Former Daily Show correspondent Michelle Wolf hosted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and delivered a blistering twenty-minute monologue calling out the Trump administration, democrats, and the news media last night in Washington D.C. While Trump did not attend, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway showed up, and sat with tight-lipped frowns as Wolf tore into them. Wolf kicked things off by remarking, “It’s 2018 and I am a woman. So you cannot shut me up unless you have Michael Cohen wire me $130,000.”
There were so many brilliant moments in Wolf’s speech, as she tore into the administration. Of Trump’s absence from the dinner, she said “I would drag [Trump] here myself, but it turns out the president of the United States is the one pussy you’re not allowed to grab.” Wolf then went on to mock Trump where he feels it the most: his wallet. The comedian led the audience in a call and response of “Trump is so broke/How Broke is he?” and roasted the president for his failed businesses.
Wolf then took on Sanders, saying “I loved you as Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale. Mike Pence, if you haven’t seen it, you would love it.” She continued to call out Sanders for continually lying to the press, quipping “[Sanders] burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies.” She finished her set by reminding everyone that Flint, Michigan still doesn’t have clean water. There were so many great quotes from the show, I highly recommend watching the entire epic monologue:
Historically, the annual dinner is a night where the white house press corps and the administration come together to roast the president and to acknowledge the important relationship between the White House and the Fourth Estate. In the age of Trump however, the dinner (like everything else) is a fun-house mirror version of its former self. Trump has repeatedly and viciously attacked the news media, labeling them an enemy of the state, and is the first president since Reagan to not attend the dinners.
Many criticized Wolf for her brutal take downs, but we live in a world where the president mocks disabled people and calls the Paralympics “hard to watch.” This administration is racist, sexist, anti-LGBTQ, and damaging to our democracy in ways we can’t even fully comprehend yet. Pundits can clutch their pearls over Wolf’s performance all they want, but it’s the behavior of Trump and his administration that is truly offensive and disgraceful. Michelle Wolf, we salute you.
(via The Huffington Post, The Washington Post image: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
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