{"id":567579,"date":"2026-07-25T13:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T13:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/567579\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T13:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T13:38:09","slug":"its-far-worse-than-i-actually-thought-trump-rounds-on-us-journalists-at-awkward-white-house-press-dinner-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/567579\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s far worse than I actually thought\u2019: Trump rounds on US journalists at awkward White House press dinner \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

US president Donald Trump<\/a> launched into tirades against journalists and critics during an awkward dinner with some of the country\u2019s top media figures on Friday evening. <\/p>\n

He addressed a rescheduled White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner after the original event in April was abruptly ended when a gunman fired shots into the ballroom<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump told journalists in a stripped-down event at the Waldorf Astoria, Washington, on Friday that they had \u201cno idea how lucky\u201d they were to have him, saying that they would \u201cbe broke\u201d once he exited the political arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not going to be anybody to report on,\u201d the US president said. \u201cNobody gives a damn about anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hour-long speech \u2013 and the muted reception from many in the crowd \u2013 was emblematic of the strained relationship between the Trump administration and the US press. Trump has repeatedly derided the media as \u201cfake news\u201d and the \u201cenemy of the people\u201d, has sued some media companies and used the Federal Communications Commission to threaten others.<\/p>\n

Just a day before the event, the US department of justice withdrew subpoenas it had issued against the New York Times demanding it hand over phone records of journalists who had reported on the security capabilities of an aircraft donated to Trump by the Qatari<\/a> government. <\/p>\n

Before taking the stage, the US president sat looking stern through the presentation of prizes awarded to journalists for pieces critical of his administration. <\/p>\n

One of those who received an award was CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins, who has repeatedly clashed with the president. <\/p>\n

Trump began his speech with light banter before quickly shifting into rally mode \u2013 attacking what he claimed were the mental deficiencies of California governor Gavin Newsom<\/a>, former president Joe Biden<\/a>, his 2024 rival Kamala Harris<\/a> and making jokes about the weight of Illinois governor JB Pritzker and former Republican governor of New Jersey Chris Christie.<\/p>\n

He took aim at several journalists in the audience, including Collins.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut she\u2019s a young, attractive woman. She never smiles,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI said, \u2018Kaitlan, do you have a smile?\u2019 Smile.\u201d <\/p>\n

He even took a jab at his health secretary Robert F Kennedy<\/a> jnr, who was sitting in the audience and who once told reporters that he liked picking up roadkill and putting it in his freezer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that everyone finally got to enjoy their entire very delicious beef tenderloin, very special beef,\u201d Trump said. \u201cAnd I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy, who\u2019s right here personally, ran over the cow in his car. And he cut it up, and he brought it here for you to eat tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president then joked that he would run for a third term before putting on a Trump 2028 baseball cap. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gonna do it \u2013 it should be easy, I\u2019m getting very good at running for president. I won three times \u2013 did very well the second time by the way, it was a rigged election, but we don\u2019t have to talk about it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Trump had previously declined to attend the dinner as US president before this year\u2019s event, complaining about the media\u2019s hostility towards him. But he was a guest in the crowd during Barack Obama\u2019s<\/a> time in office. <\/p>\n

Obama had pilloried Trump during his dinner speech \u2013 an attack that the US president said on Friday had not, as some have claimed, inspired him to make a bid for the White House. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey think that was the evening I decided to run for president. It was not. In fact, I loved the evening. I looked at my wife. I said: \u2018Can you believe it? All these people … all they\u2019re doing is talking about me\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Trump promised he would be back next year, his review of the event appeared as lukewarm as the crowd\u2019s. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an interesting evening,\u201d he said towards the end of his speech. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know what to expect, and it\u2019s far worse than I actually thought.\u201d \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US president Donald Trump launched into tirades against journalists and critics during an awkward dinner with some of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5456,969,12807,42,5455,12363,43,4444,1139,40,38,41,39,14053],"class_list":["post-567579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-barack-obama","tag-donald-trump","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-headlines","tag-joe-biden","tag-kamala-harris","tag-news","tag-qatar","tag-robert-f-kennedy-jr","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-washington-dc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}