I have written repeatedly about the shockingly bad judgment shown by Eugene Daniels, the president of the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) and a Politico correspondent, in selecting an anti-Trump comedian for the dinner. Soon after her selection, Amber Ruffin declared that no one wanted President Donald Trump to attend or even be in the same room with him. For months, Daniels and the WHCA ignored the objections, but on Saturday issued a statement that Ruffin was unanimously sacked. The decision is welcomed, though belated. More importantly, there is no indication of any serious reflection on the poor judgment used in the original selection.
The WHCA has long shown a political bias in such comedians, but nothing quite as brazen as Ruffin. Even for the WHCA, it was beyond the pale and many of us had resolved not to attend this year.
Notably, the prior year, the dinner (which I attended) featured Colin Jost. The comedian (before the election) made a tearful comparison of Biden to his late Irish firefighting grandfather. It was nothing short of a public campaign endorsement.
They then selected someone who reportedly views the Trump administration as a gang of “murderers” who “feel like [they are] human beings, but … shouldn’t get to feel that way, because [they are] not.”
It was another blue plate special to be served up at the WHCA dinner.
However, this was about as inviting for Trump and Republicans as a meal with the Donner party.
While some of us were appalled by his choice, Daniels gave a full-throated endorsement of Ruffin and insisted that “Amber’s unique talents are the ideal fit for this current political and cultural climate.”
The group waited for a Saturday (the dead zone for media) to release a strikingly different statement from Daniels: “At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists.”
Who needs a comedian when journalists do their own self-effacing pratfalls?
Jonathan: It’s Sunday and open season on Elon Musk. Elon can’t seem to figure out why people hate him. They are torching his cars and demonstrating in front of his Tesla dealerships. Even in Germany where Musk has a large Tesla factory outside of Berlin 94% of Germans say they won’t touch a Tesla. Could it be Elon’s support for the neo-Nazi NfD party? Germans know a fascist when they see one!
So what is Elon’s reaction to the public hatred of him? Like DJT, Musk blames others for his own problems: “What’s happening, it seems to me, is they’re being fed propaganda by the far left, and they believe it…” Notice how Musk projects on others what he engages in every day. He uses X to to propagate right-wing fascist propaganda with the expectation some people will believe it. It’s from the Goebbels playbook of Nazi propaganda. It’s all about projection.
But Musk doesn’t blame the “crazy guy” who throws Molotovs on his charging station. No, Elon blames “the ones providing the money, the ones pushing the lies and propaganda…Those are the real villains here, and we’re going to go after them. The president has made it clear, we’re going to go after them”. Since Musk is the real puppet master he has enlisted the DOJ and FBI to “go after them”, whoever the “them” might be. We know FBI Director Kash Patel has an “enemies list”. At Musk’s direction Patel will add the “real villains” to his list. The DOJ and FBI now report to the richest person on the planet who now has privatized government agencies to go after his enemies!
While Musk has been successful in gutting government agencies that regulate his businesses he has not be successful against the courts–at least not yet. A federal judge in Manhattan has refused to dismiss a fraud case against Musk for his failure to disclose his initial purchase of shares in the former Twitter. That saved him a cool $200 million! The case is Oklahoma Firefighters Pension & Retirement System vs Musk, et al.
When it comes to interfering in elections Musk is the master. He was able to buy the 2024 election for DJT. Now he is up to his old illegal tricks. This time it’s the election for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court where his candidate, an MAGA supporter, is running against the Democratic candidate. On Thursday Musk posted this on X: “On Sunday, night, I will give a talk in Wisconsin. Entrance is limited to those who have voted in the Supreme Court election. I will also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for your taking the time to vote. This is super important”.
See a problem with Musk’s post? Besides being completely abnormal and dystopian for billionaires to openly try to buy an election–it’s also illegal. Under Wisconsin law it is a felony to offer anything of value to induce someone to vote or refrain from voting. Why is Musk so interested in the SC election in Wisconsin? It’s because he has some important litigation winding its way through the state’s court system and he wants to shift the scales of justice in his favor.
What we are witnessing in the Musk/DJT regime is open corruption on a level never seen before. So for the MAGA crowd of true believers on this blog do you think it’s OK for the richest person on the planet to try to buy a SC election in Wisconsin?
Local #TeslaTakedown reveals ‘grassroots’ protests are AstroTurf
“its organizers, and its participants revealed a broader story about the #TeslaTakedown events popping up nationwide: the AstroTurf nature of the multimillion-dollar professional protest industry, with the footprints of two behemoth enterprises, a $12.6 million political nonprofit, the Indivisible Project, and the Democratic Party. While local chapters of the Democratic Party have put their names to only a small percentage of the protests, their direct involvement is important because it underscores the partisan motivation behind some of the protests.”
https://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/local-teslatakedown-reveals-grassroots-protests-are-astroturf/article_1c368d4d-708c-4074-b5fa-5eaf6a32ea97.html
This is much more interesting than what you wrote, Woke ‘Snow White’ Tanks, Down Nearly 70% In Week Two
https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/snow-white-box-office-70-percent/
George Soros and Reid Hoffman may have already purchased this election. They got in big, and early. At issue is redrawing legislative districts, and so I imagine the estimable Mr. Elias had a hand in the Wisconsin purchase.
This should is a free speech issue that is safe for Turley to argue. Because it involves Trump being incomfortable and liberal comedians. Everyone knows Trump avoided attending the WHCD his entire first term. He doesn’t like being made fun of. Especially in a forum where he can’t “fight back”. It’s a essentially a fancy roasting session that traditionally has made fun of the president. It’s all free speech and Turley is happy they fired a comedian becasue she might be offensive to Trump? Wow.
That’s an absurd spin on this George. The dinner is supposed to be an event where the sides can come together and all enjoy the event, If the “host” hates one of the sides it is counterproductive to the purpose of the event. Is it really appropriate to hire a host that hates the guest of honor?
This column could have been one sentence:
The WHCA dinner is a self-licking ice cream cone on public display.
Few Americans ever knew it existed until Obama decided it was the perfect venue to feed Democrats’ thirst for attacks on Trump after he became a traitor to the party. Now Democrats earning their paychecks by writing about politics can write about this dinner and what goes on within it concerning Trump.
Just to be clear: Turley is happy that a private organization censored it’s self as to not offend the Trump administration.
Tune in for another 20 posts about how much Turley loves free speech.
After a thoughtful review of this comment, I believe it was funny enough unrevised.
Just to be clear: Franke’s inner (and outer) commie demands that the media whose viewership is tanking and profits in free-fall because virulent media anti-Trumpism no longer sells, must keep giving her what she needs in order to deal with her personal TDS mental illness.
After all, Franke gets her income from the soup kitchen that is a brown envelope with her wefare checks and SNAP benefits inside. She isn’t one of the stockholders of any of those failing media corporations, dying because there aren’t enough Franke’s left out there to make media TDS still profitable.
Arguably, the theology of communism should be considered to by one of the psychiatric diseases.
SNAP benefits are distributed by a debit card that works like a normal back debit card, but with limits on what it can by. It is all automated. Any policy wonk knows that.
No, the dress wearing guy that leads the group of “reporters” realized that this idiot woman would end up hurting Democrats due to it’s ugly, partisan and unfunny nature when clips of her routine were released. If you think that the head of the WHCA bowed down to Trump you are as big of an idiot as we all imagine.
How about instead of a comedian yapping at the dinner, they just play a video loop of Alberta Testanero — the TDS lunatic NYC subway rider who assaulted and chased a MAGA-capped guy, only to end up face planting and licking concrete on the subway platform (https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/03/30/woman-who-ate-concrete-chasing-after-trump-supporter-on-nyc-subway-has-been-identified-n2654682).
It would be just and entertaining…, and probably cheaper too.
Jonathan: DJT’s attacks on free speech and the press are legion. For weeks the DJT WH has attacked the WHCA for choosing DJT critic and comedian Amber Ruffin to be the headline performer at next month’s dinner. Just like some law firms who caved in to DJT’s threats and intimidation, the WHCA has now joined the crowd of capitulators.
It’s a sad day when the mainstream media is willing to give up its independence and bow to the demands of a fascist dictator. And it defies logic that you, as the big defender of “free speech”, would support the cancellation of Ruffin’s appearance. That’s the saddest part of all!
Don’t be afraid people, Eugene is a black biased anti Trumper. He hired a black, biased, anti Trumper. Ask all the black auto, steel, oil and gas workers if the Haye trump for creating higher paying jobs!
Jonathan: if Dennis McIntyre actually IS a first name basis friend of yours… when are you finally going to arrange an intervention for him? This country still provides emergency psychiatric care to the indigent when there’s a potential that they will become dangerous to themselves.
It’s obvious to all here that Dennis McIntyre has created and alternate reality, the opposite of the one normal Americans live in. Now he’s permanently moved into the alternate reality he created and is demanding that everybody else move in with him.
Jonathan, do your friend Dennis a solid; get him some help.
its clear that intelligent people pay attention as trump uses his power to wreck the country that had the temerity to elect someone else in 2020- my brother told me years ago that he watched my father discipline me for actin a fool and chose to act in a way that avoided punishment-dc correspondents live and die as a function of their access to power- right now, the lunatics are running the asylum, but journalists still have kids in college and house payments, etc- i voted for tru,p- twice- and no consider him to be a cancer on america-but-after trump v us- and c;lear evidence that revenge is his primary motivator-renders the association’s capitulation entirely understandable-turley joins the ranks of dershowitz, jarrett and mccarthy as lap dog sychophants with bar cards
“as trump uses his power to wreck the country”
– wrecking the country by deporting the MILLIONS of Guest Democrat Voters, aka Illegal Aliens, invited and allowed in contrary to existing immigration laws by The Oval Office House Plant.
– wrecking the country by identifying and attempting to eliminate hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars of bureaucratic waste, abuse, and flat out political corruption.
– wrecking the country by stopping the mandate of an old white guy, telling girls and women they must submit to men coming into their locker rooms and bathrooms.
– wrecking the country by stopping the mandate of an old white guy who told women they must submit to men competing against them in womens’ sports.
Did I miss anything?
I don’t think you know what that word “wreck” means. Of course, I don’t believe you voted for Trump, so there is that…
Wrecking the country from mindless and fickle tariffs on our allies.
Wrecking the country by destroying our public health system, which is ever dumber since we are in a measles outbreak.
Wrecking the country by creating havoc on everyone who depends on the federal grant system
I left out that they are not really saving money, taxes are going up, government revenue is going down, and the deficit is not going down. It takes solid incompetence to pull that off. These guys and their flowers are absolute morons.
What taxes are going up (and just saying tariffs is insufficient as it is more complex that that), what revenue is going down, and for God’s sake did you really expect the deficit to drop in the first two months in office? Like a battleship, the turning radius is large and cumbersome. It will take some time.
“We applaud the Trump administration for stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades,” UAW President Shawn Fain said. “Ending the race to the bottom in the auto industry starts with fixing our broken trade deals, and the Trump administration has made history with today’s actions.”
Fain said automakers should return union jobs to the U.S.
“These tariffs are a major step in the right direction for autoworkers and blue-collar communities across the country, and it is now on the automakers, from the Big Three to Volkswagen and beyond, to bring back good union jobs to the U.S,” he said.
The White House expects the auto tariffs to generate $100 billion in federal revenue. Trump said he hopes to eventually bring in $600 billion to $1 trillion in tariff revenue in the next year or two. Trump also said the tariffs would lead to a manufacturing boom in the U.S., with auto companies building new plants, expanding existing plants and adding jobs.
https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/union-says-carmakers-should-absorb-trumps-25-tariff-imports
Johnson & Johnson Increases U.S. Investment to More than $55 Billion Over the Next Four Years
“Investment builds on almost 140-year legacy of improving and saving lives and supporting American jobs
Includes four planned new manufacturing facilities, with ground-breaking today in North Carolina on $2 billion+ facility
Total Company U.S. economic impact estimated to be more than $100 billion per year”
https://www.jnj.com/media-center/press-releases/johnson-johnson-increases-u-s-investment-to-more-than-55-billion-over-the-next-four-years
Hyundai plans fresh $20 billion investment in US, including new Louisiana steel plant, as tariff threats loom
https://nypost.com/2025/03/24/us-news/hyundai-plans-fresh-20-billion-investment-in-us-including-new-louisiana-steel-plant-as-tariff-threats-loom/
Billions and billions of dollars to build factories, creating real jobs, putting more working class American’s to work in good paying jobs. It is a stark contrast to the hot mess that was Bidenomics. If this is incompetence, more please!
You could have saved yourself some writing time and all of us reading time by just typing “Trump is an orange meanie”.
Are you going to attend now?
Comedian Ruffin is so unique among entertainers in that she doesn’t appear to be the least bit funny. I guess in this age of realignment not only are boys able to be girls with the swish of a wrist but comedians no longer have to actually provide a laugh.
The WHCA is a joke of themselves.
I once watched CBS evening news for 35 years. With O’Donnell, I soon switched to NBC. Now it’s ABC.
I once watched Meet the Press – for 40 years – but I quit. Just as I have now quit watching Stephanopoulos on This Week.
I once watched MSNBC and CNN. I’ve also quit FOX News.
I once took the Gray Lady, Post, and WSJ now prefer the NY Post and go overseas to Asian Times, Reuters and IB Times.
It’s simple, I want balls and strikes, not opinion. Especially from snot nosed kids about as sophisticated as my daughter.
Who pays? The advertisers, of course, they’re who pay the price of talking heads like Maddow driving me away.
“Who pays? The advertisers, of course, they’re who pay the price of talking heads like Maddow driving me away.”
Under the current administration the advertisers probably pay the price. Under Biden or many other previous regimes, we taxpayers would pay, because they would have found a dozen ways to bail out the woke media *and* the companies that faithfully supported our burgeoning fascism with their advertising dollars.
ABC considers The View as part of their news division. Think harder about where you get your news.
Since they hate Trump
Trump should Rescind any members’ white house pass for press briefing!
What really is the difference between an event such as the White House Correspondants affair and, say, the Oscar’s? Nothing, really; they are both peopled by those with the same, flawed ideology,, and are only important to those sharing that ideology. The sane adults among us just ignore these cultish activities as they are just rituals intended to appease the “gods” of radical progressivism.
Pay them no more heed than we would the rantings of a Lewis farrakhan – a display of inner hate and contempt for those not adhering to their eccentric ideologies. But also remember just how easy it is for radicals to inspire violence and keep them at arm’s length as the threat to domestic tranquility that the pose.
You said, “they are both peopled by those with the same, flawed ideology, and are only important to those sharing that ideology.”
Which is true enough. But somehow these people have wound up at the heads of colleges, institutions and organizations across the country. NPR somehow winds up with 87 out of 87 journos from those flawed idiots. And government and the judiciary. They are like an infestation of cockroaches, nibbling away at the foundations of the country.
75 million of them voted for Harris in 2024, and poor Europe is beset with them. Something is wrong with white people to produce these many idiots.
“Something is wrong with white people to produce these many idiots.”
I wonder which reaction will happen first: you are accused of bias against white people for accusing them of producing an excess of idiots; you are accused (again) of bias against black people, because the accuser inferred that you implied a corollary that black people could create a similar number of idiots without that result indicating a malfunction.
I authored a tract back in 2018 concerning the diminution of a truly original American Art force during the WPA. It was administered during the FDR projects created during the great depression. In it I noted the unduly heavy influence given to socialist, european inspired artists who were able to infiltrated and later command the directions of our nascent cultural centers such as the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan, and other private and public institutions that have had a very heavy hand at drawing us away from our roots and, instead, positioning modern, socialist concepts to become embedded throughout our centers of culture – including our education/media industries. I have recently pulled out my copy of that tract and am working to coordinate that message with the new MAGA movement as I believe that restoring our sidetracked distinctly American culture and sending the progressive modern culture back to europe (where their idea of culture is a giant green butt plug displayed outside the Louvre) would better serve our european union allies who seem to have abrogated their cultures to the infiltrating mobs of immigrants that are dissolving their nations in good time.
Not sure if President Trump was invited but if I were he I’d decline the invitation.
The dinner menu for the WHCA should appropriately be a hastily prepared dish, consisting of one side only, no meat; and containing not the first bit of anything real. The first bite of which tells you the entire setting including the food is fake.
great analysis of an insipid event.
“a hastily prepared dish, consisting of one side only”
Unseasoned tofu served at room temperature…
One should not overlook the fact that without the WHCD, Trump might not have become President back in 2016. I remember Obama’s brilliant joke about Trump at the 2016 WHCD like it was yesterday. I cracked up laughing at the time and every time I re-viewed the video. Today, I no longer laugh. It just goes to prove that there is no greater force to motivate personality-disordered individuals than to hurt their weakest spot, their ego. Hitler wanted to study art when he was an unemployed and income-less youth in Vienna but the famous Vienna Art Academy rejected him. About 30 years later, when he was Reich Chancellor, he hosted prominent people at the Bayreuth Festival every year. One year he hosted the man who had been head of the Vienna Art Academy when Hitler was rejected. Hitler allegedly told him the story and then said: “If you had not rejected me then, I might not have had to become Chancellor of Germany!” This anecdote was documented by a most respected historian (Brigitte Hamann).
generouslybf8cfd29cb-And your point is??? This is about as interesting as Roadrunner and Wile E Coyote (but there are much funnier). And about as useful as a toothache.
I dispute your characterization of Obama as Hitler.
You should read my comment carefully. If there is a comparison with Hitler, it is Trump and I am not suggesting that Trump is a dictator like Hitler. All I am suggesting is that personality-disordered individuals tend to have weak points and when those weak point are hit, all sorts of energies become loose. In psychiatric terms: narcissism is typically a reaction to low self-esteem and any injury to that self-esteem, however small objectively, can trigger narcissistic rage. Or as in the case of Trump: an unbending will to get back at his tormentor.
All I am suggesting is that personality-disordered individuals tend to have weak points
All I am suggesting is that such persons with those disorders, can lead to Trump Derangement Syndrome – often expressed as an inability to offer both rational approval and disapproval on issues on the merits, instead lapsing into demented moments as an Internet psychiatrist, channeling their own personal mental illnesses and emotional disturbances.
Reading your comments carefully, when you skip right past Obama’s glaringly obvious narcissism and desperate need to be seen as The Professor Of The Teachable Moment to the nation as his class, I don’t think you actually grasp what narcissism looks like.
But then again, who better to give Obama a pass, claiming “a brilliant joke about Trump” while on their way to do Internet Psychological Analysis of Trump, than a demented Democrat still hysterical that Obama didn’t get his Fourth Term, served up by The DEI Hire.
generouslybf8cfd29cb- i did read it carefully and it’s still just a toothache. I’ll see my dentist tomorrow and resolve the ache but keep the tooth. That way I can still sink my teeth into juicy idiot articles.
“. . . there is no greater force to motivate personality-disordered individuals than to hurt their weakest spot, their ego.”
Ever notice how armchair psychology and projection often go hand in hand?
If not at the WHCD, I am certain that the egomaniac that was obama would have found many other opportunities to impugn Trump; the setting and date are of no significance. The important thought that must be kept in mind is that the nation was over-filled with prog nonsense and wanted a change. In fact, that 4 year hiatus/reversal under biden only cemented the belief in the need for radical change. It was the totality of the prog march to the far left that elevated Trump. I believe that had there been any true conservative with the resources to grab the nascent MAGA movement (although at the time that moniker had not been applied to the already primed movement in search of a voice) Trump would not have entered the race. The notion of MAGA preceded Trump’s escalator ride.
I agree with your analysis. In fact, the first one who had given the trade balance the importance which it definitely deserves was Ross Perot back in 1992 (“you will hear a sucking sound of jobs moving South”). Had he been elected, he would have made trade agreements his top priority because businessmen (as opposed to politicians) know what a trade balance is. I hasten to add, though: Perot would have done it more effectively through firm and forceful negotiations. Trump applies the sledgehammer and uses blackmail and that will eventually jeapordize his success. Warren Buffett wrote this beautiful (and entertaining) article about trade balances back in 2003 (Thriftville vs. Squanderville”). His approach, too, would have been better than Trump’s: https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/growing.pdf
Warren Buffett wrote this beautiful (and entertaining) article about trade balances
That would be the Warren Buffett who, after careful economic analysis, paid billions into getting Obama elected as the best candidate for the country and it’s economy. Because as Obama repeatedly told America, “The Rich Like Buffett Don’t Pay Their Fair Share”.
Same Warren Buffett who after similar economic analysis, paid billions in an attempt to get Hillary Clinton elected. Who also said “The Rich Like Me Don’t Pay Our Fair Share”.
Same Warren Buffett, who after further economic analysis, determined who better to protect the US economy than Biden. Who also said “The Rich Like Trump Don’t Pay Their Fair Share”.
And of course, the same Warren Buffett who engaged in his last bit of economic analysis and worked to first get The Oval Office House Plant reelected, and after that fell through, decided that a DEI Hire, the brilliantly successful Border Czar, would be the best choice for the US economy. Who (you guessed it) campaigned on “The Rich Don’t Pay Their Fair Share”.
For a capitalist, it’s hard to miss he prefers to spend his billions in political campaigns attempting to get Marxists who obsessively over-regulate and “redistribute the wealth” hired.
Perhaps he has a nose for smelling which Marxists in government will ensure that Berkshire Hathaway is looked after? Like killing pipelines so that oil continues moving on his railroads instead?
You found Buffett’s article entertaining – as I find your post mildly entertaining, claiming that Buffett’s record of choosing Marxists whose mantra is “The Rich Don’t Pay Their Fair Share” means his analysis of trade balances is reliable.
“About 30 years later, when he was Reich Chancellor, [. . .] he hosted the man who had been head of the Vienna Art Academy when Hitler was rejected.”
That would be a neat trick. Both the then-head of the Academy, and the professor who allegedly rejected Hitler, died long before Hitler became chancellor.
Both men were still dead when Hitler attended the Bayreuth Festival.
Somebody will act up. They can’t help themselves.
The White House should start a new custom of the annual First Amendment Breakfast to celebrate journalists who used their First Amendment rights to publish the truth. Awards for Meranda Devine and the NY Post for reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop might qualify for an award, as would the journalists who wrote about the RussiaGate scandal abd showed how it was fake news. President Trump could release FBI and CIA inside reports showing just how evil the government was in its lawfare campaign. That would surely whet the apetite of the public to tune in. The dishonest media have their way of celebrating each other, so why not have a celebration of the true journalists who don’t cave to their bosses and lie to their readers. Woilliam Lerwis, the Washington Post editor who castigated his editorial board and staff saying, “The publkis is just not buying your stuff!” could be given a special award. Fake Pulitzer prizes made toi look like the real thing but clearly marked “fake” could be given in absentia to all the reporters who got real ones for reporting fake news.
Great idea !!
jjc-perfect suggestion.
JJC,
Great idea!
“The White House should start a new custom of the annual First Amendment Breakfast to celebrate journalists who used their First Amendment rights to publish the truth.”
That has some merit, but I feel the need to point out that the White House (no matter who the occupant at any given time) is probably not the most objective possible arbiter of who has been reporting the unvarnished “truth”. If the point is merely to offset the WHCA bias, that works fine. If it is to identify and reward journalists who have diligently uncovered unpleasant truths and accurately conveyed them to the public, I would prefer a more neutral party. Unfortunately, such parties are currently in rather short supply…
The WHCA has the singular achievement of conjoining the professions of journalism and political hacks. That’s “unity” of a sort.
gdonaldallen-Leave journalism out of it. They’re just political hacks
This is nothing but a shallow, dishonest, cosmetic ploy on the part of WHCA in an attempt to avoid the summary dismissal of their awards and ceremony based on headline-dominating bias evidence (the comic). It is shallow, stupid, and unlikely to have the intended effect. I confidently predict that the actual awards will *all* be given to the usual list of lefiist, wokist, suspects, with zero approval or recognition afforded to any journalist with the slightest trace of conservative or libertarian leaning. I’d be happy for that prediction to be proven inaccurate, but this inveterate cheapskate would put good on its validity.
“…would put good *money* on its validity.}