This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s new guide to Washington DC
Gourmets have never been drawn to Washington, DC. But as America’s capital sheds its reputation for mediocre cuisine (it now has more Michelin-starred restaurants per capita than New York or London), its nightlife has been grappling with a garish new upheaval: Maga 2.0.
Washington’s food revolution largely took place before Donald Trump was first elected in 2016. Throughout his first term, the Trump International Hotel in the cathedral-like Old Post Office building was Maga central. After revenues were hit by Covid, and the backlash following Joe Biden’s election, Trump sold the lease and the hotel reopened as the Waldorf Astoria. This term, Trump’s more numerous galaxy schmoozes more widely. In a town known for early bed times and prudent alcohol consumption, Maga carousers have ripped up both rules. Staying out until the early hours fuelled by espresso Martinis is not a rare thing.
Loosely defined, the Maga crowd comprises the thousands of young staffers in Trump’s administration, the minor galaxy of podcasters and activists around them, his cabinet principals, the crypto, AI and big tech investors who are suddenly everywhere in DC — with a dollop of Gulf wealth thrown in — and the stylistically exotic older Mar-a-Lago hangers-on that always come with Trump. Extensive facework is suddenly a thing in this least cosmetic of towns. Do not be fooled by the Mormon-lite cascading blonde hair favoured by many younger women. That (Christian) Liberty University-style nod to gender traditionalism is misleading. Though many in Trump’s world advertise their biblical evangelism, Maga nightlife is not noted for its modesty.
