Target at WH Correspondents’ Dinner: Trump

Washington is gearing up for its annual “Nerd Prom,” also known as the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — the gathering of journalists, politicos, and stars all being ridiculously chummy with each other for one night. The gala will be the last one for President Obama and promises to be more a love-fest for him than anything else.

Obama will throw out zingers when he takes his turn at the podium. He has experience in jokes — and in being the punchline — after two terms in office. And while he will no doubt be the target of ribbing, Donald Trump is also likely to be a big target. Obama took aim at Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “Say what you will about Mr. Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White House,” Obama told the crowd. A photo showed the White House with a Trump Tower-like addition on the top. Obama has a team of speechwriters at work on his Saturday night monologue.

The featured comic act this year is Larry Wilmore, host of Comedy Central’s “The Nightly Show,” who is a big Obama supporter. “I like Obama a lot, but remember, I only supported him because he was black,” he told “CBS This Morning” on Monday. “I can attack his positions all I want.”

Wilmore, too, is toiling away to prep the jokes, with a team behind him. “I’ve got a lot of people helping out. Sending in jokes, droning them in. You try to push the line as far as you can go and then pull back.”

He’ll be sure to push the line when it comes to Trump. During a SiriusXM Town Hall interview earlier this month, Wilmore described the Republican front-runner as “a shallow fool.”

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Wilmore says Trump is an easy target. “I really don’t think he expected to be here,” Wilmore said to CBS, referring to the campaign overall. “It really seemed like he was just putting his toe in the water and then suddenly, this tidal wave came and he started swimming, realized he’s on top and everything.”

He went on to call Trump’s candidacy a “fiasco” that “writes itself. That’s the thing with Trump — he’s so funny and so unusual, it’s almost impossible to write a joke that’s funnier than the actual thing. It’s like when Tina Fey did Sarah Palin, and all she would do is say the actual lines Palin said. You couldn’t write anything funnier. That’s kind of the Trump phenomena.”

Since the start of the campaign, Wilmore has used his late-night show to go particularly after conservatives. He has accused Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio of fleeing from their Hispanic heritage. He has likened Cruz to a serial killer. And on a March show, he said, “Okay, so my question is, who is batsh*t crazier? Who’s a scarier choice for America? Cruz or Trump? … Cruz, to me, is just more dangerous. Trump is just a fool to me.” Meanwhile, of socialist Bernie Sanders, Whitmore asked: “Are you Jesus?” His political coverage since last year has been called “the un-blackening of the presidency.”

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Trump won’t be at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, despite being invited by “every single group of media available to mankind,” he told The Hill. “I’ve decided not to go. Do you know why? I would have a good time and the press would say I look like I wasn’t having a good time.”

But Trump will have at least one supporter in the room: Omarosa Manigault, of “Apprentice” fame, is attending. She’ll be a guest of the American Urban Radio networks.

While The Hollywood Reporter says the star factor this year has “dwindled,” the most recent list is still pretty long:

ABC
Shonda Rhimes, creator of “Scandal,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” and “How to Get Away With Murder”
The cast of “Scandal,” including Kerry Washington, Scott Foley, and Tony Goldwyn
The team from “Black-ish,” including actors Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross, with creator Kenya Barris

ATLANTIC MEDIA
Hope Solo, U.S. women’s soccer goalie
Josh Stamberg, actor

BLOOMBERG
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, actress

FOX NEWS
Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Chris Dodd, chairman of the MPAA
Jeff Goldblum, Vivica A. Fox, and Sela Ward of Twentieth Century Fox’s “Independence Day: Resurgence”
Gladys Knight, singer
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo and wife Candice Crawford
John Cena and Nikki Bella, WWE
Cheryl Ladd, model and actress
JC Chasez, singer (NSYNC)
Ryan Kwanten, actor
Toks Olagundoye, actress

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THE HILL
Bridget Moynahan, actress
Emily Ratajkowski, actress

THE HUFFINGTON POST
Arianna Huffington
The Fat Jew
Rosanna Pansino, YouTube star
Aidan Alexander, social media star
Zach King, Vine star
Cameron Dallas, social media star
Bill Nye, The Science Guy
DJ Khaled, record producer, radio personality, and deejay

NBC NEWS/MSNBC
Jaimie Alexander, actress from network’s “Blindspot”

PEOPLE
Jenna Fischer, actress
Nyle DiMarco, America’s Next Top Model winner, Dancing With the Stars contestant

THOMSON REUTERS
Odell Beckham Jr., New York Giants wide receiver
Michelle Dockery, actress, “Downton Abbey”
Ilana Glazer, actress, “Broad City”
Abbi Jacobson, actress, “Broad City”
Michael Kelly, actor, “House of Cards”
Von Miller, Denver Broncos linebacker, Super Bowl MVP

USA TODAY
Neve Campbell, actress
Rosario Dawson, actress, “Daredevil”
Kendall Jenner, model
Wendi McLendon-Covey, actress, “The Goldbergs”
Miles Teller, actor, “Divergent” series
Gabrielle Union, actress, “Being Mary Jane”
John Wall, Washington Wizards point guard

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Tory Burch, fashion designer
Ed Burns, actor, filmmaker
Christy Turlington Burns, model
Karlie Kloss, model
Narciso Rodriguez, fashion designer

THE WASHINGTON BLADE
Nene Leakes, actress, reality TV star