(Dobbs) Read the room, sir, read the room.Remember when presidents had even an ounce of decency, an ounce of decorum?
Well, Donald Trump was good to his word. But not in a good way. Trump is never good to his word in a good way. As I wrote Friday morning before his speech to the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner that night, he had forewarned that he might give some “rather nasty statements.” That’s where he was good to his word. Because true to form and as predictable as rain, he did. As a prime example, he revived some tired old targets from his past. Like former New Jersey governor and one-time Trump ally Chris Christie. He joked— not that anyone really knows whether a man who has never shown an ounce of humor is capable of joking— that after his crude and ill-considered cage-fight on the White House lawn last month, he planned to host them twice a week. Then he told a stunned and almost silent audience, “We will have sloppy Chris Christie, one of the sloppiest human beings, fighting, I could mention the governor of Chicago, but I’m going to mention instead Jerry Nadler. Oh my God! They’re fighting for a big piece of cheesecake, big fat piece of cheesecake.” As if there is any reason at all to belittle these guys in the interest of getting a big laugh. Which he didn’t. He took on some of his outspoken critics in the entertainment world too, comparing the “really beat-up faces” of the cage-fighters who drew blood on the White House lawn with the faces of Bette Midler, Jane Fonda, and Bruce Springsteen. He said concerts by the master of “Born in the USA” should be renamed “Bored in the USA.” And he berated California senator Adam Schiff, who was the lead prosecutor during Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial when Schiff was serving in the House: “I hate some people. He’s a liar, and I called him watermelon head because he has the largest head I’ve ever seen with the smallest neck, pencil neck. How does that make a fat, ugly head on a little pencil neck?” Remember when presidents had even an ounce of decency, an ounce of decorum? And he didn’t even spare his own audience, which was composed mostly of the journalists who cover him. He particularly picked on CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who had just been given an award for her coverage of Trump’s confrontational White House meeting with Ukraine’s President Zelensky in February last year. First he paid her the most backhanded compliment: “I want to personally congratulate CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award. It was all about me. It was a fake, she shouldn’t get the award, it was a fake. But I didn’t mind. I said, ‘Kaitlan, congratulations.’ But it was fake, there’s no question about it.” Then he went after her personally: “She never smiles. I said, ‘Kaitlan do you ever smile? Smile!’ You have a nice position; you’re at CNN fake news. You should be a happy person. So smile, Kaitlan! Just smile.” And then it only got worse: “I thought Kaitlan had really made it big with a major new sponsorship,” he said. “But then I informed her that it wasn’t her on the Bud Light can, it was Dylan Mulvaney.” Dylan Mulvaney is the transgender athlete whose appearance in a TV ad for Bud Light prompted an anti-transgender backlash. In a way it was surprising that Trump read the room so badly. CNN’s media analyst Brian Stelter wrote, “Attendees were mostly silent while Trump delivered lines better suited to a MAGA rally than a black-tie dinner.” Washington Post White House correspondent Michael Birnbaum wrote, “The bitterness was sharper even than some of his political rallies, where attacks on his enemies are leavened with boasts of his accomplishments. On Friday, he had little to sell, and a lot to complain about.” Trump rolled out his usual lines like a retread tire. Like how the U.S. had been a “dead country” but now is the “hottest country anywhere in the world.” He bragged again about how well things are going under his leadership, even though by almost every measure they aren’t. It was as if he was totally clueless that the members of his audience last night have heard every one of his boasts and his complaints a thousand times. In what apparently was another attempt at humor, he told the crowd, “This place is the really largest group of Trump derangement syndrome people ever put together at one time.” That’s okay, Mr. President, this is hardly some new line of attack. They can take it. Read the room, sir, read the room. To be fair, Trump did deliver one zinger. What he said was, “I hope that everyone finally got to enjoy their entire, very delicious beef tenderloin, very special beef. And I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy, who’s right here, personally ran over the cow with his car.” A good joke, and it prompted laughter beyond just a handful of tables where Trump’s aides and cabinet members were sitting, and against all logic but in perfect harmony with their loyalty, laughing at almost everything. But one good joke in an hour-long speech wins an “F+” in the comedy category that previous presidents have done well with. Near the end of his speech, the president paid tribute to the First Amendment, which is the focus of every White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. He proclaimed, “I hope all of you know that I believe in the free press more than anyone in this room does. Maybe not quite. That’s why I’m proud to be the most open and transparent president in history. They call me that.” Open and transparent? Maybe. But the biggest believer in the free press? That was the biggest joke of the night. As former ABC News and PBS NewsHour journalists Lisa Stark and Ian Cameron wrote yesterday, “President Trump once again revealed his disdain for journalists, a free press and the First Amendment. Even as he delivered a few conciliatory remarks, saying he had ‘tremendous respect for the people in this room’ and ‘for your profession,’ he continued his attacks on journalists, including two who had won well-deserved awards for reporting on his administration.” After Trump, CBS White House correspondent and the outgoing president of the Correspondents’ Association, Weijia Jiang, hit the high note: “This night is all about the First Amendment. Tonight was a full display.” But not always in a good way. However, it had its moments. As CNN’s Stelter commented after the dinner when some in attendance were roasting the president’s performance, “Members of the media mocking a leader’s dismal performance on live TV and all across the internet? In some other countries, that’s a criminal offense. But in the U.S., it’s the norm, so maybe Trump’s speech unwittingly underscored the theme of the dinner: America’s robust First Amendment protections.” It did, but it still left a sour taste in my mouth. As a signatory on a petition to the White House Correspondents’ Association (originally prepared by Stark and Cameron before the scheduled April dinner that was disrupted by a gunman)— which was endorsed by more than 500 veteran journalists and by the main professional organizations like the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists— I believe in the line in the letter that says, “We believe it is hypocritical to celebrate the First Amendment in front of the man who relentlessly attacks it.” Leave a comment Outgoing president Jiang acknowledged the complaint. She spoke of “an existential difference between criticizing the press and trying to undermine it. One is healthy, and it makes all of us better. The other is exactly what the founders hoped to prevent.” She didn’t have to name names. Everyone knew. © 2026 Greg Dobbs |