WHCD 2026 (kinda)

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Well, that was a hell of a first White House Correspondents Dinner (WHCD).

But I don’t want the events that transpired on Saturday night to define the entire weekend. At least, not for me. I want to tell my story and recap what was otherwise a really fantastic week in DC.

But first, what is the WHCD?

It’s the annual black-tie event hosted by the White House Correspondents’ Association (the journalists who cover the president and the White House). It’s been around since the 1920s and has become more of a cultural event since introducing the comedy roast in the 1980s.

But it’s more than just the dinner. It’s like the Super Bowl — where yes there’s the game itself, but there are events, concerts, and activations hosted by brands all week long. Or Cannes Lions, where yes there is the actual award ceremony, but outside of the awards there is a week of events, panels, and parties hosted by every big tech company and agency.

While Cannes is on another level both in terms of fun and location (the French Riviera is just a bit more enjoyable than the DMV), the point is sorta the same — it’s an excuse for people in the industry to get together, party, and do deals.

Which is what brought us to DC this past week. Here’s how it all went down:

Early wakeup in LA to head to DC.

I landed at 4pm with just enough time to quickly shower at the hotel before heading to our dinner that we cohosted with UTA. The dinner was at one of DC’s hottest restaurants and we had an awesome intimate group of media execs, journalists, and creators.

I sat across from Georgia Fort, who was arrested alongside Don Lemon in Minneapolis for reporting on the ICE raids, and Claudius Senst who is the COO of Axel Springer. Next to me was Joanna Stern, who just recently left the WSJ to go independent and launch New Things on beehiiv.

After dinner, we rolled over to the Status party that we sponsored. Status is one of the many great success stories from the beehiiv Media Collective. It hasn’t even been two years since Oliver left CNN to go independent, and now they’re hosting one of the hottest media parties in DC.

Early gym sesh (no days off) followed by a few meetings IRL meetings.

We dropped by the Punchbowl News party at The Ritz where we had our first (of many) Lachlan sightings. I also got to catch up with Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman (Punchbowl co-founders) who both invested in our seed round back in 2021.

Casual board meeting in the middle of all this chaos that I took from my hotel room (we had a great quarter). As soon as I closed my laptop, I had to run across town to the beehiiv party we hosted with Shinola.

I can’t take any credit for our event, but the vibes were immaculate. The weather was perfect and the Shinola store had floor-to-ceiling windows to take in the sunset while a rotating cast of media legends dropped by.

I don’t want to name drop so I’ll just drop this post here for some external validation.

When our party wrapped, we headed to a Qatar Embassy party at the Four Seasons where I met up with some friends and a got this gem of a photo.

Then we headed to the Vanity Fair and CAA party hosted at the Belgian Embassy, which popped my embassy cherry (worth it). The house was great, and they had some Belgian beers on tap in a back room.

We ended the night at the UTA party, which was basically just a melting pot of people coming together from all of the other events. People in DC don’t really know how to party, but this was probably the event that most closely resembled actual fun.

I decided to catch up on sleep (some days off).

We started the day at the WHCD Garden Brunch which is one of the tentpole events of the weekend. There we got securitymogged by Gavin Newsom’s security detail.

Then I went back to the hotel to lock in and catch up on work before the pre-dinner events.

First stop: Puck party

Second stop: CBS News party

Third stop: The Washington Post reception

You can’t just purchase tickets to attend the dinner, rather, members of the WHCA purchase tables and invite guests to sit with them. I was a guest of The Washington Post (thank you), so I headed down to the ballroom with them after the reception.

The ballroom is basically a bunker — you take a few escalators down from the lobby to get there. After getting through security, you arrive in this massive room that almost feels surreal given its grand size and the density of very important and powerful people in attendance.

There was a very palpable energy in the room with Trump expected to be in attendance for the first time as president. The stars were out: Stephen A Smith was a few tables over from me, along with a ton of other media moguls that I recognized.

Admittedly, I had never watched the WHCD before, so didn’t really know what to expect. After a few repeated calls to have people take their seats, the ceremony finally started by introducing those at the main table: some representatives from the WHCA, Oz Pearlman (the special guest), Vice President J.D. Vance, and then President Trump and First Lady Melania.

I sort of thought that the president and VP weren’t supposed to be together, especially during a time of war — but what the fuck do I know? All I know is that it felt pretty surreal having both of them sitting at a table maybe 150 feet away from me.

After the initial part of the ceremony, the dinner begins and everyone starts picking away at this unappetizing salad that’s been sitting in front of them. I had just found the QR code to order more wine for the table when I heard the rounds go off, followed by this vivid sight of table after table buckling as people dove onto the floor.

I spent about 7 minutes under our table with my new best friend Jodi. No one has any service. All you can hear is the secret service yelling and shuffling around to get people out, and the hotel wait staff on the floor next to us crying and praying in Spanish.

People eventually began to emerge from under the tables, and what ensued was so peculiar. There’s still no information being shared and still little-to-no service — at that moment no one had any idea if we were safe or what had happened. There could have been 15 people shot dead and there was just no way to know the severity of it.

I can only say this now because thankfully no one was seriously injured — but the following hour in that room was one of the most bizarre yet interesting experiences I have ever had. You’re in this room with some of the most powerful, connected people in the world, and everyone was just so vulnerable and present given the circumstances.

People basically split into two camps: either you were totally panicked and trying to evacuate as quickly as possible, or you felt helpless, calm, and were prepared to bunker down for a bit. I was the latter.

Given the number of FBI and secret service agents in that room, I assumed that it was probably the safest place in the city. Plus, I had nowhere else to be and it was going to be madness trying to get out of there. There were still rumors that the show was going to continue (despite half of the room having already left), and we had a stockpile of wine. Bunker down it is.

Me and new best friend Jodi must have crushed two bottles ourselves. And because we had such positive vibes during this whole bizarre situation, people would drop by and join in on the conversation. I chatted with Orioles’ owner, David Rubenstein, about the team (I’m a massive fan), and had a few other serendipitous encounters.

I’ve built a lot of strong bonds in my life, but never before from huddling under a table in an active shooter environment.

The Wall Street Journal published an article featuring a picture of us drinking wine and making the best of the situation amidst the chaos.

After announcing that they wouldn’t continue the dinner, we worked our way upstairs to the lobby to watch the press conference at the bar. A camera crew approached us asking to do an interview. New best friend Jodi gasses me up and foists me into it, which felt like a rad thing to do while sipping my 8th glass of wine.

We finally go our separate ways, and I head to the MS Now afterparty to meet up with my other coworkers. On the way over, our Head of Comms somehow got word and calls me asking if I was dumb enough to do an interview about the shooting. I reassured him that his job wasn’t going to be an easy one.

It obviously felt a bit tone-deaf to attend afterparties after an assassination attempt (?) where I was just helplessly huddled under a table… but the alternative of going back to our respective hotels to call it a night felt even more depressing.

The MS Now afterparty was under Dupoint Circle and was a ridiculously cool venue (with amazing BBQ chicken).

Then we hit the Swiss Embassy for the TIME afterparty.

We called it at 3am. Saturday felt like a lifetime.

I grew up in Baltimore so have a lot of family in the area.

My parents came down to meet me, along with some extended family, for a brunch at Le Diplomate.

Then I spent a few hours walking around the Mall with my parents, before heading to the airport.

Now I’m sitting on this flight writing this newsletter. Holy shit I can’t wait to be back home in LA.

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