President Donald Trump has boycotted the White House Correspondents Dinners since the start of his first term, but on Monday he announced he is abandoning that tradition.
“In honor of our Nation’s 250th Birthday, and the fact that these ‘Correspondents’ 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, and work to make it the GREATEST, HOTTEST, and MOST SPECTACULAR DINNER, OF ANY KIND, EVER!” Trump posted on his social media platform TruthSocial.
He added, “Because the Press was extraordinarily bad to me, FAKE NEWS ALL, right from the beginning of my First Term, I boycotted the event, and never went as Honoree. However, I look forward to being with everyone this year. Hopefully, it will be something very Special.”
Trump has a unique relationship with these annual events. In 2011, after Trump controversially spread the unfounded conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, Obama produced his birth certificate and then ridiculed Trump at that year’s dinner.
“Now, I know that he’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,” Obama joked. “And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter — like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”
Obama also took shots at the fact that, up to that point, Trump was most famous as a reality TV show host.
“We all know about your credentials and breadth of experience,” Obama said. “For example — no, seriously, just recently, in an episode of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ — at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn’t blame Lil’ Jon or Meat Loaf. You fired Gary Busey. And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir. Well handled.”
Many individuals close to Trump argue that Obama’s roast, though humiliating Trump into temporary silence that year, ultimately inspired him to seek revenge by running for president in 2016. Nor was this the only occasion when Trump would show a tendency to harbor grudges against people who make him the butt of the joke. Day after late night talk show host Stephen Colbert referred to Paramount’s legal settlement with Trump as a “big fat bribe,” Colbert was fired by CBS. Although CBS insisted the firing had nothing to do with Trump’s open dislike of Colbert and public calling for his termination, Colbert and others have cast doubt on that theory.
More recently, Trump successfully pushed for ABC to suspend late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel after Kimmel criticized Trump supporters for blaming liberals for the assassination of pro-Trump commentator Charlie Kirk. Trump’s effort to fire Kimmel ultimately failed after widespread public outrage.
"You may have read in your colorful newspapers my country’s president would like to shut me up because I don’t adore him in the way he likes to be adored," Kimmel said after his show was saved. "The American government made a threat against me and the company I work for, and all of a sudden we were off the air."
He continued, "But then, you know what happened? A Christmas miracle happened. Well, it was September, it was a September miracle. But the holiday does seem to come earlier and earlier every year, doesn’t it? Millions and millions of people stood up and said: ‘No, this is not acceptable’ ... Our show came back stronger than ever. We won, the president lost and now I’m back on the air every night giving the most powerful politician on earth a right and richly deserved bollocking."
