This was the period in which Republicans suffered a beating at the polls, the government shutdown turned into the longest in history, and millions across the nation, including three million residents in Florida, saw their nutrition assistance reduced.
However, in the alternative reality of Miami, where admission passes to an largely conservative business conference headlined by Donald Trump were priced up to $1,990, and ultra-wealthy individuals from the Gulf kingdom rubbed shoulders with similarly wealthy US magnates including the Amazon founder and Ken Griffin, those developments created barely a ripple.
Conversely, in a gesture that appeared almost to highlight the growing divide between the city’s haves and have-nots, planners of the America Business Forum cooked up a small perk for participants: a fifty-dollar voucher to use on food to support themselves while they paid attention to their president congratulate himself for a era of prosperity he said his financial success had delivered.
Critics say the move, along with the high-budget extravagance of the event itself, was an poorly timed affront to more than a half-million local inhabitants who just saw their own capacity to buy essential groceries for their families kiboshed by the gutting of the federal food stamp program.
“There exists a significant cognitive dissonance between what real people are going through, and the elite,” stated a policy director, spokesperson of a civic coalition, a alliance of more than a hundred non-aligned, pro-democracy and civic engagement groups.
“Jeff Bezos hardly requires a fifty-dollar meal voucher. But we observed that with the Great Gatsby theme party last week. They just can’t seem to stop engaging in things that are shockingly disconnected.
“We have experienced government closures before, and while obviously the presidential environment is always somewhat insane, presidents are usually astute enough, they usually know not to flaunt this type of stuff. But this administration does not seem to care.”
The leader's lengthy address on the event's second day had the flavor of a campaign event, with well-known criticisms for longtime adversaries including the Senate minority leader and the West Coast leader, and a fresh target: the recently voted-in progressive mayor of New York.
The former president touched on his financial policies, and lauded a host of presenters from the worlds of government, sport and commerce that filled the multi-day agenda, organized primarily by the local official to highlight the region and its economic potential.
Lionel Messi, the Argentina soccer star and global champion, provided star power from sporting circles, along with grand slam winners the Spanish player and Serena Williams. A discussion between the Miami mayor and the Nobel laureate, the democracy activist who last month won the prestigious award, was well received on the opening day.
Nevertheless overall it was a notable and unmistakably partisan event with a field of Trump sycophants on the podium, loudly cheered by a audience of mostly more youthful and wealthy backers of the president in the audience, some combining professional attire with his signature red MAGA caps.
In what other way to account for the presence of the conservative president of Argentina, the nation whose unstable financial system Trump helped shore up last month with a twenty-billion-dollar lifeline? Or that of Kingdom representatives Fahad AlSaif, head of its $925bn Public Investment Fund, and Reema Bandar Al-Saud, Riyadh’s diplomatic envoy, promoting their nation as ripe for investment while the Trump family’s financial ties and influence there face greater scrutiny?
Then there was the head of Fifa, suggesting that Trump is in line for the organization’s first peace prize, a controversial honor that observers see established specially for the leader as consolation for his prize rejection.
Other participants, including the CEO of the banking giant; the creator of the co-working firm; and the hedge-fund manager, have all in the past praised, worked with or backed Trump, offering more than a suggestion of a partisan roster.
The city leader, predictably, saw it differently.
“Our aim was it to be a kind of a cross-section from different verticals, right?” he explained to media.
“We convened. We said, ‘Hey, what are the prominent figures?’ People from varied origins, different ethnicities, different genders … athletics, commerce, politics, technology, things that touch everyone’s lives.”
He pointed to conversations of upcoming, money-spinning notable events in the city, including the Formula One grand prix, next year’s global conference at a leisure property, and matches during the soccer tournament, which he called “a historic moment”.
“Our hope is that local residents are transformed by the experience,” the official said. “We want them to leave thinking, ‘I can be on that stage.’”
The advocates of State Voices Florida, however, believe many locals are more focused right now on different concerns, particularly soaring real estate and grocery prices. Florida’s GOP leader declined a call from the organization and others to issue an emergency over food assistance and tap state reserves to fund urgent food distribution.
“Any social studies instructor would tell you it’s his job to care for the people of the state, and he’s doing the reverse,” the advocate said, noting the contrast of a summit of ultra-wealthy individuals taking place in the same county in which nearly 25% of households depend on food stamps to survive.
“There just seems to be this disconnection at the highest levels. I do not believe the answer is choosing a liberal or selecting a conservative, I just think we have to have more empathy 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 accepting blame during a crisis.
“Opposition lawmakers are resulting in countless of Americans who depend on food stamps to go without benefits,” he said, attributing fault to the opposition party for the federal closure.
“My desire is to have a nation that’s prosperous once more. Is that acceptable?”
