Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (Photo: AFP)
TOI correspondent from Washington: It was as if the bull had been invited to give prizes at a Chinese conference. The White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual dinner Friday night produced one of those highly improbable scenes that reminds the world why American democracy is equal parts constitutional republic and absurd theater. There sat President Donald Trump, who has spent years suing, smearing, ridiculing and generally treating journalists the way a cobra would treat a mongoose, applauding Wall Street Journal reporters as they received an award for investigating… Donald Trump.The magazine’s team received the WHCA’s Katharine Graham Courage and Accountability Award for its reporting on Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. While presenting the award, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer reminded the audience — in front of the president — that reporting has led to lawsuits, retaliation and personal consequences for journalists.
Trump quickly filed a $20 billion lawsuit against the newspaper, revealing the home address of journalist Khadija Safdar. Her family had to be moved. “The newspaper was kicked off Air Force One,” Blitzer told the crowd, as the president raised his hands and smiled wryly. Only in America could the First Amendment have received recognition from one of the toughest litigants. Try to imagine that in half the world’s capitals, the dinner menu would consist mainly of prison food.
Then came the piece de resistance: Trump smiles, gets up, and shakes hands with the journalists whose work he insists is sham, and whose newspaper he is still fighting in court. He promised to tone down the rhetoric prepared for April, but Washington quickly discovered that the MAGA chief’s definition of restraint resembled a chainsaw with a silencer. He blazed through an hour of familiar terrain, unleashing jibes and jibes at journalists, TV personalities and assorted political enemies with the confidence of a man who’s never met a microphone he didn’t like.
He teased reporters about their coverage and joked about a third presidential term (his favorite fantasy). But to critics, the evening looked less like Democratic flexibility and more like Washington’s oldest bad habit — debating the menu while the kitchen is on fire. They argued that exchanging jokes, champagne and applause with a president who continues to sue news organizations and threaten anchors risks making the extraordinary seem routine. The evening itself was a sequel that no one wanted but everyone felt obligated to attend. The original April party at the Washington Hilton ended in chaos when an armed man tried to breach security, forcing Secret Service officers to move in. The rerun moved Friday to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel under such tight security that even the mockery required credentials. Nearly 700 guests, a third of the usual crowd, made their way through multiple checkpoints before settling under the sparkling chandeliers that witnessed many bizarre dinners but none of them wonderfully ridiculous. Some of Trump’s jokes fell like guided missiles; Most of them disappeared onto the hall carpet with all the force of wet scraps. The audience, most of them grim-faced, laughed occasionally, the same way one laughs at Thanksgiving when one’s uncle starts arguing about politics after his third glass of wine. However, after the jokes die down, one photo will likely stick around. Not the red “Trump 2028” hat, not the insults, not even the political statements. It will be a sight of a president not known for his elegance or eloquence applauding the journalists who investigated him.
