President Donald Trump didn’t have to ditch one Washington for another to get the greatest gift he could have hoped for out of the White House Correspondents dinner weekend.
But that surely didn’t hurt.
Trump was in Michigan bashing what he called the “very dishonest” people in the media while a comedian hired by the media was delivering a vulgar routine that didn’t make anyone in the room look better for the evening.
It plays into the kind of positioning the president and his allies favor. Trump being mocked by elites allows the president to play the victim – laughed at, or so the argument goes, because he’s such a threat to the status quo.
There are lessons here for the many journalists who are committed to fair and thorough reporting on this White House.
There’s also a lesson for Trump’s political opponents.
Laughing at the president may be easy, and even tempting at times.
But that doesn’t make it sound or productive strategy.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty ImagesA view of the venue during the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner at Washington Hilton, April 28, 2018, in Washington, DC.
The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks
Voters were deeply divided on cultural movements as well as electoral politics, during a focus group conducted by pollster and ABC News contributor Frank Luntz and sponsored by Andrew Shue last week.
Conversations about sexual harassment in the workplace and the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police, elicited starkly different reactions and responses, falling along party lines, from the two dozen self-identified angry voters Luntz met with in Florida.
While watching a video of women talk about the #MeToo movement, Republican voters in Luntz’s group literally turned dials they had down to express disapproval or dislike, while the Democratic voters turned their dials up high (70-80 out of 100) to signal their support of the message.
“If it happened to them call the cops,” one Republican man said after seeming exasperated and skeptical. “They wait 15, 20, 30 years to do it.”
The divide between the two sides of the room was even greater during a video about the Black Lives Matter movement.
After, one white male Republican, said he thought the issue was overblown. An African-American Democratic woman responded, saying he just did not understand.
According to Luntz, the voters he talked to think the country is more divided now, than at any other time in their lives.
The TIP with John Verhovek
The importance of President Trump’s presence in the swing state of Michigan Saturday night, and the absence of the state’s second-ranking Republican, was not lost on Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.
Schuette, the leading GOP candidate in the race to be the state’s next governor, has draped himself in Trump-ish rhetoric and bashed his main primary opponent, Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley, for failing to show up to Trump’s campaign rally in Washington Township, Michigan over the weekend.
The primary in Michigan is not until August, but the governors race on the Republican continues to look like a race to embrace the Trumpiest aspects of the Republican platform.
“Calley deserted the Trump campaign,” Schuette told ABC News prior to the rally. “The president knows who was with him and who cut and run.”
Calley renounced his support for Trump in the wake of the Access Hollywood tape revelations in October 2016, and his campaign told ABC News that he could not attend Saturday’s rally due to “another event in his role as Lieutenant Governor.”
President Trump, who said the GOP can’t get “complacent” about the coming 2018 midterm election, gave Schuette a shout out during his speech calling him a “great friend of mine” and “the next governor of Michigan.”
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Total Sports Park in Washington, Michigan, April 28, 2018.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“This administration has its eyes wide open. We know the history. We know the risks. … We’re going to negotiate in a different way than has been done before.” — Sec. of State Mike Pompeo on the Trump administration’s approach to dealing with North Korea on ABC’s “This Week.”
NEED TO READ
Guns banned from NRA event during Mike Pence address. There will be plenty of guns at the National Rifle Convention in Dallas this week, but one room will be completely free of weapons. (Mark Osborne) https://abcn.ws/2I36D2w
Trump administration has its ‘eyes wide open’ on whether to trust North Korea: Secretary of State Pompeo. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration has its “eyes wide open” on whether to trust North Korea in any negotiations to end the country’s nuclear program. Pompeo was responding to a question from ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl on “This Week” Sunday in an exclusive first interview of the new secretary of state. (Quinn Scanlan and Conor Finnegan) https://abcn.ws/2FpKgPG
Trump’s ‘unpredictability’ and ‘bellicosity’ had something to do with North Korea’s deciding to negotiate: Top Democrat. The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said there is “more than a ray of light” in the Trump administration’s dealings with Kim Jong Un over his nuclear program. Rep. Adam Schiff of California responded to ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl’s comment on “This Week” Sunday recalling what former President Obama told President Donald Trump about North Korea. (Quinn Scanlan and Andres Del Aguila) https://abcn.ws/2JCUG0Q
President Trump blasts Democrats, James Comey and the media in campaign-style rally. President Donald Trump blasted Democrats, former FBI Director James Comey and the media in a campaign-style rally in Michigan Saturday night, and urged Republicans not to get “complacent” ahead of the coming 2018 midterm elections. (John Verhovek) https://abcn.ws/2HDTael
President Trump snubs White House Correspondents’ dinner, Wolf rips Sanders, administration. Journalists, politicians and members of the Donald Trump administration attended the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner Saturday night without the president, who spent the evening at a campaign rally in Michigan. (Matt Seyler) https://abcn.ws/2HC4XxC
Michelle Wolf’s roasting of Sarah Huckabee Sanders ignites backlash on Twitter. President Trump may have skipped out on the White House Correspondents’ dinner Saturday night for the second year in a row, but White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders didn’t escape a scathing roasting from comedian Michelle Wolf, the headliner of the evening. (Kendall Karson) https://abcn.ws/2KmHKgR
Democrats staying away from talks of impeaching President Trump. As Democrats vie to wrest control of Congress from Republicans this November, there’s one talking point they are pointedly staying away from: impeaching President Donald Trump. (Mariam Khan) https://abcn.ws/2jcic9B
Polarized Democrats, Republicans united in anger toward Washington, elected officials: Focus group. One of the only things Republicans and Democrats seem to agree on these days is that they don’t agree on much of anything. With just a few months until the midterm elections, ABC News Contributor Frank Luntz, who has also worked as a conservative and corporate pollster, set out to explore those political divisions. (MaryAlice Parks and Mitchell Alva) https://abcn.ws/2jgadso
Olympian Gus Kenworthy to headline DNC gala after snubbing Trump’s White House invite. U.S. Olympic silver medalist and professional freestyle skier, Gus Kenworthy, is launching himself into partisan politics. The seven-time world champion first told ABC News that he will be a special guest at the Democratic National Committee’s LGBTQ gala in New York City this summer, after snubbing the president’s invitation to visit the White House Friday. (MaryAlice Parks) https://abcn.ws/2jck4za
White House tree planted by Presidents Trump, Macron mysteriously vanishes. Something of a mystery has taken root at the White House — an oak tree sapling, planted by President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, has gone missing. (Jesse Convertino) https://abcn.ws/2r9nTJY
‘Caravan’ of migrants reach US border, temporarily turned away by Border Patrol. The quest for asylum for the caravan of Central Americans was put on pause after Border Patrol authorities declared that they were unable to process them due to space constraints. (Ben Gittleson and M.L. Nestel) https://abcn.ws/2HZvsML
Neil Bush says father George H.W. Bush doing ‘much better’. Former President George H.W. Bush remains at Methodist Hospital, but one of his sons says the 93-year-old is doing “much better” and plans to be out of the hospital and travel to Maine in the near future. (Mark Osborne) https://abcn.ws/2r8N0N5
Politico reports that White House physician Ronny Jackson will not be returning to his role as the president’s personal physician. https://politi.co/2HHqp0p
Changes to the Department of Justice’s internal manual for federal prosecutors include adding Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ tough-on-crime policies and removing mentions of racial gerrymandering and press freedom, according to Buzzfeed. https://bzfd.it/2Fr2iRu
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
