Trump can’t handle criticism he dishes out

The Daily Illini

CloseU.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the National Governors Association meeting in the State Dining Room of the White House on Feb. 27, 2017 in Washington, D.C. TNSTNSU.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the National Governors Association meeting in the State Dining Room of the White House on Feb. 27, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Jessie Webster, ColumnistFebruary 28, 2017Filed under Columns, Opinions, Top StoriesIn the midst of historic levels of animosity between the press and the White House, President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he would not be attending the upcoming White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.Trump will be the first president since Ronald Reagan not to attend. Reagan missed the annual event in 1981 with good reason: He was recovering from an assassination attempt.Politics has been an integral part of the dinner since it was started in 1921. In recent times, a celebrity or other famous person is invited to lampoon the media and the president — Republican and Democrat alike.Trump has certainly not been exempt from ridicule. In 2012, comedian Seth Meyers responded to Trump’s plans to run for president by saying: “Donald Trump has been saying he will run for president as a Republican, which is surprising since I just assumed he was running as a joke.”While Trump’s refusal to attend the dinner suggests he can’t handle the same level of mockery he so readily gives out to others, his absence from the evening presents a unique opportunity for the media.Trump is more skilled at personally influencing the news than any president in our nation’s history. Any bombastic tweet he writes or any factually inaccurate statement he makes in a news conference is covered by the press nonstop until he one-ups himself.Normally, blatant racism and lies from a president would be front-page news. However, Trump isn’t just any president.By intentionally flooding ...

Read more