Washington Goes Hollywood, For Laughs
BERMAN: You're looking at live pictures from inside the hall of The White House Correspondents' Dinner. That is the NPR table, you're looking at Nina Totenberg's hair. The News is next. We're here all night watching this coverage. This is the President's final White House Correspondent's Dinner. CNN's Sara Murray is down there, and she is joined by some of our most fabulous CNN colleagues. Sara?</s>SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Chad (ph) we have our very astute (ph) panel with us here, we have May Breslin (ph) of Sienna, and we have Margaret Hoover, Republican commentator, and also formerly of the Bush White House, and John Avlon, Editor in Chief of the Daily Beast. All right. Let's talk a little bit about nerd prom --</s>JOHN AVALON, EDITOR IN CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: Nerd prom.</s>MURRAY: ... about Washington with Hollywood. May, I want to start with you. Because how does Hollywood even react to Donald Trump? He's a celebrity in and of himself.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. And that was such an interesting question, originally. It was, "would Donald Trump have any sort of cache out in Hollywood. Because of all of these entertainment connections, The Apprentice, and instead, if anyone is supporting Donald Trump in Hollywood, it is way, way undercover. We saw, over the last couple of days, obviously the state convention has been out in California. You saw the protests, pretty violent, in Orange County. And also people rushing him into the hall. So it's fascinating that he -- Mister Entertainer himself, is going to be heading straight into California. This incredibly critical primary that will field this yield (ph) for his campaign. And no one in Hollywood can stand up --</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd still not fight half these wars under Trump.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, that's potentially a future White House Correspondents Dinner. Let's talk about the one we're living right now, John, this is President Obama's last -- what's going to be different this time around?</s>AVLON: One of the thing -- the significant things about this President is that he has taken the fourth quarter of his presidency, and he has taken it as a YOLO moment, right? He has gone all out. There is no lame duck approach to this presidency. So I think this President, who is arguably the first GenX President, has had a much more sarcastic, edgy approach to his humor. And I imagine you'll see all that -- see that dialed up to 11. He's got nothing to lose, and a lot of rich political targets out there.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would just like you to know you're getting a pretty fierce side-eye from Margaret right now.</s>AVLON: That sometimes happens at home. So that's OK.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think -- look, I think that there is this perception that only Democrats know how to kind of roll with the jokes at The White House Correspondents' Dinner. And Obama has made this hip again. What do you think, I mean, can Republicans make the White House Correspondents' Dinner great again?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right? I know. Hashtag make everything great again. Look, I don't think you're totally ...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: America's already great?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Obama is not GenX. He is a baby boomer, technically --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he's the youngest GenX, but --</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is the youngest GenX. And he -- while everybody, you know -- look, Conservatives and Republicans know Democrats are cooler, right? Celebrities like Democrats.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you acknowledging this on national television?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I'm not saying they're cooler, it's just that celebrity, Hollywood, pop culture all like Democrats better. We all know this to be true, OK? And Conservatives ...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reagan --</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... definitely accept this. Right? What we do is we accept it. But what's, but what's --</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has brought in so many young people ...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... who are watching. And who are engaged, and want to see what's happening.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're watching Bernie Sanders that way, I mean ...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK ...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... those -- or Millennials are really, really watching Bernie Sanders --</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... let's just play, let's play a fun game. Let's say that Donald Trump does win in November, and that this is Donald Trump's White House Correspondents' Dinner next year. Do all the celebrities come? Or do none of them?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, headline; "D-listers for The Donald."</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, no, now they I have a very ...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to be D-list the first time through (ph).</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... I think I may have hit it on the head. I think I have a very hard time understanding -- look, it was never as glamorous as this in the Bush administration, either. I mean I worked in the Bush administration. While there were still celebrities that come, it's the office, people come because it's the White House Correspondents' Dinner. You have the Kardashian's come, Justin Bieber has come, you know a very, very sort of, Babe (ph), Babe (ph) what do you think? Are the Biebers, are the Kardashian's and the Biebers going to come out for The Donald, if he wins?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they absolutely would come out for The Donald. It's the occasion, the event, the synergy of Washington and Hollywood. And the thing is, is that Donald Trump, more than anything else, has been seen as entertainment by a lot of people ...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... and there is no way that all of these Hollywood folks are going to miss their moment to mix and mingle with everyone else at the dinner. Regardless of who's at the head table.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You do very much see a principled stand against Donald Trump, though. He -- like, especially amongst A-list celebrities, and ...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well but, the power has a way of turning people from their principles --</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is, that's true. Power, power trumps all.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The power trumps all.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The power trumps all.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so, and so D-listers for The Donald. Even Richard Nixon had some celebrities show out at his dinner.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, all right, we're going to have to leave it there. All right, John, there you have it. The prediction for a potentially a Donald Trump dinner, next year. Who can say? Back to you.</s>BERMAN: All right, Sara Murray, thank you, and thank you to John Avlon's cowboy boots, as well. Our continuing coverage of the White House Correspondents' Dinner continues all night long. We're waiting to hear from the President. He will deliver his speech soon. Larry Wilmore of "The Nightly Show," as well. Stay with us.