{"id":1548,"date":"2026-07-28T07:16:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T07:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1548"},"modified":"2026-07-28T07:16:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T07:16:45","slug":"trump-humiliated-a-submissive-mainstream-media-at-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1548","title":{"rendered":"Trump Humiliated a Submissive Mainstream Media at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26206104223080.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Trump Humiliated a Submissive Mainstream Media at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner\" title=\"Trump Humiliated a Submissive Mainstream Media at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner\" \/><\/div><p><\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" id=\"\">\n<div id=\"article-title-block_b5e5865ad7f5677644b85cec06dc14e3\" class=\"article-title \">\n<div class=\"article-title__container\">\n<div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-the-nation-dek article-title__dek\">\n<p>His speech was racist, homophobic, vindictive, and soul-crushingly unfunny\u2014and the journalists in the crowd didn\u2019t seem to care. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<aside aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"ad-block ad siderail-ad float-r-w-3 break-r-4\">\n<p>                                    <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/advertising-policy\" class=\"ad-policy\" target=\"_blank\">Ad Policy<\/a><br \/>\n                                    <\/aside>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26206104223080.jpg\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">President Donald Trump speaks at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC on Friday, July 24, 2026.<span class=\"credits\">(Mark Schiefelbein \/ AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"is-style-dropcap\">Fittingly, the disgraceful second edition of the 2026 White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner (WHCD) was celebrated in a venue that embodies Donald Trump\u2019s corruption and impunity.<\/p>\n<p>The ceremony was initially held in April at the Washington Hilton, but was interrupted by a failed assassination attempt. The second dinner took place on Friday at the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC, which from 2015 to 2022 was known as the Trump International Hotel Washington DC.<\/p>\n<p>In Trump\u2019s first term, the fact that the sitting president owned a hotel in the capital quickly led to <a href=\"https:\/\/oversightdemocrats.house.gov\/news\/press-releases\/oversight-democrats-new-report-proves-trump-used-his-dc-hotel-take\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recurring conflicts of interest<\/a>: Many foreign dignitaries and political allies paid for the services of the hotel, a quick and easy way to curry favor. At least five people who received presidential pardons from Trump previously stayed at the hotel while the commander in chief owned it. Now, in his second term, Trump no longer owns the hotel\u2014and, as the weekend\u2019s nauseating spectacle showed, he probably wishes he still did.<\/p>\n<p>The central event of the WHCD was a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gXU5Y8dY2Hg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more-than-hour-long speech<\/a> by Trump, during which he marveled at what he got away with when he owned the hotel. \u201cI was very proud of this building,\u201d Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/rollcall.com\/factbase\/trump\/transcript\/donald-trump-speech-white-house-correspondents-dinner-july-24-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> the audience consisting mostly of journalists and White House staff. \u201cThis building was hot. Remember the lobby floor? 82,000 feet. For those in the real estate business, 82,000 feet. That\u2019s a major, that\u2019s a major floor. That thing was packed every single night. It was packed mostly Republicans, I would say, but it was packed every single night. It almost brings back memories.\u201d Trump being Trump, he went on to a digression about the \u201cbeautiful chandeliers\u201d at the hotel, which were \u201cvery special\u201d and made from \u201cCzech crystal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The throwaway comment about \u201cmostly Republicans\u201d filling the hotel would be damning if the United States were a country that took the constitutional prohibition against emoluments seriously. By acknowledging that the building was being used by political allies to enrich the president, Trump was displaying what jurists call <em>mens rea<\/em>, a guilty mind.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily for Trump, he wasn\u2019t speaking to a jury. He was speaking to a much friendlier crowd\u2014the supposed cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of US political journalists. By all available evidence, they didn\u2019t care. What does a little corruption matter, especially compared to the truly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/trump-corruption-uae-bribes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">gargantuan graft of Trump\u2019s second term<\/a>?<\/p>\n<div id=\"current-issue-block_e00d9cc36f9568b84c1ceab2de743064\" class=\"current-issue  float-l-w-2\">\n<h4 class=\"current-issue__title\">\n                    Current Issue<br \/>\n            <\/h4>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/issue\/july-august-2026-issue\/\" class=\"current-issue__cover\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/cover0726-1.jpg\" alt=\"Cover of July\/August 2026 Issue\"\/><br \/>\n    <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Not that the billions Trump has funneled into his personal coffers since returning to the White House mattered to the WHCD attendees either. If it did, they wouldn\u2019t have shown up on Friday. And that tells you everything you need to know about what is wrong with the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner.<\/p>\n<p>To be sure, the event has always been tawdry and cringe-worthy, even under presidents much less brazenly criminal than Trump. It\u2019s a backslapping affair where the media that is supposed to hold the government accountable spends an evening making bad jokes while reveling in its proximity to power. Like the Al Smith dinner in New York, the WHCD is supposed to humanize the political system by showing that seemingly adversarial figures can come together for a good laugh. But in reality, these rituals of comity are also rituals of elite impunity\u2014the whole point is to create an inner-circle bond through social ties that override any larger commitment to principle.<\/p>\n<p>Last April, my <em>Nation<\/em> colleague Chris Lehmann <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/trump-corruption-uae-bribes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">made the case<\/a> for getting rid of the WHCD altogether:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The phoned-in rationale for the whole thing has always been that it\u2019s an opportunity to deepen the (already corrupt) practice of access journalism by permitting reporters and government sources to lay aside their structural divergence of interests for an evening and relish each other\u2019s well-lubricated company. But for this alibi to hold water, someone somewhere should by now be able to point to a concrete scoop or productive thaw in press-government relations that issued from all the schmoozing. I\u2019ve lived in Washington for a quarter century, and amid all the secrets, whisper campaigns, and speculations that propel DC journalism, I\u2019ve never heard the faintest suggestion that the Correspondents\u2019 Dinner served any useful newsgathering purpose.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Lehmann\u2019s critique of the WHCD was more than vindicated by Friday night\u2019s fiasco. The polymathic literary essayist Guy Davenport once wrote, \u201cSometimes when reading Goethe I have a paralyzing suspicion that he is trying to be funny.\u201d Anyone who listened to the soul-crushing attempted mirth of Trump\u2019s WHCD speech was overcome by that same paralyzing suspicion.<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" id=\"cta-block_f43a26fea61e2bf2572a1b3ef8c2723a\" class=\"cta float-l-w-2\">\n<p>Instead of humor, Trump resorted to racism and homophobia. He openly insulted his political foes and journalists in the crudest possible ways. He even crowed about the fact that his plutocratic friends now own the media and are in a position to punish journalists who criticize him.<\/p>\n<p>Trump repeated rancid racist lies about Ilhan Omar, saying the Minnesota representative \u201cand her brother are thinking about moving in together. Very much in love.\u201d He added, \u201cShe ought to get the hell out of our country. She shouldn\u2019t be here.\u201d Trump complained that his advisers told him he shouldn\u2019t call Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker \u201ca fat pig.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump made a bizarre sex joke and then berated the audience for not laughing:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The other day, a senator I knew got a text, a great guy, from his wife. And she said, \u201cWhen you get home, I wanna have you immediately come up the stairs and make love to me.\u201d And he said, \u201cI can\u2019t do both.\u201d You know what the\u2014ha ha. You know?<\/p>\n<p>In other words, ha ha, can\u2019t go up the stairs and make love. He, does anybody get that one? I thought that was actually pretty good. That was actually the only thing I thought was good in this whole fricking stupid speech that they wrote. That was the only good one. And that went down with not exactly great laughter.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/trump-attacks-kaitlan-collins-white-house-correspondents-dinner-12026969\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pretended<\/a> to congratulate CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins on winning an award and then started to denigrate her. \u201cI want to personally congratulate CNN\u2019s Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award,\u201d Trump said. \u201cIt was all about me. It\u2019s a fake\u2014she shouldn\u2019t get the award, it was a fake. But I didn\u2019t mind, I said, \u2018Kaitlan, congratulations.\u2019 But it was fake, there\u2019s no question about it.\u201d Trump went on to conflate Collins with trans actress Dylan Mulvaney, which the transphobic president clearly meant as an insult.<\/p>\n<section aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"ad fullwidth-ad contained row position-relative ad-block alignfull \">\n    <!--Ad policy starts here--><br \/>\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/advertising-policy\" class=\"mid-ad-policy\">Ad Policy<\/a><br \/>\n        <!--Ad policy ends here--><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p>Of all of Trump\u2019s many failed jokes, the two most revealing involved allies who are helping to reshape the media to make it more friendly to the president: David Ellison, who runs CBS, and Bari Weiss, the faithful minion executing Ellison\u2019s agenda. Trump\u2019s comments about these two were pure exercises in humiliating the mainstream media.<\/p>\n<section id=\"popular-block_85e38cf4752da178055fe70cdaa502c2\" class=\"popular-articles\">\n<div class=\"swiper\">\n<p><h2>Popular<\/h2>\n<p>            <span class=\"swipe-msg\"><span class=\"sr-only\">\u201cswipe left below to view more authors\u201d<\/span>Swipe \u2192<\/span>\n        <\/p>\n<ol class=\"popular-articles__list\">\n<li class=\"popular-articles__list-item swiper-slide\">\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"popular-articles__list-item swiper-slide\">\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"popular-articles__list-item swiper-slide\">\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"popular-articles__list-item swiper-slide\">\n<\/li>\n<\/ol><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>About Ellison, Trump said:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>But tonight\u2019s event is even crazier than the last time.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, it\u2019s so successful that I\u2019ve been informed by CBS News\u2019s David Ellison, who\u2019s gonna do a fantastic job. He\u2019s the owner. He\u2019s the owner. He bought it, spent a lot of money, and he\u2019s gonna make, I think, fantastic changes and keep some of the great stuff going. But the next year, they\u2019re going to call it the Trump White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner.<\/p>\n<p>He told me that. And I like that very much. We\u2019re gonna change the name of it, okay? Well, it\u2019s gonna be so hot, just like our country is hot. We are hot, by the way. But to be honest, it\u2019s just about the only way that they\u2019re gonna ever get me back here. You\u2019re gonna have to change the name of the dinner.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The joke about Weiss was premised on the fact that she\u2019s married to a woman. Trump said:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I have to say that we\u2019re having an amazing load of accomplishments that the media never talks about. For example, under my administration, a once-feared and powerful regime that relentlessly attacked America has finally been toppled. Their former leaders have been removed and they\u2019re now being run by a gay dictator facing internal divisions.<\/p>\n<p>But I, for one, wish Bari Weiss all the best at CBS News.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Although Trump has borrowed stylistically from comedians such as Don Rickles and Howard Stern, he doesn\u2019t really do comedy. Rather, he indulges in insults, which mimic the effect of comedy by violating social norms. But the goal isn\u2019t a laugh: It is humiliation. And in the case of the comments about Ellison and Weiss, the point was to underscore that Trump has powerful friends who can fire people at CBS (and possibly soon at CNN).<\/p>\n<p>None of this is completely new. The types of comments Trump made at the WHCD are largely material Trump has used before in his MAGA rallies. But in this case, the audience wasn\u2019t his MAGA fans but the media elite. By showing up to the WHCD, they have given Trump a venue to humiliate them. All of this was done in order to preserve access journalism and the rituals of elite civility. But Trump\u2019s sheer, unmitigated cruelty had one redeeming quality: It made clear for all to see that elite civility is only empowering the decline of democracy.<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-end-\" class=\"article-end \">\n<div class=\"article-end__authors\">\n<div class=\"article-end__author\">\n<h5 class=\"article-end__author-name\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/jeet-heer\/\">Jeet Heer<\/a><br \/>\n                    <\/h5>\n<p>                                            <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HeerJeet\" class=\"article-end__author-twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <default:svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"17\" height=\"14\" viewbox=\"0 0 17 14\" fill=\"none\"><br \/>\n\t<default:path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M15.2054 3.54558C15.2122 3.6951 15.215 3.84463 15.215 3.99527C15.215 8.58792 11.7194 13.8834 5.32683 13.8834C3.36455 13.8834 1.53779 13.3083 0 12.3221C0.271606 12.354 0.548252 12.3702 0.828257 12.3702C2.45677 12.3702 3.95536 11.8147 5.14483 10.8829C3.62384 10.8543 2.34085 9.84963 1.89844 8.4692C2.11068 8.51008 2.32797 8.53136 2.55253 8.53136C2.87006 8.53136 3.17695 8.48936 3.46815 8.40984C1.87772 8.09008 0.680414 6.68501 0.680414 5.00273C0.680414 4.98705 0.680414 4.97305 0.680414 4.95793C1.14858 5.21833 1.68452 5.37514 2.25461 5.39362C1.32219 4.76921 0.708415 3.7063 0.708415 2.5006C0.708415 1.8633 0.879778 1.26633 1.17882 0.753361C2.89302 2.85621 5.45395 4.23887 8.34249 4.38392C8.28313 4.12967 8.25233 3.86423 8.25233 3.59206C8.25233 1.6729 9.80861 0.117188 11.7278 0.117188C12.7274 0.117188 13.6301 0.539436 14.2641 1.21425C15.0559 1.05913 15.8002 0.769041 16.4716 0.370873C16.2118 1.18289 15.6602 1.86386 14.9428 2.29395C15.6462 2.20939 16.3159 2.02235 16.9392 1.74626C16.4739 2.44292 15.8842 3.05557 15.2054 3.54558Z\" fill=\"#666666\"\/><br \/>\n<\/default:svg><br \/>\n                        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-end__author-bio\">\n<p>Jeet Heer is a national affairs correspondent for <em>The Nation<\/em> and host of the weekly <em>Nation<\/em> podcast, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/content\/time-of-monsters\/\"><em>The Time of Monsters<\/em><\/a>. He also pens the monthly column \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/content\/morbid-symptoms\/\">Morbid Symptoms<\/a>.\u201d The author of <a href=\"https:\/\/chbooks.com\/Books\/I\/In-Love-with-Art\"><em>In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly\u2019s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(2013) and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/books\/sweet-lechery-reviews-essays-profiles\/9780889843783\"><em>Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including <em>The New Yorker<\/em>, <em>The Paris Review<\/em>, <em>Virginia Quarterly Review<\/em>, <em>The American Prospect<\/em>, <em>The Guardian<\/em>,\u00a0<em>The New Republic<\/em>,\u00a0and <em>The Boston Globe<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>        <!-- Tag ID: thenation_incontent_2 --><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<!-- Tag ID: thenation_registration_billboard --><\/p>\n<section class=\"collections collections--col-0\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<h2 class=\"collections__title\">More from <span class=\"not-italic\">The Nation<\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"collection__row\">\n<div class=\"collections__card   \">\n            <a class=\"collections__card-image-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/maga-britain-trump-british-conservatives-special-relationship\/\" aria-label=\"Dispatches From the First Great British CPAC\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"collections__card-image\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/farange.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/farange-275x173.jpg 275w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/farange-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/farange-810x510.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/farange-340x215.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/farange-168x106.jpg 168w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/farange-382x240.jpg 382w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/farange-793x500.jpg 793w\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/farange.jpg\" alt=\"Reform UK leader Nigel Farage attends the inaugural Conservative Political Action Conference Great Britain in London on July 17, 2026.\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"collections__card-content\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-the-nation-dek article-title__dek\">\n<p>Through conferences, media ventures, and fat public-affairs contracts, the MAGA industrial complex has spent 10 years trying to buy British politics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"knockout \">\n                                                                            <a class=\"collections__author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/stella-tsantekidou\/\">Stella Tsantekidou<\/a>                                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"collections__card   \">\n            <a class=\"collections__card-image-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/newsletter-war-crimes-nolan-wells\/\" aria-label=\"Protecting War Criminals Is As American as Apple Pie\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"collections__card-image\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2253959925.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2253959925-275x173.jpg 275w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2253959925-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2253959925-810x510.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2253959925-340x215.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2253959925-168x106.jpg 168w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2253959925-382x240.jpg 382w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2253959925-793x500.jpg 793w\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2253959925.jpg\" alt=\"Protecting War Criminals Is As American as Apple Pie\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"collections__card-content\">\n<p class=\"dek\">\nIn this week\u2019s\u00a0Elie v. US,\u00a0our justice correspondent bemoans our long failure to prosecute war criminals. Plus: the death of Nolan wells and the nightmare so many Black parents fe&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"knockout \">\n                                                                            <a class=\"collections__author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/elie-mystal\/\">Elie Mystal<\/a>                                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"collections__card   \">\n            <a class=\"collections__card-image-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/andy-beshear-mitch-mcconnell-democrats-trump-era\/\" aria-label=\"Andy Beshear Is What\u2019s Wrong With the Democratic Party in the Trump Era\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"collections__card-image\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2279838735.jpeg 1440w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2279838735-275x173.jpeg 275w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2279838735-768x484.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2279838735-810x510.jpeg 810w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2279838735-340x215.jpeg 340w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2279838735-168x106.jpeg 168w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2279838735-382x240.jpeg 382w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2279838735-793x500.jpeg 793w\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2279838735.jpeg\" alt=\"Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky, speaks during a campaign event with Rob Sand, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Iowa, not pictured, at the River Center in Des Moines, Iowa, on Sunday, June 7, 2026.\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"collections__card-content\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-the-nation-dek article-title__dek\">\n<p>The Kentucky governor isn\u2019t doing what Mitch McConnell would do\u2014and that\u2019s the problem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"knockout \">\n                                                                            <a class=\"collections__author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/kali-holloway\/\">Kali Holloway<\/a>                                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"collections__card   \">\n            <a class=\"collections__card-image-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/grave-injustice\/\" aria-label=\"Grave Injustice\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"collections__card-image\" srcset=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/FEAT_1440-3.gif\" alt=\"Grave Injustice\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"collections__card   \">\n            <a class=\"collections__card-image-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/mamdani-netanyahu-video-next-steps\/\" aria-label=\"Mamdani Can\u2019t Arrest Netanyahu. But He Can Still Hold Israel Accountable. \"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"collections__card-image\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-24-at-10.04.55-AM.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-24-at-10.04.55-AM-275x173.jpg 275w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-24-at-10.04.55-AM-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-24-at-10.04.55-AM-810x510.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-24-at-10.04.55-AM-340x215.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-24-at-10.04.55-AM-168x106.jpg 168w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-24-at-10.04.55-AM-382x240.jpg 382w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-24-at-10.04.55-AM-793x500.jpg 793w\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-24-at-10.04.55-AM.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot of Zohran Mamdani's video announcing he can't arrest Benjamin Netanyahu.\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"collections__card-content\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-the-nation-dek article-title__dek\">\n<p>New York City\u2019s ties with Israel go far deeper than one man, and there are concrete things Mamdani can do to break those ties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"knockout \">\n                                                                            <a class=\"collections__author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/tariq-kenney-shawa\/\">Tariq Kenney-Shawa<\/a>                                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>        <!-- Tag ID: thenation_btf_medrec --><\/p>\n<p>\t\t        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"tpContentAuthor\" value=\"Jeet Heer\"\/><br \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"tpTags\" value=\"executive-branch,government,journalists-and-journalism,media,media-analysis,politics,republicans\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script type=\"270226b6e0e17277b0ca2c4a-text\/javascript\">\n\t\t!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n\t\t{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n\t\tn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n\t\tif(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n\t\tn.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n\t\tt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n\t\ts.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', 'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n\t\tfbq('init', '233793277040432');\n\t\tfbq('track', 'PageView');\n\t\t\t\t<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>His speech was racist, homophobic, vindictive, and soul-crushingly unfunny\u2014and the journalists in the crowd didn\u2019t seem to care. Ad Policy President Donald Trump speaks at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC on Friday, July 24, 2026.(Mark Schiefelbein \/ AP) Fittingly, the disgraceful second edition of the 2026 White House&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26206104223080.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[3017,3018,477,3014,3016,462,3015,289,614],"class_list":["post-1548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-correspondents","tag-dinner","tag-house","tag-humiliated","tag-mainstream","tag-media","tag-submissive","tag-trump","tag-white"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}