""Where are all the red hats - am I going to run into Steve Bannon?" asked one of my guests as we peered around the room at Butterworth's, the buzzy, much-publicized MAGA hangout up on Capitol Hill. His voice was urgent, even kind of excited, and he spoke in a loud, hissing whisper, like an eager tourist out on safari for the first time waiting for the lions to arrive."
"Bannon was nowhere in sight on this steamy D.C. evening, but other creatures of the new Trump revolution were already crowding into the snug little dining room at Butterworth's. There were pale-faced frat-boy interns dressed in crewneck shirts and Palm Beach-style matrons with great beehive hairdos making their stately way to the restroom clutching pickle-colored margarita drinks. Trump's White House staff secretary, Will Scharf - "He's the guy who hands all those proclamations to the president to sign" one of my safari guides for the evening explained - was at Bannon's regular corner table wearing a red silk tie."
Butterworth's on Capitol Hill is a buzzy, much-publicized MAGA hangout that draws Trump-aligned supporters and staff. Guests searched for recognizable figures like Steve Bannon, though he was not present. The dining room filled with pale-faced frat-boy interns, Palm Beach-style matrons clutching pickle-colored margaritas, bloggers, influencers and mid-level Republican functionaries. Trump's White House staff secretary, Will Scharf, sat at a regular corner table wearing a red silk tie. A woman at the bar offered loud, possibly drunken toasts to the assembled rabble. Butterworth's functions as a semi-private social club for MAGA faithful reclaiming the Capitol.
Read at Grub Street
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]