The casts of MS NOW and CNN were not thrilled with President Trump’s Friday speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner as they reacted to finding themselves on the receiving end for once of the dinner’s more pointed jokes.MS NOW did not even let Trump finish his speech before The Briefing host Jen Psaki interrupted, “Okay, in case you've had enough for this moment, we're going to break in for a moment. This has felt so far to me, like one of those awkward wedding speeches where the bride's father thinks he's funnier than he is and goes on way too long telling stories.” Jen Psaki interupts Trump's WHCD speech, "Okay, in case you've had enough for this moment, we're going to break in for a moment. This felt so far to me, like one of those awkward wedding speeches where the bride's father thinks he's funnier than he is and goes on way too long… pic.twitter.com/SWuS6HcLJX— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 25, 2026 Psaki lamented that Trump is “a man who has spent his presidency attacking, threatening, and suing the very media organizations who are in the room as he is speaking tonight, which I think we all have to talk about and acknowledge.”A few minutes later, former ABC reporter Terry Moran opined that “I think he's on his best behavior in some ways, you know, he's not ranting at the press. And once again, I think that's evidence, whatever his poll numbers, he's in charge. And I don't think he thinks he's going to lose power. He's going to — whatever happens in the midterms, he's going to attack the results if they don't go his way.”Moran further claimed Trump is “a megalomaniac now, filled with authority, and he is making his mark on the country physically, legally, morally, in every way. There will be an age of Trump that will be remembered. I'm sure that's the way he thinks about it.” Later, former ABC reporter Terry Moran says, "I think he's on his best behavior in some ways, you know, he's not ranting at the press. And once again, I think that's evidence, whatever his poll numbers, he's in charge. And I don't think he thinks he's going to lose power. He's… pic.twitter.com/f0G3NEYd53— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 25, 2026 Psaki disagreed, “I have a very opposite view on this. I think he feels quite weak inside and under threat because of his poll numbers, and because he can read a poll and sees what's happening out in the country and knows that if there's a take back of even part of Congress, that there's going to be a lot of attention paid to his administration, and it's not going to be as easy for him to avoid scrutiny.”What Moran and Psaki did agree on is that, in Moran’s words, “He'll attack the elections and I think he's got a plan to prevent anyone taking power.”Later, correspondent Eugene Daniels, who had the not-so bright idea to invite Amber Ruffin to the 2025 dinner before that idea fell apart, decried Trump’s speech, “The reason it's not funny is because Donald Trump has kicked the Associated Press out of the pool. He has taken over the pool. He is — he has — they have subpoenaed journalists. They have knocked on their doors and taken things for doing their jobs so he can act as if this is normal, right?” Eugene Daniels, who was the one who had the bright idea to invite Amber Ruffin last year before that fell apart, claims "At the end of the day, the reason it's not funny is because Donald Trump has kicked the Associated Press out of the pool. He has taken over the pool. He is. He… pic.twitter.com/viWh4Ihfei— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 25, 2026 A few minutes later, Daniels compared Trump to a schoolyard bully, “I think to your point earlier about him feeling weak, like he's very insecure. And so like bully, you know, I was bullied as a kid… but the bullies as I got older, what I realized is that they were insecure, they were fearful about—and they were learning the wrong lessons about what it means to be a man. And I think that's what you see with Donald Trump a lot of the times is that he is — sees one way to be a leader.” Daniels also claims "I think to your point earlier about him feeling weak, like he's very insecure...As I got older, what I realized is that they [bullies] were insecure, they were fearful about—and they were learning the wrong lessons about what it means to be a man. And I think… pic.twitter.com/dfjOiol85O— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 25, 2026 Over at CNN, John Berman led off that network’s response by reading the company press release in response to Trump saying Kaitlan Collins looks like Dylan Mulvaney, ‘The statement reads, quote, “Kaitlan Collins is an exceptional, trusted journalist being honored tonight for her depth of knowledge in the context she provides to audiences all over the world. She reports every day from the White House and the field with real strength and tenacity, and skillfully brings that reporting to the anchor chair and CNN platforms every day. We stand by her to the fullest extent.’ And we do.Co-anchor Laura Coates agreed and declared, “And we should. And we must. And the president, just talking about the respect he has for journalists in this room, frankly, I didn't see much of it in the last hour of his speech.” After Trump concluded, CNN's John Berman and Laura Coates began by reading the company press releases with Coates also claiming "And the president, just talking about the respect he has for journalists in this room, frankly, I didn't see much of it in the last hour of his… pic.twitter.com/dScWUlG9gy— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 25, 2026 She then read a second statement from CNN patting itself on the back, “But the president made additional attacks on some of our other colleagues, Anderson Cooper, Jake Tapper and given that, I want to read this from CNN Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson, ‘We stand by our journalists and the integrity and fair mindedness with which the CNN team reports the news. Honest, accurate journalism may sometimes irritate politicians, but our right to report and present that reporting to the public without government interference is fully protected by the U.S. Constitution. CNN will continue to exercise this right.’”Minutes later, media correspondent Brian Stelter declared, “You could hear a president who wants to talk about the power of the media. He knows the power of the media. He loves it. He resents it. He craves it. He wants to control it. So, he insults the journalists that he can't control. He gives shout-outs to the media executives who he thinks are his allies, whether they are or not.”Brian Stelter claims "You could hear a president who wants to talk about the power of the media. He knows the power of the media. He loves it. He resents it. He craves it. He wants to control it. So, he insults the journalists that he can't control. He gives shout outs to the… pic.twitter.com/LGVYhhoap4— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 25, 2026 Stelter then sort of admitted that CBS and Paramount have not suddenly become MAGA TV, “Paramount executives don't always feel the same way that the president does about the vision for the company. But, you know, Trump thinks he has them in his pocket, and that is problematic, that he has that impression.”He also compared Trump’s remarks to “a comedic speech in high school and I totally bombed. And it was humiliating. And I kind of feel like that's what I watched. It was giving me flashbacks to 11th grade in high school tonight.”Eventually NewsNight anchor Abby Phillip took over and, after playing a clip of Trump denouncing reporters with Trump Derangement Syndrome, mourned, “There were a lot of other attacks on the press that were much harsher and nastier and undignified.” After a clip of Trump denouncing Trump Derrangement Syndrome, Abby Phillip laments "And, you know, there were a lot of other attacks on the press that were much harsher and, nastier and undignified." pic.twitter.com/9j32hRrBhv— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 25, 2026 Over the years, the WHCD has had comedians wish death upon conservatives, call them racist, and accuse conservative women of being the female version of an Uncle Tom, among other things. If the media wants to turn the WHCD into a made-for-TV spectacle, then it can’t complain that what goes around eventually comes around.Here are transcripts for the July 24 shows:MS NOW The Briefing with Jen Psaki7/24/20269:57 PM ETJEN PSAKI: Okay, in case you've had enough for this moment, we're going to break in for a moment. This has felt so far to me, like one of those awkward wedding speeches where the bride's father thinks he's funnier than he is and goes on way too long telling stories. I mean, I have been to countless White House Correspondents’ Dinners. I have worked for two presidents who have spoken at these dinners, and it's always stressful to come up with funny jokes. But here we are. Now, the backdrop again, we've been talking about this, but the backdrop of tonight's speech was not just that this is a man who is somewhere between 30 and 32 or 33 percent in recent polls for overall approval rating. It's a man who has spent his presidency attacking, threatening, and suing the very media organizations who are in the room as he is speaking tonight, which I think we all have to talk about and acknowledge. And as for the speech itself, and if you've been listening, you've heard from a lot of this, but just in case you're tuning in now, or you're just trying to make sense of what's happening, he spent a good chunk of time talking about his favorite topic of all time surprise, surprise, his job as an interior decorator, musing about the chandeliers in the Palm Room and new windows. Everyone. We're in the middle of a war, but new windows and the chandelier. And of course, about his second favorite job as White House events coordinator from the recent fight on the White House lawn. That was quite a horror show that we all saw two plans for the future and his events he's planning in the future.…9:59 PM ETTERRY MORAN: That said, I think he's on his best behavior in some ways, you know, he's not ranting at the press. And once again, I think that's evidence, whatever his poll numbers, he's in charge. And I don't think he thinks he's going to lose power. He's going to — whatever happens in the midterms, he's going to attack the results if they don't go his way. And I think he's riding as high as he can. He's a megalomaniac now, filled with authority, and he is making his mark on the country physically, legally, morally, in every way. There will be an age of Trump that will be remembered. I'm sure that's the way he thinks about it.PSAKI: Well, see, I have a very opposite view on this. I think he feels quite weak inside and under threat because of his poll numbers, and because he can read a poll and sees what's happening out in the country and knows that if there's a take back of even part of Congress, that there's going to be a lot of attention paid to his administration, and it's not going to be as easy for him to avoid scrutiny. And that's part of it. And yes, he will certainly do everything you said.MORAN: He'll attack the elections—PSAKI: Of course he will.MORAN: —and I think he's got a plan to prevent anyone taking power.PSAKI: But that's a sign, I think, of feeling weak, not feeling strong.MORAN: Possibly.…10:01 PM ETEUGENE DANIELS: So he knows the people in that room do have a kind of power, right? They do have a kind of influence. So he's constantly kind of auditioning to you. When you're when you meet Donald Trump, you talk to him, he's selling himself to you, right? And that's why he makes the jokes. He is a little bit self-deprecating. And I think at the end of the day, he can be as self-deprecating as he wants. He can make as many jokes about Bobby Kennedy as he wants. At the end of the day, the reason it's not funny is because Donald Trump has kicked the Associated Press out of the pool. He has taken over the pool. He is — he has — they have subpoenaed journalists. They have knocked on their doors and taken things for doing their jobs so he can act as if this is normal, right? He's going to keep going. And he's — he might be ranting about the press at this point, but he's ranting and raving and raving, right?…10:09 PM ET               DANIELS: I think to your point earlier about him feeling weak, like he's very insecure. PSAKI: Yeah.DANIELS: And so like bully, you know, I was bullied as a kid. They said I was gay. They were right. But they were still mean about it. But—PSAKI: You’re still six foot five. DANIELS: Correct. Exactly. PSAKI: So, there's that. DANIELS: Exactly. I can tussle, but the bullies as I got older, what I realized is that they were insecure, they were fearful about—and they were learning the wrong lessons about what it means to be a man. And I think that's what you see with Donald Trump a lot of the times is that he is — sees one way to be a leader. And I think there are a lot more ways than maybe or maybe even more effective than the way that he views it. And so it's attack, attack, attack, be mean to the people who you feel like are being mean to you. When he has all the power, he has consolidated more power than any other president in, definitely, modern history, possibly in history. Right? We'll have to look at the end of the day when this is all over and see. But someone with all that power, with access to all of the information, with access, he could call anyone on Earth right now and they would probably pick up. And yet he still has to tussle with people because they said something mean about him.***CNN News Night with Abby Phillip7/25/202610:39 PM ETJOHN BERMAN: Before we bring in the panel, I want to read you a statement from CNN in the wake of the president's remarks tonight about CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who was honored tight for her breaking news reporting. The statement reads, quote, “Kaitlan Collins is an exceptional, trusted journalist being honored tonight for her depth of knowledge in the context she provides to audiences all over the world. She reports every day from the White House and the field with real strength and tenacity, and skillfully brings that reporting to the anchor chair and CNN platforms every day. We stand by her to the fullest extent.” And we do.LAURA COATES: And we should. And we must. And the president, just talking about the respect he has for journalists in this room, frankly, I didn't see much of it in the last hour of his speech. But the president made additional attacks on some of our other colleagues, Anderson Cooper, Jake Tapper and given that, I want to read this from CNN Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson, “We stand by our journalists and the integrity and fair mindedness with which the CNN team reports the news. Honest, accurate journalism may sometimes irritate politicians, but our right to report and present that reporting to the public without government interference is fully protected by the U.S. Constitution. CNN will continue to exercise this right. …10:45 PM ETBRIAN STELTER: You could hear a president who wants to talk about the power of the media. He knows the power of the media. He loves it. He resents it. He craves it. He wants to control it. So, he insults the journalists that he can't control. He gives shout-outs to the media executives who he thinks are his allies, whether they are or not. He repeatedly mentioned the Ellisons, the owners of Paramount who were trying to buy CNN, and our parent company, Warner Brothers Discovery. Today, Paramount was dealt a big setback. They've had to agree to a timeline that will delay that merger for many months, probably into 2027, a big setback for Paramount. But he was praising Larry and David Ellison, calling both men his friends and saying he believes they're going to make good changes to CBS. Paramount executives don't always feel the same way that the president does about the vision for the company. But, you know, Trump thinks he has them in his pocket, and that is problematic, that he has that impression. He wants to control the media. But listen to the conversation we're having right now and the conversation on other networks and all across social media, people are open and able and free to criticize the American president. And that's what this night's actually all about, that celebration of the First Amendment. John, Laura, I once had to give a comedic speech in high school and I totally bombed. And it was humiliating. And I kind of feel like that's what I watched. It was giving me flashbacks to 11th grade in high school tonight.…11:03 PM ETABBY PHILLIP: And, you know, there were a lot of other attacks on the press that were much harsher and nastier and undignified. But I actually think, you know, because, Arthur, you brought this up about his press coverage being very negative in his perception. He acknowledges that even in spite of that, he won the election. And then at another point, he actually talked about how often he talks to reporters. He gives them his number freely. They call him. And he does that because his philosophy is, well, if you talk to them, you have at least a slim chance of getting your POV in.

YouTube Screenshot You might think that our current era could be labeled as the Information Age or the Digital Age. However, according to the New Yorker you would be wrong since apparently they consider this to be the "Age of Explosive Diarrhea." I kid you not. In fact that was what appeared in the very title of their Thursday tale of woe by Jessica Winter, "Grocery Shopping in the Age of Explosive Diarrhea."First Winter describes the dire scene on the explosive diarrhea battlefront:On July 10th, a friend sent me a text message that spoke for an anxious nation. “What if I have the explosive-diarrhea disease?” she asked. She included a link to an article about a parasitic illness, called cyclosporiasis, that was spreading across multiple states, mostly clustered around the Great Lakes region. The outbreak in Michigan, which was the most afflicted state by far, had begun in May and was up to nearly a thousand cases (compared with fifty in a typical year). Confusingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide tally of confirmed cases was just a hundred and forty-five—an order of magnitude less than the number reported in Michigan alone.Within an hour of receiving my friend’s text, I had forty-eight cyclosporiasis-related tabs open on my laptop. Cyclospora, I learned, is a protozoan parasite found in produce that has been tainted with human feces—perhaps because heavy rains flooded the porta-potties on the farm where the produce was grown, or because it was irrigated or washed with contaminated water. The cyclospora parasite travels inside an oocyst, a sturdy pod that can find purchase in the nooks and crannies of berries or cling to the ridges and folds of certain greens—and it will die there only if cooked. Once these oocysts reach the human digestive tract, the outer coating dissolves and the parasite unleashes a Visigoth invasion of the small intestine, causing nausea, cramping, and what has been described as “watery diarrhea,” “relentless diarrhea,” and, most vividly, “explosive diarrhea.”And who do you think Winter ultimately blames for this explosive diarrhea outbreak? The answer should be easy since this article was published in the New Yorker. If you haven't yet figured out the all too obvious answer, Winter reveals her idea of the culprit.Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the hero of the Make America Healthy Again movement, is a gold-standard superspreader of misinformation. But what has characterized his agency’s response to the cyclospora outbreak is the relative absence of information, and that owes partly to an absence of staff. Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the C.D.C. nor the office of the Surgeon General currently has a Senate-confirmed leader. Since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, when Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency commenced disembowelling the federal civil service, the F.D.A. has lost about twenty per cent of its staff, including food-safety scientists and key support staff for food inspectors. The Department of Agriculture, which regulates poultry and most red meats, has lost about ten per cent of its food-safety-and-inspection team.So there you have it. It is hard to imagine the New Yorker hyping the "Age of Explosive Diarrhea" under the editorship of its legendary editor William Shawn but things have drastically changed since then because of ...Trump. Or specifically crazed liberal reactions to Trump and those who work for him.

CNN This Morning host Audie Cornish cuts off conservative Terry Schilling 7-24-26 No communists in America? Really, Audie?Friday's CNN This Morning devoted a segment to indications that fewer Americans have a favorable view of capitalism.Host Audie Cornish began by playing TikToks of three younger men kvetching about capitalism. The third guy, seen in the screencap below, is literally in bed, dozing off with his head on a pillow. In a voice that makes you wonder if he'd been hitting the bong, he says: "Most Americans are working two jobs now, so they're working sixty hours a week, seventy hours a week." Now, it's possible he's tired from working that hard. But you might be tempted to say: Get out of bed and look for a job, dude!Á clip was then played of President Trump warning: "We can't be hoodwinked, we can't be taken advantage of by people that say you're gonna have a free home. You're gonna get free rent, everything's gonna be free. What they don't say is, a year later, everything's gonna end up in squalor, destruction and death, and also death for our country. So we have to stop the threat of the communist rhetoric that you're hearing right now."Lulu Garcia-Navarro, like Cornish, a former NPR host, dismissed Trump's statement as “scaremongering.” Giving free everything won't end in misery! Lulu loved the solution of: “taxing the very wealthy to make them pay their fair share so that more can be given to those who have less.” Tax the rich "so that more can be given to those who have less!"Huh! Where did we ever hear that notion before? Oh, right: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." It was that 19th-century "democratic socialist"—guy by the name of Karl Marx.Conservative guest Terry Schilling — a member of the board of the Media Research Center, our parent organization — tried to interject the historical record. “We have to articulate the evils of communism,” he said. “It eliminates political dissent, it eliminates religious freedom, it kills a lot of people…”But Cornish cut him off. “The socialists who are running around the country, [are] not communists. I wanna say it out loud, because if you say it in passing, it makes it sound like I haven't put all the communists on screen. THERE AREN'T ANY. We're just talking about people who are what they're calling a democratic socialist movement.“As you see in the screencap, Cornish was so determined to silence Terry that she put one hand on his arm while flashing the stop sign with her other hand!  Cornish Interrupts Guest Warning of Communist Evils: No Communists In America--Just Democratic Socialists! pic.twitter.com/lM9wSr9LgZ— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) July 24, 2026 No communists in America, Audie? The central tenet of communism is government ownership of the means of production. And guess who has expressly called for that? Yup: Zohran Mamdani, the very guy you opened the segment with, saying, "Thanks to Mamdani, democratic socialism is gaining some national attention."In a 2021 speech to the Young Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani stated that “the end goal of seizing the means of production” was something “we firmly believe in.” (Video — relevant portion begins ~10:00)And then there's Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Mamdani-endorsed DSA member who just defeated five-term incumbent Adriano Espaillat in the Democratic primary for New York’s 13th congressional district, who previously posted “Seize the means of production.”Jake Altman, a long-time member of DSA until he left in 2022, has a column in this week's Free Press: "I Was in the DSA. Here’s What They Really Believe." In it, he writes:  "The Marxist Unity Group—a caucus with three members on the organization’s governing board of 27, operating as part of the explicitly communist coalition that governs the DSA—is clear. The demand is communism. A February 2025 statement on their own draft program for DSA, which influenced 'Workers Deserve More!' is much clearer about the organization’s ultimate goal: 'The maximum program, on the other hand, elaborates the history of capitalist development and the role of the working class within it. It demonstrates our commitment to the long-term struggle for a fully liberated, classless society—in a word, communism.'” Dozing Tiktoker on CNN This Morning 7-24-26 Scratch a DSAer, find a communist. It's not hard, Audie. But in the meantime, Cornish prefers to silence people like Terry Schilling who raise the alarm about the realities of what the likes of Mamdani and company ultimately seek.Here's the transcript. CNN This Morning7/24/266:49 am EDTAUDIE CORNISH: Thanks to Mamdani, democratic socialism is gaining some national attention.On the flip side, it seems like America's support, or certain segments of America's support, for capitalism is declining.TIKTOKER 1: Expectations for millennials in 2026 is that you gotta have, like, three income streams, a side hustle, a personal brand.TIKTOKER 2: Just because we critique capitalism doesn't mean we're socialist or communist. It's just capitalism has reached a stage where it's exploitation at this point.TIKTOKER 3: Most Americans are working two jobs now, so they're working sixty hours a week, seventy hours a week.DANCE GROUP: Are you depressed, or is it just C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-M?CORNISH: That last one is my favorite.A recent Fox News poll showing 50% of voters have a positive view of capitalism, 46% unfavorable. I wanna show you the difference between now and 2019, when it was 57% favorable and 28% unfavorable.. . . DONALD TRUMP: We can't be hoodwinked, we can't be taken advantage of by people that say you're gonna have a free home. You're gonna get free rent, everything's gonna be free. What they don't say is, a year later, everything's gonna be, end up in squalor, destruction and death, and also death for our country. So we have to stop the threat of the communist rhetoric that you're hearing right now.. . . LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO: Can I just say, having just sat with Mamdani, and I've interviewed AOC before, and these are of course, the sort of standard bearers of this movement, you know.What they argue is that, you know, this scaremongering of that everything's gonna be free and you're gonna bankrupt the country. They are talking about taxing the very wealthy, to make them pay their fair share, so that more can be given to those who have less.CORNISH: You're seeing a lot of billionaire tax requests. You're also seeing people talking about taking cut from AI companies.Like there's a sense of --GARCIA-NAVARRO: And that makes sense to people. People understand that equation that they're making.So the scare tactic of like, everything's going to be free and everything's gonna fall apart, it doesn't make sense to them in an economy where you see the very, very rich swanning around, and people can't make rent.TERRY SCHILLING: I agree. Sorry, I was just gonna say, I agree with all of that, but if you -- we have to do two things at the same time, as Republicans, and I'm not talking about Democrats.We have to articulate the evils of communism. It eliminates political dissent, it eliminates religious freedom, it kills a lot of people -- CORNISH: -- and we should say, the socialists who are running around the country [are] not communists.SCHILLING: I know, but it's --CORNISH: No, no, but I wanna say it out loud, because if you say it in passing, it makes it sound like I haven't put all the communists on screen. There aren't any. We're just talking about people who are what they're calling a democratic socialist movement.

Screenshot via C-SPAN/Snapstream Friday marked the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD) following the April 25 dinner being postponed following another alleged deranged leftist who sought to assassinate President Trump.With a third of the original attendance and a different venue, the show went on with all of the awards for anti-Trump screeds, remarks by the President, and outgoing White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) President Weijia Jiang of CBS News, and a mind-bending performance from Oz Perlman.Given the nearly five-hour runtime from Hail to the Chief to the end of Perlman’s routine, let’s walk through just a few moments and takeaways.Jiang continued to exude the unity she displayed in April and showed Friday why we would be hard-pressed to find a more level-headed and ego-free WHCA president. As we’ll see, she hit the right points about a reality all too ignored by liberal, elite media: The First Amendment applies to all of us.Her pre-dinner remarks were laudatory of the President for coming, and praising both Trump and her fellow journalists for how they handled the traumatic first go-around. She argued Trump was right to call the unity following the attack “a very beautiful thing to see.” WATCH: CBS’s @Weijia Jiang’s opening remarks at the rescheduled #WHCD: “Good evening, everybody. Let's try this again. Because the one thing about this press corps is we always have a follow-up. Welcome to the 2026 White House Correspondents' Dinner, a tradition spanning more… pic.twitter.com/hqR5BErBIR— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 “Three months later, it still is. Whatever may divide us, we stand together against political violence. An assassination attempt on our President is an attack on democracy itself. Tonight – tonight, our message is this: We are back. We will not be intimidated. We refuse to let an act of violence have the final word,” she added.After dinner, she noted Calvin Coolidge was the first President to attend the WHCD in 1924, offered some thank yous, and reiterated her belief that President Trump and the press, in theory, share the same mission, and “duty to serve the American people.”This went into a moving video about April’s shooting from Jiang’s colleague, CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil:  .@CBSEveningNews anchor @TonyDokoupil voicing #WHCD video about the shooting derailing the event in April…DOKOUPIL: The White House Correspondents Dinner was to be a night celebrating the First Amendment. and 250 years of surviving, thriving, and overcoming our nation's many… pic.twitter.com/ub0xaOFDHw— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 The next portion was bizarre as an AI James Madison appeared and, in a shot at Trump, reminded those there that while “you’re now worried about tweets, algorithms, and people yelling on television,” no one should be able to change “the rule” that “[t]he government doesn’t get to shut the press up, not when it’s wrong, not when it’s annoying and not when it’s asking uncomfortable questions.” WATCH: James Madison impersonator appears in a video at the #WHCD to lecture the President about the First Amendment…“Hello from 1789. I'm James Madison. Yes, that James Madison. I wrote the First Amendment. At the time, we worried a king might control the press. Turns out,… pic.twitter.com/08dDNpzclZ— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 How stunning and brave.The AI Madison reappeared later after a package from current and former White House reporters that, while it included a few of our conservative friends in the press corps, it included former and disgraced retired journalists: LOL: A #WHCD love letter to the President spotlights Dan Rather questioning Richard Nixon (R), Sam Donaldson going after Ronald Reagan (R), and Helen Thomas grilling George W. Bush (R).Only then did it throw in Major Garrett vs. Obama on a hostage deal.Notice a pattern? pic.twitter.com/sXhPfIw1N6— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 Moving to the speeches and awards, new WHCA President Jacqui Heinrich of Fox News praised Jiang, denounced the attempt on the President’s life as “a sobering reminder that democracy is not immune to violence, and the freedoms that we cherish can never be taken for granted,” said “[p]olitical violence must have no home in America,” and delivered an award to the staff of the Washington Hilton. Fox’s @JacquiHeinrich: “The attempt on President Trump’s life last April was a sobering reminder that democracy is not immune to violence, and the freedoms that we cherish can never be taken for granted. Political violence must have no home in America. [APPLAUSE] And journalism… pic.twitter.com/lB5Z06xrYr— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 After Jiang honored law enforcement serving back in April and recognizing WHCA scholarship recipients, it was time for the WHCA’s awards, read out by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. We covered it when they were announced, noting five of the six were for reporting hammering Trump, something we never saw of President Biden until the 2025 show (based on reporting from 2024).Blitzer handed them out to The Wall Street Journal’s Josh Dawsey (Trump personnel), the Associated Press’s Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller (Trump purging National Security Council staff), CNN’s Kaitlan Collins (Trump vs. Zelenskyy), Getty Images (Trump appearing uninterested in a man who passed out), The Journal again (Trump and Jeffrey Epstein), and The New York Times’s Tyler Pager (slew of negative headlines).None of those recipients spoke, but one who did – retired AP photojournalist Susan Walsh for the Dunnigan Payne Award for Lifetime Achievement – did, and she closed with a veiled shot at Trump: “[T]o all the journalists out there who are working incredibly hard to report the truth, despite access issues, insults, and subpoenas. Keep it up. Your work matters and we need you now more than ever.”Jiang’s keynote was the only thing standing between the world and the President’s address, but she took a candid stroll down memory lane to what would probably surprise a lot of people about her upbringing as a first-generation American in rural West Virginia where her parents ran a Chinese restaurant: CBS’s @Weijia Jiang at the #WHCD on her upbringing in rural WV: “I’ve been thinking a lot about my own journey to this podium tonight. I grew up in rural West Virginia, in a town at the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains, a town called Buchanan, Population 5,500. Those images… pic.twitter.com/uKDoXrPnNX— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 She next delivered some stunning, firmly pro-America, and welcome remarks about the First Amendment as something for “all Americans” and that the press is “not special,” so “[w]e cannot demand accountability without practicing it” by taking in outside criticism: Truly refreshing comments from CBS’s @Weijia Jiang at the #WHCD...“Because when this is your home, you inherit something remarkable, the protections in the First Amendment, free religion, free speech, free press, free assembly, free petition. This fundamental right belongs to… pic.twitter.com/LoHk0BqoMy— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 The President would take up just over the next hour, but started on a humorous note, quipping “this has not been an easy evening for him,” although “it’s great to be back at a place that I know very well because I built it” in his former hotel (now the Waldorf Astoria). Trump’s first lines at the #WHCD. Funniest President ever.“Wow, that was very beautiful, but this has not been an easy evening, all these awards. Do I have a say in those awards or those awards? but it’s great to be back at a place that I know very well because I built it. And… pic.twitter.com/Tc6V8n0XQq— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 Trump delivered the first of what would be multiple jokes about running for an (unconstitutional) third term: Trump on #WHCD being postponed from April: “I think a lot was learned from that evening, tremendous amount was learned about security and about other things, the dangers of what we all do. But just like my presidency, the second time is always better. It’s always better. And the… pic.twitter.com/vLFWD50UAz— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 Also early in the speech and just prior to a denouncement of political violence, Trump had a quip about Nicki Minaj as having been there for the ill-fated first dinner: Trump: “But after hearing the gunshots, many people yelled, get down, get down. which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking. Do you believe it? Get down. She’s the only one that really understood what that meant. Quite an evening.” pic.twitter.com/VsTLlzSvt6— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 Skipping ahead, he paid tribute to both Jiang and Heinrich, making particular reference to the latter’s new marriage to Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), a moderate Republican: Trump on Fox’s @JacquiHeinrich: “Let me also thank the incoming president of the Correspondents’ Association, Jacqui Heinrich. She could be very tough as a reporter, I will tell you. She can be nasty. She looks so beautiful, but she can be so nasty. How could that happen? But she… pic.twitter.com/wMwBqQ78AL— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 Trump alluded to the work of the Media Research Center when talking about Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: WATCH: President Trump cites the MRC’s work at the #WHCD on negative coverage of his presidency on ABC, CBS, and NBC...“Karoline may have one of the hardest jobs in the White House. She has to deal with all of you. all of the time, and you can be very difficult. You can be… pic.twitter.com/VqlfUuygn6— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 Starting with a lengthy riff about the incoming White House Ballroom, the rest of the speech dragged with multiple asides and riffs – otherwise known as The Weave – about current events that would normally be deployed at campaign rallies.One notable and genuine zinger was this one about the evening’s dinner and Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.:            TWEET: https://x.com/CurtisHouck/status/2080842639146987618The next series of jokes was proposing a follow-up to UFC 250 at the White House, which would star “Sloppy Chris Christie” vs. Jerry Nadler, AOC vs. a foreign policy question, and Anderson Cooper vs. Lawrence O’Donnell:            TWEET: https://x.com/CurtisHouck/status/2080845208665657536Trump had brutal and similar missives to hurl at deranged leftists Jimmy Kimmel, “sick old woman” Rosie O’Donnell, and “pencil neck” Adam Schiff:            TWEET: https://x.com/CurtisHouck/status/2080846842560987497Without a doubt, Trump’s most controversial moment of the night came shortly thereafter when, after a benign jab at the Oscars hemorrhaging ratings for being woke, he not only revisited his observation that CNN’s Collins doesn’t smile, but argued her doppelgänger is trans actor Dylan Mulvaney: Trump on the Oscars, Kaitlan Collins, Dylan Mulvaney, Josh Dawsey, and Jake Tapper…“But of course, this evening, it’s really all about the fake news media, and you’re handling of prizes, writing, and producing, and performing made-up stories like the Academy Awards. You know,… pic.twitter.com/aQjcxzqB2U— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026  Collins’s CNN colleague Jake Tapper was also called out: President Donald Trump from the TOP ROPE: “Some people say that Jake Tapper is a great investigative reporter in DC. That's why after moderating our debate, it only took him one year to break the story that Joe Biden might possibly have suffered from cognitive decline.”Then… pic.twitter.com/kRftLSFrHi— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 25, 2026 The speech continued on with rehashes of past callouts to far-left elected Democrats, so it was surprising when this one about Bari Weiss and CBS News made its way in that, if a Democrat President had said it, the room would have been howling in laughter: Trump with a legitimately great joke about CBS News under Bari Weiss and Iran…“While I have all of the press here in one place, I have to say that we’re having an amazing load of accomplishments that the media never talks about, for example, under my administration, a once… pic.twitter.com/kx6UA25fxC— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 His concluding remarks ran for nearly seven minutes, starting with a concession that “for all of the trouble that you give me, you give me a lot of trouble, a lot of heartache, I hope all of you know that I believe in the free press more than anyone in this room does. Ehh, maybe not quite. But that’s why I’m proud to be the most open and transparent President in history.” Trump’s closing remarks at the #WHCD…“But for all of the trouble that you give me, you give me a lot of trouble, a lot of heartache. I hope all of you know that I believe in the free press more than anyone in this room does. Ehh, maybe not quite. But that’s why I’m proud to be… pic.twitter.com/oXHzcGwSY3— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 25, 2026 There was a reality check for the press whenever he’s gone: “[Y]ou people have no idea how lucky you are. When I’m gone, you’re all going to be broke. Your business model is going to be finished. No, it’s true. When I’m not around, you’re gonna be broke. There’s not going to be anybody to report on. Nobody gives a damn about anybody else.”Once he trolled the liberal journalists one last time with talk about third and fourth terms, he declared Friday “an interest evening” because “I didn’t really know what to expect, and it’s far worse than I actually thought, but if you want to know that, but I didn’t know exactly what to expect, and I’ve made a lot of friends tonight.”Here was how he brought it home following one last Weave:I just want to say it is a room I have tremendous respect for the people in this room. Sometimes I don’t feel you treat me fair, or maybe you do. I don’t know. I don’t feel that, but sometimes you treat me very fairly, and I have a lot of respect for your profession, your profession’s amazing, and I just want to thank you for having me, and it’s been fun, and I’ve met a lot of great people and, you know, I used an expression, I’ve used it right from the beginning. I did this for one reason, to make America great again, and that’s what’s happening right before your very eyes. We have made America great again. It’s going to get a lot greater. So, thank you all very much. It’s an honor to be with you. Thank you. Thank you very much.Poor Perlman had to follow a long, winding set of Trump remarks, but he had some spell-binding moments, including this exchange at the end with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: MUST WATCH: Oz the Mentalist pulls off an absolutely next-level mind-reading stunt, enlisting the help of Acting AG Todd Blanche and Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz at the WHCA Dinner.Oz first has Blanche commit a "federal offense" by signing a $20 bill, then has him fold it… pic.twitter.com/6yqBo27XdU— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 25, 2026 Here was the full show, beginning with guessing dream vacation destinations of random audience members that included Fox’s David Spunt and Reuters’s Steve Holland. Keep your eyes peeled for others to surface, including Fox’s Kevin Corke and State Department official Erin Scavino: Oz Pearlman full mentalist performance at White House Correspondents' Dinner @USATODAY pic.twitter.com/sfdYLNwf2m— liten drage (@DrageLiten) July 25, 2026 To see a partial transcript of the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, part 2, click here.

ABC via SnapStream On Friday, The View closed out Season 29 in a true-to-them fashion: proving how uninformed they were while speaking like an expert authority on a policy matter. While trying to downplay the 400 illegal votes and 6,600 illegal registered voters on New Jersey’s rolls and dismissing the need for the SAVE Act, ABC’s Sunny Hostin suggested that only five states required voters present I.D. Even after being schooled on it, she argued that voter I.D. was just like having black people “count jelly beans in a jar.”During a segment where they finally discussed New Jersey Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill announcing the DMV snafu that allowed non-citizen to register to vote and cast ballots, Hostin paid lip service to the problem.“I do think we need to acknowledge and recognize that 6,600 noncitizens registered to vote is a problem,” she admitted. “400 noncitizens went on to cast ballots. That's problematic.”And yet, Hostin followed up but by arguing that it was not that bad in practice:However, to call it widespread voter fraud is just absolutely misleading. It's absolutely ridiculous because if you look at the last election that Mikie Sherrill did win, it would amount -- 400 ineligible votes would amount to 0.01 of a percent of all votes cast. Okay? So there's no widespread voter fraud. The View falsely claims the SAVE Act is about keeping everyone from voting and downplay the 400 illegal votes in New Jersey as not a big deal:SARA HAINES: But 90 percent of U.S. citizens have some form of I.D. Whereas, only about half of Americans have passports so this… pic.twitter.com/jb4LDGNOUC— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 24, 2026 For all the righteous indignation Hostin was speaking with, she would later go on to accidentally prove just how little she knew about voting in America despite the show constantly opposing the SAVE Act.While co-host Ana Navarro was explaining her general support for voter I.D. (but not the SAVE Act), Hostin jumped in and suggest that only “about five states” required I.D. to vote. Navarro and co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin jumped in to inform Hostin that a supermajority of the states actually required it:NAVARRO: Like most Americans, I am in favor of requiring some sort of government issued I.D. Maybe it's because I live in Florida where it is a requirement and for me it's such a non-issue.HOSTIN: There are about five states where it's required. Right?NAVARRO: No. No. No. It's about 36.FARAH GRIFFIN (in unison with Navarro): It's about 36.HOSTIN: 36? Okay.NAVARRO: So, most states. <Uninformed and ignorant. Sunny Hostin is shocked to learn that 26 states (a supermajority) already require an ID to vote. She thought it was "about 5 states where's it's required":NAVARRO: I actually - I will tell you, like most Americans, I am in favor of requiring some sort… pic.twitter.com/5RNMCuSC5z— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 24, 2026 Hostin would later go on to talk about voting in her home state of New York, saying: “it's not required to have any sort of I.D. to vote.” Of course, she wasn’t being entirely truthful. In New York, you need to show I.D. when you register to vote. Or perhaps, she was ignorant about that too.Being so clearly unequipped to have the discussion was merely a small speed bump for Hostin. She would later equate showing I.D. to vote to Jim Crow laws and requiring black people to “count jellybeans on a jar” and making them “answer citizenship questions.”“I believe that it [The SAVE Act] will disproportionately affect African Americans voters. I believe that in my soul!” she exclaimed. “I won't support it.” Hostin (who thought only 5 states required ID, until a couple minutes ago) goes on to equate requiring ID to vote to having black people "count jelly beans in a jar" and "having to answer citizenship questions." "I believe that in my soul" she proclaimed:HOSTIN: You know, the… pic.twitter.com/KNXM6oatAz— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 24, 2026 Again, Hostin could not be bothered to Google how many states require I.D. to vote, meanwhile she’s been denouncing the SAVE Act for months.This was the perfect end to The View’s season, blowing hot air about a topic they knew little about while speaking with the righteous indignation of a moral authority on the matter. Essentially giving the FCC further proof they were not a “bona fide news program” after all.The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:ABC’s The ViewJuly 24, 202611:03:34 a.m. Eastern(…)SARA HAINES: But 90 percent of U.S. citizens have some form of I.D. Whereas, only about half of Americans have passports so this actually is.JOY BEHAR: Or pastaports.HAINES: Yeah. That means it is reducing the voting public. You're making it harder when the percentages at the polls are already, i think, too low for this country, and what a vote means.BEHAR: So they really don't want us to vote, is the point.HAINES: Some of us.[Crosstalk]SUNNY HOSTIN: I do think we need to acknowledge and recognize that 6,600 noncitizens registered to vote is a problem.HAINES: Yes.HOSTIN: Right. I think we should recognize that. I think that's appropriate, 400 noncitizens went on to cast ballots. That's problematic.However, to call it widespread voter fraud is just absolutely misleading. It's absolutely ridiculous because if you look at the last election that Mikie Sherrill did win, it would amount -- 400 ineligible votes would amount to 0.01 of a percent of all votes cast. Okay? So there's no widespread voter fraud.But I will say this: comparing our vote to a pasta card, like voting rights are foundational in a functional democracy. Pasta purchases are not, and so -ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I beg to differ.ANA NAVARRO: Honey, they're just throwing spaghetti at the wall.HOSTIN: Correct. Nice one. I see what you did there. It's absurd.(…)11:05:55 a.m. EasternNAVARRO: I actually - I will tell you, like most Americans, I am in favor of requiring some sort of government issued I.D. Maybe it's because I live in Florida where it is a requirement and for me it's such a non-issue.HOSTIN: There are about five states where it's required. Right?NAVARRO: No. No. No. It's about 36.FARAH GRIFFIN (in unison with Navarro): It's about 36.HOSTIN: 36? Okay.NAVARRO: So, most states.(…)11:07:13 a.m. EasternHOSTIN: You know, the reason I'm not in favor of the SAVE Act, in New York you don't -- it's not required to have any sort of I.D. to vote. I believe that it will disproportionately affect African Americans voters. I believe that in my soul! And African Americans fought and decided for the right to vote in this country![Applause]And I just -- I think it's a very slippery slope. If you know your history, it reminds me of having to count jelly beans in a jar. It reminds me of having to take - answer citizenship questions for black people to vote and I am just not -- I won't support it.[Crosstalk]NAVARRO: But Sunny, there is a difference between Alyssa and I supporting voter I.D. requirement and supporting the SAVE Act. They are two different things -HAINES: Yeah, that's very different.NAVARRO: - because there's a bunch of other stuff they've put in the SAVE Act -HOSTIN: They have.NAVARRO: - to make it more difficult for everyone to vote.HOSTIN: I believe it's a slippery slope.FARAH GRIFFIN: But it's only about one percent of Americans that don't have some form of I.D. that would be needed to vote. It's actually much smaller than it used to be. And considering like you say this all the time black women are the most educated demographic.HOSTIN: True.FARAH GRIFFIN: Yeah, black women have I.D.s. They're showing gup, they're engaged.HOSTIN: That part is true.(…)