Donald Trump is taking a shot at the press again, this time by scheduling a MAGA rally the same night as the White House Correspondents' Dinner for the third year in a row.
The White House Correspondents' Dinner honors members of the White House Correspondents' Association, an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the President of the United States. It's been a tradition since 1921, and—until Trump's presidency—was usually attended by the President and the Vice President.
Trump vowed earlier this month to skip the dinner and hold a rally.
"We're going to hold a very positive rally," Trump said, describing the Correspondents' Dinner as "boring and negative."
"Everybody wants it. It’ll be a big one, but the Correspondents’ Dinner is too negative. I like positive things. Okay?"
Now, Trump's reelection campaign has announced that the rally will be held in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Holding the rally the same day as the White House Correspondents' Dinner is a two-part snub: not only is Trump openly bucking a decades-old tradition, he's creating a situation in which many members of the press corps being honored at the dinner will have to skip it in order to cover the rally.
This is the third year in a row Trump has skipped the dinner, which often features a "roast" of the president and his administration. Last year's dinner included comedian Michelle Wolf, whose jokes pointedly mocked Trump and his administration, including attendee Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Wolf also took shots at the White House press corps themselves, calling them out for profiting from their obsessive coverage of the President. "He has helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV," Wolf said. "You helped create this monster and now you are profiting from him."
Trump suggested last year that he might attend this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner if it doesn't include a comedian.
This year's dinner is bucking tradition by featuring a historian rather than a comedian, but Trump's still going to skip it. Instead, he'll be holding his rally in Green Bay, WI - one of the key states Trump credits with his election results.
Trump's rallies are often used to insult the press. He's repeatedly referred to the press as the "enemy of the people" and claiming they print "fake news."
In 2018, Trump threatened to revoke the credentials of White House reporters if they didn't "treat the White House with respect."
At another rally, earlier that same year, Trump praised Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) for assaulting a reporter, saying "Any guy that can do a body slam, he’s my kind of — he’s my guy."
And at a Texas rally in February of this year, a BBC cameraman was shoved by a Trump supporter shouting "f--- the media."
"President Trump looks forward to sharing the successes of his administration with the great people of Wisconsin," said Trump campaign CEO Michael Glassner.
Sharing the successes of the press corps is apparently too much to ask.
