Next Year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner Won’t Have Trump or a Comedian
Instead, the White House Correspondents Association has opted to have historian and author Ron Chernow to host the White House Correspondents’ Dinner next year, Saturday, April 27th, 2019. He’ll be focusing on the First Amendment, specifically freedom of the press, at this point in history.
It’s an unfortunate decision by the WHCA (and, if we had more conspiracy theory leanings, might think this has something to do with getting Jim Acosta’s White House press credentials back). Though it may not have been explicit intention of the WHCD at its inception, it has become a perfect symbol of how much us Americans get to speak against power, staring it right down the face while doing so.
We’re sure Chernow will have something very eloquent to say, possibly still critical of Trump and everything tangential to his Administration as well as the media covering it, but it’s hard to imagine it being as visible and effective as a skilled comedian roasting D.C. to their faces (even if Trump isn’t there).
Look, we’re not going to on and on about how it feels like the WHCD is chickening out here (not unlike Trump chickens out on never showing up to the dinner himself because he is a coward that rules out of fear), but we’re sure, above everyone else, C-SPAN is furious that this night of guaranteed ratings/views is very likely gone.