"Last night's program was meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to a vigorous and free press while honoring civility, great reporting and scholarship winners, not to divide people," said WHCA President Margaret Talev .

Trump-haters just can't help themselves, as was demonstrated at the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner Saturday night. At that annual affair, a mean-spirited, vulgar presentation by purported comedian Michelle Wolf, attacking press secretary Sarah Sanders in very personal terms as she sat nearby, has triggered blowback of significant magnitude. It was so offensive that the president of the association, Bloomberg's Margaret Talev, was forced to denounce it after hearing from her membership and realizing how much sympathy it was creating for Sanders and her boss, President Trump.

"Unfortunately, the entertainer's monologue was not in the spirit of that mission." Talev, a reporter for Bloomberg News, wrote that many journalists in attendance on Saturday night for the annual correspondents' dinner reached out to her and expressed their "dismay" with Wolf's monologue, which was widely panned by people on both sides of the aisle.

There was, however, plenty of laughter and applause, and ex post facto regrets will not undo the deep harm to the White House press corps, and more broadly to the Trump-hating mainstream media. Remember that these W.H. correspondents have to ask pointed questions of Sanders, who now has a great deal of sympathy from the general public after the affair, and who conducted herself with admirable dignity and reserve. Those correspondents who want to push her to get more detailed answers are now tarred with the brush wielded by Wolf as nasty. Sarah Sanders's job in parrying their thrusts has just gotten a lot easier.

Some of them realize it, while others are doubling down. See this ungrammatical tweet from NBC's Andrea Mitchell:

Apology is owed to @PressSec and others grossly insulted ny Michelle Wolf at White House Correspondents Assoc dinner which started with uplifting heartfelt speech by @margarettalev - comedian was worst since Imus insulted Clinton’s — Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) April 29, 2018

And then consider the response from her NBC colleague Ken Olin, who describes himself for Twitter as "director/exec.producer @NBCThisIsUs Lifelong Democrat":

The faux outrage re: @michelleisawolf on the right is laughable. And frightening. They’re shamelessly shifting the narrative away from the truth: Sarah Sanders lies daily to protect a man who constantly uses degrading nicknames, physical mockery, and vulgar untruths. — Ken Olin (@kenolin1) April 29, 2018

Attacking @michelleisawolf?

While she was doing her “disrespectful and disgraceful” monologue, the President was contemptuously mocking a caravan of suffering human beings trying to escape danger & harm by coming to our incredible country. She’s a comic. He’s a President. Resist! — Ken Olin (@kenolin1) April 29, 2018

And in a stark confession of an advanced case of Trump Derangement Syndrome:

Damn. Everyday I get more pissed off. — Ken Olin (@kenolin1) April 29, 2018

Donald Trump, Sarah Sanders, and the rest of this administration denigrate and attempt to delegitimize our free press EVERY SINGLE DAY. And they’re offended by a comedian making jokes about their job performance?!?! Seriously, folks, you’re buying what they’re selling? Careful... — Ken Olin (@kenolin1) April 30, 2018

Twitchy has much more on the fallout and the brewing civil war within the MSM.

President Trump has driven his media enemies mad, and they are in the process of destroying themselves.