Trump<|reserved_200591|>teness: President Donald Trump sat among the reporters he frequently battles with, including the New York Times, CNN and the Wall Street Journal, before delivering a sharp yet humorous speech at the restored White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
The ceremony, held at the Washington Hilton after a tragic shooting three months ago, pushed back a sense of intimidation. Trump joked that the ‘show must go on’ and praised the press, claiming he respects ‘most of them.’1
He also openly accused many journalists in the room of having ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome,’ a label that has become part of his rhetoric.
Acknowledging the tragedy, the outgoing WHCA president Weijia Jiang vowed to refuse ‘allow[ing] an act of violence have the final word’ in her speech. She announced that the next dinner would return to the venue of the April tragedy, the Washington Hilton.
In a gesture of gratitude, Trump presented an award to Officer Victor Gonzalez of the US Secret Service for tackling the gunman on the evening the shooting occurred. He also handed out honors to a Wall Street Journal team covering Trump’s links to financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Despite a scaled‑down turnout—about 700 attendees versus over 2,000 in April—Trump’s remarks stayed on course. He urged Americans to respect freedom of speech and stressed that ‘we settle our differences not with bullets, but with open and vigorous debate.’2
The dinner, heavily fortified with police and National Guard presence, was a reminder of security challenges and the resilience of press freedom in the United States.3
