Image by Jeffrey Coolidge via Getty Images Plus.DC restaurants have long prided themselves on being politically neutral spaces. A big political name could be just another diner—no matter the headlines he or she generated by day. And restaurateurs, for the most part, didn’t publicly weigh in on partisan issues for fear of alienating any potential customers. That started to change during the Trump years. Restaurant owners became much more politically outspoken, and Trump officials became social pariahs when dining out. Famously, the owner of the Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia, kicked out White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Protesters crashed Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s dinner at a DC Mexican restaurant, yelling “Shame!” after she defended family separations at the border. And senior advisor Stephen Miller reportedly tossed $80 worth of takeout sushi after the restaurant’s bartender cursed and flipped him off. This time around, with a full Republican sweep of government, an even larger cast of divisive characters, and no Trump Hotel in which to congregate, the MAGA crowd is likely to feel even more omnipresent when they swagger into DC. Inevitably, that will lead to clashes in a fiercely blue, politically engaged city where Home Rule is under threat, countless jobs are at risk, and less than 7 percent of voters picked Trump in the first place. “The shift in politics will be visceral across several aspects of daily life. You expect the masses to just ignore RFK eating at Le Diplomate on a Sunday morning after a few mimosas and not to throw a drink in his face?,” says Zac Hoffman, a DC restaurant veteran who is now a manager at the National Democratic Club. Hoffman is concerned that it won’t just be a safety risk or disruption for the officials targeted, but also for restaurant staff and fellow diners. “If you’re just going out for a nice dinner or it’s your anniversary or birthday and, God forbid, RFK Jr. is sitting next to you, now you’re going to be dealing with whatever repercussions happen from that.” Dining decorum and “civility” were already hot button issues during the last Trump administration. In 2018, when news about family separations at the border had reached a fever pitch, Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters called on the public to “push back” on Trump Cabinet members they encountered in restaurants, department stores, or gas stations and tell them “they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.” More recently, liberal activists tried to enlist hospitality workers in aiding with public disruptions. In the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, a liberal advocacy group called ShutDownDC—which interrupted Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s dinner at Morton’s steakhouse—offered $250 to DC service workers who shared real-time sightings of other justices involved in the abortion decision. After Trump’s re-election, though, there’s been plenty of talk about the Trump resistance losing steam. “People were a lot more motivated the first time around to do those kinds of shows of passion. This time around, there is kind of a sense of defeat and acceptance,” says Suzannah Van Rooy, a server and manager at Beuchert’s Saloon in Capitol Hill. “But I hope that people still do stand up to this administration and tell them their thoughts on their misbehavior.” Van Rooy, for her part, is already thinking about her own red lines: “I personally would refuse to serve any person in office who I know of as being a sex trafficker or trying to deport millions of people,” she says. “It’s not, ‘Oh, we hate Republicans.’ It’s that this person has moral convictions that are strongly opposed to mine, and I don’t feel comfortable serving them.” Fine-dining bartender Nancy—who, like some others in this story, requested anonymity in order to speak candidly and avoid backlash for her employer—says she would likewise refuse to serve certain Trump officials. She’s never worked at a restaurant where the management would force her to serve someone she wasn’t comfortable with, politically or otherwise. But if they did, she says she would quit on the spot. “There is power in making it known that you’re not comfortable with a situation, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be this big dramatic show,” Nancy says. “It’s just little bits of resistance that add up, and little bits of resistance that other people will see and hopefully feel empowered to stand on those convictions as well.” “It’s impossible to avoid dirty money.” That’s not to say no one will pour a drink for Kash Patel or or Pete Hegseth (though the latter has sworn to stop drinking if confirmed as Secretary of Defense). Bartender Joseph, who’s also worked at a number of DC’s top restaurants and bars, voted for Kamala Harris and says he’s dreading the incoming administration on a personal level. But from a bartending perspective, he sees it as good news. In his experience, Republicans tip more and are generally lower maintenance guests than Democrats. (He makes an exception for Michelle Obama—”an absolute gem.”) “I think my tip average from Republicans—at least ones that I or a coworker has recognized—is close to 30 percent. With Dems, I’m surprised if it’s over 20,” he says. At events he’s worked that are hosted by Republicans, the guests ask for no-fuss drinks like bourbon, vodka-sodas, or wine. At the Democratic events, he’s seen many more substitutions and special requests. The way he sees it, there are more effective ways to voice your political concerns that won’t jeopardize your livelihood. Plus, Joseph says, “it’s impossible to avoid dirty money.” “It’s the hospitality industry” Not long ago, one upscale DC restaurant had a fundraising buyout for some high-profile House Republicans. The owner is a longtime Democrat and says some of the staff were uncomfortable when they discovered just who they were hosting. Still, the restaurateur is a staunch believer in serving everyone and had conversations with his team about it: “We chose our profession, and it’s the hospitality industry and sometimes we have to serve people that we don’t like,” he says. “We can’t create negative situations. We need to de-escalate situations, not escalate them in restaurants.” Still, from a restaurant owner’s perspective, a politically divisive diner becoming a headline is a lose-lose no matter how they handle it. They risk being attacked for confrontations, sure, but also for complicity, or simply being in the middle of the chaos. Just look at what happened to fine-dining restaurant Fiola in 2018. A group protesting Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation swarmed the Italian dining room to confront Senator Ted Cruz and his wife, Heidi, with chants of “We believe the survivors.” Managers called the police and hid the Cruzes in the kitchen until the couple could be safely escorted away. In an email to supporters afterward, owner Fabio Trabocchi said he had no idea how the protesters knew about Cruz’s presence at the restaurant, but that insinuations in the media that they had intentionally leaked his whereabouts led to an onslaught of online hate and even death threats. The backlash was so bad that the restaurant hired security guards. “Fiola is being blamed simply for being the location for the attacks as if we ourselves were the attackers,” Trabocchi wrote at the time. Can restaurants legally turn away Trump officials? Even if a restaurant wanted to turn away a Trump official, it could be legally precarious. DC is somewhat unique in that it counts political affiliation as a protected class alongside characteristics like gender, race, and religion. That means businesses can’t legally deny service to someone for being a Republican or Trump supporter. (Virginia has no such prohibition, which is why Lexington’s Red Hen could legally deny service to Sarah Huckabee Sanders for her politics.) That said, there is a gray area when it comes to singling out specific individuals, says restaurant attorney Scott Rome, who was involved in an unfair competition lawsuit against Trump in 2017. Businesses could make the case for denying service to individuals they perceive as being anti-immigrant or sexual predators. Rome says businesses could also turn away a Proud Boy, for example, because fringe ideological groups are not political affiliations. And if an individual’s presence might cause a disruption or even violence in the establishment, that could be justification for denying service too. Of course, businesses could still risk being sued and end up paying legal fees to defend themselves even if they win. Subtle inconveniences Ultimately, the majority of restaurant owners and workers aren’t going to want the negative attention that comes with a big messy confrontation. But some may turn to discreet acts of resistance aimed less at causing a scene and more at empowering themselves in small ways. “This person theoretically has the power to take away your rights, but I have the power to make you wait 20 minutes to get your entree,” says Nancy, the bartender. “There’s a lot of opportunities for us as workers to feel like we’re taking our power back, while not necessarily ruining someone’s life. Giving them a subtle inconvenience feels like a little bit of a win for us.” Bartender Joseph says he once served a Republican senator who was among those who voted to overturn the 2020 election. The senator asked for a cocktail with mezcal, so Joseph decided to make him a super frilly pink drink. Joseph could tell the lawmaker wasn’t into it—he drank it quickly and asked for something else. It was his tiny way of trolling the guy. A DC restaurateur who hosted Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and White House senior adviser Stephen Miller during the last Trump administration previously told Washingtonian that he preferred to seat the Trump officials in a back corner away from the sidewalk-facing windows. While the Secret Service appreciated the back door proximity, the restaurateur saw it as a way to hide controversial figures who might spark a public confrontation. “The only thing I wish is that nobody walks by my window and realizes she’s dining with us,” he said of DeVos. The host of another fine-dining restaurant in DC says she plans to Google everyone in the Trump administration, and she’s thinking about the seating chart in her own way: “I’ll only give them a bad table but will otherwise guarantee decent and polite service,” she says. “I feel like them getting a bad table is nothing compared to the harm they’ll be inflicting.”The post Clashes Are Coming for Trump Officials Dining Out in DC first appeared on Washingtonian.