My Day, His Day: A Tale of Two Podiums

I watched coverage of the belated White House Correspondents Dinner show last night.  I switched between CNN and MS NOW – both of which had players receiving awards and folks on the dais – and both of whom eventually muted DJT while having lively conversations of their own between their much more entertaining commentators.

The reason I watched was purely selfish.  It’s summer. There’s nothing new on TV.  And, I wanted to see for myself just what the President was going to say.  I wasn’t expecting much and I wasn’t disappointed.

My Day (with a nod to Eleanor Roosevelt)

I had spent my day being useful.  I give a monthly lecture at my local senior center. I felt good about myself and what I was able to do to improve the lives of others by sharing what I know and by partnering with folks to help them individually manage the challenges they are facing.

My talk lasted about an hour.  I put forth some effort to be entertaining as well as informational.

I made some jokes and the audience laughed.  I shared some personal opinions and folks in the chairs nodded.  At the conclusion of my speech, folks clapped and several came up afterward to thank me and share their personal stories.

Afterward, I was pooped and I needed a nap! 

DJT’s Day

Now, I don’t know how DJT spent his day.  Frankly, based on what I was seeing on TV, I couldn’t imagine being up so late, getting dressed for a formal event, then having to sit and listen to endless speeches about the things other people had done.  I would have been nodding off, too!

I don’t know what he was doing between the time he got up and needed to get dressed for the event.  But I suspect it was busier than mine, what with being the President and all that.

DJT’s speech, like mine, lasted about an hour. Unlike mine, there didn’t seem to be much organization to it.  There were some really poorly written attempts at jokes, which coming from DJT sounded more like schoolyard taunts.

Media Coverage

Last night, there was play-by-play coverage of the event.  I watched this on CNN and MS NOW.  Both of these news outlets spent more time talking amongst themselves than actually covering the event because, well, honestly it didn’t make for very riveting television! 

There was a camera on DJT and Karoline Leavitt.  DJT kept nodding off and Karoline kept nudging him awake.  Between sips of Coke and water, and the occasional clapping for award winners, there really wasn’t much scintillating action going on.  I imagined the burden of filling the air must have been weighing heavily on the anchors for both the CNN and MS NOW teams.

Giving Credit Where It Is Due

One of the commentators remarked that he had to give DJT credit for returning to the event and even giving the speech at all.  The commentator implied grudging admiration for DJT showing up because the last time he had tried this, somebody had tried to kill him, and (this was secondary), the room was filled with folks who really didn’t like him!

I had a slightly different take on this.  It struck me more as just plain stubborn stupidity.  Why show up at an event where you aren’t wanted?  Why give a speech you know is going to be dissected and critiqued not in attempt to improve content or performance, but solely to point out faults and failings?

I guess there is something “noble” with the notion of showing up to taking your just desserts, but I’ve never been impressed with the food service at these kinds of events, so I don’t imagine the dessert was all that tasty, much less “just”.

Print Coverage

This morning I read reviews of the event.  Coverage by the NY Times was, shall we say, restrained?  Coverage by the Guardian was a bit more thorough, but generally critical, noting a lack of cohesion and, perhaps most disappointing, no juicy revelations or points to ridicule.

Of course, after the last event where there was an assassination attempt, this do-over couldn’t be expected to match it.

Opportunities to compare with the aborted prior dinner were left off.  Mentions of prior events invited sharing background information on who wrote the speech and who contributed joke were not included.  Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.

And facts were, honestly, in limited supply.  But I have sympathy for the Time’s writer, because DJT was at his meandering best.  Fact checking was supplanted by flights of fancy and distractions that led to momentary highlight reels of DJT’s top-10 diatribes.

Back to Me

There was no coverage of my speech by my local media.  Just my own inner critic pointing out the missed opportunities and noting how things could have been better.  I try to imagine what a panel of “experts” might say, sharing observations about the tropes I use in most of my speeches these days, the tired jokes, and moments where I cannot recall a specific name or seem to fumble with the technology.

I am familiar with the distractions and trips down memory lane where I can get bogged down in context necessary to support some point I was trying to make earlier but now have completely forgotten.  A commentator would note here that the audience’s eyes glazed over.

My guardrail is that I use PowerPoint in all my presentations.  It is my version of a teleprompter.  It keeps me within both time and topical boundaries.  Which is good news for my audience!

Now, where was I . . .

All In a Day’s Work

I didn’t have dessert last night.  Just a nice dinner.  After dinner, I settled into watching TV and playing games on my cell phone.  Bedtime rolled around and the cats and I had a good night’s sleep.  Now I am back at the laptop creating a blog for your enjoyment.

I’m not sure what followed DJT’s speech. I guess he is a bit of a night owl, so maybe his nodding off during the presentation of the awards at the dinner wasn’t all about boredom – maybe he was taking his early evening nap before ramping up for his late-night rants on Truth Social.

Where’s My PowerPoint?     

I suspect I’ve gone on long enough here.  I hope you weren’t too bored.  Thank you for joining me today and for coming back again and again.  It’s been a real pleasure!