Jun 23, 2018 - Politics & Policy

The big picture: Dining out in D.C. is getting tough for Trump officials

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed that she was booted from The Red Hen, a restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, on Friday night — apparently because of her work for the Trump administration.

The big picture: No official word from the restaurant has been given regarding Sanders' dismissal from the establishment, though a waiter there posted on Facebook that "my owner asked her to leave." And Sanders isn't the first Trump administration official to have difficulty dining out in the D.C. area this week.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was heckled at MXDC, a Mexican restaurant in downtown Washington, earlier this week, while the administration was in the middle of a heated immigration fight. The next day, President Trump signed an executive order aimed to stop the separation of families at the border.

Senior adviser Stephen Miller was also heckled at Espita Mezcaleria, a Mexican restaurant in Washington's hip Shaw neighborhood, when a patron said, per the New York Post: "Hey look guys, whoever thought we’d be in a restaurant with a real-life fascist begging [for] money for new cages?"

One more thing: Young Trump staffers are also having a hard time dating in D.C., Politico Magazine writes.

  • One young woman said when she's on dating apps, "You do the small talk thing, and you have a very good conversation, and then they might say, 'You didn’t vote for Trump, right?' ... As soon as I say, 'Of course I did,' it just devolves into all-caps 'HOW COULD YOU BE SUCH A RACIST AND A BIGOT?' And 'You’re going to take away your own birth control.'"
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