Nerd Prom Sucks Anyway

Donald Trump isn’t going to the White House Correspondent’s Dinner this year. Honestly, good. Good for the actual White House Press Corps, who doesn’t have to listen to this orange thing babble incoherently about his “yugeee victory” last Fall, make not funny jokes about Hillary Clinton, or ramble on about how great he is. Good for all the Hollywood stars who promised to not show up anyway. More than anything though, good because no one will pay attention to it now.

Donald Trump doesn’t belong at this dinner. For one thing, we shouldn’t be treating him as a normal human being, much less President. The man has called the press an “enemy of the people” of this country in the past week, a statement so ridiculous that he should probably slap himself for saying it. He doesn’t believe in a free press, so they shouldn’t put themselves through the uncomfortable position of having to act like they want to spend the night with him. Good for them, they should honor their important profession without this enemy of the press in the room.

The other side of this is that I of course am not a fan of the White House Correspondent’s Dinner anyway. I believe in a free press, and I think they are important- I just don’t think they’re that great at their jobs. They do not cover politics as though they want to get the truth and facts out, they cover politics as though they need to show both sides. They do this even when one side is utterly ridiculous- as they have on climate change. They haven’t done the hard-hitting, investigative reporting at times we’ve needed them to- like the run up to the Iraq War. They’ve been deferential to the government- like believing Iraq had a weapons program worthy of us going to war there, when they didn’t. They treat Paul Ryan’s false math as though it’s legitimate, and they covered Hillary Clinton as though an actual crime was committed in Benghazi, or with her private e-mail server- when quite predictably, she was not ever indicted, let alone found guilty of anything. I support our press, and I want them to continue to exist well beyond the excommunication of our Occupier-In-Chief, but I also want them to do a better job at doing their job- and start to cover facts, not cover for balance.

I see no point to this event even existing. I realize that they do a good job at handing out scholarships to kids and helping the Washington-area community, but otherwise I find the idea of a bunch of Beltway occupants throwing themselves a party to be repulsive. Maybe in another time I’d support it, but I can’t back this event as a concept, let alone as a practice. Thank goodness that our press doesn’t have to listen to Little Donald ramble, but perhaps we just shouldn’t have this event for a few years, until it’s worth having again.