127 Comments
User's avatar
Alan Greenstein's avatar

Sadly, the docile attendees at the WHCA dinner gave Trump a victory by sitting still while Trump threw insult after insult at members of the Press. It would have been a historic event if the attendees stood up and walked out. The WHCA should disband and a new organization take its place who will not bend the knee to a disgusting dictator.

Leigh Horne's avatar

They should have walked out, en masse.

Nancy Eddy's avatar

YES! Or next year they should RSVP and then no one shows up.

Leigh Horne's avatar

Yep. Or, as in my more out-there fantasies, show up wearing those Halloween style rubber Trump masks and holding the Trump Wah Baby helium balloons, which they could release at a predetermined point in his pointless speech!

Anne-Louise Luccarini's avatar

RSVP "Prior engagement". This is the sort of resistance that needs to be put in place. Stop following him round. Only off-guard pictures. Ask him where the Epstein files are.

John Gregory's avatar

maybe some loud cries of "Shame!" would have been effective when he started his string of insults.

Steve 218's avatar

Better to yell 'fraud'. That is a word that Trump recognizes. 'Shame' he doesn't.

Harvey Perry's avatar

Yell “LOSER!!” It would be true, and people recognizing it is he worst fear.

Steve 218's avatar

That's the best response yet, imo.

Noah Dowd's avatar

Or "Quiet, piggy!".

Leigh Horne's avatar

Or doused him with the contents of whatever they had in their drinks glasses. But then again, he already reeks.

Anne-Louise Luccarini's avatar

Not practical: they'd be stopped before they could reach him.

Anne-Louise Luccarini's avatar

Or get up conspicuously and walk out.

Anca Vlasopolos's avatar

I said that about the first, benighted, "dinner," and I yelled it out loud about the second. Why show any deference to the enemy of the First Amendment?

DW's avatar

They were there for each other. I think Wolf Blitzer managed to excoriate Trump in a way that made up for anything Trump could have said

SCS - Michigan's avatar

The journalist's error was not in not walking out. It was in walking in.

Agree with disbanding the DC press corps. They are all about the power and money themselves (see point made above). I lived there 12 yrs, know the drill.

Kathy Koblik's avatar

maybe....stone face seems another good option (and clapping loudly for those receiving awards which sounds like plenty of the journalists he objects to did). I know some just stayed away - if you're there, being polite but authentic seems OK.

Anne-Louise Luccarini's avatar

Anything using the initials "WH" is useless in a time of ballrooms and triumphal arches.

Johnny Canuck's avatar

He surrounds himself with people who shield him from reality. He has no understanding that he is losing. He is a demented recluse with no connection to the rest of the world.

Susanna J. Sturgis's avatar

Those "people who shield him from reality" *are* his "connection to the rest of the world." We know some of those people, but our knowledge is incomplete. I look forward to seeing the lot of them blinking their eyes in the harsh glare of the light of day.

Steve 218's avatar

'Recluse' is not the right word. Those who are, shrink from public appearance. Trump still does too much of that (making public appearances). 'Demented extrovert fits', but is still too kindly a term for him.

CE's avatar

As long as Americans are suffering, Trump is happy. He will never forgive us the mortal sin of failing to elect him for a second consecutive term. The term that he enjoys now is no consolation prize, it is an opportunity….for revenge and destruction of a society that he despises. The rest of the world is in his crosshairs too, for failing to give him the deference and admiration that he thinks he’s due. Trump is not tired of losing, he is energized by the chaos and misery that he is causing.

Gayle Logan's avatar

T does NOT care if anyone is suffering no matter who it is. He is a bigot and is happy that he is removing as many POC as he can slide past all who are not opening their eyes to the concentration camps.

Chris Dortch's avatar

Another uplifting column, Jen. One thing the big buffoon and his goons didn't count on was resistance from the lower courts. SCOTUS can save his bacon with constitutionally questionable rulings only so much, leaving him to the mercy of the lower courts. I love watching these losses pile up. I hope the same Democratic AGs who have apparently busted up the Paramount takeover have steeled themselves for the dirty trickery coming in November. We'll need all the legal might we can muster so Trump can't steal the midterms to continue his assault on democracy and postpone his inevitable reckoning. I live for the day I see him do the perp walk.

Don Kennedy's avatar

The Paramount takeover is delayed, but not yet denied; hopefully that will come later.

Chris Dortch's avatar

Indeed. A lot can happen in the next year, but I hope it's all bad for the grifter and his billionaire buddies.

Steve 218's avatar

You are definitely in good company there.

Gayle Logan's avatar

So much depends on November.....

Gayle Logan's avatar

If the citizens of this nation do NOT vote for whatever democratic candidate that can win in each district or state, then we will be an autocracy. The ignorance in 2024 from all who didn't vote for Harris remains beyond my comprehension and my anger still boils within me.

Anne-Louise Luccarini's avatar

OMG, she was such a good candidate! I used to watch her in the Senate, before - very much the style of Jon Ossoff now.

Chris Dortch's avatar

I hear you! Same with me.

Marliss Desens's avatar

Sometimes I get so focused on the destruction Trump and the Republicans are heaping on the country that I forget that defenders of Democracy are resisting successfully. Thanks, Jen.

Lynn Fisher's avatar

We miss seeing your face on the live feed, Jen. Hope you are okay. Thank you for your always wonderfully written

Anne-Louise Luccarini's avatar

True - but the people we DO see on the live feed are all tops. Ms Rubin is a superlative writer - I have her to thank for cancelling the WaPo after years of subscribing.

Michelle Jordan's avatar

People are no doubt tired of living in uncertainty. There’s no way out of this Iran war with Trump as “commander in chief”, which has driven up the price of gas and everything else as Jen has pointed out with the increased number of tariffs. The Paramount merger delay with Warner was a monumental win for Norm and his legal team as well as America.

William H. Dutton's avatar

Very valuable for you to remind us of wins for the democratic resistance. It is easy to forget or not see among the flooded zone that there are successful challenges to the administration's undemocratic initiatives. They will spur other wins for democracy.

Robert Welker's avatar

Bystander apathy is one of the factors that allows bullies to keep on bullying. Thanks for the reminders of opposition.

Deb Haugh's avatar

“Sustained, dogged resistance”. Keep working everyone.

Ginger Sox's avatar

I wrote to Kaitlyn Collins and told her the fact that he couldn't think of anything bad about her and had to resort to belittling her was actually a compliment. She is an outstanding reporter. He can't stand anyone else getting recognition. I hope we beat his ...!

Gayle Logan's avatar

She and the other reporters should not have been there or T should have been disinvited.

Lynn Fisher's avatar

Updates! From Austin , TX we look forward to seeing your excellent interviews and commentaries and to know “what you are looking forward to

Wade Baynham's avatar

Trump has never tired of losing in the past. He seems to have no category for that in his failing mind. But I'll always be glad for a first time, if it ever comes. We just have to keep handing him loss after loss, no matter what he thinks. His brain is no god of mine. I refuse to bow down.

tamar's avatar

is there a list of the journalists that attended the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington on Friday ? i would like not to read their work.....

Charlie in VA's avatar

If no one went, how would we know what he said? Sure, we'd have the WH press office account, and we all know they never lie!

tamar's avatar

really? you care what he says?

Anne-Louise Luccarini's avatar

How could they? Karoline has the script.

Gayle Logan's avatar

There are very few journalists who have not worked for the GOP since Reagan ended the Fairness Doc. It's why so many people have been so misinformed for decades. I stopped watching mainstream media news which I had done since I was young. My parents put on the news after dinner every night. Colbert gave me the essentials. Maddow is excellent. Then I found Heather Cox Richardson and finally Jermaine Fowler.

Julie Sevig's avatar

I sure hope Norm didn’t go this time! I love him, but that was a disappointment.

Marcia's avatar

I celebrate all losses that the buffoon in the White House deserves. Yay, rule of law and all those courageously and tirelessly standing up for our country.

Now, what to do about the Orange Clown’s nefarious effort to eliminate the rules for historic preservation that are slowing his plot to redecorate the country in maximum tackiness?

I refer to Heather Cox Richardson’s reporting over the weekend about a proposal for a “…major rule change in the National Historical Preservation Act (NHPA). Trump installed a loyalist [Travis Voyles] as vice chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. On Friday, July 17, the chair proposed dramatic revisions to Section 106 of the NHPA. This is the section of the 60-year-old law that requires federal agencies to ‘take into account’ what their actions will do to historic properties and places. This is the requirement that gives the public, as well as local, state, and tribal governments, a voice in the changes to historic and cultural sites. … proposed changes to Section 106 will eviscerate the preservation of our shared civic and cultural heritage in the United States. If [they are] implemented, federal agencies will no longer be required to avoid or minimize damage to our nation’s historic sites and landscapes, or seek public input on federal projects that would impact historic places.”

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-25-2026

It’s like the Kennedy Center debacle all over again—fill the Board with a bunch of lackeys who proceed to vote against the best interests of their own organization in order to pursue trump’s whims.

Can the changes to section 106 be stopped through Court challenges?

Noah Dowd's avatar

If so, I'm sure The Contrarians will find a way.

Stephen Brady's avatar

Unfortunately, we are less than halfway through the reign of the imbecilic tRump. Even if the Dems pull off the 'Blue Tsunami' tRump will be tRump and double down on the chaos.

Gayle Logan's avatar

WITHOUT control of Congress, he would NOT be able to continue to get away with all that he is doing - unless Hegsheth and Miller get their armies to arrest the MOC and citizens.

Anne-Louise Luccarini's avatar

You don't think there would be very strong resistance to arrest? Even counter-aggressive?

Gayle Logan's avatar

I'm not sure what you mean Anne-Louise. Who are you referring to as being resistant or counter-aggressive?