{"id":2576303,"date":"2026-03-05T05:42:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T10:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/whca-dinner-gives-trump-chance-to-hit-media-critics\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T05:44:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T10:44:44","slug":"whca-dinner-gives-trump-chance-to-hit-media-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/whca-dinner-gives-trump-chance-to-hit-media-critics\/","title":{"rendered":"WHCA dinner gives Trump chance to hit media critics"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhca-dinner-gives-trump-chance-to-hit-media-critics%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2576303&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The piece recalls Barack Obama\u2019s 2011 White House Correspondents\u2019 Association Dinner jokes about Donald Trump, highlighting how that night is often cited as a catalyst for Trump\u2019s later political ambitions and his ongoing feud with the media.It then shifts to the contemporary angle, noting that Trump plans to attend the WHCD as president, an event many strategists say could give him a captive audience to criticize the press and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/super-tuesday-trump-celebrates-from-mar-a-lago-during-massive-night-for-reelection-bid\/\" title=\"Super Tuesday: Trump triumphs at Mar-a-Lago amidst strong reelection prospects\">shape national discussion<\/a> during a pivotal year. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/holiday-sales-growth-expected-to-be-slower-this-year\/\" title=\"Holiday sales growth expected to be slower this ...\">article discusses expectations<\/a> that Trump won\u2019t hold back, while also acknowledging the WHCA\u2019s choice of entertainer and the broader context of strained White House\u2013press relations in recent years, including access restrictions and disputes with media outlets. Set against plans to celebrate the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary, the piece frames Trump\u2019s attendance as a high-profile, potentially consequential moment for his relationship with the media and the press corps.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">White House Correspondents&rsquo; Association dinner gives Trump chance to hit media critics<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2521740\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>At the 2011 <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/white-house-correspondents-association\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"1617\">White House Correspondents&rsquo; Association<\/a> annual <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/white-house-correspondents-dinner\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"2432\">dinner<\/a>, former President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/barack-obama\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"360\">Barack Obama<\/a> delivered withering jokes against then-businessman <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"4\">Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Donald Trump is here tonight! Now, I know that he&rsquo;s taken some flak lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald,&rdquo; Obama joked. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter &mdash; like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4480838\/planning-committee-white-house-ballroom-negative-comments\/\">Planning committee expecting outrage at White House ballroom meeting after 9,000 pages of negative comments<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4480856\/watch-live-trump-ratepayer-protection-pledge\/\">WATCH LIVE: Trump participates in &#8216;Ratepayer Protection Pledge&#8217; electricity costs event<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4480403\/karoline-leavitt-kaitlan-collins-spar-iran\/\">Karoline Leavitt and CNN&#8217;s Kaitlan Collins spar over media bias on Iran<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Trump sat silently as the crowd laughed at his expense. Media lore claims the 2011 dinner was the moment that led Trump to seek the White House. <\/p>\n<p>Now, 15 years later, Trump will return to the dinner on April 25 as the nation&rsquo;s commander in chief. The moment could provide Trump a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-in-5-seconds-flat-common-sense-judge-traps-woke-blm-for-1st-graders-lawyer\/\" title=\"Watch: In 5 Seconds Flat Common Sense Judge Traps Woke &#039;BLM for 1st Graders&#039; Lawyer\">captive audience made<\/a> up of the media outlets he&rsquo;s long lambasted as &ldquo;Fake News.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;ll roast the press,&rdquo; said Ford O&rsquo;Connell, a GOP strategist.<\/p>\n<p>Matt Dole, a GOP strategist, put it even more bluntly, noting that Trump&rsquo;s love-hate relationship with the press has been a factor for decades.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think he still anticipates a tough night,&rdquo; Dole said. &ldquo;And so I don&rsquo;t think he will feel restraint in sharing what he really feels about the press corps.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think we could see Donald Trump speaking about the media the way Donald Trump spoke about the Democrats at the State of the Union,&rdquo; Dole said, referencing Trump&rsquo;s notable moment forcing Democrats to either stand and clap or sit down when he called for prioritizing U.S. citizens over illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>Since he first became president in 2017, Trump has boycotted the dinner every year in office, claiming the media was biased against him and derisively branding reporters as &ldquo;fake news.&rdquo; He was the first president, since former President Calvin Coolidge attended the event in 1924, not to show up at the event.<\/p>\n<p>The highlight of the dinner is almost always the comedian who is chosen to give remarks and the president&rsquo;s own funny take on press freedoms. The WHCA avoided controversy this year by selecting famed mentalist Oz Pearlman, not known for publicly excoriating Trump, as the entertainer for the dinner. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean Trump is in for an easy night.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anybody&rsquo;s going to take it light on him, because he&rsquo;s there in person or in the coverage the next day,&rdquo; Dole said. &ldquo;What will be interesting is that it will certainly be the most talked about press prom in a decade.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>WHCA president Weijia Jiang said in a statement that the group is &ldquo;happy the president has accepted our invitation and look forward to hosting him.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But the statement belies the rough year reporters have faced under Trump&rsquo;s second term. <\/p>\n<p>The White House has had a somewhat strained relationship with reporters after it unsuccessfully attempted to kick the<em>&nbsp;Associated Press<\/em>&nbsp;out of the White House Correspondents Association pool rotation last year. The administration also immediately <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3329833\/trump-takeover-whca-press-rotation-white-house-events\/\">took over assignment duties<\/a> for press coverage inside the White House beginning last year, including adding a New Media pool, which allows newer or untraditional outlets and influencers to cover Trump.<\/p>\n<p>The White House has also limited reporters&rsquo; access to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt&rsquo;s office. <\/p>\n<p>Trump infamously appeared to call Catherine Lucey,&nbsp;<em>Bloomberg&rsquo;s<\/em>&nbsp;White House correspondent, &ldquo;piggy&rdquo; on Air Force One last year. The president has also sued multiple media outlets.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the fact that Trump is deciding to attend the dinner indicates he is willing to enter the proverbial lion&rsquo;s den.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;President Trump showing up to the WHCD is the most on-brand plot twist imaginable,&rdquo; added a GOP operative who has worked on past presidential campaigns. &ldquo;Love him or hate him, and plenty in that room fall into the latter camp. He&rsquo;s the most accessible president of the modern era. And you can bet he&rsquo;ll remind every reporter there of it.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The president has claimed that because the WHCA had asked him &ldquo;very nicely&rdquo; to attend, he would accept the invitation. Trump&rsquo;s attendance also comes as the White House is planning a big rollout for the 250th anniversary of the United States.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4477883\/trump-to-attend-white-house-correspondents-dinner\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4477883\/trump-to-attend-white-house-correspondents-dinner\/\">TRUMP TO ATTEND WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS&rsquo; DINNER FOR FIRST TIME AS PRESIDENT<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In honor of our Nation&rsquo;s 250th&nbsp;Birthday, and the fact that these &lsquo;Correspondents&rsquo; now admit that I am truly one of the Greatest Presidents in the History of our Country, the G.O.A.T., according to many, it will be my Honor to accept their invitation,&rdquo; he <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/116162119298005428\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/116162119298005428\">wrote on Truth Social<\/a>. &ldquo;And work to make it the GREATEST, HOTTEST, and MOST SPECTACULAR DINNER, OF ANY KIND, EVER!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trump&rsquo;s insistence on making this year&rsquo;s 250th anniversary of the nation&rsquo;s founding a momentous occasion is likely a key reason he accepted the invitation, GOP strategists told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. And it will likely give him a chance to blast the media, with whom he has regularly sparred.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >pivotal midterm election year<\/a>,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Connell said. &ldquo;And he is the nation&rsquo;s marketer in chief, and he recognizes that this is an opportunity to not only showcase his influence, but shake the national conversation while celebrating a milestone in a high-level event.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump set to roast media at WHCD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2658,"featured_media":2576304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP26028675074228-e1772656207577.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[4365,9159,4188,3634,36427],"class_list":["post-2576303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-critics","tag-dinner","tag-media","tag-trump","tag-whca"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP26028675074228-e1772656207577.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2576303"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2576307,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2576303\/revisions\/2576307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2576304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2576303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2576303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2576303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}