It’s a Beast of a time in Washington. Donald Trump’s D.C. reality show is full of new characters, plot twists, and cliffhangers, and the Daily Beast will navigate you through it. The 47th president won’t need to drain The Swamp. It’s all leaking here…
Los Angeles was, to listen to Donald Trump, about to burn to the ground.
So, where better for the Republican National Committee’s “summer retreat” than the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, a reliably red enclave in deep blue LA?
Headliner J.D. Vance landed in the allegedly lawless liberal hellhole, decried Gavin Newsom, “mistook” Democratic Senator Alex Padilla for convicted terrorist José Padilla—then blocked the 101 freeway to attend the real business of the day: a fundraising speech.
Intriguingly, The Swamp is told Vance was not the biggest draw. The other star of the show was Trump’s crypto czar David Sacks.
Sacks talked up the need for the U.S. to win the AI arms race against China and warned about the dangers of over-regulation.
RNC chair Michael Whatley and co-chair Tommy Hicks kicked off the weekend’s Red White and Blue reception, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise headlined the Saturday night dinner, and Congressman Byron Donalds, now vying to be Florida’s next governor, worked the crowd for much-needed donations.
Around the city, deployed Marines and National Guard were subsisting on MREs and emergency chow halls, but for Vance, no need to open a ration pack.
Guests at the retreat, some of whom ponied up to $45,000, dined on less blue-collar fare, including heirloom vegetables, panna cotta and–Meghan Markle’s favorite–edible flowers.
The Swamp is written by David Gardner, Farrah Tomazin, Sarah Ewall-Wice, and Alyson Krueger.
This exclusive extract from this week’s edition of The Swamp is just a taste of the delicious secrets we reveal every week. Sign up here to never miss an edition.
