White House Correspondents’ Dinner Ditching The Part Where Trump Gets Roasted

Here’s a difficult thing to picture: Donald J Trump, sitting by himself in a comfy chair, emitting a good-natured chuckle at a humorous turn of phrase in a book he’s reading. It does not spring to mind easily. Describing him as a man entirely without a sense of humour might not be accurate, but whatever sense of humour he has, it’s not what you would find in an ordinary person. The things he seems to take delight in are his own ‘jokes’ (dubious) and the misfortune of the people he sees as his enemies.

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That he wouldn’t be subject to jokes at his expense is no huge surprise. To say that he is thin-skinned and egotistic is not a novel observation. Trump boycotting the first White House Correspondents’ Dinner of his term in 2017 is not exactly shocking, because sitting there being made fun of by a professional comedian is maybe the thing he is least capable of doing in the world. Boycotting it again in 2018? Also not so shocking. To put this in context, the last time a sitting president didn’t show up to the dinner, it was Ronald Reagan in 1981 and he was recovering from being shotand he still phoned in to participate.

It’s not going to be a problem for long, though, with the White House Correspondents’ Association announcing that next year’s dinner won’t feature a comedian, but author Ron Chernow, who writes very serious biographies of historical figures.

Chernow has said that he might not be a comedian, but he’s going to avoid making it too dry:

The White House Correspondents’ Association has asked me to make the case for the First Amendment and I am happy to oblige. Freedom of the press is always a timely subject and this seems like the perfect moment to go back to basics. My major worry these days is that we Americans will forget who we are as a people and historians should serve as our chief custodians in preserving that rich storehouse of memory. While I have never been mistaken for a stand-up comedian, I promise that my history lesson won’t be dry.

The news appeared to please Trump, who tweeted that he might actually go to this one:

Wolf had her own response:

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