TOI correspondent from Washington: It was as though a bull had been invited to hand out prizes at a china convention. The White House Correspondents’ Association’s rescheduled annual dinner on Friday night produced one of those deliciously improbable scenes that remind the world why American democracy is equal parts constitutional republic and absurdist theatre. There sat President Donald Trump, who has spent years suing, skewering, ridiculing and generally treating journalists the way a cobra views a mongoose, applauding Wall Street Journal reporters as they collected an award for investigating… Donald Trump.The Journal team received the WHCA’s Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability for reporting on Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, introducing the award, reminded the audience – in front of the President – that the reporting had triggered lawsuits, retaliation and personal consequences for reporters.
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“Trump quickly filed a $20 billion lawsuit against the Journal, revealing reporter Khadeeja Safdar’s home address. Her family had to be relocated. The Journal was kicked off of Air Force One,” Blitzer told the gathering, as the President threw up his hands and essayed a wry smile. Only in America could the First Amendment receive an acknowledgement from one of its most trenchant litigants. Try staging that in half the world’s capitals and the dinner menu would consist mainly of prison food.Then came the piece de resistance: Trump smiling, rising, shaking hands with the very journalists whose work he insists is false and whose newspaper he is still battling in court. He had promised he had toned down the speech prepared for April, but Washington quickly discovered that the MAGA boss’ definition of restraint resembles a chainsaw fitted with a muffler. He torched through an hour of familiar terrain, firing jibes and jeers at journalists, tv personalities, and assorted political enemies with the confidence of a man who has never met a microphone he didn’t like. He ribbed reporters about their coverage and joked about a third presidential term (his favorite fantasy). To critics, however, the evening looked less like democratic resilience and more like Washington’s oldest bad habit —debating the menu when the kitchen is on fire. They argued that sharing jokes, champagne, and applause with a President who continues to sue news organizations and threaten broadcasters risks making the extraordinary appear routine. The evening itself was a sequel nobody wanted but everyone felt obliged to attend. The original April gala at the Washington Hilton ended in chaos when an armed man tried to breach security, forcing Secret Service officers into action. Friday’s do-over moved to the Waldorf Astoria under security so tight that even satire needed credentials. Roughly 700 guests, a third of the usual crowd, threaded their way through multiple checkpoints before settling beneath glittering chandeliers that have witnessed many awkward dinners but none quite so exquisitely ironic. A few Trump jokes landed like guided missiles; most disappeared into the ballroom carpet with all the force of damp confetti. The audience, mostly grim-faced, laughed occasionally, the way one laughs at Thanksgiving when an argumentative uncle starts discussing politics after his third glass of wine. Yet after the jokes fade, one image will probably endure. Not the red “Trump 2028” hat, not the insults, not even the political punchlines. It will be the sight of a President, not famous for his grace or eloquence, applauding reporters who investigated him.
