Trump spars with comedian on social media
President, Wolf trade barbs again over White House dinner
The acrimony between President Donald Trump and comedian Michelle Wolf is back at the center of attention.
Trump and the comic traded barbs over social media after the White House Correspondents’ Association announced that next year’s dinner’s featured speaker will be a presidential biographer rather than a comedian — months after Wolf ’s critical jokes about the Trump administration at the 2018 dinner inspired controversy.
“So-called comedian Michelle Wolf bombed so badly last year at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that this year, for the first time in decades, they will have an author instead of a comedian,” Trump tweeted Tuesday night. “Good first step in comeback of a dying evening and tradition! Maybe I will go?”
Wolf, who recently condemned the WHCA for ending its long-lived tradition of enlisting a comedian to speak at its annual feat, then responded with a shot at Trump.
“I bet you’d be on my side if I had killed a journalist,” Wolf tweeted.
The comic ended her post with the hashtag #BeBest, the name of first lady Melania Trump’s anti-bullying campaign.
Trump has not attended the dinner in either of his first two years in office.
Ron Chernow, who has written books on multiple presidents, was named on Monday as the speaker for the 2019 dinner, marking the first time since 1999 that a comedian won’t be filling that role. Next year’s dinner is scheduled for April 27.
Wolf was quick to express her disappointment with the selection.
“The @whca are cowards,” she tweeted. “The media is complicit. And I couldn’t be prouder.”
Wolf ’s polarizing set at this April’s dinner was met with a wide range of responses, with some — including members of Trump’s circle — saying her jokes were in poor taste, while others defended her.
WHCA President Margaret Talev released a statement after the dinner saying Wolf ’s jokes did not align with their mission to send a “unifying message.”
Wolf, meanwhile, stood by her jokes.
“I wouldn’t change a single word,” she told NPR shortly after the backlash. “I’m very happy with what I said, and I’m glad I stuck to my guns.”
Chernow said in a statement released by the association that he'd been asked “to make the case for the First Amendment” in his speech and was “happy to oblige.”
“Freedom of the press is always a timely subject, and this seems like the perfect moment to go back to basics,” he said.
Chernow declined to comment when asked if his speech would include criticism of Trump.