#Trump #President #USA #WHCA #dinner
Trump tweeted on February 26th at 3:23 AM that he will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) Dinner this year. However shortly after Trump’s tweet, the president of the WHCA said in an email that the dinner would take place even without Trump’s attendance as has been the tradition since the beginning.
The dinner that is scheduled for April 29 will highlight some of the best political journalism of the past year and will also recognize the promising students who represent the next generation. The WHCA also awards $100,000 in scholarships at its annual dinner according to it’s website, and recently started a mentoring program that pairs working journalists with journalism students.
This is not the first time a President won’t be able to attend the WHCA dinner. In 1978, Jimmy Carter declined to attend, citing exhaustion. First lady Rosalynn Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale also didn’t show up that year. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan managed to deliver remarks by phone even though he was at Camp David recovering from an assassination attempt.
In 2011, President Barack Obama roasted Trump at the dinner – five minutes of jokes directed at the man who had raised questions about whether Obama was born in the US. Obama ended the roast by flashing a picture of the then-hypothetical Trump White House, emblazoned with pink neon and gold columns, with bikini-clad women relaxing in the fountain outside. (And now Trump is President, I wonder if this can be one of his motivations)
