The Wrath of The Don? Nervous TV Bosses Don't Want Their Anchors 'Front-And-Center Like Sitting Ducks' at White House Correspondents' Dinner — Fearing Rogue Trump Could Demolish Them
Donald Trump finally accepted an invitation to the WHCA dinner.
April 10 2026, Published 1:16 p.m. ET
Donald Trump is gearing up for a bombshell first-ever appearance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and the mere prospect has some of the biggest names in network news sweating nervous bullets, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The president is finally set to attend after a combined total of six years in office, and insiders say he plans to seize control of the room packed with left-leaning journalists, leaving some networks nervously debating whether they even want their top talent in rogue Trump’s direct line of wrath.
Networks Worried About Top Talent Being 'Sitting Ducks' for Trump
Donald Trump is attending his first WCHA dinner after six years as president.
"The networks are all having real discussions about having their talent front-and-center like sitting ducks," a political insider told Page Six Hollywood. "A couple of them are really thinking what that's gonna be like."
Trump is notorious for speaking off the cuff, and that has network bosses fearing for their top talent.
"The main talent tends to be clustered toward the front, and you can see them pretty well," the insider spilled. "For someone [Trump] who doesn't stay on a script or on a prompter, that's sort of the unknown."
A New Twist in WHCA Headliner
Left-leaning comedian Trevor Noah headlined the WHCA dinner in 2022.
The event is taking place on April 25 at the Washington Hilton, and Trump has already removed one potential source of humiliation by replacing the usual comedian emcee with mentalist Oz Pearlman as the headliner.
Recent hosts have included Saturday Night Live Weekend Update star Colin Jost and The Daily Show's Trevor Noah. Headliners have also included late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel.
"They don't have a comedian this year; they have an illusionist, which is very strange because everyone is going to want to make themselves disappear," the insider noted.
Trump Will Have Many People Together Who He Thinks Are 'Enemies'
Donald Trump will be able to address all of his enemies in the 'fake news media' in one room.
The insider explained why an emboldened Trump may be finally taking advantage of a captive audience full of people he calls the "fake news media."
"[Trump has] never had that kind of audience so close... he does his rallies, but the reporters are in the back, and they're embeds, they're not the top-tier talent," the source pointed out. "With the inauguration, you're not playing to the press the people — you're there with former presidents and guests."
"I can't think of an experience [Trump has] been in where he'll have that amount of people together collectively who he thinks are his enemies," the insider dished.
Trump Boycotted Past WCHA Dinners Because of 'Bad' Press
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Barack and Michelle Obama shared a laugh with 2015 WCHA dinner headliner Cecily Strong.
The White House Correspondents' Dinner no longer has the luster it once did, especially during the eight years when Democrat Barack Obama was president, and Hollywood A-listers flocked to attend the event.
With Trump taking command of the event, even prominent Democratic celebs aren't feeling up to attending.
"People are having a hard time getting Democrats as guests at the dinner. The Obama years it was star-studded, and everybody wanted to go. The first Trump term, it was all about the First Amendment," the source explained about turnout in previous years.
"Under Biden, it was less star-studded. But this is different – they're getting administration guests and Republicans on the Hill, but that has been the challenge [getting Democrats], and every news organization wants to have a balanced guest list," the insider added.
Trump confirmed via Truth Social in March that he was finally accepting the WCHA's annual invitation, after turning it down and calling out the "fake news media" during his first term.
The president said that, in honor of America's 250th birthday, it "will be my honor to accept their invitation."
He explained that because "the press was extraordinarily bad," he "boycotted the event, and never went." However, he said he looked forward "to being with everyone this year" and hoped it would be "something very special."
