For whatever reason, President Donald Trump felt it was important to address the journalists at the rescheduled 2026 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Friday night. The event, held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., could never replicate the intensity of the original banquet, which was cut short after a gunman intent on targeting administration officials charged a Secret Service checkpoint and opened fire. But judging by the TDS-afflicted press corps’ reaction to Trump’s remarks (which I’ll get to shortly), he really shouldn’t have bothered.
Trump told the crowd he was delighted to be there:
Amazing people. A lot of people that I like, some I don’t like at all, but I respect most of them. I must say that you do a great job, amazing job, and it’s an honor. As I said three months ago, the show must go on. But just like my presidency, the second time is always better, always better, and the third time will be better yet. I’m only kidding.
Trump praised the Secret Service, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, and border czar Tom Homan for their courage during the April 25 attack, noting they had stood on tables while “most of you were under the tables.”
He joked:
After hearing the gunshots, many people yelled, “Get down! Get down!” which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking. Do you believe it? … She’s the only one who understood what that meant. … She’s here tonight. I hope she doesn’t mind that I said that.
Nicki Minaj has called herself Trump’s #1 fan.
Trump spent perhaps too much time discussing his plans for the White House ballroom — a sore subject for much of the media.
He then pivoted to politics, opening with a jab at his Health and Human Services secretary: “I hope that everyone finally got to enjoy their entire very delicious beef tenderloins, very special beef. And I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy, who’s right here personally, ran over the cow in his car.”
“And he cut it up and brought it here for you to eat tonight,” Trump said to much laughter.
This joke and his quip about Nicki Minaj were arguably the night’s biggest hits.
He told the group he had scrapped his original speech, saying, “Oh, that was going to be a doozy. I was so psyched. I was going to rip people. … But we’ll do a little ripping, if you don’t mind.”
And that he did. He clearly had the press in his crosshairs, hitting his nemesis Kaitlan Collins the hardest. The CNN host had, ironically, just received the WHCA’s Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage.
He also had harsh words for “Fake” Jake Tapper, who waited a year after co-moderating the disastrous June 2024 debate that ended former President Joe Biden’s bid for reelection to write a book questioning his cognitive decline.
He also took aim at some of his most outspoken critics, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Rosie O’Donnell, Bruce Springsteen, and “watermelon head” Adam Schiff.
“I have a lot of respect for your profession,” he told the group before warning them, “When I’m not around, you’re all gonna be broke.”
Trump said he would be back next year. “Now, if you get really, really nasty, maybe not. I don’t know.”
Toward the end of his speech, Trump trolled the press, teasing them with a “scoop.” He put on a “TRUMP 2028” hat and announced he would be running for a fourth time.
That’s why tonight, to show just how much I care about the press, and I want to save your ratings, I’m pleased to announce my intention to, and this is somewhat of a scoop, my intention to run for a fourth term as president of the United States. I will be doing that. I won three times. Now I’m going to do it again.
Reactions to Trump’s speech on social media were mostly negative. To be fair, I expected his speech to be far more entertaining. It also went on a bit too long.
Still, the responses from the Left were strikingly hostile and wholly unnecessary. Here are a few of them:
https://x.com/DebraHendler/status/2080834760889274508?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://x.com/marceelias/status/2080836162705309906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://x.com/Wino_Winnie/status/2080820410157814223?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://x.com/notaproviderMD/status/2080840250377564227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://x.com/BeckySpooner1/status/2080835767463772485?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Trump’s full remarks can be viewed on YouTube.
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