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Politico
3 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
Trump Has Found God. It's Him.
'I'm supposed to be dead,' Donald Trump said, the day after he got shot at his rally last summer in Butler, Pennsylvania. 'I'm not supposed to be here,' he said four days after that. 'But something very special happened. Let's face it. Something happened,' he said two days after that. 'It's … an act of God,' he said the month after that. 'God spared my life for a reason,' he said in his victory speech at Mar-a-Lago in November. 'I was saved by God to make America great again,' he said in his inaugural address at the Capitol in January. 'It changed something in me,' he said in his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton in February. 'I feel even stronger.' This is new. It's not how he talked for most of his long and voluble life. He has always, it should be said, seen himself as special, and he has always, of course, been notably self-aggrandizing. But the longtime self-described 'fatalist' invariably maintained a sort of shoulder-shrugging acceptance that whatever was going to happen was beyond his or anyone else's control. Over the last 10 or so months since Butler, however, and especially since his reelection and the start of his second administration, Trump's outlook has shifted in essence from stuff happens and nothing much matters to something happened and it couldn't matter more. His rhetoric has gone from borderline nihilistic to messianic. For a while now, a roster of religious believers and leaders, grateful for the political victories Trump has bestowed in exchange for their votes, have suggested and sometimes outright said that Trump is 'chosen,' or 'anointed,' or a 'savior,' or 'the second coming' or 'the Christ for this age.' Now, though, Trump does it, too. And that matters. It matters, some say, because it highlights how his well-documented narcissism and grandiosity has metastasized into notions of omnipotence, invincibility and infallibility. And it matters maybe most immediately because it offers a window into how he is approaching his second term — even more emboldened, even more unilaterally oriented, even more apparently uncheckable and untouchable than the first. 'I run the country and the world,' he said last month. 'I'd like to be pope,' he said — kind of joking, but … kind of not? — before he and the White House posted on social media an AI image of himself adorned in archetypal papal attire. It's worth asking. Does Trump … think he's God? OK, he almost certainly doesn't think he's God — but does he think he's … God-like? Divinely sanctioned or inspired or empowered? Does he think he's somehow imbued with some special, sacred purpose for some special, sacred reason? Or did he just see and seize an opportunity to stamp his world-upending agenda with the ultimate justification — a mandate from God? 'I have no reason to doubt that he would … prefer to believe he was saved by a supreme being because he himself is special rather than the would-be assassin was a lousy shot or he got lucky,' Alan Marcus, a former Trump consultant and publicist, told me. 'He prefers drama which fits into his make-believe narrative, a narrative which always has him being the best, the biggest, the strongest, the toughest, the brightest, et cetera — none of which are even close to the truth, but he knows he can convince people,' Marcus said. 'His world is fantasy, scripted like a movie — not biblical unless, of course, that helps bring a particular scene or chapter to life.' 'Perhaps opportunism and genuine belief in his own chosenness aren't mutually exclusive,' Marie Griffith, the director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, told me. 'But whether he truly believes it or not, it is plainly in his interest to keep talking as if everything he does is sanctioned by God,' she said. 'And I think just looking at the rhetoric, you have to wonder if Butler really shook him up and he thought, 'Maybe they are right. Maybe I really am the 'chosen one.'' 'I think he does believe he was saved to do great things as president,' Stephen Mansfield, the author of the 2018 book Choosing Donald Trump: God, Anger, Hope, and Why Christian Conservatives Supported Him, told me. 'I think he does believe that he is a tool of God.' Some say Trump believes nothing. That's not true. He believes, for instance, in tariffs, and always has. He believes in the importance of genes and always has. He believes in the power of positive thinking, and he believes in the power of negative publicity. And Trump, at best an intermittently observant Christian who reportedly has mocked those more devout, nonetheless believes, and has for a long, long time, in … something like predestination. 'I'm a great fatalist,' he told a reporter from New York's Newsday in 1991. 'What scares you the most?' 'Nothing,' he said. 'Whatever happens, happens — and you just have to go along with it.' 'Unbelievable,' he told Larry King on CNN in 1997. The famed fashion designer Gianni Versace had just been murdered outside his Miami Beach mansion by a celebrity-obsessed stalker named Andrew Cunanan. 'John Kennedy once said if someone wants to get you, and that's all they think about, you're in trouble,' King said. 'True,' Trump said. 'So,' King said, 'Trump the fatalist has to be aware and give thought to the Cunanans.' 'You have to be aware,' Trump said. 'Otherwise, you're a fool — but, again, I don't think you can change your entire life. You're not going to go into a very safe little space and just lock the door and never come out. I just don't think you can do that. And I am a fatalist. I say, 'Hey, what happens, happens.' And maybe it's predestined. Who knows?' Trump has had stray moments in which he seemed to be searching for something else — something more meaningful? 'There has to be a reason we are here,' he told Tim O'Brien for O'Brien's Trump biography that came out in 2005. 'There has to be a reason that we're going through this. There has to be a reason for everything,' he said. 'I do believe in God. I think there just has to be something that's far greater than us.' For the most part, though, Trump's expressed the opposite — that basically the world is full of random this or that with no higher discernible purpose. 'People ask me, 'How do you handle pressure?'' he wrote in 2007 in his book Think Big and Kick Ass. 'The truth is, it does not matter. What the hell difference does it make? You see what is going on in Iraq; you have seen a tsunami wipe out hundreds of thousands of people. Think about how 3,000 people died in the World Trade Center on September 11 …' In 2015, Trump understood that such suffering or happenstance was not a message on which he could run to be president — and that if he wanted to win, he would need the support of people for whom faith in a higher power is a determinant factor. The thrice-married philanderer and philistine said he was 'not sure' he'd ever asked God for forgiveness, and said 'Two Corinthians' instead of 'Second Corinthians,' and couldn't or wouldn't name a favorite verse in the Bible (until he did somewhat). But he knew evangelicals were a crucial bloc of voters and 'realized it was going to be a bit of a stretch to argue that he himself is a religious man,' said Robert Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute, and so 'instead he adopted a quid pro quo approach' — dangling promises, policies and Supreme Court justices in line with their desires. He ran a campaign, too, that was what noted rhetoric expert Jen Mercieca calls 'a Biblical hero narrative' — a convoluted 'hero quest,' as she put it to me, 'of defeating the corrupt (politicians, media, the politically correct) all around him and claimed that he had been purified to end corruption by the act of running for office.' And a critical mass of evangelicals responded by casting Trump as a messiah, a 'modern-day Cyrus,' an imperfect figure tapped to do God's perfect work. 'Does he think, do you think, that his election that year was the result of God?' pastor and Trump religious adviser Paula White-Cain was asked of his win in 2016. 'I say that all the time, and I say that to him,' she answered. 'He's not going to over-exaggerate himself that God is sitting there going, 'I chose you.' But others are going to say to him, 'You've been chosen by God.'' He was sworn in using the Bible he got from his mother as a kid at First Presbyterian Church in Queens in New York as well as the Bible Abraham Lincoln used in 1861. In his first National Prayer Breakfast appearance he took a swipe at former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger about his lowly TV ratings as Trump's replacement as the host of 'Celebrity Apprentice.' In his first term he had prominent pastors come to him in the Oval Office and pray with him and for him and lay their hands on him. He used a Bible as a photo-op prop amid the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. He switched from Presbyterian to 'non-denominational' Christian. Conservative radio host and conspiracy theorist Wayne Allyn Root said on Twitter 'the Jewish people in Israel love him like he's the King of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God' — and Trump retweeted Root's tweet and thanked him for 'the very nice words.' On the lawn outside the White House, in the context of a conversation about a pending trade war with China, Trump held out his hands and looked up at the sky. 'I am the chosen one,' he said. From his tone, though, it was clear at least to most that he was mostly joking. But then that bullet in Butler just missed. And then he won again. So now, four months into his term, Trump is on a spree of a show of supremacy. He's pledged a 'Golden Age.' He's punished Trump and MAGA unbelievers. He's exacted or attempted to exact subservience and acquiescence from media execs and tech titans and major law firms and top universities and both chambers of Congress that he and his party control. He's tried to command the global economy and crack intractable issues of war and peace as if he were wielding a scepter over subjects far and wide. He's declared a slew of national emergencies on everything from the border to mineral production, and he's dropped scores of executive orders, whitewashing history, targeting 'Biased Media' and 'Criminal Aliens,' establishing a Religious Liberty Commission and a White House Faith Office and eradicating 'Anti-Christian Bias' — decrees delivered like apocalyptic pronouncements of an (albeit uncouth, foul-mouthed) Old Testament prophet. World leaders 'all want to kiss my ass,' he told aides. 'I'm actually surprised myself' about the rolling-over of the law firms, he told ABC News. 'John Adams said we're a government ruled by laws, not by men. Do you agree with that?' he was asked in an interview for TIME. 'John Adams said that?' said Trump. 'I wouldn't agree with it 100 percent.' He was asked by Kristen Welker of NBC News if he as president needed to 'uphold' the Constitution. 'I don't know,' Trump said. 'I think one of the biggest differences between Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0 is that in Trump 1.0, his own staff, the people who surrounded him, were perfectly comfortable thinking: President Donald Trump is very wrong about this. His judgment is bad. His impulses need to be foiled. We are the resistance inside the Trump administration,' the journalist Ezra Klein recently posited on his New York Times podcast with Times columnist Ross Douthat. 'In Trump 2.0, I don't think people around him are comfortable thinking that. There is both a sense that they're there to serve him but also a sense there is something in Trump — to them, not to me — that exists beyond argumentation,' Klein said. 'Yes,' Douthat said, talking of 'the kind of mystic drama of his return to power.' 'I think,' Robert Jeffress, the Trump-supporting pastor from Dallas, said last month, 'he came to the conclusion — the right conclusion — that God has a purpose for him.' Christian believers believe, of course, that God has a purpose for them, and for all of them — that they're all potential tools of his will, and beneficiaries of his grace. Most of them don't, though, think of themselves as the literal second coming of Christ. And the extent to which Trump might think that of himself, and that his supporters might agree, speaks to the unprecedented expansion of power he has asserted and that many in the country seem content to grant. 'No previous president in American history has claimed that he was saved by God to enact his political agenda,' Mercieca, the rhetoric expert, recently wrote. Asking God to watch over the nation? Yes. Claiming to have been saved specifically by God to enable the enactment of political priorities? No. 'Invoking the power of the unified people and God gives Trump an awesome and unquestionable power — whoever defies Trump is at risk of defying the people and God. It's impossible to argue against Trump when he claims the power of God …' If nothing else, in the assessment of his biographers, it means Trump as always is an opportunist. 'This is the logical next step from a half-century of continually pushing out the limits of what he can and will go after,' Gwenda Blair, who wrote about Trump's family, told me. 'Starting back in that famous public debut in 1973 when he counter-sued DOJ for defamation, he has consistently reached way past what anyone expected or had a ready response for — a strategy that has let him keep moving the goalposts ever forward.' 'It's another example of Donald Trump playing to an audience to convince them he's with them — and not at all to give you a window into his soul, because that blind is permanently drawn down,' O'Brien told me. ''The Apprentice' gave the impression to a whole generation of people who didn't know his story that he was a great dealmaker and an entrepreneurial guru as opposed to a serial bankruptcy artist and stumblefuck. And he went to the presidency in part on that. And he got reelected in part on [being seen as] 'the chosen one who survived the assassination attempt at Butler.'' Other scholars and observers say he's an opportunist who also is a narcissist who also recognizes considerable political utility in wrapping himself in such a divine mantle. 'The authoritarian leader presents himself as a divine or messianic figure who is uniquely able to vanquish the forces of evil and make the world safe for the faithful. As God incarnate, the leader is by definition omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent,' David Livingstone Smith, a professor of philosophy at the University of New England, wrote before Trump won for the second time. 'Sacred leaders are messianic figures, who promise salvation for true believers. When a movement is headed by a sacred leader, it resembles a religion,' he wrote after. 'Trump is a sacred leader. His evangelical followers often refer to him as a 'savior' or 'anointed one' chosen by God …' 'Trump was not, personally, a paragon of conventional religious devotion. Yet his political career depended on a hunger among his most dedicated supporters that can only be called spiritual,' Molly Worthen, a history professor at the University of North Carolina and an expert on the intersection of religion, culture and politics, wrote in her book Spellbound that came out just this week. 'He's a nihilist for whom the only source of meaning is the amassing of personal power, turning his will into personal, political, financial and territorial domination, and that's totally compatible with a messiah complex,' Worthen told me. 'I don't see the recent turn in his language as a deviation from past patterns, but the fuller realization of those patterns.' Sacred? Chosen? Messianic? 'As a Christian myself, the fact that he was spared … and then was re-elected … does have significance — and I would say that even if it was the other party and the other candidate who had been spared and then elected,' Scott Lamb, the co-author of The Faith of Donald J. Trump, told me. 'It's simply a matter of biblical reflection,' Lamb added, pointing to Proverbs 16:9. 'The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.' Secular reality of course is more complicated. Trump has not been able to end Russia's war on Ukraine with the wave of a proverbial wand. He's not been able to ordain peace in the Middle East. And court after court has stymied the implementation of his edicts. He's seemed at times frustrated and even flustered by this incapacity. Late Wednesday night, in the aftermath of the latest significant setback in the form of the decision of a federal court to overturn the tariffs at the heart of his economic program, Trump took to Truth Social. Among the barrage of his posts was a meme of Trump striding down a darkened city street. 'HE'S ON A MISSION FROM GOD,' read the words. 'NOTHING CAN STOP WHAT IS COMING.' 'Does the president mean with the post of this meme,' I asked in a text message to White House communications director Steven Cheung, 'that he's literally on a mission from God?' 'As people of faith, we are all on missions from God,' Cheung responded. 'The President has the biggest mission — to Make America Great Again and to help bring peace across the world. And he's doing just that.'
Epoch Times
29-04-2025
- Epoch Times
Trial in Paris Takes Off for Kim Kardashian 2016 Jewel Heist
A trial began Monday in Paris over the 2016 heist in which a group of robbers dubbed the 'grandpa gang' allegedly tied up Kim Kardashian in her bedroom during Fashion Week and stole millions of dollars' worth of jewelry. The accused, who were all over the age of 60 at the time, appeared one after the other in the central Paris courtroom to confirm their identity and occupation—many of them saying they were retired. With the stolen jewels' value estimated at $6 million, the robbery was considered the biggest heist targeting an individual that Paris had seen in decades. The trial, which is scheduled to run through May 23, is expected to draw public attention. Kardashian is expected to testify in person at the trial on May 13. 'Ms. Kardashian is reserving her testimony for the court and jury and does not wish to elaborate further at this time,' Kardashian's lawyers said. 'She has great respect and admiration for the French justice system and has been treated with great respect by the French authorities.' In interviews and on her family's reality TV show, Kardashian has described being terrified, thinking she would be raped and killed when criminals broke into her bedroom and pointed a gun at her. Kim Kardashian attends the 2022 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at Washington Hilton in Washington on April 30, people—nine men and one woman—will be standing trial. Of the ten accused, five face armed robbery and kidnapping charges and potentially face being sentenced to life imprisonment. The others have been charged with complicity in the heist or illegal possession of a weapon. Related Stories 4/16/2025 3/5/2025 Yunice Abbas, 71, is only one of two who have admitted their participation in the robbery—he even published a book about the crime called, 'I Sequestered Kim Kardashian.' Abbas admitted he tied up the hotel concierge and stayed behind at the ground floor reception area as a lookout. He said he was unarmed and did not personally threaten Kardashian, but acknowledged he shared responsibility for the crime. The earnings from his book have been frozen pending the outcome of the trial. He was arrested in January 2017 and spent 21 months in prison before being released under judicial supervision. Yunice Abbas, one of the men accused in the 2016 armed robbery of Kim Kardashian, reacts during an interview with The Associated Press in Paris on April 22, 2025. Thibault Camus/AP Photo Tied Up With Plastic Cables and Tape According to the investigation, the robbers allegedly held the concierge of the luxury building at gunpoint and forced the person to lead them into Kardashian's hotel room. Kardashian recalled the experience in a 2020 interview on Late Show with David Letterman, during which she fought back tears as she recalled the incident. 'They kept on saying 'the ring, the ring',' Kardashian said, referring to the 18.88-carat diamond ring given to her by Kanye around the time of their engagement in 2013. 'I kept looking at the concierge,' she continued. 'I was like, 'Are we gonna die? Just tell them I have children, I have babies, I have a husband, I have a family ... I have to get home.'' She said she was tied up with plastic cables and tape while the intruders searched the room for jewels, including her $4 million engagement ring. DNA traces found on plastic bands helped police make arrests months later in January 2017. Joseph Hazan, a lawyer for Aomar Aït Khedache, one of the men accused in the 2016 armed robbery of Kim Kardashian, talks to the press at the palace of justice in Paris on April 28, 2025. Aurelien Morissard/AP Photo Denial and Apologies According to Abbas, minutes after the raid started, his accomplices came down from Kardashian's room and gave him a bag of jewelry. Everyone took off either on foot or by bike. Abbas said as he rode the bicycle, the bag containing the jewelry got caught in the front wheel, and he fell to the ground, spilling the contents of the bag. 'I picked the jewels up and left,' he said. The following morning, a passerby found a diamond-encrusted cross in the street and handed it to police. That was the only jewel from the robbery that was ever recovered. Abbas said he didn't know at the time of the robbery that Kardashian was the target. 'I was told about a famous person, a rapper's wife. That's all the information I had,' he said. 'Until the next morning, when I heard on TV about the influencer. That's when I understood who she was.' In interviews with French media, Abbas said he was sorry for what he did and wanted to apologize to Kardashian. 'I will apologize,' he He said he will detail his role during the trial, which will be conducted with a jury, a procedure in France reserved for the most serious crimes, yet he would not denounce his accomplices. 'I'm only an outsider. I'm not the one who masterminded the case. I take my share of responsibility,' he said. Abderrahmane Ouatiki, who was working as a hotel receptionist and was allegedly held at gunpoint by the robbers during the 2016 armed robbery of Kim Kardashian, arrives at the palace of justice in Paris on April 28, 2025. Aurelien Morissard/AP Photo Most of the suspects have denied involvement, except for Abbas and the alleged ringleader, 68-year-old Aomar Aït Khedache, nicknamed 'Old Omar.' Khedache's DNA was found on the tape used to gag Kardashian. His lawyer, Franck Berton, said his client 'will apologize, will actually explain how it happened, how he was contacted, and finally how the events unfolded.' Khedache, who is deaf, will answer the court's questions in writing. Didier Dubreucq, 69, known as 'Blue Eyes,' is the second alleged robber suspected of entering the flat. Although he was found to have numerous telephone communications with the other defendants and was filmed by CCTV cameras, he has denied all involvement. Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this article. From
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
White House Correspondents Dinner Weekend Was the Death Knell for Traditional D.C. Media
On Saturday night, as legacy media journalists crowded into the Washington Hilton for the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, the mood was somber. The White House Correspondents' Association decided to omit its usual comedic performance this year, reportedly because the Trump administration complained about the scheduled host. The association said that they wanted 'to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division,' so journalists sat quietly while awards and speeches were given. It did not make for an exciting scene. 'It was all NPCs,' says Alice Ma, using a term that describes non-playable characters in a video game. Ma, the Gen Z co-founder of Mad Realities — the social-media based TV network behind shows like Shop Cat and Hollywood IQ — was in town for the weekend's festivities, and while she didn't attend the dinner, she witnessed the scene beforehand at the Hilton. 'There was a weird corporate energy. It felt like a funeral.' More from Rolling Stone Trump Assures Nation That Pete Hegseth Will Eventually 'Get It Together' Trump's War on the Vulnerable Has Now Reached Military Families Trump Melts Down Over Plummeting Popularity, Says Pollsters Are 'Criminals' Five minutes up the road, at the Line hotel, hundreds of influencers, YouTube stars, newsletter writers, podcasters, Gen Z founders, and political personalities celebrated the death of old media at a counterparty hosted by newsletter platform Substack. They sipped cocktails and noshed on parmesan fries in front of a giant replica White House press podium. That party, Ma said, had 'a new energy. People are building and charging new ground. At the Hilton it was like, oh my god, are you guys OK?' Traditionally, the WHCD weekend has been a celebration dominated by legacy media. Old school broadcast networks, print journalists, and political insiders gathered to hobnob and network. The central events of the weekend were hosted by organizations like CBS, ABC, CNN, and NBC. Under the second administration of Donald Trump, however, it has become abundantly clear that the landscape has shifted. Traditional media outlets have been sidelined in favor of podcasters, YouTubers, Substack newsletter writers, and hyper-partisan content creators. Legacy news outlets are in a free fall as their business models crumble, and journalists with viable personal brands (including myself!) have jumped ship in order to go independent. The weekend's events signaled a broader upheaval in the media landscape, where digital platforms and independent creators are increasingly central to political and cultural conversations. And while independent media on the right is flourishing, more traditional journalists are now entering the fray and trying to make inroads into online spaces as influencers are playing a larger role in our political system. The right-wing influencer universe is thriving, as Trump has validated their role by integrating them into the administration's press strategy and inviting creators into the briefing room, while Democrats scramble to catch up. This transformation could be seen throughout WHCD weekend. Hamish McKenzie, co-founder of Substack, raised his glass in a private room at Minetta Tavern in front of the crowd of creators on Thursday night. Big names like YouTuber Johnny Harris, MAGA influencer Jessica Reed Kraus, and Gen Z political phenomenon Gabe Fleisher, who runs the newsletter Wake Up To Politics, were there to kick off the weekend with a toast. 'This weekend is about legacy media, traditionally,' McKenzie said. 'It's a space for traditional media to gather and talk with the political elites. But this room here is full of pioneers who are showing the way to a new type of order and a new vision of what the media can be.' Journalist Oliver Darcy's career itself is emblematic of this shift. Last year, he left his highly regarded role at CNN to launch his own independent media company, Status on the newsletter platform Beehiiv. In just a few months his newsletter became a must-read for executives and leaders in business, politics, and media, and now has nearly 80,000 monthly subscribers. On Thursday night, he too hosted his first ever WHCD party. The Status party attracted a diverse mix of traditional journalists and new media internet personalities. Attendees from legacy outlets gushed over Darcy's success and asked each other aloud, could they do the same? Several in attendance have already made the jump. Jim Acosta, a longtime broadcaster at CNN, left the network to become a video star on Substack. Politico's Ryan Lizza, who quit the company less than a week ago and has since launched a Substack, was also in attendance. The guests at the Status party sipped cocktails and discussed the challenges and opportunities in today's media landscape. Darcy told me that, while the economy under Trump has made things less stable for creators and his administration has largely rewarded right wing influencers who push pro-Trump propaganda, which devalues real journalism, news consumers as a whole are flocking to independent voices. 'Big brand names don't matter as much as they did,' he says. 'Maybe Trump has played some role in that. But I really think that people are just opening their eyes and saying that we don't live in 1995 anymore.' Influencers were everywhere throughout WHCD weekend in a way that they haven't been in previous years. On Friday, Gen Z entrepreneur Adam Faze, co-founder of the production company Gymnasium, which produces TikTok and YouTube shows like Boys Room, along with publicist Jess Hoy, hosted 'The New Correspondents Reception and Dinner' at the Watergate Hotel. There, creators like Deja Foxx, 24, a TikTok star and reproductive rights activist who's currently running for congress in Arizona's Seventh District; Annie Wu, a Gen Z influencer and digital strategist dubbed John Fetterman's TikTok whisperer; Jordan Meiselas, who co-founded liberal YouTube behemoth MeidasTouch;, and Peter McIndoe, who co-founded the Birds Aren't Real movement, a parody conspiracy theory aimed to poke fun at misinformation, sipped cocktails and discussed the vibes of the weekend, which they all agreed were off. Natalie Winters, the 24-year-old MAGA influencer and White House correspondent for Steve Bannon's War Room, was a fixture at this year's WHCD. Winters sells merchandise under her lifestyle brand 'She's So Right!' — including a tank top reading 'More insecure than the border' and hats and totes with the phrase 'miss information' — to her massive online following. Winters told me that, like many other MAGA influencers, this year was her first ever WHCD weekend. She was swarmed by fans at the Daily Mail party. Unlike during Trump's first term, she says, old-school journalists are being forced to pay attention to the power of the internet and the shifts in the ways people get information. 'Maybe if they would have started covering all this stuff years ago, that would have impacted the election,' she says. 'But they're so late to the party, and even now they don't really understand the ecosystem. I don't think they've ever made a genuine effort to.' Winters described the actual WHCD dinner as 'doomsday prepper vibes' but said that she was enjoying the opportunity to debate legacy media journalists. 'I was having a 30-minute conversation with some Washington Post columnist,' she said, 'explaining why we must have no foreign students at community colleges. Then a bunch of other legacy media journalists started coming around. By the end of it, their jaws were literally dropped.' Winters rejects the idea that right wing influencers are sycophants who simply use their position in the briefing room to praise Trump. There is such a wide range of personalities and conflicting viewpoints on the right, she said, and she hopes to challenge the administration on the issues that she cares about, like cracking down even harder on immigration and auditing defense expenditures in Ukraine. 'I have tried to reshape what it means to be a White House correspondent,' she said. 'I think some of the questions that are asked in the briefing room from the new media people are quite cringe to be honest.' CJ Pearson, a Gen Z influencer and chair of the RNC's Youth Advisory Council, says that this was his first WHCD weekend, too. 'You're seeing the inclusion of so many new media personalities and influencers into the programming of this WHCD this year,' he says. 'You have events dedicated to influencers and new media, like the Substack party or the Crooked Media party with influencers on the left. I think it's because you can't ignore them anymore. These people reach a lot more folks than the traditional corporate media.' McKenzie took to the balcony to address the crowd at his party in the lavish two story ballroom, to praise the new paradigm. After noting that he 'loves journalists,' McKenzie spoke about the wider range of ideologies reflected in online media. 'I love the rat-bags from the right,' he said. 'I love the pugilists on the left. I love the centrists, and the nutjobs, and the fringe views and the radical voices, those from outside the establishment, the pro-establishment, the anti-establishment. And I really love that they're all on Substack.' Substack takes a 10-percent cut of subscription revenue from all creators monetized on their platform, so it's not surprising that the company wants as many publishers as possible, regardless of ideology. After the Substack party, some MAGA influencers headed to Butterworth's on Capitol Hill where Steve Bannon was hosting his WHCD weekend party for the 'uninvited' media. After opening last fall, Butterworth's has become a sort of clubhouse in D.C. for right-wing reactionaries, DOGE staffers, and conservative internet personalities. At brunch hosted by Politico and NOTUS, a nonprofit, nonpartisan digital news outlet backed by the Allbritton Journalism Institute, guests reflected on the weekend's vibe shift. Matt Friend, a comedian and content creator who is known for his impressions of both Republican and Democrat political leaders, and performed at last year's WHCD, says that the challenges the organization is facing right now reflect the broader fracture in media and entertainment. 'I'm 26 years old,' he says. 'I built a career by getting discovered on TikTok and Instagram. Media is evolving and traditional media, regardless of whether they want to or not, have to face it. I'm not saying they need to invite a bunch of rando influencers to run around the event, but I think it's important to have TikTok and Snapchat, and Instagram to have a presence at this thing or it will go away.' He says that the WHCD was centered around an old guard that is no longer relevant in today's cultural landscape — and doubling down on the solemn mood was a mistake. 'Look who's running Congress,' Friend said. 'It's 82-year-olds. Congress is an old-age home, D.C. is older, and traditional media [is] too. Some young blood in there wouldn't hurt. We need things to freshen it up. It was a huge mistake not to have a comedian perform. Especially this year with Hegseth, Bernie at Coachella, people in space. Regardless of what side you're on, how the fuck are we not making jokes about it? It's infuriating. We need jokes!' Mosheh Oinounou, a longtime journalist who's worked for Fox News, Bloomberg, and CBS, attended his first WHCD in 2007. He said that this weekend, however, felt like the end of an era. 'This is the year where the transition feels real,' he said. Democratic consultants at the brunch said that they were worried about how far behind their party appeared to be in acknowledging these changes in media and consumer behavior. They discussed Pete Buttigieg's recent viral appearance on Flagrant, a podcast hosted by Trump-supporting comedian Andrew Schulz, noting how well he performed. They talked about how they were focusing on social media appearances, and landing their clients podcast spots. MAGA influencers who attended the weekend's festivities thanked Trump for validating them, rather than shunning independent voices who don't tow the line, as the Democratic party has done. 'Some of us are empowered because MAGA has embraced independent media,' said Jessica Reed Kraus, a right-wing Instagram influencer and newsletter writer with more than 1 million followers. 'My White House access is a dream right now, and that's only because Karoline Levitt found value in it.' Many on the right gloated over the failures of legacy journalism, which they feel has long failed to hold the Democratic party sufficiently accountable. 'Traditional media is on the verge of extinction,' Pearson says. 'A lot of legacy folks this weekend will be patting themselves on the back, when I think what they really should be doing is some soul searching. They should be worrying about how they can actually regain the trust of the American people.' Best of Rolling Stone Every Super Bowl Halftime Show, Ranked From Worst to Best The United States of Weed Gaming Levels Up
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
White House Correspondents' Association President Says Press Is Not 'The Enemy' While Taking Aim At Trump
The president of the White House Correspondents' Association gave a vehement speech in defense of the organization and free press during Saturday's White House Correspondents' dinner. The annual event was snubbed by President Trump yet again this year. 'We journalists are a lot of things. We are competitive and pushy. We are impatient and sometimes we think we know everything, but we're also human,' WHCA President Eugene Daniels said on stage at the event at the Washington Hilton hotel. 'We miss our families and significant life moments in service to this job.' He went on to tell the crowd that 'we care deeply about accuracy and take seriously the heavy responsibility of being stewards of the public's trust.' 'What we are not is the opposition, what we are not is the enemy of the people and what we are not is the enemy of the state,' Daniels added as the crowd erupted in applause. His comments were apparently aimed at Trump, who has repeatedly voiced dangerous accusations against the press, calling them the 'enemy of the people' multiple times since taking office for his first term in January 2017. Trump's second administration has been riddled with a ramped-up surge of anti-media rhetoric and incessant attacks on 'fake news.' In February, the Associated Press was banned from the presidential pool for not referring to the 'Gulf of Mexico' by Trump's preferred name for the geographic landmark — 'Gulf of America' — following his executive order. Trump is the only president, aside from Ronald Reagan, who hasn't attended the annual Correspondents' Dinner while in office since its first event in 1921, which was started by journalists who cover the White House. Notably, Reagan's absence in 1981 was reportedly due to his recovery after he was shot in an assassination attempt. 'I want to be clear about something: We don't invite presidents of the United States to this because it's for them,' Daniels continued in his speech. 'We don't invite them because we want to cozy up to them or curry favor. We don't only extend invites to the presidents who say they love journalists or who say they are defenders of the First Amendment and a free press.' The head of WHCA added: 'We invite them to remind them that they should be. We invite them to demonstrate that those of us who have chosen the public service of journalism aren't doing it because we love flights on Air Force One or walking into the Oval Office. It's to remind them why a strong Fourth Estate is essential for democracy.' Chuck Schumer Cryptically Admits He Has 'Great Fear' Trump Will 'Cave' To Putin Trump Boldly Claims Steep Tariffs Could Lead To Taxes Being 'Completely Eliminated' For Some Workers Marco Rubio And Trump's Border Czar Defend Deportation Of U.S. Citizen Children
The Mainichi
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Mainichi
White House journalists use annual press dinner to celebrate First Amendment
WASHINGTON (AP) -- There was no president. There was no comedian. What remained at the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner were the journalists and the First Amendment. The stripped-down festivities Saturday night were a reflection of the somber tone in Washington at the beginning of President Donald Trump's second term, in which he has battled with the press on multiple fronts and wrested from the correspondents' association the power to decide which outlets have the most access to Trump. Trump's deeper involvement in politics began after then-President Barack Obama roasted the New Yorker's presidential ambitions during the 2011 correspondents' dinner. He skipped the annual gala during his first term, and his absence had been widely expected this year. The association scrapped a scheduled appearance at this year's dinner by comedian Amber Ruffin after she referred to the new administration as "kind of a bunch of murderers" on a podcast last month. The organization, a nonprofit that helps White House journalists provide robust coverage of the presidency, decided to forgo the event's traditional levity and focus on celebrating journalism. Association President Eugene Daniels said in an email to the organization's 900 members last month that the dinner was meant to "honor journalistic excellence and a robust, independent media covering the most powerful office in the world." The event, which raises money for journalism scholarships, remains a highlight of the Washington social calendar. The ballroom at the Washington Hilton was still packed with journalists, newsmakers and even a few celebrities. Daniels singled out Debra Tice, whose son Austin has not been heard from other than in a video, released weeks after he went missing in Syria in 2012, that showed him blindfolded and held by armed men. "We've been tested and 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," Daniels said. He later showed a video of past presidents, from Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden, who addressed the dinner, saying that the association invites the president to demonstrate the importance of a free press in safeguarding democracy. Trump counter-programmed the last dinner during his first term, holding a rally to compete with the event in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic canceled the 2020 dinner. This year, Trump had just flown back from Pope Francis' funeral in Rome and had no events Saturday night. The Trump administration has had multiple skirmishes with the press in recent months. The FCC is investigating several media companies, the administration is working to shut down Voice of America and other government-run outlets, and The Associated Press has sued the administration for reducing its access to events because it has not renamed the Gulf of Mexico in line with Trump's executive order. A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction ordering the administration to stop blocking the AP from presidential events. In response, the White House adopted a new press policy that gives the administration sole discretion over who gets to question Trump and sharply curtails the access of three news agencies, including AP, that serve billions of readers around the world. For many years previously, the correspondents' association determined which news organizations had access to limited space events. Alex Thompson of Axios, who won The Aldo Beckman Award for his coverage of the cover-up of Biden's decline while in office, addressed complaints from some on the right that the press had gone too soft on the Democrat. "We -- myself included -- missed a lot of this story, and some people trust us less because of it," Thompson told the room of journalists. "We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows." Saturday's dinner also recognized the winners of a number of journalism awards, in addition to Thompson. They included: --The Award for Excellence in Presidential Coverage Under Deadline Pressure (Print): Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller of the AP, for reporting on the White House altering its transcript to erase Biden calling Trump supporters "garbage." --The Award for Excellence in Presidential Coverage Under Deadline Pressure (Broadcast): Rachel Scott of ABC News, for her coverage of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. --The Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage by Visual Journalists: Doug Mills of the New York Times, for his photograph of Biden walking under a painting of Abraham Lincoln. --The Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability: Reuters, for its series on the production and smuggling of the deadly narcotic fentanyl. --Collier Prize for State Government Accountability: AP for its series, "Prison to Plate: Profiting off America's Captive Workforce."
