Michael Goodwin: The medias anti-Trump bias was on full display at re-do of White House Correspondents Dinner
The president came, he saw, he joked, he insulted and talked too long.And yet, Donald Trump’s presence was the major reason why the White House Correspondents’ dinner was such a smashing success.A make-up event for the dinner in April that was dramatically cut short by a would-be assassin’s attempt to kill Trump and members of his cabinet, Friday’s version turned out to be far better and much more meaningful than the original would have been.The reason is that the near-tragedy in April inspired the second try as a unifying event and a living testament to American exceptionalism.Indeed, when this president and the nation’s major media group actually agree on something, as they did Friday, it’s breaking news and time to STOP THE PRESSES!Most of the credit goes to Trump, who heartily saluted the undaunted courage of the Secret Service agents and DC police who stopped the shooter on that near-tragic night.
He also managed to pull off the impossible by getting the 700 journalists and others in the hotel ballroom to stand and applaud security officers and our military.Given that most journalists are lefty Democrats and members of the hate-Trump rabble of DEI and defund the police, getting them to participate in the salute was no small accomplishment.The president was also gracious in staying to the very end and personally congratulating journalists who won awards for stories that, in most cases, were highly critical of him and his policies.He was such a good sport that after shaking hands with Wall Street Journal reporters he had sued over their article about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the president showed a half-smile, threw up his arms in apparent exasperation and shook his head, as if to say, what the hell am I doing here?Given that he had boycotted the annual event in his first term as well as last year, some second-guessing was inevitable.But he nonetheless seemed to enjoy himself for the most part, and offered more than a few zingers when it...