Welcome to Washington Secrets, your daily look inside Donald Trump’s brain. Sort of. Today we bring you the burning question about this year’s White House correspondents’ dinner, we show some love for Mark Levin, and yet another Maga civil war.
White House correspondents got what they wanted when Donald Trump made the surprise announcement that he would attend their dinner after boycotting the event for years.
But that leaves them with a terrible dilemma. Can they laugh at his jokes?
“It will be a tricky one for journalists who stake their reputations on standing up to Trump. Will they want to be captured on camera laughing at his jokes?” said a reporter who asked Secrets for anonymity to exercise his journalistic right to bitch about colleagues.
“Then again, what are they even doing there if they reckon the President is destroying democracy and spreading war in the Middle East?
“It’s just a reminder of what a bizarre night it is.”
The April 25 event will be Trump’s first appearance at the dinner as president.
The White House Correspondents Association, which organizes the annual jamboree, said it was “happy” the President had accepted its invitation.
And it marks something of a coup for Weiji Jang, the CBS correspondent who is president of the W.H.C.A., and who has steadily rebuilt relations between reporters and Trump.
She is (predictably) taking heart from pearl-clutching media correspondents for booking a mentalist for the evening, rather than a comedian who might have tweaked a notoriously thin-skinned President.
Yet the result is an age-old problem – how do journalists enjoy a cozy evening of food and jokes with the figure they are meant to cover dispassionately?
In this case, how do they sit down for dinner with a President who has disparaged their role and limited access for news organizations that he doesn’t like?
And will the president use his speech for revenge?
Brian Karem, a veteran reporter who sued the first Trump administration when it tried to take his White House pass away, said he was bracing for a speech that mixed humor with bluster.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to set some kind of record for length,” he told Secrets. “But it’s hard to watch this guy crack wise with a press corps he has worked so hard to destroy.”
READ MORE: White House Correspondents’ Association dinner gives Trump chance to hit media critics
Trump last attended in 2011, when Barack Obama famously made fun of him. His top lieutenants have also stayed away.
There is however a tantalising possibility for major news to be made when Potus shares the stage with the night’s main entertainment in the form of mentalist Oz Pearlman.
Will we explore the depths of the President’s mind, finding out whether Trump actually has a plan for Iran; whether he prefers J.D. Vance or Marco Rubio; and what did he really think of the Melania movie.
It will be must-watch TV as much for journalists’ reaction as anything else.
There is of course a solution for anxious journalists. The New York Times has not attended the dinner since 2007 in order to avoid any appearance of chumminess with administration officials.
There are still those who would like journalists to be forced to squirm a little harder.
Raheem Kassam, Trump ally and editor-in-chief of the National Pulse, said he was worried that reporters wouldn’t feel awkward enough.
“More important than any quips he might make, Trump could reprise his State of the Union moment where he asked Democrats to stand up if they believed in putting America first,” he said.
“Myabe he’ll invoke the Ayatollah this time, and ask the DC press corps to stand up if they support the ouster of the mullahs.
“What a sight that would be.”
Mark Levin needs your love
It’s hard being a mouthpiece for Donald Trump. You land a big interview with an administration figure who sets out his talking points without challenge, you announce that you have a big scoop on your hands and then no-one follows it up.
Just ask conservative host Mark Levin.
“It is sad day indeed when a news-breaking interview with Steve Witkoff, where he lays out in detail for nearly 40 minutes, the shocking information and events that occurred during the three meetings with the Iranian regime’s negotiators, and not a single so-called major news outlet reports on it,” he posted on X yesterday. “In fact, many of our conservative outlets have ignored it as well.”
It’s a shame, because Levin takes his broadcasting responsibilities seriously, interrupting his guest during a discussion about quantities of enriched uranium to add: “A kilogram, I just looked it up, is 2.2 lb.”
Secrets is only too happy to give you some column inches. One inch of course being 2.54cm.
Trump’s Maga war at home
Magaworld may be anxious about Iran and the possibility of getting sucked into a Middle Eastern quagmire. But that is nothing compared to the danger brewing in Texas.
Secrets’ phone has been running hot with messages from base-adjacent analysts, strategists, and rabble rousers ever since reports surfaced that the President would endorse Sen. John Cornyn in his bad-tempered primary run-off against Ken Paxton.
They are far more exercised about this than they are about mullahs being bombed.
Paxton, you will remember, is the controversy magnet and state attorney general, who gained national prominence and a huge following by leading the charge to overturn Trump’s 2020 election defeat. Now his supporters are furious that Trump appears about to plump for someone he once called a RINO – a Republican in name only – but who probably has the best chance of winning the state in November.
Paxton’s supporters see a sell-out coming.
“Trump’s got a bigger war in Texas than he does in the Middle East,” was how one overnight text message put it.
How many civil wars can the Maga movement have at any one time?
Lunchtime reading
A wartime succession in Iran: why the IRGC backed Mojtaba: This is excellent fodder for the inevitable watercooler discussion about what comes next in Iran. As the son of the last supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei has legitimacy and experience of running his father’s office. That makes him well-placed to knuckle down and fight, but also gives him the sort of hardline support he needs if he is to swallow a difficult deal in return for peace.
Trump considering Mullin as replacement for Noem, privately furious over Senate testimony: Secrets confidently predicted last week that Kristi Noem was safe in her role. Trump doesn’t much care about the headlines around her so long as she kept doing what he wanted. Only now she has done the one thing he hates: Used his name as cover for her own mistakes.
You are reading Washington Secrets, a guide to power and politics in D.C. and beyond. It is written by Rob Crilly, whom you can reach at secrets@washingtonexaminer DOT COM with your comments, story tips, and suggestions. If a friend sent you this and you’d like to sign up, click here.