we'll earned by his hateful words and acts. If you are a woman, handicapped, a veteran, non-Russian, transgendered, gay, Muslim or a taxpayer trump sure as fuck hates you.
ReplyDeleteDonnie earned the disdain of the Press. He herded them into enclosures and berated them, encouraging his followers to do the same. "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind."
ReplyDeleteTod: you have nothing to back that statement.
ReplyDeleteOut of respect for our hostesses wishes, i wont say what i think you suffer from.
"They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind."
ReplyDeleteThat is, after the billion dollars in free coverage that got him through the primaries, complete with hours of endless shots of empty podiums while his opponents' events were actually underway, instead of decency or gratitude, he behaved the only way he knows how, by acting as if he owned them.
Now he is finding out that he doesn't, and acting like a four-year-old throwing a tantrum about it.
So sure, they should respect him as much as any four-year-old with the nuclear codes who can't contain their tantrum long enough to complete a coherent thought, and perhaps he should respect them like the institution that took down a sitting president for a different DNC break in.
I don't see it happening, though. He'll dig in, lie, and deny until the cows come home, because he's never had to take responsibility for anything in his whole life, and he really doesn't know how to do so, much less why he should do so.
This was a deal he made with them, and is trying to weasel out of: he gets them ratings with his batshit crazy behavior, and they give him endless coverage to the detriment of his rivals. It was a good deal as long as he was assured of losing. It doesn't seem quite so brilliant now that he's the president, though, and that sort of shortsightedness was one reason I thought he'd make a terrible president.
-Doug in Oakland
B, Tod's position is backed by both promised actions, recorded comments and in-office actions. People arguing otherwise are wearing blinders.
ReplyDeleteB, you apparently are of the opinion that invectives can replace facts.
ReplyDeleteThe press covered Trump during the primaries and the general campaign as though he was an entertaining freak show. Trump, in turn, was happy because he got oodles of free airtime.
ReplyDeleteBut now he's in the Oval Office and he's being held to a higher standard. He can't seem to make the shift, which is why he's had the need to go out and hold rallies, so he can be surrounded by adoring crowds.