DAVID MARCUS: Disband the White House Correspondents' Association
I began my journalism career at The Federalist, an outlet that was founded with only one official editorial position; ending the White House Correspondents' Dinner. I agreed with it at the time, but having grown since, I now see the error of my ways and am calling to disband the entire White House Correspondents' Association.
On Saturday, April 26, in Washington, D.C., the WHCA held its annual dinner, once a time-honored tradition of the capital. Now it is a shell of itself that the president does not even attend, and an event for which the organization struggles to find a host who won't perform a seizure of hatred toward President Donald Trump.
Of course, this year the entire farce was held under the cloud of the liberal news organizations that cover the presidency having failed to report that President Joe Biden, as commander in chief, was not only not in charge, but often barely awake.
Look at what WCHA President Eugene Daniels actually said in his opening remarks, I had to read it twice to believe it: "I know this has been an extremely difficult year for all of you. It's been difficult for this association. We've been tested, attacked, but every single day our members get up, they run to the White House, plane, train, automobile with one mission, holding the powerful accountable."
Holding the powerful accountable? Where was this H.L. Mencken attitude when Grandpa Joe was dithering away in the West Wing?
Then there was journalist Alex Thompson, who mused the following, "President Biden's decline and its cover-up by the people around him is a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception. ... We, myself included, missed a lot of this story and some people trust us less because of it."
This is the same Thompson hawking a book he wrote with CNN anchor Jake Tapper about the Biden administration. Jake Tapper! That guy not only ignored Biden's obvious infirmity, he chided as crackpots anyone who did point it out.
Thomspson, like a sweet, summer child, doesn't get it, yet. It's not that many Americans trust the news media "less," it's that they don't trust us at all, about anything.
Not everything in life comes with second chances. These people covering Biden flat out blew it, and did incredible harm to the nation and the profession of journalism in the process.
Covering Biden's presidency for four years and not realizing or reporting that he was not all there is the journalism equivalent of an NFL team going winless all season. That's something that five teams, starting with the 1960 Dallas Cowboys, have suffered through in the post-war era, but none of them ever threw themselves a party to celebrate their abject failure.
We all know what happened over the past four years. The liberal media decided that Biden's team, even if the old man was upstairs watching "Matlock" and complaining his soup wasn't hot enough, was better than electing Trump.
With absolute shamelessness and disregard for the people, these charlatans with reporter's notebooks allowed their hatred of Donald Trump, and his supporters, to drive their coverage. Nobody should ever come back from that.
If there is still a legitimate purpose to the WHCA, it surely would have been to stand up to the Biden administration, to demand more access and evidence.
Instead, this gaggle of fools just nodded along like morons while former Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed actual, unedited videos were "cheap fakes," an Orwellian nonsense term, and that they shouldn't be shown.
Traditions are good, they are important, and the WHCA, founded in 1914, has a rich tradition. But, traditions can also become mere trappings, a fancy symbolic set of clothes that bestows an appearance of honor on those who don it, deserved or not.
Thankfully, the Trump White House has taken measures to rein in the WHCA's monopoly on West Wing coverage, bringing in centrist and conservative new media members, and of course, the "professionals," are having a fit.
But while The New York Times and others might mock press room queries from figures like Natalie Winters of "War Room," or podcasters like Tim Pool, those people are already doing a thousand times better covering Trump than the gentle treatment the venerated WHCA gave Biden.
It's always good to be wary of industries where their members heap endless praise on each other and constantly give themselves awards. Hollywood, for instance, and that is what much of journalism has become.
"Look at me!" the establishment journalists all say, "I have an official WHCA membership card and a lanyard! So, obviously, I'm a brave warrior for the truth!"
Not everything in life comes with second chances. These people covering Biden flat out blew it, and did incredible harm to the nation and the profession of journalism in the process.
Nobody is buying it anymore.
Look, if the WHCA wants to continue, fine, it could have fancy lunches and lecture series, maybe get matching sweaters made. But in no way, shape or form should this organization play the slightest role in how the White House actually deals with the media.
Far better would be to put this dinosaur of the legacy media down. Journalists don't need a club. They simply need to tell the truth.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
21 minutes ago
Trump's military parade is a US outlier in peacetime but parades and reviews have a long history
Troops marching in lockstep. Patriotic tunes filling the air. The commander in chief looking on at it all. The military parade commemorating the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary and coinciding with President Donald Trump's 79th birthday will be a new spectacle for many Americans. This will not be the first U.S. military parade. However, it is unusual outside of wartime, and Trump's approach stands out compared to his predecessors. The Army had long planned a celebration for its semi-quincentennial on June 14. Trump has wanted to preside over a grand military parade since his first presidency from 2017 to 2021. When he took office a second time, he found the ideal convergence and ratcheted the Pentagon's plans into a full-scale military parade on his birthday. The president, who is expected to speak in Washington as part of the affair, pitches the occasion as a way to celebrate U.S. power and service members' sacrifice. But there are bipartisan concerns about the cost as well as concerns about whether Trump is blurring traditional understandings of what it means to be a civilian commander in chief. Ceremonial reviews — troops looking their best and conducting drills for top commanders — trace back through medieval kingdoms to ancient empires of Rome, Persia and China. The pageantry continued in the young U.S. republic: Early presidents held military reviews as part of July 4th independence celebrations. That ended with James K. Polk, who was president from 1845 to 1849. President Andrew Johnson resurrected the tradition in 1865, holding a two-day 'Grand Review of the Armies' five weeks after Abraham Lincoln's assassination. It came after Johnson declared the Civil War over, a show of force meant to salve a war-weary nation — though more fighting and casualties would occur. Infantry, cavalry and artillery units — 145,000 soldiers, and even cattle — traversed Pennsylvania Avenue. Johnson, his Cabinet and top Army officers, including Ulysses S. Grant, Lincoln's last commanding general and the future 18th president, watched from a White House viewing stand. The Spanish-American War was the first major international conflict for a reunited nation since the Civil War. It ended in a U.S. victory that established an American empire: Spain ceded Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and the U.S. purchased the Philippines for $20 million. Puerto Rico and Guam remain U.S. territories. New York City hosted multiple celebrations of a new global power. In August 1898, a fleet of warships, including the Brooklyn, the Texas, and the Oregon, sailed up the North River, more commonly known today as the Hudson River. American inventor Thomas Edison filmed the floating parade. The following September, New York hosted a naval and street parade to welcome home Rear Adm. George Dewey, who joined President William McKinley in a viewing stand. Many U.S. cities held World War I victory parades a few decades later. But neither Washington nor President Woodrow Wilson were the focal point. In Boston, a million civilians celebrated 20,000 troops in 1919. New York honored 25,000 troops marching in full uniform and combat gear. On June 13, 1942, as U.S. involvement in World War II accelerated, about 30,000 people formed a mobilization parade in New York City. Participants included Army and Navy personnel, American Women's Voluntary Services members, Boy Scouts and military school cadets. Scores of floats rolled, too. One carried a massive bust of President Franklin Roosevelt, who did not attend. Less than four years later, the 82nd Airborne Division and Sherman tanks led a victory parade down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, the Allied commander during World War II, rode in a victory parade in Washington, D.C. In 1952, Eisenhower would join Grant and George Washington as top wartime commanders elevated to the presidency following their military achievements. Other World War II generals were honored in other homecoming parades. The U.S. did not hold national or major city parades after wars in Korea and Vietnam. Both ended without clear victory; Vietnam, especially, sparked bitter societal division, enough so that President Gerald Ford opted against a strong military presence in 1976 bicentennial celebrations, held a year after the fall of Saigon. Washington finally hosted a victory parade in 1991 after the first Persian Gulf War. The Constitution Avenue lineup included 8,000 troops, tanks, Patriot missiles and representatives of the international coalition, led by the U.S., that quickly drove an invading Iraq out of Kuwait. The commander in chief, George H.W. Bush, is the last U.S. president to have held an active-duty military post. He had been a World War II combat pilot who survived his plane being shot down over the Pacific Ocean. Veterans of the second Iraq and Afghanistan wars that followed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks have not been honored in national parades. Inaugural parades include and sometimes feature military elements. Eisenhower's 1953 inaugural parade, at the outset of the Cold War, included 22,000 service members and an atomic cannon. Eight years later, President John F. Kennedy, a World War II Naval officer, watched armored tanks, Army and Navy personnel, dozens of missiles and Navy boats pass in front of his reviewing stand. More recent inaugurations have included honor guards, academy cadets, military bands and other personnel but not large combat assets. Notably, U.S. presidents, even when leading or attending military events, wear civilian attire rather than military garb, a standard set by Washington, who also eschewed being called 'General Washington' in favor of 'Mr. President.' Perhaps the lone exception came in 2003, when President George W. Bush, who had been a National Guard pilot, wore a flight suit when he landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq, which U.S. forces had invaded six weeks earlier. The aircraft carrier was not a parade venue but the president emerged to raucous cheers from uniformed service members. He put on a business suit to deliver a nationally televised speech in front a 'Mission Accomplished' banner. As the war dragged on to a less decisive outcome, that scene and its enduring images would become a political liability for the president.
Newsweek
39 minutes ago
- Newsweek
David Hogg Takes Multiple Swipes at Democrats: 'Asleep at the Wheel'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. David Hogg took multiple swipes at Democrats as he announced that he will not fight to hold onto his leadership role in the Democratic National Committee. Hogg decried "a serious lack of vision from Democratic leaders, too many of them asleep at the wheel" in a lengthy thread on X on Wednesday night, adding that three Democratic House members have died this year after being reelected in November, giving Republicans an expanded majority. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) had voted to nullify the February 2025 elections that appointed Hogg as vice chair, citing procedural violations. In his Wednesday posts he also criticized the "crisis of competence and culture" that protects complacency and rewards seniority. It "has already cost us an election and millions of Americans their rights. Let's not let it cost us the country," he said. "We must change the culture of our party that has brought us here and if there is anything activism or history teaches us it's that comfortable people, especially comfortable people with power, do not change. In this moment of crisis, comfort is not an option." David Hogg attends the Fast Company Innovation Festival 2024 at BMCC Tribeca PAC on September 17, 2024 in New York City. David Hogg attends the Fast Company Innovation Festival 2024 at BMCC Tribeca PAC on September 17, 2024 in New York City. Eugene Gologursky//Getty Images for Fast Company This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
What to know about 'No Kings' protests against Trump's policies on Saturday
Opponents of President Donald Trump's administration are set to rally in hundreds of cities on Saturday during the military parade in Washington for the Army's 250th anniversary — which coincides with Trump's birthday. The 'No Kings' protests are set to take place to counter what organizers say are Trump's plans to feed his ego on what is also his 79th birthday and Flag Day. The Army birthday celebration had already been planned. But earlier this spring, Trump announced his intention to ratchet up the event to include 60-ton M1 Abrams battle tanks and Paladin self-propelled howitzers rolling through the city streets. He has long sought a similar display of patriotic force. Why is it called No Kings? The 'No Kings' theme was orchestrated by the 50501 Movement, a national movement made up of everyday Americans who stand for democracy and against what they call the authoritarian actions of the Trump administration. The name 50501 stands for 50 states, 50 protests, one movement. Protests earlier this year have denounced Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk, the now former leader of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, a government organization designed to slash federal spending. Protesters have called for Trump to be 'dethroned' as they compare his actions to that of a king and not a democratically elected president. 'They've defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and slashed our services,' the group says on its website, referring to the Trump administration and its policies. 'They've done this all while continuing to serve and enrich their billionaire allies.' Why are they protesting on Saturday? The No Kings Day of Defiance has been organized to reject authoritarianism, billionaire-first politics and the militarization of the country's democracy, according to a press release from No Kings. It is happening to counter the Army's 250th anniversary celebration — which Trump has ratcheted up to include an expensive, lavish military parade. The event, will feature hundreds of military vehicles and aircraft and thousands of soldiers. It also happens to be his 79th birthday and Flag Day. 'The flag doesn't belong to President Trump. It belongs to us,' the No Kings website says. 'On June 14th, we're showing up everywhere he isn't — to say no thrones, no crowns, no kings.' Where are the protests? Protests in nearly 2,000 locations are scheduled around the country, from city blocks to small towns, from courthouse steps to community parks, according to the No Kings website. No protests are scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C., however, where the parade will be held. The group says it will 'make action everywhere else the story of America that day.' No Kings plans instead to hold a major flagship march and rally in Philadelphia to draw a clear contrast between its people-powered movement and what they describe as the 'costly, wasteful, and un-American birthday parade' in Washington, according to the No Kings website. What is planned at the No Kings protests? People of all ages are expected to come together in the protest locations for speeches, marching, carrying signs and waving American flags, organizers said in a call Wednesday. On the group's website it says a core principle behind all No Kings events is a commitment to nonviolent action, and participants are expected to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with them. How many people are expected to participate? The No Kings Day of Defiance is expected to be the largest single-day mobilization since Trump returned to office, organizers said. Organizers said they are preparing for millions of people to take to the streets across all 50 states and commonwealths.
