Brace yourself for a shocking development: President Donald Trump has declined a third invitation to the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The yearly event brings together Washington press and the subjects they cover, but has had a contentious relationship with Donald Trump even since before he took office in 2017.

The president confirmed as much with reporters Friday, following suit with his decision not to attend either the 2017 or 2018 WHCD events. “I’m going to hold a rally,” Trump clarified of his intentions. “The dinner is so boring and so negative, that we’re going to hold a very positive rally . . . everybody wants it. The Correspondents’ Dinner is too negative, I like positive things.”

Trump’s antagonism with the White House Correspondents’ Association reached its zenith with the 2018 dinner, when host and comedian Michelle Wolf poked fun at press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “I actually really like Sarah,” she said at the time. “I think she’s very resourceful. But 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. It’s probably lies.”

Though those in the comedy world were skeptical about the sincerity of the resulting outrage, the W.H.C.A. nonetheless opted to play things safer in 2019, hiring historian Ron Chernow to host what may be a less caustic event. Wolf still had the last laugh, however, with a joke that tackled both Trump’s decision to skip the event and his bizarre recent comments about noise from windmill turbines causing cancer.

And while Trump’s decision not to attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner surprises few, it remains to be seen if last year’s emissaries Sanders and Kellyanne Conway will make the effort.