With Donald Trump waging a war on the news media, one of D.C. media’s longest running dinner events ended the night by toasting the First Amendment, bypassing the traditional nod to the president of the United States.
The annual Gridiron Club dinner, which dates to the 1880s, also was notable for the lack of Trump administration officials, a contrast to previous years when the white-tie event has been populated by cabinet secretaries and top White House officials who listen to a mixture of musical skits and biting humor.
This year, the only cabinet official at the Grand Hyatt event was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner, who was joined by Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and Janette Nesheiwat, the nominee for surgeon general.
The speakers at the event — who delivered comedy schtick — were Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI).
Last year, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris attended the dinner. In his first term, Trump attended in 2018, and even offered some words of praise for the media. “A lot of you cover things very squarely, and there are few professions that I respect more….I want to thank the press for all that you do to support and sustain our democracy. I mean that,” Trump said.
In the weeks since he has taken office in his second term, Trump has banned the Associated Press from covering White House events because of their Stylebook decision to retain references to Gulf Of America, while his FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, has launched inquiries of CBS and ABC over their reporting decisions. On Friday, Trump spoke to the Justice Department and declared that CNN and MSNBC’s reporting was “illegal,” while he moved to dismantle U.S.-funded broadcast entities like Voice of America.
Trump’s attacks were certainly on the minds of many at the dinner. Judy Woodruff, president of the Gridiron Club, showed video excerpts of past GOP presidents at the event, including Trump, per Politico. The tradition of clinking glasses for the president was instead, as Woodruff said, “a toast to the First Amendment,” according to The Washington Post.
The dinner’s longtime approach to its skits and humor has been to “singe, not burn,” and there was plenty of material to draw upon this year. The opener featured journalists portraying Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, in a takeoff of a piece from Cabaret. Musk: “I’ll turn the GOP into the AFD. What can they do to stop me, Mon frere?”
The dinner is not televised, with its speeches, humor and skits embargoed until after it ends. That’s a contrast to the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner next month, a televised event that typically featured the president delivering standup material followed by a real comic. The White House has not said whether Trump will attend, but there are doubts that he will. The comedian who will perform, Amber Ruffin, has delivered sharp humor aimed at Trump.
