We have a president who is notorious for openly despising journalists. For years, he has been shunning the White House Correspondents Dinner, where, in the past, some speakers have mocked him, and where he would be surrounded by people who write rude things about him. He finally plans to attend. Gunshots ring out, secret service agents rush in, quickly bundle the politicians out, and the whole event was cancelled.
Dog help me, I’m suspicious that the police-led shutdown of the event was the whole point. I don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist, but it was all too pat — the establishment was looking for a pretext, and they found one. No one was hurt, they had a fun kerfuffle, and this year’s WHCD was silenced while the administration gets to claim persecution.
Afterwards, the president said nothing about how there are too many guns too freely available — instead, he spoke to the press about how this justifies his ballroom, which would be more secure and safe.
I hate thinking this way, but this country feels like it’s built on money, lies, and cheap stagecraft right now.
I saw this meme: Too bad this incident didn’t occur near reporters, because it happened in Washington DC we’ll never know what happened.
One SS agent was hospitalized
Even in good years, the WHCD was bad form for our country. You have politicians and celebrities rubbing shoulders with celebrity journalists who need to maintain access to keep making lots of money. This is a recipe for small ‘c’ corruption.
“the White House Correspondents Dinner, where, in the past, some speakers have mocked him, and where he would be surrounded by people who write rude things about him”
Also:
“it’s a room full of sycophants who have, with rare exceptions, enabled him.”
It’s hard not to read these two extracts from two separate posts, one before the event and one after, as anything but contradictory. Unless you want to argue that writing rude things about him is also enabling him. Which I think you could but you would need to explain why sycophants would choose to be rude to their target of admiration. But if you put the most forgiving spin on these statements and pretend they are not contradictory you are then left with a big question: what is it these journalists weren’t doing that you think they should have been doing? Are we criticising the pressure for failure to report strongly enough on the administration’s failings, or criticising him for not liking it when they do that kind of thing?
Or was it all slightly dishonest framing in the first place?
The BBC correspondent was puzzled that despite his having triggered the metal detector he wasn’t searched and he was allowed through having merely waved his invitation at someone six feet away, moreover he was surprised that the hotel hadn’t been cleared of other guests.
Total non sequitur. The White House Correspondents Dinner is not a White House sponsored event, and is not help on government property.
He’s our non sequiturs and nonsense president.
#3: The quote from Michelle Wolf in that post was taken from her remarks at a WHCD, so it was a journalist event in which journalists were criticized. It is not contradictory at all to criticize an event held by status quo journalists to reinforce a chummy relationship with the people in power they’re supposed to criticize, and to recognize that there also some people there who recognize and call out the hypocrisy.
You do know that journalism isn’t monolithic, right? Although it’s getting that way as billionaires buy up all the voices.