The White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) annual dinner Saturday night featured a comedian who presented some jokes that were over the line, and personal. The Association’s president has issued a statement distancing the WHCA from the comic’s act. And, the Association now will have a debate on how or if to go forward with the dinner, whose main aim is supposed to be raising money for scholarships.

 Another leftover from the dinner is that people seem to be lining up either on the side of the comedian who they believe was exercising her right to free speech and those who feel the comedian was another reason the press has a liberal bent.

Call me, after a couple of days of ruminating, in the middle somewhere. My thoughts:

• I did not like the comedian going personal to attack the White House press secretary and those jokes weren’t very funny either.
• Other jokes were not to my liking either
• I do think the WHCA needs to review how its annual dinner is conducted, or even if to continue it but remember its aim is to raise money for journalism scholarships
• The comedian, unwittingly, handed President Trump more ammunition to attack the media, even though the association’s officers neither condoned nor approved the comedian’s script in advance. They just hired her to perform.
  
• Was nice of the association to “apologize.” That should stop some of the accusations being made about them but I think it did nothing wrong
• The media have now been writing or talking about the comedian’s act for about 72 hours. It was a bad act. Six months from now, though, we won’t even remember who performed much as the last 15 or so dinners.

Six months from now we will still know who the President is. If you’ve forgotten, the President is the one who:

• Called Mexicans rapists and drug dealers
  
• Is trying to ban Muslims and refugees from entering the country
  
• Is trying to raise the rent of the country’s poorest people by one-third
  
• Criticized a TV host saying she had “blood coming out of her whatever”
  
• Equated white supremacists who among other things, chanted “Jews will not replace us”, with "good people."
  
• Uttered many personal insults (Lyin’ Jim Comey, Low Energy Jeb, Crooked Hillary,  Leakin’ James Comey, Sneaky Dianne Feinstein, Cheatin’ Obama, Pocahontas Elizabeth Warren,  Mr. Magoo Jeff Sessions, Rocket Man Kim Jung Un) and other misogynistic and racist things.
  

The President has yet to, and never will, apologize for any of those utterances nor for announcing in very Joe McCarthy-like terms Saturday night that he has dirt on Montana Sen. James Tester and if he used it, the senator would lose his election. What is that information? Likely never to be known. He also will never apologize for the more than 2,000 lies he’s told while in office.

But a comedian goes over the line and THAT’s what we’re talking about?

The WHCA did Sunday distance itself from the comedian’s comments. For me, they didn’t have to. They didn’t approve her jokes or endorse them. They did hire her and that may have turned out to be wrong … but the dinner is, after all, about holding the First Amendment near and dear. In fact, the association’s president, prior to the comedian’s act, gave a very moving and personal speech about her family’s journey and love for American values and dedication to the First Amendment. I have yet to see her speech reported on at any length.

But, believe me, Trump and his Chorus will make sure we are talking about the comedian often including during this fall’s election as he continues to attack the press as the “enemy of the people” or “fake news” or point them out to his rally audiences so they can jeer, growl and then threaten them. All of it, diminishing a most important institution in this country – a free press that keeps politicians honest.

Now, I want to be clear. I despise people who criticize Trump and the Trump people respond with, but Hillary is so crooked, or criticize the Democrats in Congress for slowing the process and the D’s retort is, so did the Republicans.

In this case, however, I do find it appalling that the President who has said such ugly things about so many people feels he has the pulpit from which to judge others on the same issue.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders during her briefing the other day when asked about a drop in the ranking of America as a free press nation, said that her standing there taking questions was an example of the Trump Administration’s respect and commitment to a free press.

No, it’s not.

What Sanders does in her briefings is find new ways to avoid any legitimate question the media asks. Same as colleague Kellyanne Conway and her boss, the President of the United States.

President Trump has called the media the “enemy of the people.” Not true, of course. But it is true that that trio of Trump-Sanders-Conway is the enemy of truth and transparency.

In the old days of the White House press operation (not that long ago) the press secretary briefed for as long as an hour sometimes more, taking questions until  the media had no more. Today, the briefing typically runs (from my watching them on TV) from 30 minutes to three hours late and lasts one-half hour at best. And, the briefing is ended by Sanders not a member of the press as had been the tradition.

You might think these are minor points – but they are not. This means she can cut off any discussion at any time she chooses, stopping the media from continuing to pursue a topic, not providing transparency or a willingness to answer questions even when the reporters have more.

The Washington Post reported: “The watchdog organization Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday released its annual World Press Freedom Index, which ranks 180 countries from highest to lowest levels of press freedom. The United States fell in the ranking, as it did last year — this time, two places down to 45th. Norway remained on top, with North Korea as its polar opposite.”

The Secretary General of Reporters without Borders in the report says: “Political leaders who fuel loathing for reporters bear heavy responsibility because they undermine the concept of public debate based on facts instead of propaganda. To dispute the legitimacy of journalism today is to play with extremely dangers political fire.”

Where does one begin to recount the times this President and his Administration have said things like “fake news” or avoided a question or flat-out lied about something? In just the last few days there are a few examples:

1. Sanders’ unbelievably ridiculous statement that an example of the Administration’s support for the free press is her standing there answering their questions at that moment. But, go back and see what her answers were in that briefing. Overall, they were dodges, weaves and misrepresentations of a real answer
2. Just this morning, President Trump returned to his favored way of campaigning in 2016 by calling into the Trump News Network, better known as Fox News, for an interview with Fox’ morning hosts who should be on the White House payroll the way they pander to this White House often saying things on their show that Trump finds so compelling that he will repeat later in the day as if  they were his own thoughts.
   
3. White House Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway was on CNN the other day being interviewed by Dana Bash. After avoiding most of Bash’s questions, the reporter next asked Conway about her husband’s Tweets criticizing this President. Conway went into faux anger phase accusing Bash of asking a sexist question and talking over her to continue making her not-true point. Bash, as is her demeanor and being, handled it professionally, not raising her voice or showing any anger herself. Conway should never be accepted as guest for an interview. She has never (in my view) spoken the truth and nearly always winds up attacking the interviewer as a way of getting off the topic and into something the President’s base will like.
   
4. The other day at an Oval Office photo opp/media opportunity, an ABC reporter asked Trump if he was considering a pardon for Trump lawyer Michael Cohen who is under investigation. Trump, with the French president sitting next to him, looked at the reporter and dismissed the him by responding “stupid question.” (It was a legitimate question).
   

 
Those few examples come after a campaign’s worth and more than a year of the Trump presidency where he attacks the media, points to them during speeches to call them “fake” and to energize his audience. Some day one of those reporters will be attacked because of the President’s name-calling. In fact, at least one had to be escorted by law enforcement out of a Trump rally  to be sure she was protected from the audience.
 
This is not a small thing, as evidenced by the Reporters Without Border study. This President has made it a major goal to destroy the media because it helps him feed his base the raw meat they love.
 
According to the Washington Post in 2017 the President used the term “fake news” more than 153 times. He uses the term to describe coverage he views as unfair to him or on a topic he’d rather the public not know about.
 
A Politico survey found that no foreign leader – even the worst in the world – used the term “fake news” before 2017. A year later, that is not true. A sampling:

• In Libya, officials there quoted a Trump Tweet that called CNN fake news to discredit a story the cable network ran about migrants being sold into slavery.

 

• Singapore, known for its already tight control of the news, introduced legislation that would allow government the power to force articles they deem to be “fake news” to be removed.
  

 

• Burma. The UN Human Rights Commission estimates that more than a half million Rohingya have fled the country because of systematic military attacks. Asked about this, a Burmese government official said: “There are no such thing as Rohingya. It’s fake news.”

 

• Syria. President Bashar al-Assad, who kills his own people including babies with nerve gas, was presented by Amnesty International with a report alleging serious human rights abuses at one of Syria’s prisons. Assad responded by saying not only was the news organization asking him (Yahoo News) unreliable but added, “as you know, we’re in a fake news era.”
  

 
So, the leader of Syria, a country Trump has bombed twice for its use of nerve gas, is quoting the U.S. president to cover for his atrocities.
 
I remember when U.S. presidents were quoted using lofty language about the freedoms of a democracy and how this country of migrants has led the way.
 
The good news is the media, especially outlets like The New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, CNN and others have been doing some of their best reportorial work in years, going after stories they can’t get from government spokesmen. The bad news is we have a President who is doing his best to kill yet another American institution – the media solely to make himself look good.

Voters have assumed for decades that if there is one thing they can count on from their politicians – it is that they will lie.

Not entirely true though I get why they think that, especially these days.

Our society has taken a turn, for the worse, thanks to the man who resides in the Oval Office. Reality today is:

•  Based on records kept by the Washington Post, President Trump has lied an average of six times a day.
  
• We have a White House press secretary who lies probably more often than that
• We have Cabinet members who say one thing one day and are contradicted by the White House the next. And not on minor things. Recent example: UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said Sunday the U.S. would be slapping additional sanctions on Russia and the next day the White House takes it back. That’s not really a lie but you get my point.
  
• We have a former FBI Director – James Comey – who has a reputation for truth, justice and the American way, who has descended to Trump’s level by ragging on the President in his new memoir for the color of his skin and his small hands (in addition to far more serious allegations). For the record, I believe Comey over Trump.
  
• We have a lawyer to the President of the United States who has threatened and bullied to cover the President’s behind for years and who tried to hide the identity of a client because that client was, lo and behold, Fox News’ host Sean Hannity, who asked that his identify be kept from the public
  
• Speaking of Hannity, one of the country’s most watched TV hosts, he lies on his show nightly, mostly in defense of Trump. And, is probably parsing his words quite carefully in why Michael Cohen, his and the President’s lawyer, listed him in court, before a judge, as a client
• Bit players in the recent dramedy are porn stars, Playboy playmates, Russian oligarchs, Putin, and more.
  

What a world we now live in!

Overall, we are not dealing with the classiest of people. One of Trump’s surrogates on CNN the other day said Americans don’t elect presidents, or at least this president, because they want his moral leadership.  I think most of us would disagree with that. It may not be the primary reason, but it’s high on the list.

As we get further into the legal handling of Trump’s personal attorney, Cohen’s history of “fixing” things for Trump, will only get worse. If he negotiated a payment to buy Stormy Daniels’ silence on her alleged affair with Trump, and another more than $1 million settlement on behalf of a now-former Republican National Committee finance chairman for impregnating a Playboy model during his affair with her, common sense tells us there is more wretched stuff to be found on Cohen’s underbelly.

Trump’s angry and obsessive reaction to the raids on Cohen’s office and home and securing of his electronic devise are a tell on that. Just as (today being Tax Day) his refusal to release his taxes is a tell on his finances.