Trump's rescheduled White House press dinner speech lands in silence as insults against journalists and Democrats fail to draw laughs
Speaking at a smaller, more secure venue three months after an armed attacker forced the cancellation of the original event, Donald Trump used his address at the White House Correspondents' Dinner to target media figures and Democratic politicians, drawing silence from most of the 600 guests.
A rescheduled dinner under tight security
The White House Correspondents' Dinner took place on Friday at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, a make-up event after the original April 25 gala was cut short. An armed 31-year-old man had attempted to storm the security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton, where 2,600 guests had gathered, before being overpowered by the Secret Service. Organizers shifted the rescheduled dinner to a smaller ballroom and tightened security, reducing attendance to roughly 600 to 700 people. The evening began with Trump acknowledging the earlier attack.
We do not bow to political violence.
The speech that fell flat
Trump spoke for more than an hour, a mix of jabs at journalists and Democratic rivals that his spokespeople had billed as unifying yet relentless. Instead, the room grew quiet. The president called CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins a liar who spreads "made-up stories," said she never laughed despite being attractive, and then compared the 34-year-old to Dylan Mulvaney, the transgender influencer whose brief association with Bud Light became a right-wing flashpoint. Jake Tapper of CNN and Jacqui Heinrich of Fox News were also targeted, while Illinois Governor JB Pritzker was labeled a "fat pig" and California Governor Gavin Newsom was mocked as dim-witted. Only members of Trump's cabinet could be heard laughing through most of the speech.
It was an interesting evening. I didn't know what was waiting for me. And it is much worse than I thought.
Journalists honored, then attacked
Earlier in the program, seven journalists from the Wall Street Journal received a major award for their reporting on Trump's relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump, who has sued the newspaper for more than $10 billion in damages over that coverage, shook hands with the winners but later returned to airing grievances. He told the audience that the room contained the largest collection of people suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome," a line he has used often.
I had it in for you.
Trump suggested the journalists had been lucky the April event was interrupted. He closed the evening by pulling on a red "Trump 2028" cap and musing about returning next year, leaving the distinct impression that the adversarial relationship between the president and the Washington press corps had only grown sharper.
