Well everyone, it's that time of year again. Political figures from all over gather in Washington, D.C. to attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner, and it's always a delightful affair — for some. In case you wanted to compare and contrast this presidency with the former, Obama's vs. Trump's second White House Correspondents' Dinner speaks volumes.
It's obvious that Donald Trump isn't your average president. In April 2017, he broke longstanding tradition when he announced that he wouldn't be attending his first White House Correspondents' Dinner as president. Even though Trump has a history of being quite the butt of the joke at these type of events, everyone was surprised that he decided to skip out on the festivities as the guest of honor himself. Fast forward to 2018, and Donald Trump should be getting a bit more comfortable with attending fancy events such as these. Well, apparently not. The White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) announced that Trump plans to skip his second Correspondents' Dinner.
So the guest of honor himself won't be attending one of the most influential nights in the White House. To be honest, I'm not that surprised. Donald Trump definitely isn't a typical president.
However, just for giggles, let's compare and contrast how Trump's second Correspondents' Dinner holds up to Obama's. The differences are truly unreal.
Perhaps the most obvious difference between these two Correspondents' Dinners is the fact that Trump hasn't attended a single one. After the WHCA announced on April 6 that Trump wouldn't be joining the festivities once again, the association revealed that White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders would be representing the administration at the Correspondents' Dinner.
Obama, on the other hand, clearly enjoyed his second time around attending the event. During his speech, he cracked joke after joke to roaring applause.
Even though Trump may not be attending the White House Correspondents' Dinners as president, he's been to a few as a guest before. However, instead of throwing a few jabs himself, he's usually been the butt of the jokes. If I were him, maybe I wouldn't be taking part either.
It's looking like this year's Correspondents' Dinner is going to be quite the barren affair. It had been confirmed that Trump wouldn't be attending the event, but it was still up in the air as to whether first lady Melania would be taking part in the festivities. However, Stephanie Grisham, press secretary for the first lady, confirmed to Elite Daily that Melania would not be attending the Correspondents' Dinner. Such a bummer.
There could be a few possible reasons why Melania won't be attending soirée, but the most obvious is that she's standing in solidarity with her husband.
Clearly, this is quite different than the Obama administration. Former FLOTUS Michelle Obama sat front and center during their second White House Correspondents' Dinner, and she seriously looked fabulous. During the dinner, she laughed at the jokes being exchanged and all in all, it looks like she and Obama had a lovely time.
In February, The New York Times reported that comedian and Daily Show contributor Michelle Wolf would be taking center stage to host the 2018 White House Correspondents' Dinner. She's made it clear in the past that she's not the biggest fan of Trump, and has even dared him to attend the dinner to hear what she has to say while speaking to Jimmy Kimmel.
She said,
I didn’t change my jokes from when I found out he wasn’t going to when he was. If he does show up, it would be more fun. I’d like to look him in the eye. I like making fun of people when they’re there.
Back and forth between the president and host is a time long tradition, but clearly Trump can't hang. This is quite a different story to Obama's second White House Correspondents' Dinner, where he and host Jay Leno exchanged jab after jab all night.
"The only person whose ratings fell more than mine last year is here tonight," Obama joked. "Great to see you, Jay."
Absolutely iconic.
Clearly these are two different presidents, so of course their Correspondents' Dinners will follow suit.
Safe to say there won't be a mic drop at the end of the night.
