This was the week in which GOP lawmakers suffered a beating at the polls, the government shutdown became the most extended in history, and countless individuals throughout the country, encompassing three million residents in the Sunshine State, saw their federal food aid slashed.
However, in the contrasting world of the Magic City, where admission passes to an largely right-leaning business conference fronted by the former president cost up to $1,990, and ultra-wealthy individuals from the Gulf kingdom rubbed shoulders with similarly wealthy US magnates including the Amazon founder and the hedge fund manager, those events created scarcely any reaction.
Conversely, in a gesture that appeared almost to mock the growing disparity between the city’s affluent and have-nots, organizers of the America Business Forum cooked up a little treat for attendees: a fifty-dollar voucher to use on meals to support themselves while they listened to their president praise himself for a “golden age” he said his financial success had achieved.
Advocates argue the move, along with the lavish extravagance of the conference itself, was an poorly timed affront to more than a 500,000 local residents who just saw their own capacity to buy basic food items for their families curtailed by the reduction of the federal food stamp program.
“There’s just a massive cognitive dissonance between what ordinary citizens are going through, and the elite,” stated Larry Hannan, spokesperson of State Voices Florida, a coalition of over a 100 non-partisan, pro-democracy and civic engagement groups.
“Jeff Bezos does not need a $50 meal voucher. But we observed that with the 1920s-inspired gala last week. They just can’t seem to stop doing things that are strikingly out of touch.
“We have experienced government closures before, and while clearly the White House bubble is always somewhat unrealistic, leaders are typically smart enough, they usually know not to display this type of stuff. But this administration does not seem to care.”
The leader's hour-long address on the event's second day had the tone of a political rally, with well-known insults for old political foes such as the Senate minority leader and the West Coast leader, and a new one: the newly elected progressive mayor of New York.
The former president discussed his economic agenda, and lauded a host of speakers from the worlds of government, sport and business that populated the two-day agenda, organized largely by the mayor of the city of Miami to showcase the region and its economic potential.
The soccer superstar, the Argentina football icon and World Cup winner, provided celebrity glitz from sporting circles, along with tennis champions Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams. A discussion between the city leader and the Venezuelan opposition leader, the democracy activist who last month won the prestigious award, was well received on day one.
Yet overall it was a curious and clearly politically charged event with a roster of Trump sycophants on the podium, enthusiastically applauded by a audience of mostly younger and wealthy supporters of the leader in the crowd, some combining business suits with his signature red Make America Great Again (Maga) caps.
In what other way to account for the attendance of the conservative president of Argentina, the country whose shaky financial system Trump helped shore up last month with a twenty-billion-dollar currency swap? Or that of Saudi Arabians the fund chief, head of its $925bn Public Investment Fund, and the ambassador, Riyadh’s ambassador to the US, touting their nation as an opportunity while the Trump family’s financial ties and sway there come under greater scrutiny?
Then there was the leader of Fifa, dropping hints that the former president is in line for the organization’s inaugural peace prize, a controversial honor that commentators see created specially for the leader as consolation for his prize rejection.
Additional speakers, including the chief executive of the banking giant; the creator of WeWork; and the hedge-fund manager, have all in the past supported, worked with or voted for the former president, offering more than a suggestion of a politically skewed roster.
The Miami mayor, unsurprisingly, saw it differently.
“We wanted it to be a sort of a diverse representation from different verticals, right?” he told media.
“We convened. We said, ‘Hey, what are the leading voices?’ People from varied origins, various heritages, all genders … athletics, commerce, politics, technology, things that touch everyone’s lives.”
He highlighted conversations of forthcoming, money-spinning major occasions in the city, including the Formula One grand prix, next year’s G20 economic summit at a golf resort, and matches during the soccer tournament, which he called “a generational opportunity”.
“Our hope is that Miamians are transformed by the experience,” the official said. “We want them to leave believing, ‘I can be on that stage.’”
The advocates of State Voices Florida, on the other hand, believe numerous locals are more focused right now on other issues, particularly rising housing and grocery prices. The state's GOP leader declined a call from the organization and others to issue an crisis over Snap benefits and tap state reserves to fund immediate nutrition programs.
“Every social studies instructor would tell you it’s his responsibility to look after the people of Florida, and he’s doing the reverse,” Hannan said, noting the contrast of a conference of billionaires taking place in the same county in which nearly 25% of households rely on food stamps to survive.
“There just seems to be this disconnection at the highest levels. I don’t think the answer is electing a Democrat or electing a Republican, I just think we have to have greater compassion for people who are struggling in this state.”
Compassion was in short supply in Miami from the former president, a leader not known for ever taking responsibility during a difficult period.
“Opposition lawmakers are causing millions of citizens who rely on food stamps to go without benefits,” he said, blaming the out-of-office party for the federal closure.
“I just want to have a nation that’s great again. Is that acceptable?”
