5 CNN Panelists Rip Trump’s 1-Hour Dinner Speech as Mean and Unfunny
Updated
Updated · The Daily Beast · Jul 26
5 CNN Panelists Rip Trump’s 1-Hour Dinner Speech as Mean and Unfunny
3 articles · Updated · The Daily Beast · Jul 26
Summary
Five CNN panelists from both parties converged in criticizing Donald Trump’s roughly hour-long White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech, calling it flat, mean-spirited and lacking any clear purpose.
Alyssa Farah Griffin said Trump “bombed” and merely recycled his “greatest hits,” adding she had expected the 80-year-old president might use the event to announce policy or press his voter ID push.
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler stopped short of defending the speech, saying Trump “could have been funnier” and should have brought more levity to an event meant to unite politicians and the press.
Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi and civil rights advocate Maya Wiley said the remarks were simply mean, with Wiley arguing the dinner had drifted from its First Amendment symbolism into a presidential attack on journalists.
Dana Bash underscored that point by backing CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins, whom Trump targeted despite her receiving an award at the dinner; the White House did not immediately comment.