SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
President Trump will attend the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington, D.C., tonight. The gathering historically is a chance for presidents and the press who cover them to come together, celebrate the First Amendment and show they can take a joke. But these are not ordinary times. NPR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith, a past president of the WHCA, joins us. Tam, thanks for being with us.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: You're welcome.
SIMON: You've been to this dinner a dozen times and watched a lot of presidential comedy routines. Which one stands out for you?
KEITH: You know, some of the best jokes from presidents are self-deprecating, like this one from George H. W. Bush in 1992.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GEORGE H W BUSH: There's a lot of name-calling out there - candidates calling out terrible epithets like corrupt, liar, hypocrite, fascist, racist, incumbent.
KEITH: Incumbent turned out to be the biggest insult of them all. Bush lost in his bid for reelection that year. The thing with comedy is, when you're president of the United States, it is really hard to deliver a roast without punching down. And if you do punch down, it's a bad look that can earn you some oohs or just plain uncomfortable silences in a ballroom full of Washington insiders.
SIMON: I've been to a few of these dinners myself. And at some point, the president usually strikes a serious note and talks about the importance and their respect for a free press. That's usually been as about predictable as the chicken entree.
KEITH: (Laughter) Yes, though often it's surf and turf. No presidents like their press coverage, and they grouse privately and sometimes publicly about how we're always focusing on the negative. And as reporters, no matter who occupies the White House, we are trying to expose the truth and ask hard questions on behalf of the American people. In his last speech at the WHCA dinner in 1988, President Ronald Reagan captured this pretty well.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RONALD REAGAN: As my goodbye, I'm not going to stand up here and deliver one of those worn-out sentimental homilies about the press and the presidency. Neither of us would believe it.
(LAUGHTER)
KEITH: But then he actually did just that. And President Biden, in 2023, somehow found a way to combine a sentimental nod to the importance of a free press with some of that self-deprecating humor.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOE BIDEN: I believe in the First Amendment. Not just because my good friend Jimmy Madison wrote it.
(LAUGHTER)
KEITH: The dinner that year was right after Biden announced he was planning to run for reelection. And his age was a huge issue, obviously, and he was trying to neutralize it with humor.
SIMON: This will actually be President Trump's first White House Correspondents' Association Dinner as president. He did notably attend once as a celebrity guest in 2011. I was there for that, Tam.
KEITH: Were you?
SIMON: I remember that night. It's become kind of a political legend, hasn't it?
KEITH: It has. This was right around the time that Trump was going around demanding that President Obama release his long-form birth certificate. And at that dinner, Obama roundly mocked him for it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BARACK OBAMA: No one is happier - no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: And that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like, did we fake the moon landing?
OBAMA: What really happened in Roswell?
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: And where are Biggie and Tupac?
(LAUGHTER)
KEITH: Trump recently talked about that night during a phone interview with Fox News.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I said - you know, I love this. I'm having a good time - because every joke was about me, and I sort of liked it. I can handle that stuff.
KEITH: He didn't look like he was having a good time, but he will certainly be the center of attention again tonight.
SIMON: As we said at the top, these are not normal times. This is a president who doesn't mention the press without first inserting the word fake. So what kind of presentation are people expecting?
KEITH: I think there's a lot of suspense about that. This is a dark time for the press, and this is a president coming to assert his dominance. It's like inviting the arsonist to your housewarming party. This president and his administration have undermined the press by punishing news organizations for their coverage decisions and punishing reporters who asked questions the president doesn't like. He has sued multiple news organizations and, of course, successfully defunded public broadcasting. At the same time, though, this president needs the press like he needs oxygen, and he routinely still takes calls from journalists. When I asked if President Trump plans to deliver comedy, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told me, stay tuned. It will be great.
SIMON: Tamara Keith, thanks so much for being with us. Have a good time.
KEITH: Thank you. And I'd also just like to thank C-SPAN's Howard Mortman for helping me find some of these great presidential moments.
(SOUNDBITE OF RRAREBEAR'S "MOON") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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