The White House Correspondents Dinner has been an event that has been held by the President and First Lady since 1924 when Calvin Coolidge hosted the first one. The President and First Lady has hosted the event every year, except for now. There are various reports being circulated that President Donald Trump will not be attending the event.
[Jon]
Typically, this event is attendant by celebrities, members of the Washington media, and other members. Also, there is usually a roast done of the President. However, this shouldn’t come as a shocker that Donald Trump won’t be attending the event as he hasn’t had the best of times with the media since he became president back in January. Since he took over from President Obama, he has continued to attack the media from calling them “fake news” to “the enemy of the American people.”
He sent out a tweet on Saturday afternoon through his official account (@realDonaldTrump) and it read, “I will not be attending the White House Correspondents Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening.” As I read through the responses on his tweet, none of them were supporting his decision and were calling him out.
It has become almost toxic between Trump and the media after he went ahead and barred several news outlets from the briefing on Friday. There have been other outlets who have decided to boycott the event due to how Trump has handled the media in the first month of him being in office. As he continues his first term, he is handling a lot of the problems that are brought upon him very immature.
It should be interesting to see if the relationship between Trump and the media ever gets better or continues to become worse and worse. I don’t recall any president from my readings to talking to people who has had a more toxic relationship with the media.