February 15, 2022

"[O]ne of the unintended consequences of turning statesmen into standups [at the White House Correspondents' Dinner] was the election of Donald Trump."

"I’m referring to President Barack Obama’s roasting of Trump at the 2011 dinner. Obama 'lampooned Mr. Trump’s gaudy taste in décor,' wrote Maggie Haberman and Alexander Burns of The New York Times. 'He ridiculed his fixation on false rumors that the president had been born in Kenya. He belittled his reality show, The Celebrity Apprentice.' And what was the result? 'That evening of public abasement, rather than sending Mr. Trump away, accelerated his ferocious efforts to gain stature within the political world,' Haberman and Burns continued in their 2016 article. 'And it captured the degree to which Mr. Trump’s campaign is driven by a deep yearning sometimes obscured by his bluster and bragging: a desire to be taken seriously.'... As president, Trump boycotted the WHCD.... Today, I suspect that many Republicans would viscerally recoil at the notion of a GOP president self-flagellating for the amusement of people unwilling to give him a fair shake.... Booking Trevor Noah [to host this year's WHCD] screams out-of-touch progressive.... The WHCD is an antiquated relic that does more harm than good. We should have just let it fade from our collective memory, rather than trying to resurrect this monster."

From "Nobody Missed the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Why Bring It Back? WHO IS THIS FOR? It’s is a grotesque, self-congratulatory, backslapping event for the elites, by the elites" by Matt Lewis at The Daily Beast.

67 comments:

Charlie said...

Sin in haste, repent at leisure.

Iman said...

Aren’t they something!

rehajm said...

ASKED: WHO IS THIS FOR?

ANSWERED: That evening of public abasement, rather than sending Mr. Trump away... That is, while the primary reason d'etre is the debauchery and self aggrandizement of the DC insider/ruling class, one of the secondary intents of the dinner is to mock the threats and opponents. The hope is the jokes make them go away.

It doesn't always work...

wendybar said...

Progressives show us everyday how much they hate us. They are what will bring the downfall of America. THEY are the ones who are dividing us by race, gender, religion and class. Obama said he was going to fundamentally change America, and he did. He ruined what was a great country, so that blacks could blame all of their grievances on how terrible America is for them. Trevor Noah is as funny as a venereal disease...and he also won't go away. The 3 progressive comediennes they picked for the Oscars will only give them a progressive audience. So much for the rest of America.

Ceciliahere said...

It’s a night for the Washington “elite” to be cool and hip. These are the kids who never got to sit at the cool table in the H.S. cafeteria so they created their own cafeteria. What a bunch of phony so-called journalists.

Sebastian said...

"Booking Trevor Noah [to host this year's WHCD] screams out-of-touch progressive"

How so? It is very precisely in touch with prog sentiment.

"rather than trying to resurrect this monster."

If it's useful to progs, it needs resurrecting.

"It’s is a grotesque, self-congratulatory, backslapping event for the elites, by the elites"

Right. Plus they can affirm their status by rubbing it in: see, we can be grotesque and self-congratulatory all we like--whatcha gonna do about it, rubes?

But historically, given elite confidence, some roasting was expected. Of course, with his usual arrogance, Barry violated the spirit by punching down to civilian Trump. Prediction: there will be few jokes about Joe's mental state. The elites do not feel secure enough.

gilbar said...

In the earlier thread, iowan2 said ....
The gist of the piece was our divisions today are not left/right, or white/everthing else.
Rather class.

MadisonMan said...

I disagree with the assertion in that article that Trump has no sense of humor about himself. I think Trump does self-deprecation far better than any other recent President. The Press however doesn't see it for humor because of TDS.

Dave Begley said...

Is Biden going to be there? Will the Press attack Biden?

Bilwick said...

I guess they got Trevor Noah for the purposes of "meta" comedy: i.e., comedy that doesn't need to be funny.

Yeah Right Sure said...

"Who is it for?" It's for the MSM to have an excuse to rent evening wear and pretend they're relevant. The SiriusXM POTUS channel host Julie Mason used to call it "nerd prom" as a tongue-in-cheek allusion to newsreaders being slightlly less glamorous than Hollywood types.

Well, prom it ain't. No one would confuse Brian Stelter with George Clooney. They also aren't bright enough to be nerds. Jim Acosta couldn't think his way out of an Ikea.

Mark O said...

Trump's policies elected him, not the correspondents dinner, CNN, or the Russians.

By the way, isn't is rich? Don't you approve? Hillary, who was dropped from her job with the Watergate Committee, now in midair, out Nixoning Nixon. Get her tapes and let's listen in.

Saint Croix said...

If they had any brains at all (or cared about ratings), they would have asked Joe Rogan to do it.

The man's a stand-up comic! And a journalist, sort of. He can mock the president, and COVID, and CNN. He could mock himself. It would be awesome.

For those idiots in the media who are wondering why Rogan is popular, one main reason is that he's unpredictable. He's an out-of-the-box thinker. Your shows, on the other hand, are boring as shit. We know what you're going to say before you say it. We know your "news" before you give it to us.

That's what hell is all about...repetition.

hombre said...

Mollie Haberman, the NYT’s unabashed poster girl for TDS, finds another far-fetched excuse to bash Trump. The dupes that comprise hard core Democrats, NYT devotees and CNN viewers can’t get enough. Pathetic.

Wince said...

Nobody Missed the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Why Bring It Back? WHO IS THIS FOR? It’s is a grotesque, self-congratulatory, backslapping event for the elites, by the elites" by Matt Lewis at The Daily Beast.

Translation: Biden is beyond rehabilitation.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

It's a leftist self-love elite party. Indeed. bring it back!

Skeptical Voter said...

Will Slow Joe be at the White House Correspondents Dinner? Will there be ice cream?

M Jordan said...

Haberman is right that that moment -- when Obama mocked Trump -- cemented his decision to run for president. Obama mocked Trump more than once. Remember "Well at least I'm president"?

I have long thought that Trump's entire life was driven by his being rejected from the Manhattan crowd. He disobeyed his father and took the business downtown and he succeeded. But he was never accepted.

Saul Alinsky said to use ridicule to achieve your goals politically. Sometimes it backfires.

tim in vermont said...

They know damn well that Biden will get either confused or nasty, since they can't do it before his 4 pm bedtime.

WK said...

Maybe they can get Biden to do a prop comic routine. Carrot Top can assist with the preparation. I’d watch that.

Robert Cook said...

"Obama said he was going to fundamentally change America, and he did. He ruined what was a great country...."

Oh, yeah! American was GREAT until Obama ruined it!!

NOT.

Robert Cook said...

It's debasing to the office of the Presidency for the POTUS to be acting as a third-rate comic on tv shows or other public venues, anyway. Obama thinks and always thought he was the coolest cat in any situation.

He isn't and wasn't.

rcocean said...

Trump was correct to not go go. These things only make sense when you have a Democrat POTUS and the DNC press can engage in some good natured ribbing. Or when you have a Bush, who loved to get zinged and show that he's really a good little liberal at heart. "Sure, you attack me, but we're all really part of the same uniparty elite" Bush thought.

Its laughable that so many conservatives back in 2001-2008 were outraged at how "disrepectful" some of the press were to Chimp-hitler. They were upset but Bush wasn't. He really was on their side.



rcocean said...

Matt Lewis is supposedly a Conservative, but he writes about Obama in the same way that a Liberal Democrat would. Poor Barrack, attacked by the nasty brute Trump, just had to respond.

MadTownGuy said...

From the article: "'That evening of public abasement, rather than sending Mr. Trump away, accelerated his ferocious efforts to gain stature within the political world..."

I still maintain that the DNCC orchestrated the progress of Trump through the field of Republican candidates in 2016, aided and abetted by compliant news organizations that stayed mostly neutral toward Trump until the nomination was a lock. They may have played off his ego in doing so, but they thought he would get the Todd Akin treatment in the general election. They were clearly devastated when he won, and quickly pivoted to revenge mode.

Fernandinande said...

I just saw a video of Reagan telling some Russia jokes.

In Russia you have to order a car 10 years in advance, and pay for it when you order it.

This guy's buying a car and puts his money down and the car salesman tells him to come back in 10 years.

The guy asks "Morning or afternoon"?

The salesman says "What difference does it make?"

The guy says "Well, the plumber is coming in the morning."

Joe Smith said...

Revenge is a dish...

Daniel12 said...

Let's slowly remove all potential opportunities for antagonists to engage with each other as people. Keep it online and dehumanizing, folks!

PS shouldn't Trump fans appreciate the dinner for giving them Trump?

Chris Lopes said...

"Trump's policies elected him, not the correspondents dinner, CNN, or the Russians."

The claim is that the dinner got Trump in the race. Specifically, Obama's roasting of The Donald for the amusement of a sycophantic press corps got Trump mad enough at them to want to prove them wrong. Given Trump's ego, it's not an outrageous idea. Obama was never really good at the self deprecating stuff, so his staff gave him a "safe" target to make jokes about. The same kind of super geniuses are running the current administration.

Josephbleau said...

I watched parts of Obama's comedy routine, and came away with an opinion that he is a true ahole.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

The WHCD is an antiquated relic that does more harm than good. We should have just let it fade from our collective memory, rather than trying to resurrect this monster.

Translation: President Biden is not up to it.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Norm MacDonald where are you now? Ron White? Journalists (English degrees) know nothing of Wharton. As we have also seen from Durham so far, Trump has been right all along.

Jason said...

I have an English degree and I ghostwrite business books for people from Wharton. :-)

wendybar said...

Robert Cook said...
"Obama said he was going to fundamentally change America, and he did. He ruined what was a great country...."

Oh, yeah! American was GREAT until Obama ruined it!!

NOT.

2/15/22, 11:05 AM

It WAS a hell of a lot better before Obama fundamentally changed it so that everybody is a victim, and nobody has any responsibility. YES it was. I guess Robert Cook loves division, hatred, and the RACISM that he brought back into style.

rehajm said...

PS shouldn't Trump fans appreciate the dinner for giving them Trump?

'The dinner' didn't give us Trump. Remind me who the egomaniac(s) is/are?

Achilles said...

"Nobody Missed the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Why Bring It Back? WHO IS THIS FOR? It’s is a grotesque, self-congratulatory, backslapping event for the elites, by the elites" by Matt Lewis at The Daily Beast.

At one point presidents could accept mockery.

Bill Clinton changed that. You had to be careful what you made fun of him over. He was a rapist. So the position was no longer held by a person with requisite integrity to be a leader of a society that outlaws rape.

Same with Barrack Obama. You could not point out that Obama sold guns to Mexican Cartels and shot American border patrol agents with them. Or that the economy was so bad under Barry that the BLS and other government agencies had to change reporting procedures.

Obama was thin skinned and could not take a joke. He was deeply insecure because in the end he was so mediocre and really just bad. The only president that was more pathetic and has had a more failed presidency than Obama is Biden.

That is why Joe Biden wont survive the year.

That and Biden is obviously illegitimate.

Just imagine how impossible it would have been to make fun of Hillary Clinton. She is a fat drunk. She is stupid. And some of us already knew she was a fascist scumbag. But now we are learning just how corrupt her organization was and that is all coming out into the open.

Hillary will just have to be referred to as Ms. Cankle Maojackets from now on.

Hopefully, after a fair trial, they hang her for her treason and the weight of her body decapitates her.

Achilles said...

Ignorance is Bliss said...

The WHCD is an antiquated relic that does more harm than good. We should have just let it fade from our collective memory, rather than trying to resurrect this monster.

Translation: President Biden is not up to it.

How would they make fun of him?

Could you make jokes about his stupid racist comments?

Could you make fun of his long history of gaffs?

Could you make fun of his constant calls for violence and his threats to beat people up?

Could you make fun of his hair sniffing?

The "I have a puppy in this van" memes write themselves.

The problem is that Democrats and their supporters fancy themselves superior morally and culturally to their political opponents.

But they aren't. They are deeply insecure about this.

So they cannot tolerate humor.

Limited blogger said...

Why don't they get Obama to host the yuck-fest?

Mr Wibble said...

I still maintain that the DNCC orchestrated the progress of Trump through the field of Republican candidates in 2016, aided and abetted by compliant news organizations that stayed mostly neutral toward Trump until the nomination was a lock. They may have played off his ego in doing so, but they thought he would get the Todd Akin treatment in the general election. They were clearly devastated when he won, and quickly pivoted to revenge mode.

The two aren't mutually exclusive. Obama's mocking of Trump drove him to get into the race, and the DNCC and the left in general thought that he would be easy to beat so they supported his run however they could.

Ficta said...

"I still maintain that the DNCC orchestrated the progress of Trump through the field of Republican candidates in 2016, aided and abetted by compliant news organizations that stayed mostly neutral toward Trump until the nomination was a lock. They may have played off his ego in doing so, but they thought he would get the Todd Akin treatment in the general election. They were clearly devastated when he won, and quickly pivoted to revenge mode."

Maybe. I still think it was Bill Clinton's bright idea that Trump would lose the primary, go third party like Perot, and Hillary could waltz through the general election with a split opposition, just like he did both times.

John henry said...

Will this be held at the Nauseum?

John LGBTQBNY Henry

John henry said...

I meant Newseum

John LGBTQBNY Henry

Ficta said...

"I watched parts of Obama's comedy routine, and came away with an opinion that he is a true ahole."

Everything about Obama just screamed "asshole". He's the biggest asshole the presidency has seen since Johnson. Most politicians at the national level in the US (unless they got the job by being somebody's wife or girlfriend and didn't work their way up to that rarefied level via personal aptitude) have an inhuman ability to project charisma and sincerity. Even if you don't agree with them, if you meet them in person, they're quite personable. I never got that vibe from Obama, he seemed like a colossal dick who really just didn't give a shit about anybody not on "his side". The sneering contempt was palpable. I guess that means I should add "rotten borough" to the wife/girlfriend list of ways bad retail politicians can get promoted to high levels: they still have to have charisma, but it can be of a more toxic kind that only appeals to those on their side. And yes, I suppose at this point Dems are screaming about Trump's assholery, but pretty much every normal human who interacted with him personally seemed to think he was a nice guy, he was just an asshole online.

Leland said...

WH correspondent is the most unimportant job in America these days.

Readering said...

Maybe when folks here hear the NY Times refuses to let its employees attend they will be in favor of the event.

I thought the point was who can entice the hottest guests, which is how DJT found himself in attendance.

Mikey NTH said...

If they want to have their own yearly organizational dinner, fine. Just why do they insist that others take it as some sort of momentous cultural event?

gilbar said...

Robert Cook said...
Oh, yeah! American was GREAT until Obama ruined it!!
NOT.


Here i go again; Robert? Could you help us out, by letting us know Which country(s) you think are better?
Inquiring Minds want to know. Thanx!

Howard said...

Trevor Noah is perfect. 1) He's 100% onboard with DNC corporate bureaucracy globalization clusterfuck. 2) He's not funny. 3) The DNC MSM faithful thinks he's hilarious. and 4) He's dating a hot Hollywood actress.

Howard said...

How about Frankie Boyle?

rcocean said...

"I still maintain that the DNCC orchestrated the progress of Trump through the field of Republican candidates in 2016,"

Give this man a cigar! Yes, that's exactly what happened. The MSM and the DNC (the same thing) were 100% convinced that Trump would at worst disrupt the Republican Primary, at best be the nominee. And then of course, lose in a landslide to hIllary.

Only things didn't turn out the way they planned. Salter records how SHOCKED he and McCain were when Trump won. They were shellshocked. The impossible happened. You can imagine how the DNC/MSM reacted. They'd shot themselves in the foot. Big Time

So, their vow was "Never Again". And resulting cheating and fraud in November 2020.

Temujin said...

This is something they had the opportunity to put into a box, wrap the box with chains, and bury deep in a bog outside of DC. Instead they'll use it to further prop up Biden/Harris, a Sisyphean task, in addition to running out some new Trump material. They are so out of touch they have no idea how out of touch they look.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

If they really wanted to revive it
They would ask CK to HEAdline it

Mr Wibble said...

Obama spent his entire life being carried through various positions, never earning anything by his own skills and merit. He figured out how to appeal to white liberals by parroting their views back to them. They were ecstatic because his skin color allowed them to feel better about themselves. Obviously if the black man agrees with them, then they can't be racist. Why, they must be positively enlightened. I think that it made him deeply insecure and resentful of everyone around him.

Jupiter said...

In the last few years, I have come to realize that the mainstream media are an utterly shameless collection of lying shit-weasels. This has made me start to wonder how long that has been the case. Since they covered up for Kennedy fucking interns in the White House pool? Since they didn't run photos of Roosevelt in his wheelchair? Maybe since they covered up for Wilson being a semiconscious invalid while his wife ran the country?

Michael said...

Could you imagine Bill Hicks or Sam Kinison hosting the WHCD?

Kevin said...

This was a consequence of comedians not being able to tell jokes about Obama.

Those jokes had to land somewhere and non-politician Trump was a convenient target.

Had they picked on another politician it would have been too obvious what was happening.

Wilbur said...

Mikey NTH said...
If they want to have their own yearly organizational dinner, fine. Just why do they insist that others take it as some sort of momentous cultural event?
____________________________________________________________________________________
This ++.

rehajm said...

Doosh Prom.

Joe Smith said...

'You could not point out that Obama sold guns to Mexican Cartels and shot American border patrol agents with them.'

What...no dog-eating jokes?

It's a dinner. Come on, man!

Low-hanging fruit (or Pomeranian).

Richard Dolan said...

No idea what was driving Trump's train, or whether Obama's crassness in 2011 was at all important to Trump's decision-making in 2015. But I'm pretty sure Maggie Haberman doesn't have a clue either. As for the WHCD, who cares? Hard to imagine that the next Rep president would even entertain the idea of attending -- for Team R, the MSM is the target of ire, not a bunch any Rep official is likely to want to impress (which would be impossible anyway).

Howard said...


Blogger Temujin said...

This is something they had the opportunity to put into a box, wrap the box with chains, and bury deep in a bog outside of DC. Instead they'll use it to further prop up Biden/Harris, a Sisyphean task, in addition to running out some new Trump material. They are so out of touch they have no idea how out of touch they look.


To the DNC/MSM, being out of touch is a superpower.

William said...

If the press tries to make Biden look good, they will only succeed in making themselves look bad....After one year of Biden, America is in worse shape than after one year of Trump. That's written in neon. If they take a few affectionate jabs at Biden, it just won't work, not after the way they went after Trump.

Robert Cook said...

"Here i go again; Robert? Could you help us out, by letting us know Which country(s) you think are better?
Inquiring Minds want to know. Thanx!"


Here you go, demonstrating that, as with so many Americans, you are essentially childish (not to say, brainwashed) in your perception and evaluation of your country, bringing discussion of our nation's virtues and failings down to the level of who's "best" and who's "worst" in the world. It is really an unanswerable question, as phrased, as the residents of many nations will see their country as "best," and "best" can always be evaluated by different criteria. I'm sure I would find faults with any country to which I might emigrate, (if ever I had a powerful yen to emigrate and were able to do so), despite whatever good qualities it might have.

One can find rankings of all sorts of stats by which to judge nations by health, education, economic status, etc., etc.. Yet, countries that rank high in certain positive aspects may also rank low in others. In the end, every country has its problems.

A serious nation with a serious citizenry would not, no matter how well things may be in many or even most respects, wallow in self-satisfaction in how "great" they are, but would always say: "We have serious problems that persist and we must focus on how we can effectively alleviate or eradicate these problems."

In short, if one really loves one's country and wants to ensure it can be as good as can be, one must always focus on its failings and how to remedy them.

Robert Cook said...

"It WAS a hell of a lot better before Obama fundamentally changed it so that everybody is a victim, and nobody has any responsibility. YES it was. I guess Robert Cook loves division, hatred, and the RACISM that he brought back into style."

You were obviously in a coma or in deep denial for the four years of Trump's presidency. Division and racism in America were no less glaring problems during the years of his administration than they are now (or have always been).

tim in vermont said...

"I still maintain that the DNCC orchestrated the progress of Trump through the field of Republican candidates in 2016,"

Just do a web search on Hillary Clinton, "Pied piper," Donald Trump, and Wikilieaks and your suspicions will be confirmed straight out of the lush's mouth.

Bunkypotatohead said...

They're bringing the show back so they can beat up on Trump again. Biden will only get a couple good natured ribbing type of jokes. The truly hateful stuff will be reserved for the donald.

PJH said...

...and the other reason for not bringing it back is that it would showcase Joe Biden's diminished mental capacity.