Guests arriving at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night were met with a different kind of welcome committee this year. “Shame, shame, shame on you!” a crowd of pro-Palestine protesters chanted as a procession in tuxes and gowns made their way into the gala. “You don’t have to go in! Shame on the media for allowing 137 journalists in graves,” they screamed through a megaphone, referring to one estimate of deaths so far. (The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 97 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war began.) Some protesters accused attendees of being “complicit” in “enabling genocide,” approaching guests as they got out of their cars to ask them why they weren’t boycotting the annual event. Some of the demonstrators staged a die-in protest of President Joe Biden’s support of Israel, demanding he do more to protect lives in Gaza.

As protests sweep college campuses across the country, it was perhaps inevitable that activists would descend upon the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, the anchor of a four-day blitz of cocktail receptions, brunches, and late-night parties celebrating the fourth estate. The flurry of festivities offered an opportunity to get within earshot of policy makers and influential members of the press.

Protesters were also on hand the following morning outside the Georgetown home of Robert Allbritton, as the former Politico owner hosted a Swiss-themed brunch for a who’s who of political and media elite, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, Senator Amy Klobuchar, CNN CEO Mark Thompson, and ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl. (I didn’t see any protesters over at CNN’s Sunday brunch, which included top anchors, like Wolf Blitzer and Kaitlan Collins, as well as guests such as Trump adviser Jason Miller. “They haven’t found us yet,” said one attendee.)

Throughout the long, lavish weekend, journalists, politicos, and celebrities—hello Scarlett Johansson!—mingle in the backyards of palatial Washington homes, ivy-ensconced hotel courtyards, and flashy restaurants. There’s a steady stream of bao buns and sliders being passed, and glasses filled with white wine. “The whole weekend is the same small talk with the same people, just different catering,” political strategist and former Obama aide Eric Schultz told me. “But this is our one weekend to put aside the weighty, often intractable issues that consume our days and nights and relax a bit, often with those we are usually sparring with.”

Making it a bit harder to relax this year, though, is the looming presidential election, and the possibility that Donald Trump, who has mused about throwing journalists in prison and called the press “the enemy of the people,” is back in office this time next year. (His allies haven’t been shy, either, about suggesting that journalists could be targeted in a second term.) While Trump was famously mocked at the annual dinner by his predecessor, Barack Obama, he skipped the soiree as president. Joe Biden, in keeping with tradition, roasted black tie-clad journalists who packed into the Hilton ballroom, while also urging them to “rise up to the seriousness of the moment” and “focus on what’s actually at stake” in the coming presidential election.

Or, “the cage-match rematch,” as former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway dubbed the race earlier at a garden party. “In 2024 there is a massive hidden undercover Trump voter, and it begins with the mainstream media. They don’t like him, but they can’t quit him,” she told me, suggesting reporters are “so bored and demoralized” by the Biden administration that “the mainstream media is going to secretly vote for Donald Trump and get him back in there for four more years.”

Media outlets did enjoy a “Trump bump” during his tumultuous presidency, evident in increased subscriptions and big TV ratings. (Trump is “a one-man stimulus package for the entire industry,” as one reporter put it to me over the weekend.) It’s unclear, though, if a Trump victory in 2024 would similarly be a boon to the news business, which has been plagued by mass layoffs, closures, and audience fatigue. So far, Americans haven’t been tuning in to politics this election cycle, essentially treating the Biden-Trump rematch as, well, a rerun.

“The truth is people read about him whether he’s going to be president or not,” New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker told me when I asked him whether he suspects some in the media see a Trump win as good for business. “I hope not,” Crooked Media co-founder and former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau said when I asked him the same question. “Maybe I’ve been gone from here too long, but I’m no longer that cynical to think that’s true,” he told me.

Baker and Favreau were among the guests Thursday night at the Riggs hotel, where Puck and WME were co-hosting an event. Former Speaker of the House John Boehner was in attendance, as was CNBC president KC Sullivan, MSNBC host Symone-Sanders Townsend, civil rights attorney Sherrilyn Ifill, Hollywood mogul and Biden campaign co-chair Jeffrey Katzenberg, senior Biden adviser Anita Dunn, and West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, who later recorded a live-from-DC version of The Town podcast with Puck’s Matt Belloni and Peter Hamby.

Another guest, Joanna Coles, remarked, “Who would have thought that we would have an American president with the words ‘porn star,’ ‘hush money,’ and ‘first criminal trial ever of an American president.’ I think that we in the media understand that these are exceptional times.” Coles, the former Hearst Magazines content chief who recently joined forces with former Disney exec Ben Sherwood to lead The Daily Beast, added: “Amid the gloom, there is always Lauren Sanchez to cheer us up.” (Last week, Coles announced that her first move at The Daily Beast would be hiring a senior correspondent to cover Sanchez, the news anchor and Jeff Bezos’s fiancée.)

I next headed to OAS headquarters, where Axios was partnering with Live Nation for a massive party, with a security checkpoint to match. I spotted Naomi Biden and campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo on line, and once inside, caught Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei’s speech, the first minute of which mentioned the site’s Smart Brevity style. Another former Speaker of the House, a linen-clad Paul Ryan, was rocking out to Jelly Roll, the country singer, who gave a surprise performance. I grabbed some chicken tenders and called it a night.

On Friday afternoon I swung by the St. Regis, where Punchbowl News was having a mid-day cocktail party. An orchestral version of “Hotel California” played as cabinet secretaries, White House aides, and various members of the business and media industry made small talk. I found bao buns and white wine, naturally, as well as CNN’s Abby Phillip, who was getting ready to do her show that night.

Does she feel like people are paying attention to the fact that a former president is on trial? “By the looks of these parties, no,” she said. “People are too busy day-drinking. But this is a respite from the trial.” Plus, she added: “There’s not a damn thing wrong with people just taking a little break and having a good time. The rest of our job is pretty serious.”

From there I headed out, but not before grabbing my 20-plus pound gift bag, the contents of which included a bottle of whisky, free Barry’s Bootcamp classes, a Shinola bag, knock-off AirPods, and a sweatshirt that said “AMBITIOUS” on it.

A few hours later I headed to the CAA party, one of the two big talent agency hosted bashes that evening. The event was held a block from The White House, at the upscale brasserie La Grande Boucherie, whose recently opened DC location is in a 1920s-era bank that sat vacant for years. Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels obliged some fans outside asking for selfies before swanning up the marble staircase. Another SNL star, Colin Jost, the comedian headlining this year’s Correspondents’ Dinner, was also in attendance, chatting with Johansson (who happens to be his wife) and some agents near a life-size bronze lady statue atop a fountain.

Nearby were fellow CAA clients Chris Pine, Fallon sidekick Steve Higgins, and The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper. Klepper seemed lukewarm on the Washington party circuit. “This weekend is an existential nightmare for many folks,” he told me. The opulence of the room—adorned with a gilded ceiling, wraparound mezzanine, and enormous palms and flowers—was not lost on NBC’s Chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander. “When you go to some of these parties, there’s a lot of clients saying, ‘Dang, I must be making a lot more money than I thought I was.’” Crisis-comms guru Risa Heller was less impressed by some of the outfit choices in the room. “I think you should do a fashion report on what’s gone wrong in our nation’s capital,” she told me.

I made a pit stop at Semafor’s party, hosted at co-founder Justin Smith’s house in the ritzy Kalorama neighborhood, where I ran into Politico columnist Michael Schaffer. “I think if Trump wins again the psychological reaction will be very different. Last time it kind of prompted the outburst of resistance energy and people flooding the streets, subscribing to media, all that stuff. And I have a feeling this time it will be listlessness,” he said.

There was plenty of energy, though, at UTA’s annual party, held at the Georgetown seafood restaurant Fiola Mare—and plenty of Bidenworld folks, including Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, and first daughter Ashley Biden and Naomi. Several TV news stars, like Jake Tapper, Chuck Todd, Jen Psaki, and Ari Melber, were on hand, too.

“Nine years ago, we started this tradition to celebrate our clients who dedicate themselves to a free press,” UTA chief Jay Sures told me. “No speeches or toasts,” he added. “The energy is electric, the line is down the block, and you never know who you will see on the dance floor.” The line was not exactly down the block when I got there, but I did enjoy watching Brendan Hunt, the actor who plays Coach Beard in Ted Lasso, truly let loose on the dance floor.

Chef and restaurateur José Andrés was in the house, as was Bill Nye, sipping a martini near the back of the room. I asked him what he’s been up to this weekend. “Networking for the betterment of humankind,” he told me. “We’re talking about how we’re going to use our platforms in media to engage people in the challenge of climate change.” Fair enough. So what’s the best thing he’d seen all night? “My wife,” he said.

While some events come and go, veteran TV producer Tammy Haddad’s annual garden brunch is, apparently, forever. The event began in Haddad’s backyard 31 years ago and is now held at a Georgetown home owned by venture capitalist Mark Ein, a co-owner of the Washington Commanders—which would explain why someone dressed as the team’s mascot, a six-foot-tall hog named Major Tuddy, was greeting people as they made their way into the main tent, which was particularly packed this year due to intermittent rain. Among the sea of journalists, political figures, and media executives—Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien, Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff, NBCUniversal Chairman Cesar Conde, Axios’s VandeHei—were a handful of Baltimore police, whom Haddad was honoring for their work on the collapsed bridge.

Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci mingled in a black turtleneck, Andrew Ross Sorkin chatted with Melber, and Ben Smith caught up with Klobuchar and Substack’s Hamish McKenzie. “I am always impressed with Amy Klobuchar’s pain tolerance for this stuff,” Smith told me later. On my way to grab a Bloody Mary, I ran into The View co-host and former Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin. “I had to come because it might be the last White House Correspondents’ Weekend before Trump is back,” she told me. “I’ve heard people say, listen, if he got re-elected, it might save cable news for another decade, and my thought is like, ok, but what about democracy?”

You could spot Senator John Fetterman from a mile away inside the Politico-CBS reception tent on Saturday night, not only because he is 6’8”, but because he was the only person in sweats. Not one for formality, Fetterman played up his signature style in a tuxedo sweatshirt and black shorts. He was chatting with CBS chief election correspondent Robert Costa, who’d brought his dad as his plus one this year. “This is a very brief break for me,” said Costa, who has been covering Trump’s criminal trial in New York. “I essentially live in lower Manhattan now,” the DC-based journalist joked. “This weekend is nice to celebrate journalism and to get together and socialize for a few hours, but we all need to buckle up,” Costa added. “This will be a rare party this year, a rare moment of respite for this industry. Because we’re covering a convulsive moment in America.”

I found Andrea Mitchell nearby, in a sparkly silver gown. The veteran chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News had spent the morning out in Chevy Chase, playing tennis, working out with a trainer, and packing for an upcoming trip to the Middle East. “I’m traveling with the Secretary of State,” she told me.

During the dinner, Kelly O’Donnell, a senior White House reporter for NBC News and the president of the correspondents’ association, spoke about journalists who have been captured, including Austin Tice, who was kidnapped in Syria nearly 10 years ago, and Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who has been detained in Russia on bogus espionage charges since last March. Gershkovich’s parents were in attendance. O’Donnell also noted the more than 100 journalists who have been killed in the past six months of the Israel-Hamas war.

Biden did not mention the war during his speech, though he did call on Russia’s Vladimir Putin to release Gershkovich. “We are doing everything we can,” he said.

“There are some who call you the enemy of the people. That’s wrong and it’s dangerous,” Biden told the crowd, adding that “the defeated former president has made no secret of his attack on our democracy.”

Jost ribbed the president and the press, as expected, at one point saying he was honored to be at what might be, “judging by the swing state polls, the last White House Correspondents’ Dinner.” He also struck a serious tone: “When you look at the levels of freedom throughout history, and even around the world today, this is the exception,” he said, adding: “This freedom is incredibly rare and the journalists in this room help protect that freedom, and we cannot ever take that for granted.”

The hot ticket this year was the NBCUniversal after party, held at the French Ambassador’s Residence—the outside of which was lit up in rainbow with NBC’s peacock logo—a few blocks away from the Hilton. “For a party that was impossible to get into, there’s a lot of fucking people here,” one journalist grumbled.

People were letting loose, dancing alongside portraits of historical French figures hanging on the wood-paneled walls, sipping French 75’s, and eating passed hors d'oeuvres (lots of salmon). Leaning into the SNL theme, there was a Weekend Update photobooth that guests embraced as they got increasingly drunk. Everyone was fawning around the celebrities who had congregated on the tented patio—ScarJo and Jost, Pine, and Jon Hamm, who I spotted chatting with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. Standing a few feet away was senior Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita, holding an unlit cigar as “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” played throughout the party. And there was Mad Money’s Jim Cramer, drinking a Belvedere and cran. “I had a dynamite weekend,” he told me.

“Colin Jost had a pretty apt joke tonight when he said this may be the final White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” CNN’s Jim Acosta told me. “I think people have to think seriously about what’s going on right now.”

Maybe tomorrow.