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Party week in Washington wraps with something surprising: Clarity in the race for the White House
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Party week in Washington wraps with something surprising: Clarity in the race for the White House

A week's worth of blistering news events is distilled into clarity by the nation's professional journalists

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Tom LoBianco
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Warren Rojas
Apr 30, 2024
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Party week in Washington wraps with something surprising: Clarity in the race for the White House
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White Correspondents Association president Kelly O’Donnell, of NBC News, preps during rehearsal of the 2024 dinner. (Photo by Eugene Daniels, Politico, via X.com.)

Sometimes it takes a Bacchanalia, or a few dozen, to wrap one’s head around a truly bonkers race for the White House.

Heading into the week of the White House Correspondents Dinner – a tradition which grew from a clubby backroom affair of Old Washington to a celebrity-laden event attracting self-styled influencers from Hollywood and New York – the focus of the nation was on the first ever criminal trial of a former president. 

The dinner itself capped the week with a clear call to protect basic press protections and Constitutional freedoms and liberties. 

“We believe that independent, professional journalists, on hand to document the events of a presidency, are stewards of something precious – more enduring than any news cycle or trend,” said White House Correspondents Association president Kelly O’Donnell, a long-running veteran who has covered Congress and the White House for NBC News for years.

The top journalists in the country recognized that this is still a profession where you can start from humble beginnings and bear witness to history, every day. 

“Born and raised in Washington, D.C., I spent a few years riding by this building,” said Ed Lewis, a veteran photo-journalist for Fox News, referring to the White House. “I would always look in and wonder if I could ever work there, and that dream came true. Being around presidents gave me a sense of pride and honor in the hard work I did. The world is waiting for the video that arrives in that shot.”

President Joe Biden repeatedly ripped Trump – he noted that his vice president endorsed him. (Former Vice President Mike Pence has understandably declined to endorse Trump after the former president’s historic tweet on January 6th which spurred rioters to hunt down Pence and his family in the Capitol.) 

“We have to take this serious — eight years ago we could have written it off as ‘Trump talk’ but not after January 6,” Biden said. 

As Biden ripped Trump, Trump’s top aides passed out cards among the audience goading Biden to debate Trump now – outside the long established rules set by the Commission on Presidential Debates. (Days earlier, Biden told SiriusXM host Howard Stern he would likely debate Trump.) 

In many corners, it’s believed the White House dinner launched Trump’s official foray into politics – after decades of playing behind the scenes – when comedian and late night host Seth Meyers humiliated Trump there in 2011. (Veteran politics reporter

Chris Cillizza
recounted this pivotal moment over at his Substack, “So What”)

Trump skipped the White House dinners when he was in office, but attended the even more-exclusive Gridiron Dinner. “Saturday Night Live” star Colin Jost got mixed reviews for his performance, but nailed Trump while the former president’s top campaign staffers watched on from the audience. 

“The Republican candidate for president owes half a billion in fines for bank fraud and is currently spending his days farting himself awake during a porn star hush money trial and the race is tied?!” Jost said. 

It’s a hard time to crack a laugh in the media industry. 

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