Washington, D.C
Trump Will Remake D.C.’s Culture in His Image
The last time Donald Trump won the presidency, there was a lot crowing in Washington’s beau monde about how the new administration would upend the city’s social life. D.C. has never been a particularly friendly town, but in 2016, its residents decided to take a harder stand than usual. The capital’s hostesses linked arms against any top Trump officials seeking invitations to their homes. The region’s restaurateurs, though expected to serve everyone, vowed to make a night on the town for Republicans as unpleasant as possible. And those in chattering classes remarked with much glee that at no point in the city’s recent history had the place been so socially divided.
The result was that, rather than integrate into Washington life, as staffers and officials from every other presidential administration have, Trump’s coterie was forced to build its own parallel society. Soon, largely undeveloped neighborhoods—Navy Yard and the Wharf prominent among them—became hot spots for young staffers. And no wonder. Those places fit well with Zoomer taste: new construction, rooftop pools, parking everywhere. Meanwhile, more senior officials colonized Kalorama, on the grounds that it was just like Georgetown, but even more insulated from the hateful public eye.
Eight years later, the situation is pretty much the same. D.C. exists as two parallel societies stuck within the bounds of late 2016. On one side, the greater part of the city is trapped in an Obama-nostalgia doom loop: Le Diplomate still dominates the scene on Fourteenth Street. The establishments of Dupont Circle are still celebrating Obergefell vs. Hodges as if the decision were just handed down last week. And, in Shaw, you can still find the odd “Chicago” bar, a tribute to the 2008 Obama campaigners who have long since left the neighborhood.
The Trump version of D.C. is no more vital. Those shiny buildings on the river are still obliviously humming along, worlds unto themselves. Mission in Navy Yard is still a hot bar with a certain sort of person, despite, or because of, its vulgarity. Shelly’s Back Room over by the White House has lost none of its luster, in large part because it is one of the only places in the capital that allows the public to smoke inside. The only major change in this world’s social setting from the first Trump presidency is a loss: the Trump International Hotel, which closed down shortly after the president’s inglorious departure in 2021. I can’t say I regret it: Every time I visited in those four years—whether for a gala, dinner, or some other evening event—I was always struck by how hollow, cavernous that main hall was.
How did the city get stuck in 2016 for so long? Typically, each president makes a mark on Washington’s local culture that survives his tenure, usually in the neighborhoods where his staffers settle. Bill Clinton brought in the crew that made Adams Morgan a hip area. George W. Bush oversaw the revival of Georgetown and Glover Park. And Barack Obama’s team gentrified the historically black neighborhoods around U Street. (Obama himself liked D.C. so much that he still lives here.) Trump, as I have said, built his own fantasy version of the city.
Subscribe Today
Get daily emails in your inbox
But something funny happened when Joe Biden took office in 2021. Rather than making his own mark on the city, here, as in so many other things, Biden was like a ghost, and the D.C. continued to function as if he were never here at all.
There are a few possible explanations for the cultural hole. The first is the fact that Biden was elected and took office during a pandemic. He famously campaigned out of his home in Delaware—where he spent much of his presidency anyway—and did not arrive in D.C. with an army of staffers looking for places to live. The second is related to the first: Hardly anyone in the federal government goes into the office anymore, meaning that there is little incentive to form a distinctively Bidenesque after-hours culture. And the third reason is the hazy temporality that surrounds all things Biden. No one was ever going to stick around for him.
Now that Trump is back for round two, everything will change. Once again, the city will renew itself. There is no stopping it now. There is no Resistance to lock the Trump administration out of polite society. For better or worse, Trump will remake Washington, D.C. in his image.
What to Know
- Celtics have won seven straight against the Wizards, including three matchups this season.
- Jayson Tatum finished with a game-high 28 points.
- Kristaps Porzingis left with right heel pain in the second quarter and did not return.
- Payton Pritchard (15 points) and Sam Hauser (12 points) combined for nine 3s off the bench.
- C’s will return to action Thursday night vs. the Chicago Bulls at TD Garden.
The Boston Celtics cruised to a 112-98 win over the Washington Wizards on Sunday night, but they won’t leave the nation’s capital unscathed.
Kristaps Porzingis left for the locker room during the second quarter and was ruled as questionable to return due to right heel pain. The C’s big man did not re-enter the game.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with a game-high 28 points and 12 rebounds. Payton Pritchard (15 points) and Sam Hauser (12 points) picked up the slack following Porzingis’ injury with nine combined 3-pointers off the bench.
Check out our live blog below for a full recap of the Celtics’ victory:
Washington, D.C
Youngkin calls DC's transparency over drone sightings 'insufficient' – Washington Examiner
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) attempted to quell concerns over reported drone sightings in Virginia, but also called for federal authorities to release more information about the phenomenon.
Reports of drone sightings in various parts of the country, mostly in New Jersey, have caused national headlines, as residents express concern over what the flying objects may be. While federal officials have downplayed the flying objects, Youngkin called on officials to share more information with the public.
GREATEST COMEBACK? HERE’S HOW TRUMP STACKS UP IN WHITE HOUSE HISTORY
“The Commonwealth of Virginia is home to a significant number of national security and critical infrastructure sites upon which our nation depends each and every day. I remain deeply concerned that Virginia has consistently sought information from federal partners, and to date, the information shared with the Commonwealth has been insufficient,” Youngkin said in a statement Saturday.
The Virginia governor also said that he would continue to work with state law enforcement and emergency officials to gather more information about the reported sightings.
“The Virginia State Police Homeland Security Division and Virginia Department of Emergency Management continue to closely coordinate through our Fusion Center with the greater law enforcement and first responder community regarding drone activity in the Commonwealth,” he added. “We will continue to engage with numerous federal partners and release further information as it becomes known and available.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The White House downplayed the reported sightings in a press call on Saturday, saying there was a “slight overreaction” from the public over the alleged incidents.
Officials said that many of the reported drones were likely manned aircraft, with many of the sightings near LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark airports in the New York City area, matching flight paths. A Department of Homeland Security official on the call said that “no threat has been identified from the drone sightings.”
A server in Washington, D.C. has been fired after she said she would refuse to serve certain officials in Donald Trump’s incoming administration who have been accused of sexual misconduct.
The server was working at Beuchert’s Saloon on Capitol Hill when she made the comments to Washingtonian magazine for a story about D.C. preparing for the influx of Trump officials to the city’s dining spots.
After the story ran, Fox News ran its own story following up on her comments and learned she had been fired for what her employer called her “base prejudice.”
“I personally would refuse to serve any person in office who I know of as being a sex trafficker or trying to deport millions of people,” Suzannah Van Rooy told the magazine. “It’s not, ‘Oh, we hate Republicans.’ It’s that this person has moral convictions that are strongly opposed to mine, and I don’t feel comfortable serving them.”
She said that while she expects most servers will just grin and bear having to serve people they are morally and ideologically opposed to, she hopes that some will make their opposition clear.
“People were a lot more motivated the first time around to do those kinds of shows of passion. This time around, there is kind of a sense of defeat and acceptance,” she told the magazine. “But I hope that people still do stand up to this administration and tell them their thoughts on their misbehavior.”
Beuchert’s called Van Rooy’s comments to the magazine “unacceptable.”
“Recent comments made by a member of staff who had no authority to speak on behalf of our entire restaurant have been, quite rightly, flagged as inappropriate, hostile, intolerant, and unacceptable. This staff member does NOT speak for us as a restaurant,” the restaurant said in a statement.
As previously reported, a number of incoming Trump officials — and Trump himself — have been accused of sexual misconduct. Elle magazine writer E Jean Carroll was awarded more than $80 million following a defamation trial in which he was found liable for sexual abuse.
Former congressman Matt Gaetz was being investigated by both the Department of Justice and the House Ethics Committee for allegations of sexual relations with a minor before he dropped out of consideration for Trump’s Attorney General.
He withdrew his nomination hours before CNN published a report about a second alleged sexual encounter with a 17-year-old girl.
Elon Musk —who has been been tapped by Trump to co-lead the “Department of Government Efficiency” pseudo-agency alongside failed Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy — has been sued by eight former SpaceX employees over sexual harassment-related allegations.
In the lawsuit, former employees allege Musk “treated women as sexual objects to be evaluated on their bra size, bombarding the workplace with lewd sexual banter.”
Trump’s proposed defense secretary, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, was accused of sexually assaulting a staff member from the California Federation of Republican Women in 2017, and Robert F Kennedy Jr — Trump’s nominee for the Department of Health and Human Services — has been accused of sexually assaulting a former babysitter in the 1990s.
Linda McMahon, Trump’s proposed pick for Secretary of Education, has been named in a lawsuit alleging that her and her husband, former WWE head-honcho Vince McMahon, failed to stop an employee form sexually abusing children in the 1980s and 1990s.
Vince McMahon is also being sued for allegedly sex trafficking a woman in his employ.
This isn’t the first time drama involving the Trump administration and D.C.-area restaurants has made headlines.
Former Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was kicked out of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia in 2018 by its co-owner, saying that she “publicly defended the president’s cruelest policies.”
Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters made headlines shortly after she called for supporters to confront Trump officials in public spaces like restaurants to let them know the public opposed their policies. Republicans argued at the time that Waters was encouraging public harm to administration officials.
Around the same time, protesters confronted Trump’s then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen while she was dining at a local Mexican restaurant and voiced their opposition to the administration’s mass deportation policies.
The protesters, including members of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America, entered the MXDC Cocina Mexicana near the White House with signs and jeered at the official.
Van Rooy has removed her LinkedIn profile, likely to avoid harassment by angry Trump supporters.
Trump-backed candidate aiming to replace Matt Gaetz wants Florida to adopt gold and silver as legal tender
Biden administration officials downplay concerns about drone sightings: 'Slight overreaction'
Amber Alert issued for boy and girl abducted in California
Lions’ winning ways – and Super Bowl hopes – might be undone by defensive injuries
How meteorologists tracked the tornado risk in Scotts Valley, San Francisco
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
Who is Alina Habba? Trump's fierce legal defender picked to serve as counselor to the president
Clean-up ongoing in Mayotte after Cyclone Chido devastates island
What’s next for the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO | CNN
Read the email from Revere’s principal
Lawmakers 'may slip by a day' in releasing text on emergency spending bill days before deadline
-
Technology1 week agoStruggling to hear TV dialogue? Try these simple fixes
-
Business7 days agoOpenAI's controversial Sora is finally launching today. Will it truly disrupt Hollywood?
-
Politics3 days agoCanadian premier threatens to cut off energy imports to US if Trump imposes tariff on country
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25782636/247422_ChatGPT_anniversary_CVirginia.jpg "Inside the launch — and future — of ChatGPT")
Technology4 days agoInside the launch — and future — of ChatGPT
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25789444/1258459915.jpg "OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever says the way AI is built is about to change")
Technology2 days agoOpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever says the way AI is built is about to change
-
Politics2 days agoU.S. Supreme Court will decide if oil industry may sue to block California's zero-emissions goal
-
Politics4 days agoConservative group debuts major ad buy in key senators' states as 'soft appeal' for Hegseth, Gabbard, Patel
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25546252/STK169_Mark_Zuckerburg_CVIRGINIA_D.jpg "Meta asks the US government to block OpenAI’s switch to a for-profit")
Technology2 days agoMeta asks the US government to block OpenAI’s switch to a for-profit