Dinner with Deplorables: Watching the Last Debate with Trump Fans at His Hotel

I had come to DJT, the hotel restaurant, to watch the presidential debate between Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the final match between the two candidates in a race that has often felt more like Celebrity Death Match than a presidential election. Outside the building, I found little security for a hotel owned by the possible future leader of the free world. A lone bleached blonde white dude in shorts argued with an angry protester wearing a Trump mask.

The activist held a sign that said, "LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE. ONLY HATRED YOU INSPIRE," and marched back and forth across the pavement. Three Trump bros in suits scoffed at him. "You're gonna get a job on November 8 whether you like it or not," one yelled threateningly.

The protester laughed, walked up to me, and ripped off his mask, revealing he was a middle-aged man. "I'm actually a doctor from Missouri," he said. "I just came here to protest." He viewed Trump as an entitled asshole who conned people, whereas Trump's supporters felt the protester was attacking a man who fights for America's underdogs.

Nothing about Trump's Vegas property says "underdog." He has outfitted the entire building in gold: gold windows, gold T-shaped doorhandles, gold rainbow-sparkle-infused lanterns, and even a gold button people press to flush the toilet. At DJT, Trump fans took it all in: Women in matching red shirts lay on brown couches in front of a giant screen displaying Fox News coverage, waiting for Trump to come on TV, a husband and wife drank Trump wine, and a blonde lady wore a shirt that said, "I'll be your VP."

I struggled to hear anything on TV above the woman's screams once the debate started. I could only make out a few sounds: a man yelling, "Amen!" when Trump said, "George Patton is spinning in his grave;" the entire room clapping when Trump said "Putin has outsmarted" Clinton and President Obama; and an obese Lou Pearlman look-alike screaming, "Oh, bullshit!" when moderator Chris Wallace mentioned the sexual assault allegations against Trump. (The candidate has denied the numerous accusations.)

Though the crowd got angry about the assault claims made against their candidate, they seemed disinterested in women's rights. When the Republican nominee sparred with Clinton about Roe v. Wade, several people ordered more Trump-branded wine while others scrolled across their iPhone screens.

The Trump fans saved most their ire for immigrants: His "we have some bad hombres here" line received the most applause of the night. Still, the hotel audience also made a point of trying to claim that their movement welcomed a diverse group of people—at the end of the debate, four black men stood up, holding signs that said "BLACKS FOR TRUMP." The back of their sign advertised a website called Everlastingfather2 that sells shirts that say, "TRUMP & Republicans Are Not Racists."

As the men shouted, "Blacks for Trump!" to applause from the rest of the restaurant patrons, the woman in the pink "I Will Be Your VP" shirt ran up to them and began some shouting of her own: "Women for Trump!" she cried. Other Trump fans started lining up to take selfies with the four black Trump supporters that they had found. One woman even took out her pin that said, "I'm an adorable deplorable."

Service at DJT was more deplorable than adorable. The menu offered an array of items, including "Airline Chicken." (When the guests next to us asked why the dish received this name, a waiter said, "Because the chicken has a wing.") I asked five times for bread, and when both my friend and I asked for coffee, another waiter handed us a giant jug of coffee and one white coffee cup to share, as if they needed to ration dishes. I felt like I was eating at a restaurant run by the DMV.

Our waiter took over three hours to deliver our check. I thought there was no way the Trump family or campaign would ever eat in the restaurant, although they sold the food to their loyal constituents—but then Donald J. Trump Jr. entered the restaurant, surrounded by security guards in black suits. He, too, eats at DJT.

Over the next few hours, nearly the rest of the campaign joined him at a long table: reality star turned Trump surrogate Omarosa, campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, 9/11 truther and fellow Trump surrogate Katrina Pierson, and YouTube stars Diamond and Silk. Their table looked like a Breitbart version of the Last Supper. This collection of reality stars and inexperienced strategists would never get invited to the exclusive parties in Washington DC or even Los Angeles—and I don't think they'd want to attend them—but they had pushed Trump closer to the White House than any other Republican in 2016. In their own weird way, they really were the outcasts.