The Truth About Why Trump Attended the WHCD

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]along and along with the comments that I was making a few minutes ago about them having this event in the first place.

[00:00:08]Apparently, a few minutes before the shooting took place, uh CNN commentator S.E. Cupp had similar thoughts as well. Let's listen to her.

[00:00:19]question just to start off with is sort of why is this night different than all others, which is a you know, a Passover question, but for President Trump, why, S.E., is this the Correspondents Dinner he has decided to attend as president of the first? What's changed? Um well, from what I can And don't forget, I mean, uh and and Caroline Leavitt confirmed this beforehand, Donald Trump's plan was to get up and give a speech excoriating and insulting members of the press, members of the media, journalists in the room.

[00:00:52]He was going to get up and be an [ __ ] to them on purpose.

[00:01:00]Uh many people are playing the clip of Caroline Leavitt saying that shots were going to be fired tonight.

[00:01:08]It was going to be Donald Trump getting up and giving a petulant speech of insults directed at members of the media who are in the room. Knowing that, the White House Correspondents Association was still going to host this event and schmooze with Donald Trump.

[00:01:30]Highlighting the downside of access journalism.

[00:01:34]I can tell they made it real easy for him to attend. And I you know, glad to see everyone's in great spirits and this is a party. I'm real bummed, real bummed about tonight. Cuz here's what's happening tonight.

[00:01:48]And for context, she delivered these comments uh a few minutes before the shooting took place.

[00:01:55]It had not happened yet.

[00:01:57]Journalism is throwing a party.

[00:01:59]Journalism is celebrating journalism at this party. Journalism for some reason invited Brendan Carr, FCC chair, who is threatening to revoke the licenses of broadcast networks, Pete Hegseth, who removed journalists from the Pentagon, and Donald Trump, who attacks us on the regular. Now, they're giving Donald Trump a speaking position to roast us to our faces for an hour.

[00:02:21]And he doesn't have to stay for the part where we celebrate journalism and give out awards to journalists and talk about the importance of free speech. And here's the kicker, we broadcast it on national TV.

[00:02:32]He could not have planned this scenario better. And guess what? He didn't. We did. Journalism planned this scenario for Donald Trump. So, if I'm Donald Trump, of course I come under these conditions. And you just heard Brian Stelter say that the Correspondents Association was trying to sort of mend some fences with the guy who wants us dead, figuratively.

[00:02:54]Figuratively, he wants journalism dead.

[00:02:56]It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I don't think this is a great night for journalism. It's a night that's meant to be celebrating it, but I I think it's a real bummer. Is it a night, however, Couldn't agree with her more.

[00:03:08]Could not agree with her more.

[00:03:11]Uh you know, it's it's just it's just gross, man.

[00:03:19]It's just gross.

[00:03:20]Um you know, there the the to me, in my opinion, uh the journalists who helped organize this event, the journalists who were in the room, uh and participating in this event, have just, you know, basically debased themselves in the same way that like House Republicans and Senate Republicans have debased themselves during the entirety of the period of time that Donald Trump has been in office.

[00:03:49]Uh spineless, you know, refusing to stand up against him, refusing to speak truth to power. Um it's just it's just [ __ ] gross, man.

[00:04:04]You you know, we are not living in normal times. Donald Trump fashions himself as an authoritarian theocrat and and has certainly surrounded him with incompetent sycophants who were hired for their loyalty, certainly not for their competence.

[00:04:21]Uh you know, and S.E. Cupp made a good point that uh the FCC Chairman Brendan Carr was there tonight.

[00:04:31]And it's like anytime members of the media say something about Donald Trump that he doesn't like, he threatens them. He threatens them with pulling their license. And the White House Correspondents Association was honoring him tonight and honoring Donald Trump and honoring Pete Hegseth. We've all heard things that Pete Hegseth has been saying about the press since the day he came in to came into office. And he has tried to ban them from the Pentagon.

[00:05:00]There've been court proceedings about that.

[00:05:03]This administration hates the free press.

[00:05:08]Hates it.

[00:05:10]And our free press decided to honor him tonight.

[00:05:16]It's just another in such a long list of incredible disappointments. You you know, cuz it's like the press is supposed to stand up against a man like this.

[00:05:34]And instead they chose to honor him.