[Bash:] If you thought America was divided and Washington is broken, what happened last night may have just helped your case. Two competing events, one hosted by the president actually outside of Washington, a rally for his supporters in Michigan, but the other right here in the nation's capital hosted by the White House Press Corps, those who covered president, the White House Correspondents Association. It was a big annual dinner here in D.C. and here's what you heard if you watched the president's rally.
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] Is this better than that phony Washington White House Correspondents' Dinner? I could be up there tonight smiling like I love where they're hitting you shot after shot, these people, they hate your guts.
[Bash:] And here's what you heard if you tuned in, rather, to comedian Michelle Wolf performing at the Correspondents' Dinner.
[Wolf:] And of course we have Sarah Huckabee Sanders, we are graced with Sarah's presence tonight. I have to say I'm a little star struck. I love you as Aunt Lydia in "The Handmaid's Tale." I actually really like Sarah. I think she's very resourceful. Like she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like maybe she's born with it, maybe it's lies. Probably lies.
[Bash:] Some White House staffers were so offended by Wolf's jokes that they got up and left the dinner and the president has since tweeted, calling it a very big and a very boring bust. So what does my panel think? With me now CNN political commentator and former senior adviser to the Trump campaign, former congressman as well, Jack Kingston, and CNN political commentator and former national press secretary for the Bernie Sanders campaign, Symone Sanders. Symone, you were there. What did you think?
[Symone Sanders, Cnn Political Commentator:] I was there. You know, Dana, the room was tense. I remember saying that wow, Michelle Wolf was standing up there giving her jokes. I thought some of her jokes were in fact a bit crass but I thought she was funny. I laughed. And the White House Correspondents' Dinner is always this place where the comedian comes and they make fun of usually the president and sometimes the people that work in the White House, and so I thought it was all in good fun and I appreciated the Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not get up and leave.
[Bash:] You've been in Washington a while. You've seen sort of the goings on and dinners like this, people try to have a sense of humor, that is what these dinners are all about to kind of let loose and also inherently show the respect that each institution has for the other. It hasn't been that way for a while. At least this dinner for lots of reasons. You were not there but you certainly have watched a lot of it. What's your take?
[Jack Kingston, Cnn Political Commentator:] I've been to my share, and I think in the past what you've seen is a little better sense of fair play. You know, it's OK to jab fun at politicians and the press and at each other, it's OK, but do a little on the right, do a little on the left. Make people feel comfortable. Instead this was as Trump has said it was just attack after attack after attack, why should he go? And if we're going to call it the White House Correspondents' Dinner, don't we want to make it such that a Democrat or Republican president could go and have fun and, you know, you understand you're going to be the brunt of the joke but you don't have to be the brunt you know, the viciousness, the hatred that I think Michelle Wolf had.
[Sanders:] Look, I just want to remind folks that Sarah Huckabee Sanders and other people from this White House come on this network and other networks every single day on a regular basis vilify and attack the press. And so if you literally cannot take a joke, I think it's problematic.
[Kingston:] Then don't get mad for them not coming.
[Sanders:] So no one's I don't think people are necessarily too broken up about the fact that Donald Trump wasn't there. I think the White House Correspondents Association would have liked the president to attend. I think they're hoping he attends next year as is tradition but many people from the White House were there. Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Mercedes Schlapp, Matt Schlapp, were there. Many people were there.
[Kingston:] If you strip off the bark, really, I mean, this town is cynical. But if you strip off the bark, being in politics is a noble profession. Being in journalism is a noble profession. We've let our cynicism rule the day. I don't think the press took the high road. I think the press could have taken the high road and had some But you know what Robin Williams was very hard on President Reagan, for example, but it's OK if he's on Comedy Central. That's what they do on Comedy Central.
[Bash:] OK, guys
[Kingston:] This is the press.
[Bash:] On that note. On that note, look, you're right, she's not a member of the press corps. She was invited to do what she did. She but there were cringe worthy moments for those of us who are not used to hearing that. It's not the first time this has happened, both with a Democratic administration and a Republican administration. Let's show our viewers a reminder.
[Don Imus, Radio:] When Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive game record, the president was at Camden Yard, doing play- by-play on the radio with John Miller. Bobby Bonilla hit a double and we all heard the president in his obvious excitement, holler, go baby. I remember commenting at the time, I bet that's not the first time he said that. Remember the AstroTurf in the pickup? And my point is
[Stephen Colbert, Comedian:] I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things, not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble, and recently flooded city squares, and that sends a strong message that no matter what happens to America she will always rebound with the most powerfully staged photo-ops in the world.
[Bash:] And those were with the President Clinton and Bush actually sitting right there and both of those comedians got a lot of pushback for first kind of being over the top. I guess it sort of begs the question whether or not we've reached the point where this we're beyond this kind of dinner because of the intensity of the partisanship and the very tough relationship that this president has with the press, that maybe we need to completely go in a different direction for that moment when we try to come together and show some respect for one another.
[Kingston:] You know, if I had taken my 17-year-old next door neighbor Hunt Anderson and who's a very idealistic guy, he wants to grab this town and he wants to come to Washington whether it's in the press, whether it's in the politics or whatever, had him sit next to me while this woman is talking about abortion jokes, while she's making fun of the way Sarah Huckabee looks Sarah Huckabee Sanders, how she looks, talking about empty boxes of feminine hygiene products, I just would not feel good about it. Now if we were at Comedy Central
[Bash:] But that's about
[Kingston:] that's what you get. This is if you're trying to build a better you know, a loftier ideal in society, I don't think the press should invite somebody like that.
[Bash:] Guys, stay with us. We have to take a quick break. But there's a lot of conversation going on about that very thing. It wasn't Michelle Wolf's fault. She came to do what she was asked to do, sort of the whole notion of where we are right now. We're going to talk more about but first this week's "Before the Bell," here's CNN's chief money correspondent Christine Romans Christine.
[Christine Romans, Cnn Chief Business Correspondent:] Hi, Dana. A busy week of company news this week. Quarterly earnings have been phenomenal and the big question, can it last? Now earnings season began with huge profits for the nation's big banks, then last week Caterpillar and 3M reported big outlooks. McDonald's, Merck and Pfizer report this week, as well Apple and Tesla and watch Snap. It's the parent company of Snapchat, the stock tanked last week after it launched a redesign of the redesign of its app. It's still trading below its IPO price of $17 a share. Investors worry Snap will not be profitable enough to live up to the hype before it went public. We'll get a good read on the strength of the economy this week. Reports on consumer spending, trade, construction and manufacturing and the monthly jobs report on Friday. And if that all weren't enough the Federal Reserve starts a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday. Now don't expect a rate hike. Investors think the next one will come after the June meeting, but any hint from the Fed about the future pace of interest rate hikes could move the stock market. Christine Romans, CNN, New York.