The annual White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner is scheduled for Saturday in Washington, D.C.
After having to cancel the appearance by headlining comedian Amber Ruffin for her anti-Trump rhetoric, the event has allegedly undergone a “re-envisioning.” But the so-called Nerd Prom has not fully cleansed itself of controversy.
On Friday’s show, Megyn was joined by Mark Halperin, host of Next Up with Mark Halperin, to discuss the smugness of the event and why the media needs to take a look in the mirror.
Comedian Cancelled
The dinner is the ultimate beltway insiders event, but it has managed to make plenty of headlines already this year. For starters, Donald Trump is not expected to attend in keeping with his decision to skip it in his first term. And then there was the comedian drama.
In late March, WHCA President Eugene Daniels announced the board unanimously decided to drop Ruffin from the program as part of a “re-envisioning” of the tradition after she called called Trump and his team “murderers,” who want to “feel like human beings, but they shouldn’t get to feel that way because you’re not” on a podcast.
She also claimed she was told to “give it to both sides” in her routine but refused. “I was like, there is no way I am going to be frickin doing that, dude,” she said. “Under no circumstances.”
That left WHCA no choice but to move on, but Daniels attempted to spin the black eye. “At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists,” he wrote in a memo.
Media Meltdown
But no Trump and no anti-Trump roast is apparently not enough for the media. Mediaite’s founding editor Colby Hall wrote an op-ed Friday titled “This Year’s WHCD Serves Only to Normalize Trump’s First Amendment Dumpster Fire — I Won’t Be a Part of It” about why he isn’t attending.
“President Donald Trump’s constant attacks on the media, which in his first term ranged from petty insults to ominous but contained action against the press, have escalated into a war that mirrors authoritarian states in far-flung regions of the world,” he wrote. “That’s why I am opting to skip this year’s weekend.”
He went on to quote upset journalists who don’t see what is there to celebrate. One “prominent editor of an influential outlet” told Hall: “What is there to celebrate? The first Trump term was weird enough because the White House didn’t engage, but his staffers like Sean Spicer and Kellyanne Conway still really gave a sh-t. Now it’s like the current Trump White House truly — not performatively — hates and is attacking the press.”
Then there was this from a “D.C. correspondent”: “With Disney bending the knee to Trump, Paramount contemplating doing the same to settle the president’s insane lawsuit against 60 Minutes, the White House bringing in these ridiculously sycophantic alt-media figures — [Marjorie Taylor Greene’s] boyfriend, et al — it’s an unsettling time to be in news media, and an odd time to be celebrating anything.”
Finally, a “longtime cable news anchor” told Hall: “To me, this represents everything that’s wrong with both Washington, D.C., and the White House Press Corps, which is in the midst of a crisis of relevancy, public trust, and confidence. Having a big black tie soiree does not read right to Americans.”
Megyn said the latter is the only point she could get behind in the “self-congratulatory” piece, and she questioned the logic of the gripes. “The press is outraged that anybody would go to celebrate the White House,” she noted. “Like, it is not a celebration of Trump, but, in the era of Trump, they are not even allowed to go to this because they hate Trump.”
Media v. Trump
Back in the day, Halperin said he saw value in the dinner because it would allow him to “see a lot of people” at once, but he admitted his feelings have changed. “It is supposed to be about celebrating journalism and, starting three or four decades ago, people started bringing celebrities and turned it into something very different,” he noted “Washington in general is such a boring place that I don’t mind a little celebrity and a little bit of excitement. But particularly with Donald Trump in office and the [WHCA] having gone just crazy anti-president, I think they would have been better off canceling it as opposed to doing the version of it they’re going to do.”
While Trump represents a unique circumstance, Halperin said the politicization of the event predates him. “It has always been a bunch of almost all liberal reporters from liberal organizations celebrating their own worldview and not treating, you know, George Bush the same as Barack Obama,” he noted. “The central dynamic is they’ve covered Republican presidents, particularly this one, hostilely for decades and yet they want to be treated exactly the same way they are treated by Barack Obama or Bill Clinton.”
He said the media needs to take a look in the mirror. “They are just not going to be treated that way, and it’s possible that even if they change their behavior and weren’t biased, maybe the Trump administration wouldn’t change,” Halperin added. “But let’s try it and see. Let’s try covering them fairly and then see what happens.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Halperin by tuning in to episode 1,057 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.