The White House Correspondents Association Dinner is one of those old-timey, stuffy Washington traditions that seem desperately out of date and out of place in these intense and divided times. We live in The Cage Match Era of American Politics, and the dinner doesn’t fit.
This year, for the first time as president, Donald Trump accepted the invitation the WHCA has sent to every president for more than a century. And this has sparked a debate. What should journalists do? Should they attend? Turn their back on him in protest? Boo? Be normal?
Over the years, I’ve been to a lot of those dinners (not this year, though; I’m not part of that press corps any more). To tell you the truth, it was never my favorite thing to do; I’m not by my nature what the Brits would call a “clubbable” man. But I liked the tradition and pageantry of the dinner; the press and the president coming together for one night to affirm a mutual commitment to the First Amendment.
That, of course, is not possible with Trump. I expect him to take the podium and gleefully tear into the free press, insult news organizations and individual reporters by name, spew his petty grievances, boast endlessly and deceitfully, and fill the vast room with his vast viciousness. He’ll go an hour, at least.
But that’s his problem.
My opinion is that the journalists at that dinner should defy Trump—by upholding that old-timey tradition as he tries to trash it.
We will need the spirit and the solidarity that the social rituals of our democracy still hold in order to renew our country after Trump. He is a vandal, among other things. But he is already fading into our past, leaking personal and political energy. His ferocious grip on our people is slipping. The future does not belong to him.
Johanna and I talk about the dinner and our own experiences from past years. But we cover a lot of other ground in this episode, including a heartwarming story from Major League Baseball, the corruption contagion in our country, and a bit of trouble with our teenager.
Enjoy!
—Terry and Johanna
