| | | | | White House press assistant Caroline Sunshine attends the 2018 White House Correspondents' Dinner at the Washington Hilton Saturday wearing a dress showing headlines and tweets about her. Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images | | | Trump Threatens Government Shutdown: "We'll close down the country because we need border security"
Moon Thinks Trump Should Get the Nobel Peace Prize: South Korea's President thinks Trump deserves the honor
Michelle Wolf Joked About Trump's One Off-Limits Topic: What you might not have known about her routine | | | | Kate Bennett is off. Her section will return Tuesday. | | What Washington is Talking About:
The controversy over this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner. And Congress will not be in session this week.
What America is Talking About:
"Avengers: Infinity War" just broke the box-office records for biggest domestic opening, with $250 million, and overseas it took in $380 million for the biggest global opening -- $630 million.
Trump Threatens Government Shutdown:
At his rally in Michigan Saturday, Trump said he would support a government shutdown if he didn't get "border security." "We'll close down the country because we need border security," he said. | | Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Comey Calls House Intel Committee's Russia Report a "Political Document":
Former FBI Director James Comey called the committee's report, released Friday, a "wreck." "This strikes me as a political document," he said on "Meet The Press" Sunday.
Moon Thinks Trump Should Get the Nobel Peace Prize:
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a meeting with senior secretaries that President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize, a Blue House official said, per Reuters. Trump, meanwhile, is on Twitter suggesting where his upcoming meeting with Kim Jong Un should be held, asking if the North Korea-South Korea border would be a more "Representative, Important and Lasting site" (unnecessary capitalization his), than a third-party country. "Just asking!" he said.
WHCD 2018:
The red carpet at the Washington Hilton was heavy on TV stars.
There was Kellyanne Conway and Michael Avenatti. There were cable news hosts and White House correspondents. The actors and actresses who walked the red carpet Saturday -- people like "Riverdale's" Mädchen Amick and "Shameless'" Steve Howey -- were eclipsed by household name political stars like "Big Brother's" Omarosa and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, host of the daily briefing. | | Credits: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images, Paul Morigi/WireImages
Caroline Sunshine, the former Disney Channel star who now works as a White House press aide, wore a custom dress with headlines and tweets about how she was a former Disney Channel actress who now worked as a White House press aide, recalling similar concepts by pop stars like Rihanna and Lady Gaga. David Hogg also attended, "representing millions of kids that work even harder than I do every day and I'm here to talk to the press about covering tragedy and the importance of storytelling in this day and age," he told COVER/LINE.
Of course the biggest star, former "Apprentice" host and President of the United States Donald Trump, did not attend for a second year, opting for a far friendlier crowd at a campaign rally in Michigan. It was also missing other A-list political stars, your Stormys and your Comeys, your Roseannes and your Kanyes.
But despite the dinner's low wattage, it will be one remembered for years to come. Michelle Wolf's routine was criticized for being crass and controversial. Trump deemed the dinner dead. It was a fitting Correspondents' Dinner for 2018, a time when politics has so seeped into our pop culture that it's overtaking it.
WHCA President Margaret Talev on Wolf Then vs. Now:
In February: "I'm delighted to announce 'Nice Lady' Michelle Wolf as our featured entertainer this year. Our dinner honors the First Amendment and strong, independent journalism. Her embrace of these values and her truth-to-power style make her a great friend to the WHCA. Her Pennsylvania roots, stints on Wall Street and in science and self-made, feminist edge make her the right voice now."
Yesterday: "Last night's program was meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to a vigorous and free press while honoring civility, great reporting and scholarship winners, not to divide people. Unfortunately, the entertainer's monologue was not in the spirit of that mission."
Michelle Wolf Joked About Trump's One Off-Limits Topic:
The sickest burns from Wolf weren't about Sarah Sanders, they were about Sanders' boss. She teed it up this way:
"People call Trump names all the time. And, look, I could call Trump a racist, a misogynist or xenophobic or unstable or incompetent or impotent. But he's heard all of those, and he doesn't care. So, tonight, I'm going to try to make fun of the president in a new way -- in a way that I think will really get him. Mr. President, I don't think you're very rich."
Trump really doesn't like jokes that say he's not rich. Comedy Central executive Jonas Larsen said when the network was preparing its 2011 "Roast of Donald Trump," they were told there were to be no jokes about Trump's bankruptcies nor jokes about him not being as wealthy as he claimed. "I don't think we ever got that in writing, but that was definitely conveyed verbally," Larsen told the Huffington Post in 2016.
Wolf led a call-and-response about Trump being broke, and even her critique of the media, that the press created Trump and are profiting off him, ended up being a jab at his wealth: "If you're gonna profit off of Trump, you should at least give him some money because he doesn't have any." | | Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Netflix
MAGA Ye Rolls On:
Kanye West's confounding new role as a political rapper continued this weekend. He was spotted with conservative commentators Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk in Los Angeles, he tweeted that Parkland shooting survivor and activist Emma Gonzalez is his hero (she, meanwhile, tweeted that James Shaw Jr., the man who took down the Waffle House gunman last week, was her hero), and he released two songs: "Lift Yourself," in which he literally just raps things like "Poop-diddy, whoop-scoop/Poop, poop," and "Ye vs. the People (starring TI as the People)," which was much more political. The single artwork for tracks was just an image of audio files being texted. | | Credit: via Spotify
"Ye vs. the People" is a back-and-forth between West and TI over why Ye went MAGA (TI is not in favor of it). Here are some of West's lines: - "I know Obama was Heaven-sent/But ever since Trump won, it proved that I could be president"
- "Bruh, I never ever stopped fightin' for the people/Actually wearin' the hat'll show people that we equal"
- "See that's the problem with this damn nation/All Blacks gotta be Democrats, man, we ain't made it off the plantation"
- "Make America Great Again had a negative perception/I took it, wore it, rocked it, gave it a new direction"
Street Art Sighting:
This Trump sidewalk art was spotted in Philadelphia's Point Breeze neighborhood in January by Malaya Fletcher. | | Credit: Malaya Fletcher
If you spot political street art, tweet me @hunterschwarz, tag me on Instagram @hunterschwarz, or email me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com with your sighting so I can feature it in COVER/LINE.
P.S.:
Sasha Obama got to hang with Cardi B and Offset and had a cooler weekend than literally anyone who went to White House Correspondents' Dinner. Cardi and Migos were in town for Broccoli City Festival. | | Credit: @DailyCardi/Twitter
And the image of Kanye West in the MAGA hat made an appearance during Nipsey Hussle's set at the festival, during his anti-Trump rap "FDT." There were boos. | | | Credit: @nipseyhussle/Instagram | | | | | | |
