As federal workers borrow from their kids, max out their credit cards, sign up as dog sitters, and even write paid online makeup reviews, federal elected officials are enjoying a very different lifestyle.
Donors/clients/customers/johns who attend at the “platinum level” will pay $100,000 but in return they’ll get ten tickets plus a photo opportunity, presumably with Voldemort himself.*
Not only that, but attendees will enjoy the rarefied atmosphere of the Mellon Auditorium. A D.C. venue review site describes the circa-1934 building’s, “dramatic roman doric columns, marble floors inlaid with gold, and spectacular auditorium standing more than 60 feet in height and embellished with limestone pilasters, gilded relief carvings, and polished oak where colossal luminaries, made of brass and burnished aluminum, are suspended from the ceiling.”
Presumably the guests will pause in their Gatsby-esque merry-making for the address from their leader, Individual 1, as he makes the case for declaring a national emergency (not to be confused with martial law — YET) in order to build a wall along the Mexican border and force American taxpayers like you and me, unless you’re a government worker in which case you aren’t being paid or taxed at the moment, to pay for it. (Big deep breath.)
Maybe while the president is speaking, fleeting thoughts of the federal workers hiring out as Uber drivers will cross the minds of the ball guests. If so, they’ll console themselves with the notion put forth by #45: those people are probably Democrats anyway.
* Google, “Rick Scott looks like” and you’ll get lots of other examples.
Ball invitation was made available on Politico.
