‘Who the hell wrote that?’: Trump bombs at correspondents dinner with unfunny, tasteless speech

July 25, 2026 — 2:13pm

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It started out so well.

The do-over of the White House Correspondents' Association’s annual dinner, rescheduled after a gunman allegedly tried to assassinate Trump and top administration officials at the previous one, began with mutual rejection of political violence and recognition of the importance of a free press.

“An assassination attempt on our president is an attack on democracy itself,” said Weijia Jiang, the association’s outgoing president. “We will not be intimidated. We refuse to let an act of violence have the final word.”

Trump was seated at a long table on stage, facing the room and nursing a glass of Diet Coke. Before speaking, he had to sit through a presentation of annual awards for political journalism – including multiple gongs for stories that he did not like.

News Corp’s The Wall Street Journal won a major prize for reporting on Trump’s past relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, including the explosive story about a “birthday book” for Epstein in 2003 that included a cryptic letter bearing Trump’s signature.

Trump has refiled a $US10 billion ($14 billion) lawsuit against the paper and Rupert Murdoch over the story. And yet on Friday night, he clapped as the reporting team accepted their awards, and then shook their hands. At times, he threw his hands in the air – “What can you do?” – and grinned.

“This has not been an easy evening, all these awards,” Trump said to laughter as he finally took to the stage. “Do I have a say?”

It had all the hallmarks of a conciliatory evening........

© The Age