Is Trump Setting a Trap for White House Journalists at Their Big Dinner?
White House Correspondents Association Must Do Something to Honor the Free Press
The old order is gone. Donald Trump didn’t just upset the apple cart of traditional rules and propriety – he set it on fire and laughed as his sycophants ushered his retreat into a fantasy gilded castle where he can be King for life.
Even beloved former First Lady Michelle Obama set aside her famous “we go high” approach to morally withered Republicans and, in the face of the obvious dangers to democracy Trump presented, urged Democrats to get politically practical before the 2024 elections.
“If we start feeling tired, if we start feeling that dread creeping back in, we’ve got to pick ourselves up, throw water on our faces, and do something,” Obama said.
Do something.
The grassroots chorus from We the People has grown louder and louder since regular, ordinary people took to the freezing, snow-covered streets of Minneapolis to protest the killing of two American citizens trying to protect their immigrant neighbors from militarized ICE agents. Recently, momentum from the massive No Kings rallies has shifted to local, regional and state races as the critical midterm elections approach and Democrats have been largely successful in their new “fight fire with fire” strategy.
But Trump seems obsessed with building his $400 million ballroom instead of doing something to help Republicans win elections, including sitting on an unspent $500 million war chest, while, as Alternet notes, his popularity steadily declines among once fierce loyalists.
“Even Fox News is now reporting Trump’s approval rating has plummeted to 33 percent [AP/NORC poll] over his foolish decision to send the US economy into a likely recession over his decision to fight an unnecessary and unprovoked war of aggression,” wrote David Pyne, a former America First Trump supporter and security expert who serves as a Deputy Director of National Operations for the Task Force on National and Homeland Security.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to stick it to the media, which he describes as the “enemy of the people.” That group now includes former conservative allies like Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones who he describes as “nut jobs” and “troublemakers” for criticizing him over the still unexplained war in Iran.
Trump likes using his power to humiliate – especially women journalists of color – and retaliate against his enemies, a key tenant of the Authoritarian Playbook that organizations like Protect Democracy continue to update and explain.
“I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events. Why should NBC, or any other of the corrupt & dishonest media companies, be entitled to use the very valuable Airwaves of the USA, FREE? They are a true threat to Democracy and are, in fact, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! The Fake News Media should pay a big price for what they have done to our once great Country!” Trump post on Truth Social, Sept. 2023 before winning a second term in 2024.
The Authoritarian Playbook for 2025 explains: “A hallmark of any democracy is the freedom to criticize the government without fear of censorship or reprisal. Trump has promised — and has developed plans — to use the regulatory and administrative powers of government to force political loyalty; sow disinformation; and quash speech by journalists and media outlets, businesses, and other private citizens. These plans follow the measures used by Viktor Orbán in Hungary and other 21st century autocrats to transform government power to serve the parochial interests of the ruler, not the broader public.”
Despite Trump’s support, Orban recently lost re-election, ending 16 years of “electoral autocracy.”
Trump and his administration also expanded attacks on the First Amendment, with the FBI investigating a New York Times reporter who wrote about the director Kash Patel using tax-payer-funded bureau personnel and resources to provide security for his girlfriend. The investigation included searching databases for information on reporter Elizabeth Williamson to see if she broke any federal stalking laws.
“The F.B.I.’s attempt to criminalize routine reporting is a blatant violation of Elizabeth’s First Amendment rights and another attempt by this administration to prevent journalists from scrutinizing its actions,” said Joseph Kahn, the executive editor of The Times. “It’s alarming. It’s unconstitutional. And it’s wrong.”
Interestingly, news of the Justice Department’s apparent retaliatory action leaked days before the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) dinner on Saturday night, April 28. Trump’s acknowledgement of the WHCA invitation is like an obnoxious little boy sticking his tongue out.
“The White House Correspondents Association has asked me, very nicely, to be the Honoree at this year’s Dinner, a long and storied tradition since it began in 1924, under then President Calvin Coolidge. In honor of our Nation’s 250th Birthday, and the fact that these “Correspondents” now admit that I am truly one of the Greatest Presidents in the History of our Country, the G.O.A.T., according to many, it will be my Honor to accept their invitation, and work to make it the GREATEST, HOTTEST, and MOST SPECTACULAR DINNER, OF ANY KIND, EVER! Because the Press was extraordinarily bad to me, FAKE NEWS ALL, right from the beginning of my First Term, I boycotted the event, and never went as Honoree. However, I look forward to being with everyone this year. Hopefully, it will be something very Special. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” he posted March 2 on Truth Social.
Some enraged journalists called for the fundraising dinner to be cancelled. Veteran ABC News journalists Ian Cameron and Lisa Stark had another idea: get colleagues to sign a public letter to WHCA urging them to do something to protest Trump’s authoritarian tactics.
“We first began thinking about this in late March, as it became clear the President would attend the dinner. We just felt we had to speak out about this,” former ABC News correspondent Lisa Stark told LGBTQ+ Freedom Fighters. “The WHCA dinner is held to celebrate the First Amendment and freedom of the press, and yet the guest of honor is the man who, along with his administration, has done everything possible to undermine freedom of the press, and destroy trust in the press.”
The response has been overwhelming. After several days of outreach, the ad hoc group collected 414 signatures (including mine as a former journalist for CBS News/LGBTQ press), as well as six press/First Amendment organizations.
“It’s gratifying that so many former journalists see a threat to press freedom and want to speak out,” says Stark. “We know current journalists, those in the media trenches now, aren’t in a position to raise their voices. We feel an obligation to do so on their behalf. We can’t treat this as business as usual - these are not normal times.”
The petition cites 22 instances of Trump’s attacks on the press and First Amendment, not including the most recent involving the NY Times and updates on the Associated Press lawsuit.
“The collective weight of the administration’s actions — retaliatory access bans, coercive regulatory investigations, frivolous lawsuits against the press, defunding of public broadcasting, dismantling of international broadcasting, physical restrictions on journalists, personal verbal attacks on reporters, assaults on the media in official White House press releases and social media posts, the arrest of journalists, and the pardoning of those who committed violence against the press — represent the most systematic and comprehensive assault on freedom of the press by a sitting American president,” the petition reads, in part.
“We understand that some journalists plan to wear pocket handkerchiefs or lapel pins with the words of the First Amendment,” the petition says. “And continuing in that spirit, we believe the White House Correspondents Association should take stronger action by issuing – from the podium – a forceful defense of freedom of the press and condemnation of those who threaten that freedom, followed by a standing toast to the First Amendment and a pledge to continue upholding such a critical cornerstone of our democracy. Speak forcefully, in front of the man who seeks to undermine our country’s long tradition of an independent, strong, and free press.”
The petition concludes: “We also urge the WHCA to reaffirm, without equivocation, that freedom of the press is not a partisan issue and that the Association will not normalize this behavior but instead fight back against any officeholder who has waged systematic war against the journalists whose work the dinner celebrates.”
What now? The Daily Beast reports that “Donald Trump will launch a ‘revenge’ attack on the White House media when he confronts them in person at a Washington dinner on Saturday night—then flee before there can be revenge.”
Might the WHCA DJ play him off stage with Roy Orbison’s “Running Scared”?
But Trump will have cronies in the room who will turn his antics into memes about “crushing” the “lamestream media.” It’s an obvious ploy to excite Trump’s base.
In a scathing column, longtime journalist Margaret Sullivan notes that some media companies and bosses have gone from courtesy to courting, “inviting blatantly anti-press officials, including the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and the White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, to be guests at their tables, or (in the case of David Ellison, CEO of CBS News’s parent company) even holding a separate dinner to “honor” Trump. Paramount, the parent of CBS News, is said to have invited Brendan Carr to their table; he is the FCC chair who has made a mockery of what should be his independent and non-partisan role; appointed by Trump, he has come down clearly on the side of the president’s allies in consequential decisions – including those involving Paramount’s mergers with other media corporations.”
“It’s akin to a fire department inviting arsonists to a gathering aimed at celebrating firefighting,” Sullivan quotes Oliver Darcy as writing in his media newsletter, Status.
So, gala attendees, as the petition asks, Please Do Something!
This is all particularly jarring for LGBTQ+ journalists. Eric Schultz was the first out gay deputy White House press secretary to give briefings during the Obama administration. Then came the first Black lesbian, Karine Jean-Pierre, during the Biden administration and the independent WHCA assigned a seat (shared with the Boston Globe) and rotating pool responsibilities to the LGBTQ+ Washington Blade, which still retains the privilege.
But for those of us who remember President Reagan’s Press Secretary Larry Speaks laughing and ridiculing White House reporters when he was asked about Reagan’s position on AIDS, being officially seated was a big deal. When CSPAN started broadcasting the dinner in 1993, we scanned every TV inch to see who might be wearing Red Ribbons to the “Nerd Prom,” who might be gay and who we knew to be closeted – spinning President Clinton’s anti-gay Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy to favor anti-gay Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn.
And then there was the “Golden Age,” as the Washington Post described the gala in 2023. “There was the time Ellen DeGeneres, just days out of the closet, canoodled with new girlfriend Anne Heche right in front of Bill Clinton. The time George W. Bush goofed around with a George W. Bush impersonator. The time Barack Obama dunked on reality TV star Donald Trump to the rapturous shrieks of media elite. What a time to be alive, and in attendance, at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner!”
Last year, post-COVID, WHCA was headed by married Black gay Eugene Daniels, MSNBC’s Senior Washington Correspondent. The stars were the parade of journalists of color, mostly women, who served as co-hosts, presenters, honorees and award winners.
Daniels addressed the missing orange man in the room. “We don’t only extend invites to the presidents who say they love journalists or who say they’re defenders of the First Amendment and a free press. We invite them to remind them that they should be,” Daniels said.
“When Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1786 that, ‘Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press and that cannot be limited without being lost,’ he and the other framers of the United States understood the danger unchecked power poses to the ideals and people of this nation,” he continued.
“We journalists are a lot of things,” Eugene Daniels said last year to a ballroom of 2,600 attendees. “What we are not is the enemy of the people, and what we are not is the enemy of the state….Every single day, journalists in this country face threats of intimidation, lawsuits, and violence. Those attacks are meant to do one thing, stop us from sharing the truth with the people…
“I want to leave you with the words of a trailblazing journalist, Ida B. Wells, ‘The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.’ Despite everything, I’m still optimistic about the power of what we do and more assured than ever of the importance of defending it. Everyone in this room can and should stand in the breach. Everyone can and should push for what we know is right. Everyone can and should stand up against government interference in a free press. And a promise I make to you is that the White House Correspondents Association, this board, will always defend your right to do your jobs.”
We’ll be watching CSPAN. Show us you mean it. Do something!
Read the full petition with signatories here.