🔗 Share this article

This was the week in which Republicans suffered setbacks at the ballot box, the government shutdown turned into the longest in history, and millions throughout the country, encompassing three million residents in Florida, experienced their federal food aid slashed.

Yet, in the contrasting world of Miami, where tickets to an overwhelmingly conservative corporate gathering fronted by Donald Trump cost up to nearly two thousand dollars, and ultra-wealthy individuals from the Gulf kingdom rubbed shoulders with similarly wealthy American tycoons such as Jeff Bezos and the hedge fund manager, those developments generated scarcely any reaction.

Instead, in a gesture that appeared almost to mock the growing divide between the city’s haves and less fortunate, planners of the America Business Forum cooked up a small perk for attendees: a fifty-dollar gift card to use on food to support themselves while they paid attention to their president praise himself for a era of prosperity he said his “economic miracle” had delivered.

Critics say the action, along with the lavish extravagance of the event itself, was an ill-timed affront to more than a half-million Miami-Dade county inhabitants who just saw their own capacity to buy essential groceries for their families kiboshed by the gutting of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap).

“There’s just a massive disconnect between what ordinary citizens are going through, and the elite,” stated Larry Hannan, communications and policy director of State Voices Florida, a alliance of more than a hundred non-aligned, pro-democracy and civic engagement groups.

“Jeff Bezos hardly requires a fifty-dollar food card. But we saw that with the Great Gatsby theme party last week. They just appear unable to stop doing things that are shockingly disconnected.

“We have experienced government closures before, and while clearly the White House bubble is always somewhat insane, leaders are typically astute enough, they usually know not to flaunt this kind of behavior. But this government does not appear concerned.”

The leader's hour-long address on Thursday had the tone of a campaign event, with well-known criticisms for longtime adversaries including the Democratic leader and the West Coast leader, and a fresh target: the recently voted-in democratic socialist mayor of New York.

The former president discussed his economic agenda, and lauded a host of speakers from the worlds of politics, athletics and commerce that filled the multi-day schedule, created largely by the mayor of the city of Miami to showcase south Florida and its economic potential.

Lionel Messi, the Argentina soccer star and global champion, provided star power from the athletic world, along with grand slam winners the Spanish player and the American athlete. A conversation between the city leader and the Nobel laureate, the democracy activist who last month received the Nobel peace prize, was well received on day one.

Nevertheless overall it was a notable and unmistakably politically charged gathering with a field of Trump sycophants on the stage, loudly cheered by a crowd of predominantly more youthful and affluent supporters of the president in the crowd, some combining professional attire with his signature red Make America Great Again (Maga) caps.

How else to account for the attendance of the rightwing president of Argentina, the country whose unstable financial system Trump helped shore up last month with a twenty-billion-dollar currency swap? Or that of Kingdom representatives the fund chief, head of its massive sovereign wealth fund, and Reema Bandar Al-Saud, Riyadh’s ambassador to the US, touting their nation as an opportunity while the former first family's business connections and influence there come under greater scrutiny?

Additionally there was the leader of Fifa, dropping hints that the former president is in line for the group's first award, an unwanted honor that observers see established specifically for the president as compensation for his Nobel snub.

Additional speakers, including the CEO of JP Morgan; the creator of WeWork; and the financial executive, have all previously praised, worked with or voted for Trump, offering clear evidence of a politically skewed lineup.

The Miami mayor, predictably, had a contrasting view.

“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 different backgrounds, different ethnicities, all genders … athletics, commerce, government, technology, things that impact daily life.”

He pointed to conversations of upcoming, money-spinning major occasions in the city, including the F1 race, next year’s G20 economic summit at a golf resort, and matches during the soccer tournament, which he called “a generational opportunity”.

“Our hope is that local residents are transformed by the event,” the official said. “We want them to leave believing, ‘I can be on that stage.’”

The representatives of the civic group, however, contend numerous locals are more focused right now on other issues, especially rising real estate and grocery prices. The state's Republican governor rejected a call from the group and additional parties to declare an emergency over Snap benefits and tap state reserves to support immediate nutrition programs.

“Any civics teacher would tell you it’s his responsibility to care for the people of Florida, and he’s doing the exact opposite,” the advocate said, noting the juxtaposition of a summit of billionaires taking place in the same county in which almost 25% of households depend on food stamps to survive.

“It appears to be this disconnection at the highest levels. I do not believe the answer is choosing a liberal or electing a Republican, I just think we have to have greater compassion for people who are facing difficulties in this region.”

Compassion was in limited quantity in the city from the former president, a leader not known for ever accepting blame during a difficult period.

“The radical left Democrats are causing millions of Americans who rely on food stamps to go without benefits,” he said, attributing fault to the out-of-office party for the federal closure.

“My desire is to have a country that’s great again. Is that acceptable?”