Trump’s Washington hotel echoes to silence of missing Maga crowd – By David Smith (The Guardian) / Mar 13 2021
Once the hub of Trump World in the US capital, with the former president gone it is in danger of becoming a white elephant
Once it was like a second White House for the Maga crowd. Now it is in danger of becoming a white elephant.
Clobbered first by the coronavirus pandemic, then by its owner’s election defeat, the Trump International Hotel in Washington is reeling from a huge loss of income and prestige. For critics of the former US president, it is welcome proof of how quickly the city is moving on without him.
“It used to be the hub of Trump World but I can’t imagine who goes there now,” said Sally Quinn, a local author and journalist. “We don’t even have tourists yet in Washington. I can’t imagine most people staying there when they come. I don’t know anybody who goes there or has gone there.”
The hotel opened amid protests in the historic Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue, between the White House and US Capitol building, in September 2016 as Trump campaigned for the presidency.
For four years its opulent lobby thronged with diplomats, lobbyists and Trump family members. It was one of the few places in the US capital where “Make America great again” hats were bountiful. But one recent afternoon it seemed more reminiscent of the haunted hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining.
CONTINUE > https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/13/trump-hotel-washington-missing-maga-crowd
