Culture

Remember All Those Times Trump Was Mercilessly Sledged At White House Correspondents’ Dinners?

No wonder he's planning on skipping it this year.

by Tom Clift  26 February 2017

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This morning Donald Trump announced via Twitter that he will skip the annual White House correspondents’ dinner, which is due to take place in April.

The decision will make Trump the first President to miss the event since Ronald Reagan in 1981 – and in Reagan’s defence, he had just been shot. The last President who actively boycotted the event was Richard Nixon in 1972. Hey, whatever happened to Nixon anyway?

Trump’s decision not to attend makes sense given his escalating war against the free press. Earlier this month the President tweeted that news organisations including CNN, NBC News and The New York Times were “the enemy of the American people”, while his chief strategist Stephen Bannon recently referred to the media as an “opposition party”.

On Friday the White House also blocked CNN, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian and a number of other news outlets from attending a press briefing with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

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Of course there’s another reason that Trump might not want to attend the dinner: he’s a chicken. Trump knows full well that whichever comedian ends up being chosen to emcee the event, they will likely spend their entire evening tearing him to shreds – and if recent history has taught us anything, it’s that POTUS cannot take a joke at his own expense.

But while it’s a shame we won’t get to see Trump roasted in the flesh, the good news is that there’s plenty of footage of him seething in silent rage during the correspondents’ dinner back in 2011. During his speech at that event, President Obama took aim at the reality TV star, mocking him for his involvement in the birther movement and for his role on The Celebrity Apprentice.

But that was nothing compared to what Seth Meyers had in store for The Donald, with the comedian ridiculing the idea of Trump running for president as “a joke”.

To be fair, Trump did kind of get to have the last laugh on that one.

Trump also copped it during the 2016 correspondents’ dinner, which took place during the Presidential primaries. “There is one area where Donald’s experience could be invaluable, and that’s closing Guantanamo” joked Obama. “Trump knows a thing or two about running waterfront properties into the ground.”

Comedian Larry Wilmore also got stuck in to Trump that night. “I can’t understand why everybody treats Donald Trump with kid gloves,” he quipped. “Then I realised they’re the only gloves that will fit his stupid little baby hands.”

It’s worth noting that Trump wasn’t actually at the dinner last year – which just goes to show that he may as well attend this year, since he’s going to be made fun of either way.

Alternatively, he could send someone else in his place?