Angry and alienated Trump is 'running out of' friends

Intelligencer writer Matt Steib says when you’ve scaped down to the part of the barrel containing magicians you’re probably scraping down too far. But that’s where you’ll find President Donald Trump dredging for entertainers who won’t hurt his delicate feelings.The annual White House Correspondents’ dinner is a time for comedians and entertainer s to roast arguable the most powerful person in the nation. But rather than decline all invitations as he always has, Trump has instead decided to hire his own nice and safe entertainment. Trump is bringing in magician Oz Pearlman — who definitely doesn’t do roasts.“Maybe you have seen him on the morning shows and podcast circuit, where Pearlman performs tricks like guessing Joe Rogan’s PIN number or guessing The View host Sara Haines’s PIN number or guessing DK Metcalf’s PIN number or guessing Kenny Smith’s PIN number. A former finalist on America’s Got Talent, Pearlman is not a household name,” said Steib.Trump is universally reviled for his thin skin and low tolerance for criticism. He engages in wars with late night comedians and critics accuse him of siccing his government upon their employers.But Steib said Trump’s field of enemies in the entertainment industry is growing as former allies in the MAGA podcaster and influencer circuit began to turn on him over his Iran war and other offenses.“[Pearlman’s invitation is] also a show of how far Trump seems to have fallen with a certain kind of comedian that had come to admire him,” said Steib. “Around the time of the dinner last year, there were plenty of famous comics in the so-called manosphere who were fans of President Trump — and may have helped get him elected by bringing him and Vice-President J.D. Vance on their shows. Like the trend of his general polling, now at a second-term low, many of these guys no longer want to tie themselves too closely with him. Theo Von, who had Trump on during the campaign, called Trump’s Easter threat to destroy Iran ‘diabolical.’”“Now, would the White House Correspondents’ Association ever let the podcasters get the microphone at their black-tie affair? Maybe not,” added Steib. “But the reality that the WHCA does not have many of these comedians to pull from suggests Trump is running out of friendly media options outside his preferred conservative-leaning channels.”