This was the week in which Republicans experienced a beating at the ballot box, the federal closure turned into the longest in history, and millions across the nation, encompassing 3 million in the Sunshine State, saw their nutrition assistance slashed.
However, in the alternative reality of Miami, where tickets to an largely right-leaning business conference headlined by Donald Trump cost up to nearly two thousand dollars, and billionaires from Saudi Arabia rubbed shoulders with equally wealthy American tycoons including the Amazon founder and Ken Griffin, those developments created barely a ripple.
Instead, in a move that appeared almost to mock the growing divide between the city’s haves and less fortunate, organizers of the corporate summit prepared a small perk for attendees: a fifty-dollar voucher to use on food to support themselves while they listened to their leader praise himself for a “golden age” he said his “economic miracle” had achieved.
Critics argue the move, along with the lavish extravagance of the conference itself, was an poorly timed insult to over a 500,000 Miami-Dade county residents who just saw their own ability to buy basic food items for their families curtailed by the reduction of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap).
“There exists a significant disconnect between what real people are going through, and the elite,” said a policy director, communications and policy director of a civic coalition, a coalition of over a 100 non-aligned, pro-democracy and community involvement organizations.
“The Amazon founder 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 out of touch.
“We’ve been through shutdowns before, and while clearly the presidential environment is always somewhat insane, leaders are usually smart enough, they generally know not to flaunt this kind of behavior. But this government does not appear concerned.”
The president’s hour-long address on Thursday had the flavor of a political rally, with familiar criticisms for longtime adversaries such as the Senate minority leader and California’s governor, and a new one: the recently voted-in democratic socialist NYC leader.
The former president touched on his financial policies, and lauded a host of speakers from the realms of government, sport and commerce that filled the two-day agenda, created largely by the local official to highlight the region and its economic potential.
Lionel Messi, the Argentinian soccer star and global champion, offered star power from the athletic world, along with tennis champions the Spanish player and the American athlete. A discussion between the city leader and the Venezuelan opposition leader, the political figure who last month received the Nobel peace prize, was favorably viewed on the opening day.
Nevertheless overall it was a notable and clearly partisan gathering with a field of supportive speakers on the podium, enthusiastically applauded by a audience of predominantly more youthful and affluent backers of the president in the audience, some blending business suits with his trademark red MAGA caps.
In what other way to explain the attendance of the conservative South American leader, the country whose shaky financial system the US supported last month with a twenty-billion-dollar currency swap? Or that of Kingdom representatives Fahad AlSaif, head of its $925bn Public Investment Fund, and Reema Bandar Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US, promoting their nation as ripe for investment while the former first family's financial ties and influence there come under greater scrutiny?
Then there was the head of Fifa, dropping hints that the former president is in line for the organization’s first award, a controversial honor that commentators see established specially for the leader as compensation for his prize rejection.
Additional speakers, such as the chief executive of the banking giant; the founder of the co-working firm; and the hedge-fund manager, have all in the past supported, collaborated with or backed Trump, providing clear evidence of a partisan lineup.
The Miami mayor, unsurprisingly, had a contrasting view.
“We wanted it to be a kind of a cross-section from various sectors, right?” he explained to reporters.
“We convened. We said, ‘Hey, what are the prominent figures?’ People from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different genders … sports, commerce, government, tech, things that impact daily life.”
He pointed to discussions of upcoming, money-spinning notable events in Miami, including the F1 race, next year’s global conference at a leisure property, 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 representatives of the civic group, however, contend many locals are concentrating right now on other issues, especially rising real estate and food costs. The state's GOP leader rejected a call from the organization and others to issue an crisis over Snap benefits and tap state reserves to support urgent food distribution.
“Every social studies instructor would tell you it’s his responsibility to care for the residents of Florida, and he’s doing the reverse,” Hannan said, observing the contrast of a summit of ultra-wealthy individuals taking place in the identical region in which nearly 25% of households depend on Snap benefits to survive.
“There just seems to be this detachment at the highest levels. I do not believe the solution is electing a liberal or selecting a conservative, I just think we have to have more empathy for people who are struggling in this region.”
Compassion was in limited quantity in Miami from the former president, a president unrecognized for ever accepting blame during a crisis.
“The radical left Democrats are resulting in millions of Americans who rely on food stamps to go without benefits,” he said, blaming the opposition party for the government shutdown.
“I just want to have a nation that’s prosperous once more. Is that acceptable?”
