CNN的Brian Stelter报道称，在美国总统Donald Trump周五出席白宫记者协会晚宴的精简版重演活动后，特朗普似乎已不再是过去那个善于娱乐观众的人。

据Stelter称，特朗普充满侮辱性言辞的演讲在很大程度上迎来的是台下震惊的沉默；他在活动中把矛头指向一系列记者。该晚宴传统上是政治人物与白宫记者团的高规格聚会，兼具喜剧表演和新闻奖项颁发，而这次则让特朗普对媒体的攻击直接摆在了许多被他点名针对的记者和高管面前。

“Trump bombed at the ... Dinner Friday night. He knew he was bombing, too, and he even tried to meta-joke his way out of it,” Stelter写道。“But no. Even the president’s jokes about his bad jokes fell flat, and he was widely ridiculed for the comedy routine afterward.”

Stelter将这场讲话形容为一场“rambling hour-long speech”，其间特朗普点名攻击记者，“repurposed old nicknames for political opponents, made a strange number of fat jokes that weren’t funny at all, and sounded mad at his unnamed writers for giving him weak material to work with.”

演讲中，特朗普一度问道：“Does anyone understand this stuff?” Stelter写道，答案是“generally no. But more than anything, the speech was just … boring.”

“Trump’s low energy led more than one TV executive to muse that the president had stumbled upon a new technique against the media: Tank the ratings with a snoozefest,” Stelter补充说。“Some attendees said they were surprised that Trump didn’t bring more original material, given how highly anticipated the dinner was, in part because his attendance ended his years-long boycott of the White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual fundraiser.”

许多记者拒绝出席该活动。这场活动是4月26日正式晚宴的较小规模重演；原本的黑领结晚宴此前因一名枪手试图冲入Washington Hilton酒店宴会厅而被取消。特朗普拿防弹背心开玩笑，还说与会者躲在桌子下，而他的工作人员则勇敢地站到桌上指挥人群。

特朗普还向他视为宣传盟友的媒体高管致意，其中包括去年接管Paramount的Larry和David Ellison。原文称，他们砍掉了深夜喜剧评论人Stephen Colbert的高收视节目，摧毁了老牌新闻节目60 Minutes，并让CBS News的收视表现一落千丈。

Ellison目前正寻求收购CNN的母公司Warner Bros. Discovery，这使得这些媒体所有权相关表态对在场的记者和电视高管而言尤为尖锐。

“Under my administration, a once-feared and powerful regime that relentlessly attacked America has finally been toppled,” 特朗普说。他指的是Ellison亲自挑选的CBS News总编辑Bari Weiss所推行的变动。“Their former leaders have been removed, and they’re now being run by a gay dictator facing internal divisions. But I, for one, wish Bari Weiss all the best at CBS News. She’s a wonderful woman.”

“The more resentful and recycled Trump’s speech got, the more attendees seemed to tune it out,” Stelter写道。

Stelter表示，当晚最值得注意的时刻之一出现在白宫记者协会年度新闻奖颁奖环节。特朗普在一旁看着记者获得多个奖项，其中包括Wall Street Journal一组记者获得的“courage and accountability”奖；他们因调查一封带有特朗普姓名、写给Jeffrey Epstein的下流生日信而获奖。

颁奖环节凸显了总统对媒体的攻击与该协会表彰新闻报道之间的反差；这些报道曾引发白宫方面的法律行动和准入限制报复。

“Trump quickly filed a $20 billion lawsuit against the Journal, revealing reporter Khadeeja Safdar’s home address,” CNN的Wolf Blitzer在颁奖时说。Stelter称，特朗普“laughed and threw up his hands in an aw shucks-like gesture.”

“Her family had to be relocated,” Blitzer以更为沉重的语气补充说。“The Journal was kicked off of Air Force One, but the reporters continued to file revelatory stories.”