A few days ago i called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are. They are the enemy of the people. The dishonest media. Fake news. You are fake news. Well, despite the president s snub, the show goes on in the Nations Capital and the arrivals are under way at the washington hilton where some of the biggest names in journalism are gathering to honor the biggest tradition which used to include good natured fun with the president of the United States. Being president is never easy, and i still have to fix a broken immigration system, issue veto threats, negotiate with iran, all while finding time to pray five times day. I want to talk about some serious issues such as okay. Here it comes. Nuclear proliferation. Nuclear proliferation. Nuclear proliferation. Nuclear proliferation. Well, the live report from the red carpet and much more from the Correspondents Dinner much more ahead, and joining us is our guests. Let me start with you, jay, if i could and get your reaction to the president not showing up, and i confess that i was at the dinner last year and the show went on and a huge purpose of this is to raising money for the scholarships for young people who are interested in journalism journalisma ajournalism and that part of the program persists. Well, the president says he is a populist and a man of the people, and go out to be with the deplorables that Hillary Clinton coined when she said that more than half of his supporters were a basket of deplorab deplorables, and that became a meme in the campaign and he said, am going to be with with you and you and you and not the liberal elitists in washington, d. C. And this is a Campaign Event, so it is a 2020 trump reelection event, and this is him saying, i will be out there looking for vote, and this is district that he won by one percentage point in 2016, but it is won both times in 2012 and 2008 for barack obama. So it is a swing district potentially for him, and going out to say to the voters out there, hey, im with you, and im going to be representing you and helping to bring the economy back and makeing jobs and helpig the auto industry, and that is what he is doing. And alex, 2 1 2 years away from the next election, and the Campaign Getting into full swing i suppose with President Trump. About that, and about this being a Campaign Event, what are you watching for tonight when the president takes the stage there in Washington Township . Well, everything. Because when the president does take the stage on the campaign trail, he tends the to go everywhere. I have been at two rallies where he was to be stumping for two candidates one for Luther Strange in alabama and one in a congressional spa congressional race where he made news by a stream of consciousness and you never know off of the cuff, and it is good tv and the ralligoers will have more fun than the people here at the dinner washington, because you never know what is going to be coming out of his mouth. We are watching the site of the rally indoor soccer complex in Washington Township. And michael, let me turn to that point that there is a lot of the pomp and circumstance with the White House Correspondent dinner and it is a packed ballroom and the food is okay. I dont know if you have been there before, but what do you make of the president not being there . Well, david, it is not a good thing, because you want a president with selfdeprecating humor. Of the clips that you saw of president obama and former president george w. Bush, and it shows the dislike of the media with the president that continues to expand the level of division and mistrust. Look, david, regardless of the opinions of the press and the media, it is important, because it is a cornerstone and bedrock of the democracy and like a candle in the dark room to reveal the truth. Without it, the dem kocracy is essentially going to ki. So it is not a good thing for the president not to be there. And he should be there and that he can take some criticism while laughing at a himself and it makes him more relatable from my perspective. We will go to the red carpet at the the red carpet where savannah is there, and savannah, with who are you with and what is the scene so far . Hi, there. Finitely start ting to heat up and im here with Kellyanne Conway. Hi, how are you . Good. Thank you so much. Do you feel that the president should have been in the room to the sort of take the joke . Oh, the president has a great state of humor, but he is going to be touting the success that he has helped to the foster in 60 short months, and so you have 5 million americans receiving bonuses or raises or both due to the tax cuts and the jobs a act and this president with the regulatory reform, and the historic talks between north and south korea and even as recently as todays news, we have been talking about putting to rest a decades long war between the two countries and the president has set the climate. He wanted to go to michigan to talk about reciprocal and fair trade and what he has done for the race. And that is the last place he mentioned on technically election day, and so it is sentimental to him and his team. And it is great that he is able to do that just like last year he did that in pennsylvania, but what about sort of having the interface with the press and having the American Public be able to to see that . The American Public sees the president constantly and the American Press had him to themselves many times this week. We had two bilaterals with the president of france and the chance lor of germany Angela Merkel yesterday and the president allows the prsz to talk to him in the south lawn and the pool sprays and on a competitor network for almost a half hour, and your network was framing together the statements and putting them out as well. So it is one of the most transparent and accessible president s in definitely modern history. I love you referencing our network. What do you expect to see tonight . We are expecting to be having fun and be with a lot of fun. We are fun. Kellyanne is fun, and this is why we are here with kellyanne to have fun and see a lot of old friend, and great to be back in washington. Okay. So what is great is that it is a little bit more fun and often when you are on certain shows, you are going headtohead with the press. But i am having fun. And so in this room, does the vibe just loosen up . Does it feel different for you in there . Yes, but i wake up everyday to choose to be a happy, so i am not a good person to ask, because i dont read 99 of the negative, because it is reflective and unthoughtful. So we are so blessed to walk into the white house everyday and have a job to do on behalf of the country that we love. I was raised by a single mom and taught to do anything that you want and i am grateful for that everyday and grateful for r the president and the Vice President for showing the great leadership domestically and around the globe and im not a good person to ask, because i dont like to walk around and be negative. I am part of the happy 15 of america as are the cohns. Yes. And do you have a different attitude now that you left the administration. Different attitude about what . The fact about the president , and the event that the fact that the president is not here tonight . Look, the president has made a choice every year where he should be, and he is out with the voters tonight, and out with the constituencies and talking about the agenda and the pl platform, and it is great for the president , and where he wants to be tonight. And i have a feeling he is going to be the most popular person talked about and i feel that his presence is here already. So do you feel that currently, aid was speaking to Michael Avenatti who is the lawyer for Stormy Daniels who says that he feels that the president is hiding, and yet, he is here and willing to talk about what is happening with his client. How do yu feou feel those thinge going be seep iing into the comy tonight . We will see. And i will answer the main question about the president hiding this way. Every Single Person here who if they hear a click, click, they will be seeing that the president said x, because he is hardly hiding. He is communicating with the press and the American People several different ways every y way, and it is the dem mock does the without filter part make you nervous . No. Nott me. No. And so as you can site, quite a bit happening here on the red carpet and they jumped into the interview with us, but they are maintaining that they do not think that it is wrong that the president is not here. They are continuing to talk about the fact that him in michigan with them being here is double the coverage and access to the American People, and as i mentioned to them, i was visiting with with the attorney for Stormy DanielsMichael Avenatti that she got 10 or 11 invitations to be here tonight and she had a prior commitment and not right to throw her into the crowd. But he felt that the president is hiding, and i have heard frit multiple people as well, so both sides of the coin. It feels like the vibe is picked up from last year when i was here and the president was not here, but of course, you are hearing that the night is completely different given that a sitting president is not in the room. My colleague issavannah sells on the red carpet in hilton, and she is there with gary cohn and Kellyanne Conway, and Kellyanne Conway doing the yeomans work talking gary cohns old book i should say and her point is to talk about the economy in michigan. And jane small, reaction to what you heard there from in particular Kellyanne Conway the counselor to the president. Well, she is the very much the counselor to the president. And very happy. Yes, and she does not engage in the negativity. But this is a night about the scholarships and a night that raises money for the aspiring young journalists to come here to do internships in washington, d. C. And the president did meet with the Correspondent Association with the incoming interns before he left and he did talk about how the importance of the press in that event. So i think that it is clear that even though the president is clearly not like this event and does not enjoy being mocked the one time the that he came in the obama administration, and he was pretty roundly mocked and he clearly did not enjoy it, and he sat in stone silence throughout the entire thing. But he does, you know, as kellyanne was saying that he emphasizes that he tweets and talks to the press and does interviews, and he is relatively to, and not a lot of the press conference, but relative to other president s they have covered, he is relatively accessible and gives the interview s s to the press, and this is what she is trying to emphasize. We will be back to talk more of our correspondents, and we will go to township in michigan where the president is expected to speak any time now. And what do you make of the supporters who have made the pilgrimage, and they can fit about 5,000 i have read inside of this indoor soccer stage. Set the scene there for us, and what are the folks saying they have decided to go to the event tonight. Well, people here remain energized. I was down in the crowd talking to the folks earlier and i was saying, what do you think that the Mainstream Media is missing and what which heard time and time again from the different people is that you never hear any of the positive things that President Trump is doing, and all we focus on is the negative and that is why they came out here today, because they have faith in the president still, and they like what he is doing, and they say that he is doing positive things that we just dont hear about on the news. I pressed them, and what positive thing, and what are you attributing to President Trump, the good economy and they all attribute it to President Trump, and the tax cuts can and what he is doing with the immigration, and moving forward on the border wall, and restoring the conservative values, and those are three things they heard over and over again. We are waiting for the President Trump to take the stage here. He is running about 13 minutes late so far. We will see when he does take the stage, aped all of the warmups acts are done, and so we are waiting for the president himself. And tell us about the warpup acts, because row acts, because Rona Mcdaniel was there, and there is a long show before the keynote speaker and who have you heard from so far, blake . President s daughterinlaw, eric trumps wife was here, and she was the last person to speak warming up the crowd. Her message is that he is a fighter and he not drowning, but fighting back. And she said that he is toing the drain the swamp and the crowd ate it up. They believe that the president is not getting a fair shake in washington, and they are happy that he is coming here to Washington Township, michigan to, get the message out. It is not a clever, you know, Name Exchange which not that far from washington, d. C. , but it is in macomb county, which is the pivotal county in giving President Trump michigans electoral vote, and so there a bigger symbol iism at play here that is my colleague blake mccoy there in Washington Township, as he said in michigan as we are awaiting the remarks from the president of the United States at the Campaign Rally there. And counter programming tonight. There is that and the white house Correspondents Dinner, and we will have jay newton small, and alex ssietz, and als, let me bring up something that Kellyanne Conway talked about tonight about this president s approach to the press. What you make of oit . Going to fox news and twitter and finding the ways to talk to the American People unorthodox or nushgs and how has that been manifested this week . What he and a lot of the politicians call speaking directly to the American People is often meaning to avoiding the tough questions whose job it is to hold politicians accountable. When he skipped it, it was a statement, and this year, it is not a surprise. But he is the first president to skip this dinner and that is because reagan was shot and he phoned in to give some encouragement about the importance of the press, and the state of the supporting democracy, but politically, as michael mentioned some serious issues, but politically, e it is shrewd for him, because he ran the entire campaign of draining the swamp of the elites in washington, and this din ser, that and so he can be out there in macomb county, as blake mentioned a pivotal county for him and home of the reagan democrats as he was called and speaking directly to the American People, and not talking to the press. I think that his base which is pretty much all he seems of governing for they eat it up and he does not care what we think back here. And michael, jump in if you would to talk about that and if you would how he is playing off the dinner happening in washington, d. C. , and i think that it is fair to the say here that, you know, he is raising the profile of the dinner his own way. He is going to be speaking about the event that is taking place at the dinner washington, d. C. , and that is raising the profile as well . Yes, he cant help himself but Say Something about it. It is funny to me when i think about this, because kellyanne stated that the president is talking to the American People and i am looking at the clip on the monitor in front of me and in the audience, it is not refl reflective of america. The america i know is composed of black people, brown, asian and brown, and that is not reflective there in his audiences f. He truly wanted to talk to the American People, the white house could have done a marvelous job of bringing the different folks together and doing a sitdown session, and elevating the president to a new level and a height that we have yet to see. When i think about this and i think of the impacts that it is going to have on the republicans come this november, and even beyond and the president s only talking to the same small base. He has not expanded, david, and that not a good thing for the republicans writ large. Michael singleton in washington, d. C. , and Alex Seitz Wald, and we will be back to the hear the president speak at any moment. Our live coverage continues right here on msnbc. Welcome back to msnbc. David gura in new york watching two washingtons tonight. What you are seeing on the screen is Washington Township michigan, an indoor soccer complex in which the president is scheduled to address the supporters. It is a Campaign Rally on the books for a few weeks now, and competing with the white house Correspondents Dinner in washington, d. C. Lets listen now to the president of the United States in macomb county, michigan. From l. A. To michigan from new york