Last night, Bill Maher became the most recent defender of Michelle Wolf’s performance at the White House Correspondents Dinner (WHCD). He echoed others by saying, “She did her job!” Yes. If her job was to create sympathy for Donald Trump. On April 28, the day of the WHCD dinner Trump’s approval rating according to the Real Clear Politics average was minus 12.4 percent. This morning it sits at minus 7.7 percent.  The 44.4 percent approval rating is Trump’s highest since February 20, 2017  when a lot of skeptics were still saying, “Give him a chance.”

Let’s see.  What are all the positive things that have happened over the past seven days which might account for this shift in the polls?

• More evidence that the D.C. “swamp” has gotten even swampier a la Scott Pruitt and Ronny Jackson?  NO!
• Admission everyone in the Trump White House and members of his legal team cannot seem to get their Stormy Daniels story straight?  NO!
• A Chinese boycott of U.S. grown sorghum which will have a major impact on the farm states which voted overwhelmingly for Trump?  NO!
• Admission by Marco Rubio the GOP Tax Bill he voted for has not helped working Americans?  NO!
• VP Mike Pence calling pardoned former Maricopa County sheriff and Arizona Senate candidate Joe Arpaio “a tireless champion of the rule of law?”  NO!
•  Law suits by seven states to force Trump and the Justice Department to end the DACA program?  NO!
• Emails which indicate Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who attended the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower was an informant with direct ties to  Putin’s prosecutor general Yuri Chaika?  NO!
• Pew and Monmouth polls which show a majority of Americans support special counsel Robert Mueller and his ability to complete the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election?  NO!

I no longer expect any of these or future revelations to influence Trump’s 35-40 percent base.  But this nearly five percent approval increase is coming from somewhere else.  I would bet the mortgage these voters have not changed their support for permanent status for DACA eligible immigrants, net neutrality, legalization of marijuana, reasonable gun control legislation, affordable health care, etc.  On all of these issues, a decisive majority support the progressive position.

Trump seems to succeed only when he identifies opponents and then tags them as the epitome of everything that is wrong with the United States.  For three years, it was Hillary Clinton.  And Nancy Pelosi.  Then Kathy Griffin.  Now Michelle Wolf, handed to Trump on a silver platter, joins the Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse.  And it is significant his targets are always women.  A tenet of 1950s-based Trumpism is that the female gender is an economic and cultural threat to post-war America when “things were great.”

Wolf’s defenders are also calling out the White House press for apologizing to the White House and public for her remarks.  “What did they expect?”  Wolf, herself, echoed as much.  After her first reference to porn stars, she said, “Yep, kiddos this is who you’re getting tonight.”  But it is unfair to lay all the blame at the feet of those who sponsored this event for the purpose of underwriting the education and careers of their potential successors.

This is a culture war.  And you do not win by enlisting stereotypes who play into the hands of your opponents.  If we had a living,  breathing Democratic National Committee (DNC) they should have been the first to raise a red flag.  As soon as Trump announced he would stage a political rally opposite the WHCD, several things were obvious.  First, Trump would use his platform to reinforce the view that the White House press is an elite group of Washington insiders out to get him.  CHECK  Second, by encouraging members of his staff to attend, especially Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump knew there would be photo ops of tortured faces as his team was roasted.  CHECK  Third, in Trump’s absence there would be no counterbalance to the comedian’s shtick, regardless of who it was.  Americans love a fair fight, and this would not be one.  CHECK  CHECK

DNC Chair Tom Perez should have known better.  Obama’s former communications gurus such as David Axelrod or Josh Earnest, who were responsible for their boss’ widely praised performances at previous WHCDs, should have stepped in and offered some advice.  Think about this event as a special episode of “Friends,” not the Red Wedding from “Game of Thrones.”  How about two comedians in the SNL tradition of Jane Curtain and Dan Aykroyd’s “Point/Counter-Point?”  How about a comedian who would roast members of the White House press corps rather than Trump?  A little self-deprecating humor might have gone a long way toward offsetting Trump’s rants about the fourth estate.  And it would have put human faces on the hard-working journalists who Trump calls “the enemy of the people.”  Every pundit who covers this administration constantly says, “This is not business as usual.”  Then neither should the WHCD have been business as usual.

Ben Bradlee is turning over in his grave.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP