[Commentary by Jim Acosta, US journalist and commentator] [Editorial addition: Acosta has cajones but he’s going to lose friends in the media for justifably calling them out for do nothing to voice their opposition to T****….the third term is no joke…wait and see.]
Democracy Dies in Cowardice
White House Correspondents Dinner headlined by Donald Trump
For starters, no. I did not go. I would never attend a White House Correspondents Dinner headlined by Donald Trump.
But I understand that some of my friends in the press felt they had no choice. They have jobs to do, bosses to please, careers to pursue, and bills to pay. There is a cultural pressure in Washington to attend such events – no matter who sits in the Oval Office. And sure, I suppose there is something to be said for gathering in celebration of the First Amendment. I get it. Or at least I try to get it. I know there are readers of this article spitting out their beverage and shouting, “oh hell no!” Believe me. I’m with you. That’s why I stayed home.
Putting those mostly diplomatic niceties to the side… let me tell you how I really feel. What unfolded Friday night inside that gaudy, former Trump hotel ballroom was a monstrosity. And it warranted a stout response from the Washington press corps that sadly never came. As just about everybody around the world fully expected, Trump delivered an unhinged, hateful speech that was written for the sole purpose of celebrating his undemocratic assault on news outlets in America and settling scores with his political enemies. He called people fat. He told racist and anti-gay jokes. He delighted in his oligarch friends taking over the networks. It was thoroughly disgraceful. And the maniacal cherry on top, for Trump and his crew, was his comment (kidding but maybe not) that he plans to run for a third term – complete with a bright red 2028 baseball cap. Totally unfunny, given that he has already incited a deadly insurrection. It was coup-coup for Cocoa Puffs and the horror in the room was palpable. Which was exactly what Trump wanted. This was payback time for when Obama and the press laughed at him for his birtherism back in 2011. Payback for all the times he was fact-checked and investigated and called out for his extremism and insanity. He soaked up the misery in the room like a balm on his blackened, broken soul. Hate is the only stimulant that keeps sir naps-a-lot awake these days. Yes, he bombed. And that was the point. He wasn’t trying to be funny. That would make people happy. Duh! That speech was nothing more than a heat-seeking missile aimed squarely at any joy that journalists take in their work. It was also a message. Things are about to get worse. Much, much worse.
Which is why all of this putrid garbage called for something, anything other than the meek and profoundly disappointing response from the press. Just imagine if the reporters gathered in that room had gotten out of their seats and walked out on that maddening address to the nation. Millions of Americans would have been cheering in their living rooms. Instead the wide shots and cutaways of the crowd on hand told a far more depressing story, revealing not just the stunned and tortured looks of some of the finest journalists in the world, who missed a golden opportunity to stand up for what is arguably our most precious right guaranteed under the Constitution. People sat in their seats, defeated and depressed. It was agonizing to watch from home. But it was also clarifying. The event itself was an indictment of our news media. Our system of delivering information to the American people is badly broken.
As I’ve reported previously, Trump’s decision to address the White House correspondents dinner, interrupted by an alleged assassin last April, came as a surprise to leaders of the association who plan the annual event. The WHCA board members initially invited Trump as a formality, I was told, and they did not expect him to accept. Then he did, which placed the group in a terrible position. Had they rescinded the invite, Trump would have obviously used the snub as a cudgel to bash the press even more. Reprisals would have been inevitable. In my view, the WHCA should have used the cancellation of the first dinner as an excuse to wave off any talk of a replacement event. Just too risky. It would have been perfectly acceptable to hand out the awards and scholarships and table the whole matter until next year. But yes, Trump was hellbent on hosting the dinner. So, members of the press had a choice on Friday night. As soon as Trump started hurling his ugly taunts, they should have bolted for the exits. As I’ve written so many times about this presidency, most of these confounding questions facing us – not just journalists, but all Americans – boil down to one simple ask: what would you do?
The correct response, and I’m sorry to report that some of my friends in the press will never get this, was to take a stand – something, yes, most journalists are trained to avoid at all costs. That training, unfortunately, has led many of us, as a profession, down the wrong path. We are not supposed to take sides in a story, reporters say. We are here to report the news, they insist. My reply to that is, and always will be: there are not two sides to a story when it’s a matter of right versus wrong. And to put it mildly, a different kind of president calls for a different kind of playbook. Do we continue to just report on the destruction of our profession? Our democracy? Or could we try a new approach? A kind of journalism that understands the assignment – in an age of rising autocracy. Without journalism, there is no democracy. And without democracy, well… you see where I’m going here.
Our democracy is only as strong as those willing to defend it. That includes the press. When courage could have been summoned at the White House correspondents dinner, a dangerous complicity took its place. Yes, democracy dies in darkness, but also in cowardice.
