Obama's & Trump's Second White House Correspondents' Dinner Look So Different

The 2018 White House Correspondents' Dinner not only brought together the most notable figures in Washington D.C., it gives us a chance to look back on just how much has change between former President Barack Obama's administration and President Donald Trump's. Need proof? All you'd need to do is check out photos of Obama's second White House Correspondents' Dinner and Trump's.

For starters, just look at the photo above. Obama there was delivering a monologue at the 2010 "WHCD." Trump has done no such thing, and probably won't in the future last year. In 2017, during the first WHCD of his administration, Trump and his staff boycotted the event altogether, which was not at all surprising given the president's relationship with the press.

Months before the event, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders — who was still a deputy to Sean Spicer at the time — told ABC News, "You know, one of the things we say in the South, ‘If a Girl Scout egged your house, would you buy cookies from her?’ I think that this is a pretty similar scenario. There’s no reason for him to go in and sit and pretend like this is going to be just another Saturday night."

This year, Trump decided against attending the dinner again, though his staff, including Sanders, were encouraged to attend.

Speaking of staff members, it's the story of Omarosa Manigault. In 2010, the former Apprentice star attended the dinner as just that, a former reality star.

On Saturday night though, she attended the 2018 event as a former White House employee, having been fired under reportedly dramatic circumstances.

The irony doesn't stop there. Back in 2010, the White House Correspondents dinner guests list was star studded with celebs like Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian. By the way, emphasis on the Kim Kardashian, not Kim Kardashian West.

Before her marriage to Kanye West, Kim graced the red carper at the WHCD. Now, under Presidents Trump — who's been having a recent Twitter bromance with Kanye — there was no attendance for Kardashian, there another family member was in Washington D.C. recently.

Maybe if Trump actually attends the events one year, Kanye and Kim will be in attendence.

Who knows?

Now let's talk about the hosts. In the past two years, the WHCD has granted its stage to two younger comedians who have yet to reach their primes — the 2018 host is Michelle Wolf. That's departure from past years, during which there were headliners like Jon Stewart and, in 2010, Jay Leno. At the time that the latter hosted, he had just come back from retiring from his late night gig (a dramatic episode which saw Conan O'Brien booted from NBC after inheriting Leno's old spot).

That fact became perfect joke material for Obama, who noted that he was glad to be speaking before first, "because we've all seen what happens when somebody takes the time slot after Leno's."

One huge glaring difference between the 2010 and 2018 WHCDs is the list of men who didn't attend this year's event. Take one notable example. In 2010, veteran news show host Charlie Rose was in attendance.

This year, the 76-year-old did not attend, and was not expected to, either, not after he became one of the many high profile figures that became the subject of reports of sexual harassment.

Rose responded to the allegation in a statement posted on his Twitter account. "I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all these allegations are accurate," the statement read. "I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken."

In general, though. One huge difference between the WHCD then and now is that the event has become less Hollywood and more about the journalists who highlight the guest list. As The Washington Post notes, there are fewer celebrities — again, not surprising given the stereotype about Hollywood being liberal — and fewer parties.

Though CNN is still throwing its Sunday hangover party, The Post reports. Some things stand the test of time, others don't.