Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Special Coverage White House Correspondents Dinner 20190428

Correspondence dinner. But happening right now and you see it there on the right the president is skipping the dinner for the third year in a row, speaking to his most fervent supporters in green bay, wisconsin, the ultimate swing state that helped solidify his victory in 2016 and a key battleground in 2020. For the third year in a row choosing not to speak to the group he calls enemies of the people and will indeed have a more subdued Correspondence Dinner this year. No comedian. Instead historian ron cher now helping celebrate the freedom of the press and the First Amendment. That vivid divide on full display as another american tragedy unfolding this hour. Guns and hate coming together in an unthinkable act of violence. Tonight theres an Ongoing Investigation into a deadly shooting at a california synagogue on the last day of passover. An American Community left mourning. The president tonight calling the incident a hate crime. The strength of our nation is found in the heart of our people. So true. Tonight americas heart is with the victims of the horrific synagogue shooting in poway, california. Just happened. Our entire nation mourns the loss of life, prays for the wounded and stands in solidarity with the jewish community. We forcefully condemn the evil of antisemitism and hate, which must be defeated. And so with these three converging events as part of a defining moment in america. This night tonight was supposed to be different but not like this. Weve got it all covered for you with nbcs Steve Patterson on the ground in san diego. And nbcs Morgan Chesky at the rally in wisconsin, and nbc white house correspondents Kristen Welker and Peter Alexander live from the beltway for us. But first we want to go to steve whos in san diego with the latest on this developing story. I know in the last hour we got an update from investigators. What do we know . Reporter multiple Law Enforcement sources now telling nbc news they believe the suspected shooter in this case is a 19yearold jonathan earnest from san diego which is about 20 miles south of this location. Police believe at about 11 00 this morning in that 11 00 a. M. Hour the suspected shooter entered that synagogue with an arstyle rifle which would have been a semiautomatic long gun, took aim and fired, killing one elderly woman, wounding three other people. Two elderly gentleman, one believed to be the rabbi inside that synagogue, and one younger girl who was also inside at the time of the shooting. As the suspect was sort of fleeing the scene it is believed an off dot duty Border Patrol agent took aim, fired at the suspect striking the suspects vehicle. Then further down the road he surrendered without incident to police. At this time police have not yet released a motive in this case. Obviously investigators now looking into the profile of the suspect including his online profile, including his social media profile. Including what they believe is a manifesto they believe was identified and posted shortly before this shooting which had several incident of hate speech inside that manifesto. They believe that is attached to the shooter in this case. Thats something theyre obviously looking into. The mayor obviously was very strong in believing this in fact was a hate crime, saying it should be investigated as such as a hate crime. Heres what he said earlier about his community and what theyre going through right now. I want you to know this is not poway. The poway i know comes together as we did just a few weeks ago in an interfaith event. We always walk with our arms around each other, and we will walk through this tragedy with our arms around each other. Reporter this, chris, was a celebration of the last day of passover on the chabat. A lot of people obviously inside that congregation with not going to be driving today, have their cellphone or communication device inside that synagogue and the police knowi the suspect lok saw that. Theyre talking to the suspect probably as we speak to find out what theyre going to do next. Chris, back to you. Steve, i know youll get back to us if theres more information. Thank you for that. We have two of washingtons most experienced reporters with us from the white house Correspondence Dinner. Kristen welker and Peter Alexander. Thanks to both of you for stepping out of it dinner to talk a bit about this breaking news and the president s reaction. Kristen, lets start with what he had to say about the synagogue attack, which we should note comes six months to the day after the tree of life synagogue attack in pittsburgh. Is much of what is happening in san diego looming large tonight . It is looming large. And as you noted, chris, President Trump called this a hate crime. And speaking from his rally earlier this evening he condemned it, and of course he said his heart, his sympathies go out to the victims, go out to the survivors. I can tell you it has cast a somber tone over this dinner as well. In fact the dinner started with a moment of silence, and olivia knox asked everyone be silent as we pay ourerments and extend our sympathies to those who lost their lives there. So this is clearly looming large over this evening, which is aimed at marking the First Amendment, our democracy. The discussion and the debate over what to do about these types of tragedies has obviously been one thats been very present in washington for decades going back to columbine. We just marked the 20th anniversary of the Columbine School shooting. And so washington continues to wrestle with this issue, what do about it. Undoubtedly it will be something lawmakers Start Talking about come monday, but tonight all of washington as the rest of the country really focus on the victims extending our sympathies, chris. One more note on timing here, this is right after the president gave the keynote before the nra, pledged again to protect their interpretation of the second amendment. This is not an administration thats going to come out now and say guns are the problem. Chris, youre exactly right. In fact, the president who was there in 2017 was the first president to speak at the nras annual meeting since Ronald Reagan. Its only the second time in a 100 years that both a silting president , a Vice President has spoken before this group, the National Rifle association. In fact in the nra theres been some frustration with the Trump Administration because they were frustrated with the effort to ban bump stocks following the awful massacre that took place in las vegas. But clearly in this political environment right now the democrats, 17 of them major candidates, sort of follow a similar belief system when it comes to restricting gun rights right now. So its clear the nra will be teaming up as it were again with donald trump going forward. We saw that last night. We saw that yesterday or just earlier this week when the president really saw that warm embrace from the nra. And in spite of the effort early in this administration following the awful shooting that took place at that high school, parkland, florida, its clear even as the president met with those of those families and appeared to be some windy where the president said this would be something he would review, that the administration has been very reluctant and frowned on any real effort to restrict gun rights in this country. At the end of the day its clear the president recognizes in order to win back the white house in 2020 hes going to have to appeal to his base and thats where his focus really has been. Thank you so much for stepping out of the dinner tonight. I want to go to nbcs Morgan Chesky, and we heard the president at the top of the rally taking a minute or so to recognize what had happened in the suburbs of san diego. This is also a president who is probably reveling in not being in washington tonight. Thats right, chris. He certainly feels as if hes playing to a hometown crowd. In fact, he asked the crowd here in green bay is there any other place youd rather be on a saturday night than right here, and that received some of the most raucous cheers weve heard this evening. The president of course opening on a somber tone by acknowledging the victims of that shooting, proceeded to talk about some main key points he continues to touch on at these campaign styleeralies. This one feeling even more campaign related with 2020 coming up ahead. But joking with the crowd saying if anyone else was here they certainly wouldnt be able to pack this center the way he has tonight. The owner telling the president this is in fact a record crowd for the center here. The president also acknowledging a prior meeting he had with japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe today, in that he promised to bring thousands of jobs to the United States. Keep in mind, wisconsin, President Trump only won by a razor margin and thats something to keep in mind going forward. They say they want to make sure come 2020 that margin is much wider. One woman confiding in me saying she lost friends during the 2016 election because she feels like she wasnt able to share who she voted for. That polarizing nature very much felt outside out of some of the other people in green bay not attending this rally. But the president definitely playing to the crowd. Thank you so much for that. And well be checking back in with him as well. But im going to bring in our panel. Theyll be with us all night long. We have a lot to talk about. Professor of religion and africanamerican studies and an msnbc contributor. David litt, also former speechwriter for president obama. And Anita Mcbride, former chief of staff to laura bush. Every campaign to an extent or another is run that this is a critical point in america, this is turning point for america. This does feel different, though. Not only that the president once again skipping the white house Correspondence Dinner three years in a row, going out. Hes been attacking everybody from Hillary Clinton to the democrats tonight. Hes still got the mueller thing hanging over his head. Hes got 2020 hanging over his head, and now he has on this night a shooting in a country that believes he has contributed to tensions in america. Right. So weve been in a kind of change environment for a while. 2016 was an election about change. 2008 was an election about change. And in some ways things were unsettled underneath. The election of the first black president kinds of activated all of this stuff, this gunk that was at the bottom of our politi politics. And were still dealing with it. Now weve been dealing with someone who takes in so many ways a kind of fuel by this u y ugliness, through this hate. It adds to this energy in some ways. So the horrible event today in california, and theres three elements to it. Theres the individual act, the 19yearold killing someone, engaged in enormous violence, create ugly violence. Then the question around gun control and then theres the question around context, the environment that gives it all oxygen. And remember donald trump just over the last several days defending what he said in charlottesville, and what were those folks talking about in charlottesville . They werent just defending robert e. Lee they were saying jews will not replace us. And it echoed back into our memory something that happened not too long ago, what happened in pittsburgh. Donald trump and all of this hate is part of the environment of today, and he bears some responsibility for them. So david, you worked for a president who ran on hope and the posters all said hope. And now were in a place thats very different. And i want you to give us your perspective from there as weve gone from there to where we are now. I think our government has changed a lot. And the rhetoric of hope has really gone from this president. Its remarkable to me how selfcentered this president is when hes talking to a big crowd like he is tonight. One of the things he says is where would you rather be on a saturday. Hes relishing the fact he has a big crowd. Hes an entertainer, still thinking about himself. But i have to say that idea is still really vibrant certainly outside of washington and this white house. And one of the things that continues to give me hope and makes me feel america has not back slid is you see voters and a lot of politicians saying we dont just need to replace currently but were still a great country and we can still summon the best of who we are. Anita, we want to believe that and i think there are a lot of people who are looking for that in alternatives to trump whoever that 2020 kanld dt might be. How do you see this moment . Well, actually i agree with you. I think at our core americans dont want to be filled with hate. They want to be on a journey where they feel good about their country and good about their place in the country. And ive listened with great intent and agree with what youve said as well. I think also donald trump felt in his campaign he was tapping into a dissatisfaction that was out there in the country, too. And it was interesting at the beginning on my way over here i listened to some of what he was saying, you know, at the rally. And he tapped, you know, into and named all the states that he turned and that voted even though some may be razor margin. But he tapped into a dissatisfaction of a populist there we felt the country was moving away, too. We know not everything is run perfectly right. The bureaucracy can be be overwhelming and all president s get frustrated on trying to change thing and create the hope that americans want. And, you know, his use of the word swamp, it bothered me because i worked in three different administrations. I was part of the work that was here, but i recognize that the government doesnt always work the way that it should. And somebody needs to change it, but im not comfortable with this rhetoric. And weve got this backdrop of the white house Correspondence Dinner going on. Which all of you were invited. We said come on and talk about the white house Correspondence Dinner. You helped to write some of the jokes for president obama. You obviously were there with the bushes, with mrs. Bush, right. And instead we have a president who i think in many ways his presidency will be defined by charlottesville. He will be defined at what happened at the border and he will be defined by tonight in some ways as part of the Bigger Picture of his attacks on the First Amendment and constantly defining the members of the press as enemies of the people. He talked about that tonight in green bay. Lets play a bit of it. If i make any misstatement, if im off by just a tiny bit those people back there will be headlines. So i have to be very careful. Fake news. Theyre fake. They are fake. They are fakers. He is consistent. He picks a target and he doesnt let up. I mean its an allout assault on one of the basic pillars of american democracy. The Fourth Estate of absolutely critical, its absolutely critical to the functioning of this democracy. Its the way in which the citizenry acquires information in which to engage the information of matters in front them. Its the way we hold the elites accountable, the folks doing the Investigative Research to shed a light on the Power Operating in dark corners, right . And for him to say that its fake news, for him to undermine the deliberative space of american democracy is in some ways to expand his hold, his choke hold on matters. It is a direct attack like in so many other ways on the very nature of who we are as a country. And for him to repeat it over and over again is an indication that this i know it sound strange to say, but its very dangerous. Calling out fake news from someone who was the original person who and one of the most vocal birthers who said that your boss was not born in the United States of america. Yeah, i think one of the things that its important to remember with donald trump is he may criticize the press in public but hes always just craved the approval of people like you, frankly. People in the media and he wants to get on tv as much as he can. And thats what he wants more than anything. Well, he watches it a lot. He watches quite a bit of tv. You know i think during his executive time he spenlds plent of time watching what he tivoed the night before. I didnt write the jokes about trump president obama delivered. However, i did watch the reaction, and he was there and he really would have loved the approval of everybody in that room. The fact he is not there soaking up the approval of people from, you know, new york journalism elites, from washington political aletes, from hollywood celebrities, its because he knows thats never going to happen. And i think in some ways thats the strange irony of this presidency is that hes never really cared about people in green bay, wisconsin. If you look at his policies its arguable he doesnt. Were just about out of time here but i want to end with this. Because i think whatever your political leanings are when something bad happens, we look to our president. We want him to be the consoler in chief and say the things to help us believe there are better days ahead. The president you worked for was called onto do that. Tonight he said the right words. Do you sense he means it when he says it . Well, you know the president of the United States is the single voice we all should look to when there is a trying time in our country and then tragedy. I think he tries. Sometimes it does come up short. And that and sometimes devoid of emotion. I want to believe at his core he feels the pain we all feel, but its n is not able to convey it in a way we feel is genuine, and thats unfortunate because americans need to look at their leaders to be their voice, to convey whats in their heart. All three of you and i will be here throughout these hours. Were going to follow these developing stories including the latest on that deadly synagogue shooting in california. This hate fueled tragedy coming just days after former Vice President joe biden jumped into the president ial race with an attack on President Trumps handling on charlottesville. Were going to talk about the former vp strategy next. Feel the clarity of nondrowsy claritin and relief from symptoms caused by over 200 indoor and outdoor allergens. Like those from buddy. Because stuffed animals are clearly no substitute for real ones. Feel the clarity. And live claritin clear. What do all these people have in common, limu . Oug [ paper rustling ] exactly, nothing. 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This is beyond wifi. This is xfi. Simple, easy, awesome. Tonight as a san diego suburb is reeling after a 19yearold gunman walked into a synagogue and began shooting, we are again brought back into one of the most difficult but important of political discussions about gun violence and hate. A conversation that is very much a part of what were talking about tonight defining america. This week former Vice President joe biden made President Trumps handling of the hate fueled 2017 violence in charlottesville a cornerstone of his decision to enter the race. He said there were, quote, some very fine people on both sides. Very fine people on both sides . With those words the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it. And at that moment i knew the threat to this nation was unlike any id seen in my lifetime. Well, it didnt take long. The president reacted a day later. Ive answered that question, and if you look at what i said you will see that that question was answered perfectly. And i was talking about people that went because they felt very strongly about monument to robert e. Lee, a great general. Whether you like it or not he was one of the great generals. My panel is back. Theres been a lot of discussion about joe bidens decision. Right. The first words i think in his video were charlottesville, virginia. Some said he needed a positive message, others criticized him and said you cant use charlottesville as a prop. But is this another circumstance that really, really is about where were going as a nation, who we are as a nation especially tonight . Absolutely. I think its its very clear we need an honest reckoning, an honest reckoning with who we are. There is the kind of language of hope, the language that americans, we want to reach for our better selves, but theres an ugly underside to who we really are. I come out of a tradition that in some ways has borne the brunt of that ugly underside. Robert e. Lee defended the confederacy. I grew up in mississippi. Having to learn about Stonewall Jackson and these folks. What does he represent for me . Folks defending slavery, jim crow segregation. My dad is still alive. Hes not in the ground. This is not some distant past. So part of what whether you agree with how biden used it or not, part of what he pointed to is that we areane an Inflection Point where the central contradiction at the heart of american democracy, the fact we reconciled our democratic aspirations with the institution of slavery, the fact we didnt really become a democracy until 1965 with the Voting Rights act, right, that now thats all in the mix. So it seems to me that biden has set the stage, and we need to deal with honestly. President obama had often talked about the fact not being able to pass significant Gun Legislation in the wake of newtown was probably his biggest regret, biggest disappointment. He was as emotional as ive ever seen him certainly after that happened. And again it serves as tradition, right inyou have to run giving america hope. You have to run giving america an affirmative reason. I just wonder what you thought from your background as having worked for barack obama about the way that joe biden approached this. Well, i think that he is running and saying this time is different. This moment is different. And i think thats why when hes talking about charlottesville hes immediately summoning all of that to our minds. So he could say theres six areas of policy and those can could be very important. But i think hes trying to Say Something a little bit less proswraic which is pretty simple, which is wouldnt it be great if we had a president again who could say nazis are bad. Why is that so hard . Nazis arent good people. And even in his answer yesterday President Trump not only defended his answer but he not only didnt say you know who i dont like, nazis. Most americans, a vast majority of americans would have no problem condemning nazis or people rallying in charlottesville saying jews will not replace us, and yet this president just cant do it. So its a way of both transcending the minutia of the moment but also getting us back on the same page and saying were not like this person in the white house today. And i think the poll suggests most americans believe as you do these kinds of questions are not that complicated. We know who we are and we know what we stand for. Having said that, is it enough to say that there is Something Better than this, or do you have to have an affirmative or at least an alternative vision on the other side . Well, i think at end the day of the i think we all recognize americans are not a perfect nation, and were always striving to be better, and we always will at the painful, painful experiences of course and bad decisions of our past. Every leader that has an opportunity to move the country forward should be making the country better. And i think what is interesting about joe biden using charlottesville as the reason that hes getting in the race, i mean hes telling americans this is what i care about. I have a perspective of our nation, how far we have come on things where we havent been perfect and this is sliding us back. And i know people said this was gloomy, maybe he shouldnt have done it, but in his mind thats the galvanizing principles or the galvanizing reason to jump into the race, not the policies. The policies still come out of good principles that are at our core. One of the things that we should note again is that there are a lot of journalists who would normally be out covering this tonight who are probably talking about it at their tables, at the white house annual Correspondence Dinner, pretty somber tone there. And not just donald trump boycotting this event. No one on his staff is to go to the dinner. Theres a picture there. No one on his staff is to go to any of the attended events going on, even the people in the press office whose job it is to deal with these folks on a daytoday basis. Were going to go back to the red carpet next. Uhoh, looks like someones still nervous about buying a new house. Is it that obvious . Yes it is. You know, maybe youd worry less if you got geico to help with your homeowners insurance. I didnt know geico could helps with homeowners insurance. Yep, theyve been doing it for years. What are you doing . Big steve . Thanks, man. There he is. Get to know geico and see how much you could save on homeowners and renters insurance. S. U. V. These letters used to mean something. Letters earned in backwoods, high hills and steep dunes. But somewhere along the way, suvs became pretenders not pioneers. But you never forgot the difference and neither did we. There are many suvs, but theres only one legend. Legends arent born, theyre made. We are back live on the night of the white house Correspondence Dinner. Nbcs Kristen Welker is there on the red carpet for us. Look, this is supposed to be a celebration of the First Amendment. Always fun to get together with your colleagues. Also we have a situation with another shooting yet at a synagogue in california. So im wondering what the mood is like there. Well, chris, it was a very somber start to this dinner. Olivia knox whos the president of the White House Correspondence Association asked everyone to begin with a moment of silence to pay our respects to those who lost their lives in california. And of course the victims and the survivors. And so that is the tone with which this dinner started and obviously everyone has that on their mind as this dinner gets under way. Everyone also making note of the fact that President Trump condemned the attacks, referred to this as a hate crime. He made remarks before he left the white house and of course again at his rally this evening. The issue of gun violence is one that has loomed large over washington for decades, going back to columbine, after sandy hook. Theres been a lot of debate about what to do about it but very little legislation. In fact, no new legislation has passed particularly in the wake of sandy hook. Youll recall when you and i were at the white house came very close to making some real changes, expanding background checks, for example, but that legislation never got threw, never got passed. So its an issue thats been debated vigorously here. President trump early on in his administration vowing he was going to take action. He did ban bump stocks and that is something that really sparked a backlash amongst some of his supporters, the nra. But hes been very clear hes not moving to actually act on the more controversial pieces of legislation. The president , the Vice President speaking at the nra in fact just yesterday. Chris, the second time in about 140 years that both the president and Vice President did so at the same time. So it really underscores this is base issue for him. So all of that looming very large over this dinner tonight, but, again, chris the focus at the outset was on paying tribute, paying ourerments to the victim in california. Of course this dinner, this evening really aimed at also marking the First Amendment, its contribution, its significance to our democracy. So thats where the focus i think is going to be for the rest of the evening. Thank you so much. We will let you get back to the dinner. One of the things about President Trump and we were mentioning this earlier is whether its about the press, whether about Hillary Clinton, whether its about the Mueller Report, he is remarkably consistent in his messaging. He gets a phrase, he sticks to it, enemy of the people and in the case of the folks in that room we were just looking at witch hunt and he repeats it over and over again. Skip this dinner three times. Three times hes been the keynote speaker in hez presidency at the National Rifle Associations Annual meeting. Heres part of what he had to say at the nra event. You see it now better than ever with all of the resignations of bad apples, theyre bad apples. They tried for a coup. Didnt work out so well. Corruption at the highest level, a disgrace. Spying, surveillance, trying for an overthrow. And we caught them. David, as a speechwriter your job is messaging, right . Thats what you do. You want to get out the message of whoever it is that youre writing for. In your case it was president obama. And one of the things i hear on the campaign trail over and over again from democrats who are very worried. They say to me im very worried donald trump is going to be reelected is that hes winning the messaging game. Is he . I feel as a democrat i can say if theres one thing democrats are good at its worrying about democrats. Sometimes we do, sometimes we dont, we always worry. I think in this case President Trumpicide be taken really seriously because hes a candidate. He has his base behind him. Hes going to raise a ton of money. The thing is i do think its important to recognize hes not a messaging strategy guru. This is not working terribly well. You look at the recent the Washington Post abc news poll, 53 of americans think the Mueller Report did not exonerate the president , 31 think it did. If President Trump was so good at messaging and so good at saying this was just a witch hunt, youd expect those numbers to be at least flipped around, but theyre not. And you see that over and over again. President trump is great at getting people who already agree with him to agree with him even more. Thats not that difficult. The question is can he get to that 50 plus 1 if he wants to win the election or even if he wants to win the electoral college. First, i think we have to remember he barely won. Lost the popular vote. If milwaukee turned out it would have been a different story. If detroit and around flint turned out, would have been a different story. If Hillary Clintons campaign had done a couple of Different Things would have been a different story. I think we have to be actually mindful what happened in 2016. And the second thing was we heard from the nra is an ongoing effort to delegitimize a system of checks and balances because donald trump has an expansive understanding of executive power. Hes just a megalomaniac but the idea is to undermine those checks and balances that will contain or constrain his notions of power. And the third point is this, he has no interest in governing the entire nation. He has never had an interest in being the president of the United States. Hes only been the president for the folks who are committed to the agenda of the nra, to that base weve been talk about, to those folks who in some ways feel disaffected, those folks who traffic in hate, those folks who are trying to imagine im not saying all of them are the same but those folks trying to imagine a future for themselves. So he has no interest in america as it is today. And so i think as democrats begin to think about how we want to challenge him, we need to stop worrying about whether or not hes going to win. We need to put forward a vision. They need to put forward a vision for the country moving forward. Thats for the 2020 candidates. But you also have this side i dont want to call it a side event going on because its more than a side event. You have democrats unhappy about what is going on in the wake of the mueller investigation. They see clear criminality there. One of things that just developed, the Washington Post reporting jim jordan got a letter, the former white house personnel director carl klein, theyre going to want to know what happened to those security clearances, so many people who are professionals and have lifelong careers looking at security clearances saw problems with people like the president s soninlaw and they went through anyway. In the end, does that matter when it comes down to voting . Gosh, i hope that it matters. But as someone whos in the chain of custody of security clearances when i worked in the reagan and bush 41 houses, but i began to see a chipping away of how these things are handled. Back in 1996 with the filegate issue where 800 files of people who had worked in previous republican administrations, that their files were looked at by someone who is now head of the security office. So yeah, this was the beginning of the chipping away of the protections around processes and the institution of the president s. So thats one thing to say that, but do you see something larger here . I mean you have a situation with these security clearances, for example, where you have person after person after person who looked at multiple nominees and said, no. Yes. I mean its obvious. Theres example after example of donald trump thumbing their nose at the process and this is just the latest. So much to talk about. The president , i havent seen anything different. Is he still speaking in wisconsin . Hes probably still talking. Yes, im told he is, so there he is. He must like what the crowd is saying and reacting to him because hes going over schedule. And were also going to talk about hate in america when we come back because we have todays attack at a synagogue in california, that shooting. The latest in a string of Violent Crimes linked to antireligious bias. Ii never count the wrinkles. S. And i dont add up the years. But what i do count on. Is staying happy and healthy. So, i add protein, vitamins and minerals to my diet with boost®. Delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals your body needs. All with guaranteed great taste. The upside im just getting started. Boost® high protein. Be up for life™. Look for savings on boost® in your sunday paper. Im workin to make each day a little sweeter. To give every idea the perfect soundtrack. To fill your world with fun. To share my culture with my community. To make each journey more elegant. Im working for all the adventure two wheels can bring. At adp were designing a better way to work, so you can achieve what youre working for. Todays shooting at a synagogue in san diego sub, is the latest in what has become an all too frequent stream of hate driven violence on american soil. The 19yearold penned an open letter, it is full of hateful rhetoric about jewish people. Many of the recent attacks have involved White Supremacists and antisemitic assailants. Hate groups have increased by 30 in just the past four years. This study was released in february. And joining the panel now is criminalologist civil rights attorney and director for the center of study of hate and extremism at California State University brian levine along with my panel. Put this in some perspective for us. To what do you attribute this rise in hate groups and attacks . I think several things. Thank you so much for having me, and our hearts go out to the congregants. First we have the rise of White Nationalism, and thats always been a touch tone that leads invariably to antisemitism in many countries. Also the rise of social media but also the fragmenting of it. And we have a report coming out really interesting. It showed not only did hate crimes go up during a certain period, lets say 15, 16, 17, into 18, but the rise in hate crime was lock step with the rise in some of the most horrendous kind of bigotry on the net. And whats been leading that in both real places and virtual spaces, antisemitism. Those phrases have increased the most precipitously. And even last year in our brand new study not even out yet where we saw an overall increase in hate crimes in 30 of the largest american cities, the second biggest increase was in anticeltic attacks. Were seeing a greater lethality and people get radicalized in war. In the past the months that used to be used for antisemitic hate crime tend to gravitate around israelis and palestinians. Now were seeing white nationalists target jews for fatal eantsvents, and we havent seen that. Half of the extremist homicides that we tracked last year were anticeltic out of that tree of life synagogue shooting. White nationalists, far right homicides rose from 13 to 17 eso a rise in antisemitism within the small group of folks, about 9 of americans said nazi views are okay. Within that i think theyre more emboldened. And i think theres a leveraging of the internet. And when we have a distrust in our Society Institutions jews are often considered the ones that are pulling the puppet strings. There was an open letter as we said that was written by this alleged shooter tonight. He says hes not a trump supporter, at least suggested in this manifesto that hes not a trump supporter. We did hear tonight, and this doesnt happen often, we heard from former president obama. And he seemed to allude to President Trumps influence on the National Conversation about hate at an event tonight in washington. Openness to other peoples experience and new facts requires a certain amount of courage. Fear inducess closed mindedness. We like to build up barriers to preunt us from hearing things that may force us to reexamine who we are and what our attitudes are. Leaders who feed fear typically are also ones who avoid facts. Leaders who feed fear typically avoid facts. I dont think its very hard. You know your former boss better than i do but to figure out who hes talking about there. If you Say Something as benign as you shouldnt be a fear monger, you should tell the truth i mean you would also tell this to a 5yearold, but we know its taken as mental we do tell to our 5yearold. Exactly. When awful people are not good and you say whoa, thats an insult to President Trump, that says a lot about President Trump. I will say this weve talked a lot about rhetoric, but this has real consequences. Weve seen anticeltic hate crimes go up about 60 since the election. We saw a study come out saying when he did the hate crime rally it went up 26 to that county. We know trump is out in green bay, wisconsin, tonight. This study would indicate therethere are people who would be victims of hate crimes who would not be if donald trump were not there. I think the rhetoric absolutely needs to be condemned. This is not just talk, it has real consequences. Words matter and he uses his words in a way that i think we have almost become immune to. Often some of the phrases that he used, some of the things that he says we shrug because its more of the same. As we gotten too used to the way he address said some of these issues . I dont think so. I think it still lands in a way that unsettles at least for most of us. But there is is the reality of the matter. You know, political scientists in his latest book entitled identity crisis talks about how our political identifications have hardened because theyre tethered to our racial identifications. So theres a kind of racial identity crisis driving our sense of our economic crisis, right . The reason why were not doing well is because those black and brown people are jumping ahead of us in the line and government is redirecting resources from us to them, right . So were beginning to see our Political Polarization reflecting in interesting sorts of ways. Deep racial divides, and in some ways a deep crisis in our understanding of whiteness. And one of the thingsthality was said earlier when we talk about the rise of White Nationalism, antisemitism attends it. Its almost a first because its the ground of it all, right . So theres this sense in which attack on the synagogue, the attack on the globalists. Remember the guy who attacked the synagogue in pittsburgh was worried about the caravan, the caravan that was funded by george soros and jewish globalists. All of this is in the stew and donald trump is stirring the pot. Really interesting. Charlottesville was the this is fbi and i got to thank a genius who says hes not but he is, jim nolan did this with me. We look at hate crime by month going back decades. Charlottesville, that month was the worst month tied for the second worst month for the better part of a decade. The worst month going back 14 years was november 2016 the day after election day was the worst day since june 2003. So what were seeing now are hate crimes rising sometimes around political events, and we saw similar things with respect to brexit. This White Nationalism and the invocation of politics as part of an identity dispute that commentators are talking about is actually borne out by the data ware looking at both with crime and social science over the interfete net as well. And chris, remember just not too long ago three churches were burned down in louisiana by white nationalists. We have so much to talk about. And fortunately we have another whole hour. The show is continuing at the white house Correspondence Dinner. Once again President Trump is not there. He has just finished speaking. There is john carl, one of my former colleagues at the white house, featured historian ron chernow is going to be speaking in the next hour. Theyre about to give out awards to journalists who have done their jobs and well this year. And also about scholarships about young people. Frankly im still surprised there are young people who want to go into this business. And thank god there are some smart people who want to do it. Well be back with our special coverage tonight live from washington, d. C. After this. Hav. Keith used to be great to roadtrip with. But since he bought his house. Are you going 45 . Uh, yes. 55 is a suggestion. Its kind of like driving with his dad. What a sign, huh . Terry, can you take a selfie of me . Take a selfie of you . Yeah. Can you make it look like im holding it . He did show us how to bundle home and auto at progressive. Com and save a bunch of money. Oh, a plaque. He later navigated northward, leaving. Progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents. But we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. But we can protect your home and auto when heartburn hits, fight back fast with tums smoothies. It neutralizes stomach acid at the source. Tum tum tum tum smoothies. Also available tums sugarfree. Was a success for lastchoicehotels. Comign badda book. Badda boom. This year, were taking it up a notch. So in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Nobody glows. He gets it. Always the lowest price, guaranteed. Book now at choicehotels. Com man you can do this grab those command picture hanging strips and lets make it work. Theyre tool free and they hold strong. Oh, rustic chic an arrow angled to point at rustic chic. Hmm, may i be honest here . Lets take that down, damage free, with a stretch, remove. And look no marks, no mess. Like a pro. Command. Do. No harm. Welcome back. Its nice of you to join us on this saturday night. This is msnbcs special cover object of the 2019 white house Correspondence Dinner. But we also begin tonight with three major stories defining america. The president revving up his base. He just wrapped up a rally moments ago in green bay, wisconsin. Of course opting to skip out on tonights dinner. Instead speaking about trade, jobs, also attacking democrats and the media. And just moments from now historian ron chernow is set to hit the stage. Now typically it would be a comedian, right. Instead of roasting the president and the press corp, though, hell share his perspective on american politics and history and where we stand as a nation today. Although he did promise in a statement its not going to be dry. All of this happening against the backdrop of another tragedy. This one in san diego, and the investigation is ongoing at this hour into a deadly shooting at a california synagogue on this last day of passover. Once again leaving an American Community to mourn another senseless act. I want to bring in our panel. Joining me now Princeton University professor of religion and african studies. Former speechwriter for president obama. Anita mcbride, former chief of staff to first lady laura bush. The comedian joins us as well who performed at Ronald Reagans 1988 white house Correspondence Dinner. And simone on the red carpet at the dinner for us. I want to start with you because so much has changed to say the least since 1988, and i wonder what you make of the idea lets not necessarily talk about ron chernow specifically but getting away from the comedian, was it a good move to have a historian out . I dont know history will tell if it was a good or bad move. But the spirit of comedy being part of the white house Correspondence Dinner, kind of shifted. When i was doing that there was a lot of respect from each side, the president. Even though it was covered by, you know, the media and criticisms and all of that. At that moment for that two hours there was, like a moment of peace and everybody was there in lou of respect to the president and the president was there in lieu of respect to the media. And it was celebrated with comedy. I know there would be a little bit of spice to kind of roast the president a little bit, but it wasnt it was just a spice. It wasnt like battery acid or anything like that. So people would laugh and the president could laugh, and it was, you know, i remember he loved the jokes about the soefbliasoefbviet union. So that was one of the reasons that they invited me to do the show, do the presentation there. And i could, like, see out of the corner of my eye president reagan laughing so it wasnt offensive. It was a celebration of freedom of speech and the celebration of the politics and the media come together. The other thing it does is allow a president to laugh at himself. He gets to come back, right . The best speeches, they took aim at us as well. You were dead in the middle of that with barack obama. You had an advantage in that you had oh, ron chernow coming to the podium. Lets take a listen. They got a bit of attention called hamilton maybe. I asked ron to put the current moment in historical context. Didnt tell him what to say. Told him roughly how long he had to say it. Please wejoin me in welcoming r chernow. Thank you for that lovely introduction. I confess that i was surprised when i received the invitation to speaker tonight. I knew they werent approaching me as an International Sex symbol, right . Then olivia told me they happened to try boring at tonights dinner and i said oh, i can deliver that big time. So here i am, your 20 minute sedative for the evening. Now, its nice to see such a healthy turn out tonight. As you all know on tuesday the president let it be known he wanted members of his administration to stay away from this dinner. And at first i was puzzled by this news but then i learned a rumor was circulating in washington i was going to be reading allowed from redacted portio portions of of the Mueller Report and everything was explained. Of course theres been some squawking from the comedians, and im sorry about that. Frankly i thought that those folks would have a littlemorally of a sense of humor about my selection. After all, they are comedians. But we need them now more than ever during this surreal interlude in american life. People are taking their comedians seriously and their politicians as a joke and that certainly describes our topsyturvy moment. I sincerely hopes the comics will be back for many more star trends in the future. Meanwhile its always fun for a serious historian to stand in the cross fire of an active war zone. When i asked a friend what the atmosphere would be like at this dinner he replied, oh, the roman colosseum. Now being a dutiful historian i thought i should research my audience, so i picked up a copy of henric gibsons great play, enemy of the people. I hadnt realized before that the president was a student of norwegian literature . Did you know that . It takes place in a small norwegian town that hopes the discovery of mineral brings will turn the sleepy backwater into a thriving spot. Then the hero of the play discovers that the springs are actually polluted and breeding typhoid and other diseases. In his naivety he imagines the townspeople are going to aploud them as their savior from this calamity. And then he discovers the truth is political commodity defined by the towns business interests and hes prosecuted for truth telling. His house is stoned, his windows shattered and angry mobs brand him, yes, an enemy of the people. So next time youre dubbed enemy of the people please think of the term in the norwegian sense and wear it as a badge of honor. Now, im delighted to make we now have to fight hard for basic truths we once took for granted. We gather here in perfect security because of a little piece of parchment called the bill of rights thats acquired the status of american scripture. In the last analysis its author James Madison was a tiny often sickly man who probably would have not gotten past this and so fervor lntly did madison believe in these two amendments that he didnt want them tacked onto the end of the constitution as if they were an aforethought. He happened them woven straight into the original text. Madison considered the first indispensable. Like all our founders he regarded a free press as the cornerstone of democracy. As jefferson famously said for us to choose between a government with newspapers or newspapers without a government he would unhesitatingly prefer the latter. The First Amendment was not written for the exclusive use of saints and choir boys, nor was it granted only on good behavior. As mark twain noted the right to stupidity is protected by the u. S. Constitution. That became, unfortunately clear during George Washingtons first term in office. Now as best i can tell washington committed only one major blun major blunder as president. Ee failed to put his name on mount vernon and thereby bungled an early tunlt at branding. Clearly defish nlt in the arlt of the deal the poor man had to settle for lowly title for father of this country. A very sad story. The press of the early republic was ins puroegs sly partisan as anything we see today and that golden age of character assassination writers reputations. Obviously the british had gotten a very poor return on their investment. Now some of the most blistering attacks against washington came from an unexpected source, his secretary of state Thomas Jefferson had hired a a poet as state department transzilator. He was qualified except for one small detail. He knew only a single foreign language. In truth jefferson had rekrulted him to found a party organ called the National Gazette that will public broad sides against the president jefferson now served. Having performed his task with such gusto he used to drop off copies of his incendiary copy at washingtons doorstep every day. Now its hard to convey the anguish that seized washingtons mind. One day he printed a cartoon showing washington being beheed by louie xvi. The president was much inflamed, got one of those passions when he cannot command himself and said that rascal fernow sent him three of his papers every day as though he thought hed become the distributor of them. But despite this extreme provocation washington always honored the First Amendment saying such evils, quote, must replace an opposition to infinite benefits resulting from a free press. Like every future president washington felt maligned and misunderstood by the press, but he never generalized gnat into a vendetta against the institution. In fact when he when he wrote his fair well address he never delivered in person. He had it printed in the newspapers so that readers could digest it and consider it. My main theme here tonight is relations between president and the press are inevitably tough, almost always adversarial, but they dont need to be steeped in venom. Our founders were highly literal people and perhaps none more so than one Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant who arrived thank god before the country was full. I frankly, i dont know why they let the guy in. Clearly somebody had slipped up at the southern border. Now, hamilton was a human word machine. When Columbia University press published 26 volumes of his collected papers the editor used to joke he wanted to dedicate the entire voluminous edition to without which his project never would have been completed. Hamilton had a flourishing career as a journalist founding the New York Post. Now when writing the federalist papers hamilton cranked out as many as five or six essays per week and this mind you with a full time legal practice. He was writing the federalist papers as a side line. He would be scripling the final sentences of an essay as the printer waited in hez outer office ready to rush the latest installment into print. After leaving his first treasury secretary hamilton took to the newspapers to defend a major treaty with england. He wrote one set of essays under a pen name, and hen he launched a parallel series under a pen name. Now he heaped extravagant praise and both of them for some reason were both rapturous in their mutual adimation for the former treasury secretary, one Alexander Hamilton. During the administration of john adams the country lurched into a peerld congress enacted the infamous sedition acts which made it crime for journalists to write about a president in a scandalous criminalistic fashion. At this dark moment jefferson with his serene faith in the people prophecy, quote, with a lot patience we shall see the rain of which is past their spell dissolved. Let it be noted because it is antipress record john adams not only lost his Reelection Campaign in the 1800s but his campaigns against the press dent get your face carved into the rocks of mount rushmore. For when you chip away at the press you chip away at our democracy. You know, people now say were fighting for the soul of america. But folks weve always been fighting for the soul of america. Weve always fallen short of those enshrined in our documents. A perpetual journey, a freedom ride with no final destination. And it falls to each new generation to renew and rediscover our countrys lofty promise. Dr. Martin luther king, jr. Said that the moral arc of the universe extends towards justice. Our precious republic feels fragile, even perishable at the moment and after the shooting at the synagogue in san diego today our Civil Society feels fragile as well. I shudder at the sheer savagery to which washington politics has descended. But weve also seen the wisdom our kaunlsitution at work with boldly asserted press, an independent judiciary and a rejuvenated congress providing checks on executive power. Were being testing, seriously tested but id like to think decency will prevail. History shows in the short run the American People can be swept up in often misguided and wrongheaded things. But in the long run, democracy endures. You know, during the civil war we battled each other not with ballots but with battalions. We slaughtered 750,000 of our fellow citizen maiming millions more. Amputees hobbled through every american town. A still hopeful Abraham Lincoln sat around a virginia camp fire and quote, said there was always enough virtue in this republic to save it. Sometimes none to spare but still enough to meet the emergency. Like lincoln i believed dwoevouy in that saving rem nnlt of race. And ended the unspeakable cruelty of slavery and jim crow. America has always been at its greatest not when it blustered but when it admitted its mistakes and sought to overcome them. Okay, let me move onto the president and the press in the 20th century. Back in the days of William Mckinley there was no White House Pressroom, just a long table of reporters on the second floor. As one journalist complained its part of the unwritten law of the white house that newspaper men shall never approach the president as he passes unless he himself stops and talks to them. A rather royal conception of the presidency with no shouted questions allowed. And those were innocent days. And reporters shielded the private lives of president s. Let me tell you how harding got the republican nomination in 1920. Party bosses summoned harding to the proverbial smokefilled room in chicago and they asked him pointblank if he had any damaging personal issues they should know about. Now, harding a married man drank heavily and gambled freely. He had a 15year affair with his best friends wife and he had a mistress and illegitimate baby right there in chicago. In fact his young mistress shot in the balcony of the convention pool enjoying the speeches. But harding assured the president he couldnt think of a single personal thing to worry about. Of course the press would grow bigger and more intrusive as the centuries progressed and the white house would grow ever more acrimonious. Even though it would seem wistful and naive, call it a museum of president ial decorum, at this confragzal moment in american politics civility has been an essential lube knt and our best have handled the press with wits, grace, charm, candor and even humor. After mckinleys formality Teddy Roosevelt of course proved virtuoso in dealing with the press. T. R. Devoured a book a day in the white house seemed to retain all of them. One novelist was amazeed the president had read it by breakfast the next morning. Such a literate president enjoyed the press corp. The babbling president would spout a never ending stream of opinion while his core barber bobbing and weaving with his razor gladly tried to shave t. R. Without slitting the president ial throat. When Calvin Coolidge was president of the 1920s he inaugurated the first regularly scheduled press conferences. Reporters had to file their questions in advance and silent cal sat at his desk working swiftly through a deck of index cards. Press relations only worsen, even his own secretary of state bemoaned that conversing with hoover was like sitting in a bath of ink. The president hired a hapless press secretary who proved so unpopular that one reporter quipped, quote, it was the first known instance of a rat joining a sinking ship. When Franklin Roosevelt came into office he swept away these restricting rules and treated reporters lo and behold like grownups. Were not going to have anymore written questions the president decliered. Of course while i answered 75 ear 100 questions i see no reason why i should not talk to you ladies and gentlemens offtherecord. Please note the ladies and gentlemens and. The 125 reporters packed into the oval office that day were so imprelsed by fdrs clear straightforward rules they gave him a standing ovation at the end, the first and undoubtedly last time that would ever happen. In the end fdr conducted nearly 1,000 press conferences, not to mention 30 fireside chats. And even Eleanor Roosevelt held her own press conferences where she invited only female reporters. Right on. This put a tremendous boom to women journalists across the country because even the most high bound publishers realized they were now forced to hire women journalists. Of course when it came to written charm john f. Kennedy probably retired the prize. Remember modesty . When a small boy asked kennedy how he became a war hero kennedy replied it was absolutely involuntary, they sank my boat. In 1958 then senator kennedy was being touted as a president ial hopeful, but he was shattered by rumors that his rich father would buy the race. So jfk withdrew a slip of paper from his pocket and proudly announced he had a telegram from his generous daddy. He read aloud, dear jack, ill be damned if im going to pay for a landslide. The press was enthralled when jfks president held his first televised press conference in january 1961, 60 million captivated viewers were glued to their tv sets, a record only eclipsed by the 70 million who watched the beetles debut on the Ed Sullivan Show three years later in 1964. I have often worried what the beetles poll numbers would have looked like in iowa and New Hampshire in that president ial year. Now Ronald Reagan uza no less sunny personality and a past master of course of media relations. When he became epresidepresidenk most of the time an overwhelming number of reporters do a fine job. Nevertheless, reagan had a sometimes bumpy relationship with the press. Then on march 30, 1981 he was shot and nearly killed outside this very hotel, the washington hilton as he was about to duck into his limousine, a bullet lodged within an inch of his heart. Reagan was scheduled to speak at, yes, the white house Correspondence Dinner. And so he telephoned this line in instead if i could give you just this little bit of advice, when someone tells you to get into a car quick, do it. That was a touch of class that has been surely missing in our political culture in recent years. It was a subtle reminder that whether republicans or democrats we are all bona fide members of team usa and not members of enemies camps. Okay, i know im wallowing in nossta nosstalgia here. In the spring of 1971 nixon followed the advice of press secretary ron zigler and decided to play the good sport at the white house Correspondence Dinner. His address evidently did not impress the news media. Nixon grumbled privately the reporters were more vicious than usual. When nixon had hosted a party for pow families and felt bathed in female admiration he felt his masculine appeal insufficiently acknowledged in the press coverage. Thats what the goddamn times and New York Post should be writing about, im going to kick their [ bleep ] around the block. Now, you folks in the media, write the early graphs of history i and we historians the later ones. Your work is fresher and color to media sagas. You combat the mistrust of a significant portion of the american electorate. I think you do noble work to preserve democracy at a time when a rising tide of misinformation mas krsacre mass as news threatens to make a mockery of history. You must also deal with a pervasive world of social media rife with pundits that search news outlets that only strengthen their preconceived views. Still this is as good a time as any to take stock and rededicate yourself. Donald j. Trump is not the first and wont be the last american president to create jitters about the First Amendment, so be humble, be skeptical and be wear of being infected by the very things youre fighting against. The press is a powerful weapon that must always be fired with reluctance and aimed with precision. Warren buffet has a very handy saying, always take the high road, its far less crowded there. And somedays in washington a politician can stay along that upper roadway for hours without spotting another car. You folks should always remember you were heirs to a grand crusading tradition that dates back toid ida b. Wells, Upton Sinclair the meat packing industry. Woodward and bernstein exposing watergate, and the New York Times and the Washington Post publishing the pentagon papers. This is glorious tradition. You folks are part of it, and we cant have politicians tramping on it with impunity. Im sorry to report im not finished. Once warned of a political system that would, quote, keep the populists alarmed by menacing it with and endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. We simply cannot allow the press to become an imaginary hobgoblin exploited for political gain. At least a cavalier disregard of it both here and pby autocratic regimes abroad. Facts are stubborn things and our wishes cannot alter them. Facts are the foot soldiers of our respective fashions. Without the facts we cannot have agreement in our badly divided nation. More importantly, without the facts we cannot have an honest disagreement. I applaud any president who aspire tuesday the nobel prize for peace, but we dont want one in the running for the nobel prize for fiction. Ulysses s. Grant wasnt a flawless president but he was a stickler for the truth. One day in the white house grant was busy when a stranger called. Knowing grant was occupied an aide informed the usher tell the gentleman, the president is out. Overhearing this outrage, no, dont tell him that. Tell him im engaged and must be excused. I never lie for myself and i do not want anybody to lie for me. Thats a powerful example that all president s should emulate. You know, weve seen past administrations threaten the press directly whether it be lincoln shutting down the papers during the civil war or woodrow wils wilson stifling dissent in world war one. Even the smartest courtroom lawyers tend to defend the press against such vague and sweeping attacks. You folks can only preserve that hard won credibility in one way with softball udfairminded, active and energetic reporting. Okay, since i cruelly deprived you of a comedian tonight i thought id end with some quotes from mark twain. He said the political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, theyre an entire banquet. And i love this quote. Sometimes i wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by embeciles who really mean it. He could pea sascathing about capitol hill saying theres no distinctly native criminal class except for congress. He could be equally savage about president s saying the United States would never contend to have a chief magistrate of gold when it could get one of ten. And as we head into another election season i will leave you with one final gem. Politicians must be changed often and for the same reason. Good night and god bless america. [ applause ] a standing ovation from a tough crowd at the white house Correspondence Dinner. Ron chernow, a famed historian but someone who had an uninveeable task as everyone does who faces that podium. He had to stand in for both a president and the comedian. He is neath, but he was told by the head of the White House Correspondence Association we decided we wanted to go with boerg. With that i think my panel will agree ron chernow failed. He in fact was witty, he was informative. A couple of the lines, Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant who arrived thank god before the country was full. You got a little sense, i think, listening to that of what lin manual miranda saw in his Book Hamilton that he based probably the most famous, most successful Broadway Musical of this century and maybe many others, my panel is still with me. So david, youre the one sitting here who had to be in that position. You had to write the words or help write the words that came from brock, ill acknowledge it was a tough position to succeed in. How did you think he did . I think he had some good lines. I think it was strange they disinvited a comedian and then had a historian do some comedy. I think that it was an interesting choice. Its one i dont ultimately agree with because it was very comfortable for the journalists in the room. One of things chernow said is essentially weve been here before well be here again but then were going to go back out into a country are another american was killed tonight because of a Conspiracy Theory that the president of the United States endorses i did think that chernow at the end suggested maybe this time was different. But there was a lot of comfort food instead of spicy food so to speak in that presentation and i think that was a mistake ultimately as much as i enjoyed that as a former history major. I was particularly taken by the innovation of the progressive era. I agree with everything you said but theres a way in which he framed the task of the journalists. Its not those persons who driving stories for the bottom line, chris, who are entertainers where theyre looking for salacious news about persons private lives but he invoked ida b. Wells, Upton Sinclair, people who revealed the country in order to shed light where were fallen short. It was almost a false ending because that call to the press led everyone to jump to their feet. And they said, oh, im not done yet. But it was that charge i thought was really important. Because if there was ever a moment where we needed that kind of charge its this one. I actually have to say i want to give kudos to olivia knox, the president of the White House Historical association for inviting someone who could bring substance, history and comedy all together. I think this is refreshing break from the vulgarity of michelle wolf, which was not entertaining or enjoyable by any stretch of the imagination. And frankly, chris, what i thought about was something that you said during break, why would a young person go into journalism now when they really do face this pressure from the leader of the free world saying youre the enemy of the people . And i think ron chernow told young people why they should do it and all of you who are in journalism what you right now, what you put out in the Public Domain just so important that it be done with precision because people like ron chernow will tell that history to educate future generations long past these days. And i think that whats very compelling to me and i think whats important to is they say america is being tested and its always been tested. But the job is so important and it needs to be done right. And i just i liked what he said too even in these tough times theres enough virtue in our country to protect our democracy. And i think we feel that every single day. We all just watched the speech but i want to let our folks back in the control room who were busily working show us a few of the highlights and well talk a little more. Now, being a dutiful historian i thought i should research my audience so i picked up a copy of henric gibsons great play, enemy of the people. I hadnt realized before that the president was a student of norwegian lit cerature. Did you know that . People are taking their comedians seriously and their politicians as a joke and that certainly describes our top topsyturvy moment. Our founders were literate and none more than so than hamilton, an immigrant who arrived thank god before the country was full. My main theme here tonight is that relations between president s in the press are inevitably tough, almost always adversarial, but they dont need to be steeped in venom. I want to go back to jacob smirnof who provided comic relief Anita Mcbride said of the 12 white house Correspondence Dinners the one you were at was the first, you give him a thumbs off. What did you think as someone whos been there and stood behind that podium before . Well, it was very exciting and also nervewracking because before they introduced me the mc was trying to get the attention of the crowd, and the crowd did not pay any attention to them, and they were talking to each other. And was thinking oh, this is going to be really hard. And surprisingly when they introduced me you could hear a pin drop, and the audience was great. They were laughing, but i also want to say they ron chernow did a great job today because he kind of was healing what was happening last year by being intelligent, by being humorous. And i think thats what white house Correspondence Dinner have been for most of the time. I think it just got worse in the later years. You know, there has been a lot of hammering about the White House Correspondence Association dinner. Maybe a little over the top, but should there be a comedian . Should there not be a comedian . Did the comedian go too far . Very few have come away from that unscathed. It got to the point almost no one wanted to do the job anymore. And in fact the New York Times pulled out after it became sort of this nerd prom, right . And the alist celebrities started going, and it was about who in government at the highest possible level could you have at your table. And at least for this White House Correspondence Association they wanted to pull back on that. There are those who suggest that they caved, that they gave in to trump, that trump last year was so unhappy with the comments particularly those directed towards Sarah Sanders that he had gave the directive this year nobody goes. Was this part of your concern, david, about tonight seeing ron chernow, less about him and more about what this has come to represent . Yeah. You said there are those who say the Correspondence Association caved and one of those is me. I think that and the reason i say that is not because i dont know what they intended to do. I cant speak to that, but i think its very clear how this was perceived. This is not about a dinner, about comedians about a president bullying into rewriting its rules and reshaping its traditions and in a very small way President Trump said im unhappy, you have to change this longstanding tradition and the press for whatever reason said okay. And i think thats a very serious problem. The much more serious problem is that you have a White House Press secretary who admitted under oath that he lies, that she makes stuff up. Also we havent had a press briefing in forever. I think there was something that for every real press briefing weve had, every two, theres been one for children or small animals these days. And so the president has taken the message that he can treat the press differently and he can get away with it. And it was actually one of the things nixon came back to say i learned hoato treat people with contempt. Maybe unwittingly the Correspondence Association may be allowing him to learn that lesson. I want to go to simone who has been on the red carpet for us and has been listening to everything going on. The room seemed to enjoy it, or at least they gave ron a standing ovation. Give us your sense of the night. Reporter so whats interesting is we havent seen a comedian this is actually the first time that a person performed here at the white house Correspondence Dinner that wasnt a comedian in over a decade, but actually it could have been Perfect Timing for ron chernows appearance tonight. Look, there were a lot of things different about the white house Correspondence Dinner tonight. President trump obviously not here. His senior Staff Members werent here, no comedian. And also missing tonight there wasnt a ton of star power as weve seen in years past. But from the people ive spoke to from the red carpet to, from the journalists tonight i spoke to they said that might have been a good thing. They were excited to see toomts event was getting back to the roots and refocusing on the importance of the First Amendment. Take a look. Its very hard for even the best comedians to be funny and be satirical about the president and not cross a line. And its great to have a great writer and historian as the speaker. Im excited tugboat. This is about the celebration of the First Amendment. Its about journalists feeling safe and protected to do the work they do. Its not a night to celebrate him. Its a night to celebrate the best in white house journalism. Im expecting to be able to say hello and thank you to a lot of people who are doing important work for our country, getting the truth out there. Reporter so obviously a few elements that were missing from tonights event, making it different in the mood and feel and vibe of tonights event. But one thing that was not missing was optimism about what everyone here does for a living and the importance of it. And i think ron chernows speech really drove home the historical significance of what is happening and what is being celebrated tonight here, chris . Thank you so much so. I mentioned earlier youve been to about a dozen of these. We should give you some sort of award frankly for that. Maybe Andrea Mitchell has been through maybe more than you have. But has it served its purpose, should we go back to the way it was . The pendalism has clearly swung. I think this was a really positive night. I think people in that room who do this work every single day trying to get the stories out, trying to get the facts out, you know, got a shot in the arm what they do is really important, and it doesnt always have to be about celebrity. It has to be about the Important Role that they play in our american system, and, you know, i do remember sort of the first time that there was this celebrity sort of notion introduced into the dinner, at least in my years of being in washington. I knew her, and she was the celebrity guest, and every year after that its a little bit more and a lilt bit more and then it went to hollywood, so it wasnt just, you know, people had worked in the government that maybe became famous, but it became very hollywood centric. And i dont know i think this is sort of dialing back and saying what is it woo do for a living and everyone in that room needs to be reminded how important it is and i think ron chernow did that. Should the dinner reflect the times or did the white house correspondents respond to a president who frankly decided he didnt like the way it was before and it should change . I think both of those things are at work here. So i think davids right in a certain sense but i do think that the dinner ought to reflect the seriousness of the moment. Because seriousness is under assault day in and day out in this country. Whats funny, whats ironic is that because of the nature of the news now reporters are you know you get stopped all the time and you know how folks are responding. People are saying all the time i cant turn the channel, im just glued. And so whats ironic about when white house Correspondence Dinner is that in the current culture the news almost functions like not necessarily a sitcom but a daily drama. And you guys play we are particular players in that drama. So theres that side. So we might not need hollywood in this moment. But i think its also interesting that we need to break i think we need to break the cozy relationship between the white house and the white house correspondents. I think we need to create an environment for a serious reflection, and we also need to create an environment where we can still have political sat tire that doesnt slip into crude insult. And we have to do that without being worried about certain folks who are kind of snowflaky. I think rons chernow put it pretty well. Barack obama was very good at it. Ronald reagan, george w. Bush, they all look, every president has their tough moments. Every president has to go or has gone into that dinner at tough moments. Bill clinton in the middle of the Monica Lewinsky scandal had an awful lot of funny things to say. I do think that oliveier, hes said we need to dial it back. And i guess in some ways the comic is a part of that, right . Most of the comics have been sort of headline making names, people that folks know. He said, you know, chernow was a scholar who sat at an intersection of history and popular culture. And i think to that extent hes right. That different point and again ill go back to the idea of making this reflective of the moment were at in history. I think that is a very good point. And olivia told me something similar. I do think it is a little bit of a misunderstanding about why the celebrities were at the dinner. If barack obama had been at the dipper and ron chernow had been at the dinner, the room would have been packed with celebrities. If Hillary Clinton or marco rubio or someone vaguely normal and not so loathsome toward the press and huge chunks of the American People was the president , you would have seen hollywood continue to attend the dinner, as it is people are not comfortable because of the political moment that were in. And so i think the dinner would have become less celebritydriven, maybe a few comedians would have shown up in support but the reason the aspect of the dinner increased is because barack obama was charismatic and popular and hollywood people liked him. They wanted to go and hear him live. Ultimately if a celebrityfriendly president becomes president again, celebrities will come back to the dinner. Doesnt matter if a historian is there. Lets go back to 30 rock and ben collins not only did he watch the white house Correspondents Dinner along with us but following social media. What are folks saying . I think people just like you are talking about, sort of stark contrast between not just previous years and now and also what the president is doing tonight and now. Katie rodgers of the New York Times reporter was talking about how she saw before his event tonight he saw a video of donald trump punching a superimposed cnn logo in a video and to get the crowd riled up and called the media sick people and then ron chernow killed out there. He was very funny. People thought he was very funny out there. And a lot of reporters were all sort of aghast at the concept that this historian that could write tomes about Alexander Hamilton could be that funny. Was it busy on social media . I was curious to see a lot of people paying attention tonight. In the past weve seen when, again, some of those big name comedians were going to take the stage it become something to watch kind of like saturday night live. That is not the case tonight. How busy was social media . Compared to last year, it was like a fivealarm fire and you woke up in the morning and everyone knew what was happening and running out of the house. This is a completely different scenario. And this might have a slow burn and you might wake up tomorrow and people might appreciate that after the rave reviews go and see it but this is just people in the room tweeting about it. This is not a lot of people focused on this. It is a dark day earlier today and people are focused on that generally. So for him to brighten in the mood in a way that i think brought people together was pretty astounding. Thank you, ben collins. We appreciate that. So ill ask all of you, what is this dinner going to look like in 2021 . Well, first let me say, i will ive said i think this was a mistake if this turns out to gain traction and a lot of people are watching and considering it and young people might go into journalism because they see, it then i think i will be wrong. So it is important i like to think about had what would ma my opinion change. You cannot be a politician. But i do think in 2021 well have a challenging time. I dont think that the White House Press corp and the Washington Press corp realizes among the democrats and on the left how much anger there is toward a media they think treats republicans more favorably that started in 2016 with email being the central issue of the 2016 campaign and now we just saw with the barr letter and the credibility over that and it is still happening and i think that 2021, if a democrat is president , and the White House Press expects things to go back to normal, i dont think that will happen and frankly i think that is unfortunate for the country. Were on the precipe of something new. What 2021 will look like, im not sure. But i pray that seriousness returns. So will it be it cant go back to what it was. We cant go back to what it was. That is the key. So as the moment experienced at this table i think it does need to stand for something. I think it does need to stand for the First Amendment and it is important for journalists to get together and it is also important to see people with whom you have a naturally by definition adversarial relationship as people. That is part of what is wrong with our society now. We demonize folks in groups and it helps to sit down with a person across a meal. Where do you see this big picture now . And in that aspect, im italian so i think everything gets solved around a meal. And, yes, exactly. And this event is a business dinner of sorts. This is the opportunity for people on opposite sides of what they think to sort of be together and everybody be reminded of the role that each of us plays in our country, in our democracy and its not always pretty and its tested as ron chernow said, but i dont have a crystal ball. No one knows what 2021 will be. But i think in our heart of hearts we want someone that galvanizes our nation and reminds us that we can be better tomorrow than what we were yesterday. Wellsaid. That is a good one to close on. Our hearts, speaking of hearts, are with the folks in california tonight. We are thinking about them. We are mourning with them. We are all hoping for a better, brighter, safer, less violent, less hatefilled tomorrow and i will again quote ron chernow when he said the president and the president s relationship is tough, it is adversarial, but it doesnt need to be steeped in venom. Thank you. I thank you all for being with us tlaxt that will wrap up our coverage of the white house Correspondents Dinner. Thank you for watching. Im chris jansing. Stay with us for breaking news throughout the night. The night. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Everything we have, weve earned. We got no free pass. 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