Trump’s address to the White House press corps is well worth watching. He goes on for an hour and completely dominates the room. The camera shows plenty of journalists looking away and down. They do not wish to look at the president. But he looks out over them and speaks in a manner they are unable to digest, even after five and a half years. Trump’s direct and outspoken attitude is something the journalists cannot swallow.
Their profession is to listen to differing opinions. But they cannot cope with Trump’s message; he is too direct.
It is, of course, a major defeat for them, and they know it. Trump toys with them like a cat with a mouse.
The chain of associations flows in a stream, and there is a coherence. Trump uses “weaving”; he weaves the themes together. He is downright nasty towards a few of them; “fake news” Jake Tapper is not even an insult, but part of the name. These people know that they will be remembered because of Trump.
He speaks to Kaitlin Collins of CNN and asks why she never smiles. She is certainly pretty and has nothing to be ashamed of, so why does she not smile?
Collins tried to corner Trump during an event at St. Anselm College, New Hampshire, on 5 May 2023, when she asked about Jean Carroll and the sexual abuse verdict that had been handed down the previous day.
Trump replies that E. Jean Carroll was married to a journalist, John Johnson, a very likeable man, and that Carroll called him “an ape”. The man was Black.
She has a cat she calls Vagina, says Trump. – This was information we were not allowed to present in court.She also told Anderson Cooper that all women dream of being raped.
– I do not know her myself. I have never met her, said Trump.
Collins is frustrated; this is not going quite as expected. Now she is on the defensive. She has to bring up the Billy Bush tape from the autumn of 2016, which the media were certain was going to destroy Trump. The one in which he says he can grab girls between the legs. Do you stand by what you said? Collins asks.
– I can take it back if that’s what you want, but it has been that way for millions of years. Rich, famous people have certain advantages that they make use of, Trump said matter-of-factly and without any affectation. It is his tone that makes the audience like what they hear. He does not put on an act.
The press has a grudge against Trump that does not disappear. They are supposed to be the voice of the people, but then Trump comes in and not only takes over the stage, he even makes them feel ashamed by pointing out that they are dishonest and do not hesitate to deliver fake news. That is what stings the most.
In other words, they are bought and paid for.
Opinion polls show that the public agrees with him. Trust in the media has been in free fall.
How can they believe they are going to outsmart him? He calls people low-IQ by name, such as Ilhan Omar, “one of my favourites”. Many have been given nicknames they never shake off. Elizabeth Warren cannot rid herself of Pocahontas.
Trump has a remarkable ability to give people nicknames that stick. Kamala will never stand a chance. She is low-IQ. So is the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom. Trump is able to pin these labels on them because he follows events incredibly closely and remembers everything they say and do.
The others remember only what they want to remember.
He coined a new name for the Democrats during the dinner: Dumbo-crat.
This is what NTB got out of the dinner:
Three months after an assassin interrupted the traditional Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, journalists and Donald Trump were back, and the president took to the podium.
After prizes had been awarded to several of the journalists present, it was Trump’s turn to speak at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in the US capital.
– I am relieved to be here. There are many outstanding people here. I do not like everyone, but I respect most of them, said Trump, who is known for having a strained relationship with parts of the press.
– As I said a few months ago, the show must go on.
During the original dinner on 25 April, Cole Tomas Allen ran through the security checkpoint and shot a security guard before being arrested. The 31-year-old from California has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include attempted murder of the president.
There were strict security measures around Friday’s dinner, and Trump also treated the audience to a joke referring to the security arrangements and the assassination attempt three months earlier.
– Everyone looks really good tonight, and I know it wasn’t easy finding shoes to match the bulletproof vests. Many didn’t want to wear the vests because they would rather die than look ten kilos heavier, Trump said.
He also flirted with the idea of running for office again in 2028. The US Constitution prohibits anyone from being elected for more than two terms, but Trump said he planned to run for a fourth. In addition to putting on a red cap bearing the words “Trump 2028”, he once again repeated the false claim that he won the 2020 election—when in fact he lost to Joe Biden.