A rescheduled return to the ballroom

On Friday evening, the White House Correspondents' Association dinner reconvened at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, the hotel that was the Trump International Hotel until 2021. The original April dinner had been interrupted when an armed man attempted to force his way into the ballroom with the intent to kill President Trump and members of his administration. The July 25 event was framed as a defiant answer to that attack.

Defiance and dark humor

Donald Trump opened his remarks by thanking the room, then addressed the April attempt head-on.

“We meet again today to respond to that shameful attack with unwavering determination and to show that in America we do not surrender to political violence. We cannot allow it. In our country we believe in freedom of speech. We resolve our disputes not with bullets, but through open and lively debate. And no deranged loser with a gun will ever change that.”

He joked that he had declined to wear a bulletproof vest because it would have made him look fat, suggested the next gala should bear his name, and promised to attend again next year. Mid-speech he put on a red cap reading "Trump 2028" and quipped, "I won three times and I intend to do it again." He added that his presidency, like the dinner, was better the second time around and would be even better a third, then added, "I'm only joking."

A combative turn toward the press

The speech, which ran one hour and four minutes, quickly pivoted to personal attacks on individual journalists and opposition politicians. Trump accused the media of spreading false information and said the room held a record number of people with "obsessive Trump Derangement Syndrome." He singled out CNN's Kaitlan Collins, claiming she "never smiles," and declared that the New York Times is "failing." California's Democratic governor Gavin Newsom was also a target. The president told the assembled press corps they were lucky he was president because without him they would go bankrupt.

“You have no idea how lucky you are. When I'm gone, you'll all go bankrupt. Your business model will cease to exist. Really. There won't be anyone worth writing about anymore. Nobody else matters to anyone.”

He also boasted that he is the number one account on TikTok in the United States and that he had written off traditional media.

A nod to resilience

Despite the barbs, Trump struck a note of resilience, saying he was proud to be the most open and transparent president in history and professing his belief in a free press, albeit with qualifications. The evening, held in a venue that once bore his name, closed with the president's assurance that next year's correspondents' dinner would go forward with him in attendance.