Trump attends 100-day rally skipping WH correspondents` dinner
President Trump at his 100-day rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The Washington Pos :
President Donald Trump marked his 100th day in office with an event touting what he called his administration’s “historic progress,” even as his prime focus early in the campaign rally focused on his long-running antagonism with the news media.
Trump wasted no time mentioning the “big gathering” in Washington – the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which he declined to attend – eliciting boos from the crowd in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as he dismissed the event as “a large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media” who he said were “consoling each other in a hotel ballroom.”
Pennsylvania Democrats and liberal protest groups turned out for an opposition rally and march in Harrisburg on Saturday to protest Trump, who chose to host his event in the very same city he referred to as “a war zone” during the campaign.
“This rally and march is to send a message to the president that he needs to be more moderate and more inclusive,” said Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse (D). “I hope he will look around and understand that he needs to do more than rally his supporters. He needs to listen to and speak with those who didn’t vote for him.”
Across the country as well, including Utica and Syracuse, New York, Boston, San Francisco and Chicago. In Washington, crowds gathered for the People’s Climate March in support of environmental protection efforts, some of which have been rolled back during Trump’s first 100 days.
Papenfuse spoke at a rally organized by the state Democratic Party across the street from the Trump event at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. Democratic and liberal activists and grass-roots groups held a march from the center of the city to the rally site, bringing together the two protest events and yielding a combined crowd of hundreds of people.
The president announced last week that he would host a campaign rally to celebrate his 100th day in office. The event – scheduled for 7:30 p.m. – coincided with the annual correspondents’ dinner, which Trump elected not to attend in a break from tradition.
“I could not possibly be more thrilled than to be more than 100 miles away from Washington’s swamp, spending my evening with all of you, and with a much, much larger crowd and much better people, right?” Trump said at his event, not mentioning that he attended the dinner in 2011 while a reality television star and was repeatedly roasted by then-President Barack Obama.
Trump vowed that he would make “a big decision” on the historic Paris climate agreement in the next two weeks. Top Trump officials are divided about whether or not the United States should stay in or exit that agreement.
The president went on to touch on why he abandoned a campaign pledge to label China a currency manipulator, the possible threat posed by North Korea and the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. He vowed that his long-promised wall separating the United States and Mexico would be built. But before getting to that,
Trump repeatedly needled the media, touching on familiar themes and picking on his standard targets.
He dismissed CNN and MSNBC as “fake news” before proudly noting that the term is now used widely. Trump decried what he again called “the totally failing New York Times,” falsely claiming that the organization was “forced to apologize” for its coverage of the 2016 election, a claim he has made before. He also took a shot at the newspaper’s headquarters, which he called an “ugly office building in a crummy location.”
Trump made clear that he was trying to draw a direct contrast with the news media, saying that they deserved “a very, very big fat failing grade” for their coverage, before shifting to a discussion of his administration’s actions.
Trump later returned to his media criticism, decrying how journalists pointed out that Trump broke his pledge to label China a currency manipulator. In a recent interview, Trump told the Wall Street Journal he had reversed course because he felt the country was no longer manipulating its currency and said he hoped the country could help deal with a nuclear threat from North Korea.
President Donald Trump marked his 100th day in office with an event touting what he called his administration’s “historic progress,” even as his prime focus early in the campaign rally focused on his long-running antagonism with the news media.
Trump wasted no time mentioning the “big gathering” in Washington – the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which he declined to attend – eliciting boos from the crowd in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as he dismissed the event as “a large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media” who he said were “consoling each other in a hotel ballroom.”
Pennsylvania Democrats and liberal protest groups turned out for an opposition rally and march in Harrisburg on Saturday to protest Trump, who chose to host his event in the very same city he referred to as “a war zone” during the campaign.
“This rally and march is to send a message to the president that he needs to be more moderate and more inclusive,” said Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse (D). “I hope he will look around and understand that he needs to do more than rally his supporters. He needs to listen to and speak with those who didn’t vote for him.”
Across the country as well, including Utica and Syracuse, New York, Boston, San Francisco and Chicago. In Washington, crowds gathered for the People’s Climate March in support of environmental protection efforts, some of which have been rolled back during Trump’s first 100 days.
Papenfuse spoke at a rally organized by the state Democratic Party across the street from the Trump event at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. Democratic and liberal activists and grass-roots groups held a march from the center of the city to the rally site, bringing together the two protest events and yielding a combined crowd of hundreds of people.
The president announced last week that he would host a campaign rally to celebrate his 100th day in office. The event – scheduled for 7:30 p.m. – coincided with the annual correspondents’ dinner, which Trump elected not to attend in a break from tradition.
“I could not possibly be more thrilled than to be more than 100 miles away from Washington’s swamp, spending my evening with all of you, and with a much, much larger crowd and much better people, right?” Trump said at his event, not mentioning that he attended the dinner in 2011 while a reality television star and was repeatedly roasted by then-President Barack Obama.
Trump vowed that he would make “a big decision” on the historic Paris climate agreement in the next two weeks. Top Trump officials are divided about whether or not the United States should stay in or exit that agreement.
The president went on to touch on why he abandoned a campaign pledge to label China a currency manipulator, the possible threat posed by North Korea and the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. He vowed that his long-promised wall separating the United States and Mexico would be built. But before getting to that,
Trump repeatedly needled the media, touching on familiar themes and picking on his standard targets.
He dismissed CNN and MSNBC as “fake news” before proudly noting that the term is now used widely. Trump decried what he again called “the totally failing New York Times,” falsely claiming that the organization was “forced to apologize” for its coverage of the 2016 election, a claim he has made before. He also took a shot at the newspaper’s headquarters, which he called an “ugly office building in a crummy location.”
Trump made clear that he was trying to draw a direct contrast with the news media, saying that they deserved “a very, very big fat failing grade” for their coverage, before shifting to a discussion of his administration’s actions.
Trump later returned to his media criticism, decrying how journalists pointed out that Trump broke his pledge to label China a currency manipulator. In a recent interview, Trump told the Wall Street Journal he had reversed course because he felt the country was no longer manipulating its currency and said he hoped the country could help deal with a nuclear threat from North Korea.
