If you’re a normal person, you spent Saturday night with friends, or family, or doing any number of more rewarding endeavors than watching the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
If you’re a member of the Washington, D.C. media elite, you spent the night competing for the distinction of most sickeningly self-congratulatory propagandist. It was a tight race. Scores of striving social climbers were in attendance. But Axios’ Alex Thompson eked out a victory, winning the Aldo Beckmann Award for Overall Excellence for his coverage of Biden’s cognitive decline.
.@AlexThomp: “President Biden’s decline and its coverup by the people around him is a reminder that every White House regardless of party is capable of deception…We, myself included, missed a lot of this story and some people trust us less because of it.” #whcd #nerdprom pic.twitter.com/L9CtbB3HIZ
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 27, 2025
That’s right. The mainstream media — primary co-conspirator in the Biden coverup — is now patting itself on the back for exposing the former president’s sub-oatmeal mental capacity. Are they totally delusional? Or just launching their latest gaslighting campaign against the American people? The latter seems more likely. CNN’s Jake Tapper recently announced he’ll be co-authoring a tell-all book on Biden’s cognitive decline. Not from the perspective of a legacy media shill, as would be appropriate, but as a tough-as-nails journalist of unflinching integrity. The organizers of the dinner were right to cancel “comedianne” Amber Ruffian’s appearance — their existence is funnier than any joke she could muster. (RELATED: CBS Reporter Regrets Media Misinformation On Biden For All The Wrong Reasons)
NBC News’ Kristen Welker presented the award, recognizing the “correspondent who personifies the journalistic excellence and personal qualities of Aldo Beckman: impartiality, integrity and a deep knowledge of the presidency.” Thomas was also awarded $2,500 for his efforts, a sum large enough to cover at least one session of the intensive therapy he is no doubt owed after suffering so mightily for his craft.
.@WHCA President @EugeneDaniels2: “We journalists are a lot of things. We are competitive and pushy. We are impatient and sometimes we think we know everything…What we are not is the opposition. What we are not is the enemy of people. What we are not is the enemy of the state.” pic.twitter.com/m8FRmE4eK4
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 27, 2025
But the award for most ingratiating speech of the night was won in spectacular fashion by Eugene Daniels, MSNBC’s incoming senior Washington correspondent. Daniels, outfitted in white, satin-y suit and his usual smirk, rallied his fellow journos: “We journalists are a lot of things …”
Shallow, self-involved, circling the drain?
“… We are competitive and pushy …”
Oh.
“But we are also human. We miss our families and significant life moments in service to his job. We care deeply about accuracy and take seriously the heavy responsibility of being stewards of the public’s trust. What we are not is the opposition. What we are not is the enemy of the people and what we are not is the enemy of the state.”
Cue a standing ovation from the press in attendance. Daniels doth protest too much. One obtains a perfect image of the legacy media by inverting his claims: What they are is the opposition. What they are is the enemy of the people. I’d thought them human, at least, but now that Daniels has made that claim, it probably warrants further scrutiny.
Let’s move on to the real substance of the night: fashion. This year’s dinner was held, as usual, in the glitzy Washington Hilton. All the big names walked the red carpet. Sara Cook!
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 26: Sara Cook attends the 2025 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at Washington Hilton on April 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
Yamiche Alcindor!
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 26: Yamiche Alcindor attends the 2025 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at Washington Hilton on April 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
David Chalian!
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 26: David Chalian attends the 2025 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at Washington Hilton on April 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
Someone, fetch the fainting couch — I’m starstruck. Lynda Carter of Wonder Woman fame was also in attendance, but she’s super old now and no longer looks good in a spandex one-piece, so who cares? If you have no idea who any of the above people are, it’s because they only matter to themselves. If you’re noticing a certain shared body type, it’s “circle.”
“Nerd prom” is not a sharp enough rebuke for the Saturday evening event. A more precise, albeit less catchy, characterization is “dissimulating, shallow, self-important people prom.” I wonder if the DJ was any good.
Follow Natalie Sandoval on X: @NatalieIrene03
