Both sides were plainly happier with President Trump not attending this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Dare we hope it will signal the beginning of the end of the insufferable smugness of the Washington press corps?
Trump was off in Pennsylvania, rallying with his base. That left the media elite safe to revel in their pretensions of purity.
Yes, the dinner lacked the Hollywood stars of years past. Good: It’s absurd for reporters to think they share Tinseltown’s glamour. Journalism done right is a gritty trade. Cover the beautiful people; don’t think you are them.
Instead, the stars opted for a rival event thrown by comedian Samantha Bee, who at least knows she’s an entertainer even if she runs a joke-news show. Also good: The stronger the divide between reporters and the sanctimonious likes of Bee and the Daily Show’s Trevor Noah, the better.
Of course, that breakup still has a ways to go: The “real” dinner still brought in a lesser Daily Show light to emcee, and Hasan Minhaj dutifully delivered a series of left-wing jabs at the Trump administration, complete with “Nazi” and “racist” name-calling.
The press corps also showed its colors by making Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein its guests of honor. The hope, plainly, is that younger journalists will soon bring down another president.
Indeed, the Trump era is inspiring new extremes of media sanctimony, epitomized by the new slogan at The Washington Post, “Democracy dies in darkness.”
“Comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable” was the slogan of muckraker Finley Peter Dunne. It’s hard to do that when you’re feeling so comfortable yourself.