The pen crushed by the sword

When I attended the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner in 2018, President Donald Trump gave it a miss. Nothing personal between us. Just that the presidential skin, though younger, was even thinner than it is now.

- By NAVTEJ SARNA

In fact, Trump did not attend any WHCA dinner during his first term, unwilling to exchange champagne toasts with networks that he regularly slammed and sued. In the event, the 2018 dinner was a disappointment. The comedian Michelle Wolf laboured through a series of weak and incestuous Beltway barbs that invoked a few reluctant smiles. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump's long-forgotten spokeswoman and the main White House attendee, could barely twitch her lips when Wolf aimed an off-colour swipe at her. But that's American humour for you; no wonder that King Charles recently had them reeling in the aisles with what were, honestly speaking, passable public school level quips.