Last night, over 100 young conservatives gathered at Trump Tower for a party on the building’s mezzanine level. The dress code? Dress like you’re going to meet your future husband/wife. The host of the evening, Raquel Debono—the influencer who popularized the slogan “Make America Hot Again”—wore Chanel earrings and, like most women in the room, a perfect blowout.
The event—hosted by Debono’s employer, “Date Right,” a conservative dating app—was advertised as “a night for the bold, the based, and the beautiful to meet, mingle, and embrace the chaos.” The ad included a screenshot of an already iconic New York Magazine cover which featured a photograph of gorgeous Donald Trump supporters at an inauguration party in D.C.
The title of that cover: The Cruel Kids’ Table.
The image was straight out of Gossip Girl: the most beautiful young people you’ve ever seen, with razor-sharp cheekbones and expensive-looking clothes, in an opulent ballroom, having the time of their lives. The associated hit piece clearly meant to reveal what the new young right is really like: awful. But what it actually did was amplify an idea already popular on the internet: that being young and right-wing is hot.
Last night’s event was clearly trying to capitalize on the cruel kids’ moment.
