Good afternoon from Washington, where Party Animals is battening down the hatches for White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend. Since last week, my party count has ballooned to 21 across five days.
Last night, I attended Améthyste, a black-tie gala thrown by DC doyen Steve Clemons at the French ambassador’s residence in Kalorama. There was Champagne, and a few handsome men dressed up like Ben Franklin and the Marquis de Lafayette in honor of the 250-year-old alliance between the United States and France. (Current status: strained.)
The chatter centered on the coming weekend and its endless stream of cocktail parties. There is an extraordinary amount of hype for the Grindr party, which will be held at a 10-bedroom town house in Georgetown. By virtue of the expected lasciviousness of such a bash, it’s been the subject of frenzied gossip, speculation, and media coverage.
In the words of one jaded guest overheard last night: “Politico is covering the Grindr party like it’s the Yalta Conference.”
Throughout the weekend the press will mingle with politicos, including a number of Trumpworld figures who’ve been given the green light to indulge by President Trump himself. He will attend the dinner for the first time as president—and face off with the mentalist Oz Pearlman.
Party Animals will have special editions of the newsletter throughout the weekend to keep you abreast of the self-reverential festivities. On Saturday morning, we’ll send out exclusive photos from our party with CAA at the Belgian ambassador’s residence. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to access the photos in your inbox.
In this edition of Party Animals: I’ve spent the last few months working on a profile of Tony Dokoupil, the new anchor of CBS Evening News.
The piece is a look behind the scenes of Dokoupil’s rocky tenure on the show, which has been touted as a kind of vanguard for Bari Weiss’s campaign to remake CBS News for the Trump era.
PLUS: Which Trump administration officials—and star rappers—are sitting at which tables on DC’s biggest night? Read on to find out…
Also mentioned in this issue: David Ellison, Nicki Minaj, Erika Kirk, Pete Hegseth, Stephen Miller, Jeanine Pirro, Markwayne Mullin, Steven Cheung, Tulsi Gabbard, Ken Martin, Suzanne Scott, Jay Wallace, Shannon Bream, Bret Baier, Kellyanne Conway, Alexis Wilkins, Kash Patel, Tucker Carlson, and more.
Got tips? Hit the Party Animals hotline: aidan_mclaughlin@condenast.com. Or text me—my personal number is 917-817-8266. Complaints will be buried beneath the Georgetown Grindr mansion. Praise will be included in Oz Pearlman’s set.
