White House Correspondents' Dinner: Then (2006) and Now (2026)

(edited transcript):

JULIAN ZELIZER:

Welcome back to Then & Now. I’m Julian Zelizer of The Long View.

JONATHAN ALTER:

And I’m Jonathan Alter of Old Goats.

JULIAN ZELIZER:

So, in the news was the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which had been rescheduled after the assassination attempt. This is an old tradition and institution going back to the 1920s, I believe. Famously, it’s a place where White House correspondents and the media mingle with policymakers and elected officials. There’s always been a certain amount of controversy over that clubby aspect of the institution.

A comedian has been the featured speaker since the 1950s, with many comedians poking fun at the president, themselves, and Washington in general. This year was particularly fraught. The rescheduled dinner took place, but many people were uncomfortable celebrating a president and administration who have gone after the press, gone after the First Amendment, and, in many people’s minds, been quite destructive. There was no comedian invited this time.

John, you’ve been to some of these events — in 2006 and 2011. How do you think about this?

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JONATHAN ALTER:

Well, the event is stupid in many ways. It’s jumped the shark in many ways.

I have to admit, I’ve been more than 30 times in my long years at Newsweek. There were a couple of things that were good about it. It was a chance to celebrate a free press, and the president — whoever it was — would always say something nice about the importance of a free press in a democratic society during the serious part of the remarks.

And it was clubby, but it was also a chance for Washington to say, “You know what? We don’t have to hate people on the other side. We don’t have to hate the reporters who are covering us.”

I never thought it was a good idea to bring my sources as guests and sort of show them off, so I never did that.

But really, the most important part of it was the comedian, because it was a speaking-truth-to-power moment. Most famously, when Stephen Colbert went after George W. Bush in 2006. The president’s sitting right there, and a comedian is just ripping him apart. Variations on that happened every year, and that was a good thing.

So once it became clear that, A, Trump was going to go to this dinner and trash reporters, and, B, there would be no comedian to speak truth to power, it was essential that everybody boycott. But, of course, that didn’t happen, and we had this quite embarrassing spectacle.

It may be that it’s beyond fixing, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea either. The next president needs to have a comedian there —or the White House Correspondents’ Association needs to have a comedian there — who will rip whoever is president. That’s the American way, not Trump telling Kaitlan Collins to smile.

And it’s not a surprise. We’ve talked about it before, how he’s gone after comedians on late-night television. So this is, in some ways, part of an ongoing story. It says a lot about the president.

If there’s no speaking-truth-to-power moment at the dinner, nobody should go.

JULIAN ZELIZER:

Well, that’s Then & Now. John and I will regroup next week to talk about whatever’s in the news. Talk to you then.

JONATHAN ALTER:

Bye-bye.