President Donald Trump skipped the White House Correspondents’ Dinner for the third consecutive year that took place on Saturday with Ron Chernow as the keynote speaker. The historian and biographer managed to pay tribute to the importance of journalism while providing some puns and jabs at the president.
Since the early ‘80s, the WHCA dinner usually featured performances from comedians. In recent years, including those that were not attended by Trump, comedians use their speech time to deliver typically pun-filled monologues or better known now as “roast.” However, Chernow’s speech at the 2019 WHCA dinner is certainly a breath of fresh air to its attendees and the people following the event.
Chernow almost did not mention Trump by name, but he successfully made reference to many of Trump’s previous statements. “Campaigns against the press don’t get your face carved into the rocks on Mount Rushmore,” Chernow said. “For when you chip away at the press, you chip away at our democracy.” Last year, Republican lawmaker for South Dakota, Kristi Noem, revealed Trump is serious about his “dream” to add his face on the monument.
The 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography winner also addressed the many times Trump referred to the news media as the “enemy of the American people.” Chernow advised the audience, composed of White House reporters that that next time Trump calls them as such, they should think of it in the context of Henrik Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People.” In it, a local expert attempted to expose a water pollution scandal, but his seek of the truth was met with immense criticisms and his credibility getting smeared.
Chernow also exhibited several anecdotes from previous U.S. presidents and how they view the press, apparently to show the contrast at how Trump’s relationship with journalists has been. He recalled President Ronald Reagan saying, “I think that most of the time the overwhelming majority of reporters do a fine job. And as a former reporter, I know just how tough their job can be.” Meanwhile, another Republican Richard Nixon reportedly said while referring to the New York Times and the Washington Post, “I’m going to kick their a**es around the block.”
Possibly one of the most powerful parts of Chernow’s speech is when he calls for Trump’s White House to bring back “civility” in its everyday dealings with the news media. “We must recall that civility has been an essential lubricant in our democratic culture and that our best Presidents have handled the press with wit, grace, charm, candor and even humor,” Chernow said.