President Trump said Monday that the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner is “DEAD as we know it” in the wake of growing complaints that comedian Michelle Wolf went too far in roasting the Trump administration and his staff.
“The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is DEAD as we know it,” Trump tweeted Monday. “This was a total disaster and an embarrassment to our great Country and all that it stands for. FAKE NEWS is alive and well and beautifully represented on Saturday night!”
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is DEAD as we know it. This was a total disaster and an embarrassment to our great Country and all that it stands for. FAKE NEWS is alive and well and beautifully represented on Saturday night!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2018
One of Wolf’s jokes charged that Sanders lies to the press, and another urged the press to keep Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway off the air so she has “nowhere to lie.”
The act prompted the White House Correspondents’ Association president to say the group has “regret” for choosing Wolf.
“My only regret is that to some extent, those 15 minutes are now defining four hours of what was a really wonderful, unifying night,” said WHCA president Margaret Talev. “And I don’t want the cause of unity to be undercut.”
Trump himself seems to be taking a stab at killing off the annual event that increasingly is followed by pangs of doubt in the press about whether it’s appropriate. Saturday was the second dinner Trump has skipped as president, and he instead went to Michigan where he held a rally with supporters.
Conservative media attacked the dinner along with Trump. On Monday, columnist Michelle Malkin said Wolf’s attacks on Sanders and Conway revealed the “misogyny of the left.”
“It’s a complete disgrace that there wasn’t a single person on the dais that interrupted that woman as filth was coming out of her mouth,” she said.
.@michellemalkin on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner: “It’s a complete disgrace that there wasn’t a single person on the dais that interrupted that woman as filth was coming out of her mouth.” pic.twitter.com/ynVxexLe08
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 30, 2018
