That Time I Partied with Trump's White House

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Last night, I was reorganizing a file folder of old paperwork and keepsakes when I found my nametag for the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Seven years ago, I was one of the college students who got a scholarship and an invitation to the annual gathering of journalists, political figures, and celebrities in Washington, D.C. 

Some of the same people I saw that night were dining in the ballroom of the Washington Hilton again as I studied my old nametag. This morning, they likely enjoyed mimosas overlooking the White House at an annual brunch catered by celebrity chefs. As usual, Donald Trump skipped the event. This time, there was no comedian, either. Amber Ruffin was cut after she called the Trump administration “kind of a bunch of murderers.” 

Dropping a speaker out of fear they might say what’s actually happening in America was, naturally, juxtaposed with the dinner’s focus on freedom of speech. White House Correspondents' Association President Eugene Daniels spoke about “holding the powerful accountable” through a “robust, independent media.” 

I had an uncomfortable feeling about the way the White House press partied under Trump all the way back at the Correspondents’ dinner in 2018. It would leave me feeling disillusioned with my future career in the mainstream media, one that I’m reckoning with even more now. 

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