Whether you’re a wealthy Trump fan seeking to celebrate your big guy’s return to power next week, a cryptocurrency enthusiast, a vaccine skeptic, a hyper-online nihilist or a simple country lobbyist, you have a lot of options in D.C. this weekend.
You can attend the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) Ball. There’s the Crypto Ball. There’s a Coronation Ball for the alt-right and, if you want all of it together, there’s even a separate MAGA MAHA Crypto Inaugural Ball.
It may well be a mini-preview of the next four years of American life: glitz, grift, involvement with far-right celebrities who make authoritarianism a brand.
The official Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee is only sanctioning three events. They are a Commander-in-Chief Ball for service members, a Liberty Inaugural Ball (the Village People will perform along with, reportedly, Nelly), and the Starlight Ball. Trump is expected to speak at each one.
But for those who are too late to gain access to these exclusive events, there are others. Lacking the Committee’s official imprimatur, the more than three dozen inaugural balls and other events run the gamut from meet-and-greets with Trump crypto boosters to an evening with Michael Flynn to an event involving a publishing house known for books that feature race science content.
They also meet a demand: large corporations, lobbyists, CEOs, and others are scouting for ways to gain influence in what may turn out to be the most transactional administration in modern American history. Trump’s 2017 inaugural served as a means for various entities, caught off guard by his victory in that election, to show their support. This year, the inaugural festivities are a way for this same set to join MAGA celebrities in performing their exultation and relief at his return. The official inaugural events have been at capacity since early this month, reports say. That opens the door for the not-officially-sanctioned balls — some of which will likely members of the incoming administration or influencers close to Trump — to provide an outlet.
The inaugural committee itself is separate from any of these events. Trump’s 2017 inaugural raised $107 million; this year’s total has not yet been publicly disclosed.
Some of the unofficial balls are being put on by conservative groups that have become stalwarts of the MAGA movement.
Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk’s organization, is hosting an inaugural eve ball. Soon-to-be Vice President JD Vance is touted as a guest, along with Donald Trump Jr., and two nominees: DNI pick Tulsi Gabbard and FBI director appointee Kash Patel. The Village People will perform at this ball as well. An individual ticket will cost you $15,000.
Others represent interest groups. Take the Crypto Ball.
That event is backed by crypto firms like BTC Inc., Kraken, and Coinbase. Stand With Crypto, a PAC that supports the industry, is helping put on the event. Scheduled for Friday evening, it will be hosted by David Sacks, the tech investor and Trump-appointed AI and crypto czar. Snoop Dogg will reportedly perform; the base ticket price is $2,500.
If crypto isn’t your thing, perhaps you’d rather make inroads with RFK Jr. and his booth at the MAGA carnival, championing homeopathic cures and warning of the dangers of various vaccines.
For that, there’s the MAHA Inaugural Ball, in honor of the “Make America Healthy Again” branding that Kennedy has adopted and that has come to describe the granola-munching right. In addition to RFK Jr., Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services nominee Dr. Oz is expected to attend, along with Del Bigtree, an anti-vaccine activist and leader of MAHA Action, the nonprofit putting the event on. Jimmy Levy, a singer who first emerged on the MAGA musical map for his appearance alongside the Trump-supporting rapper Forgiato Blow in the song “BOYCOTT TARGET,” has said that he will be performing.
Maybe you want a bit of MAHA and also a bit of crypto and also Michael Flynn in your inaugural weekend celebrating and schmoozing. For that, there’s the jointly named MAGA MAHA Crypto Inaugural Ball, part of a two-day series of events held at National Harbor, the event complex outside of D.C.
Evelio Medina, a Cuban-American businessman producing the event, told TPM that the location was to keep visitors away from D.C.
“It’s the safest venue, if something happens at the mall we’re up 11 miles from the White House,” he said.
The event is more reasonably priced than the others: the base ticket costs $500. Flynn, former Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, child actor-turned-cryptocurrency entrepreneur Brock Pierce and others are advertised as speaking.
“We’re celebrating a new era for America and the rest of the world,” Medina added. “I believe the biggest fraud in the world is the U.S. dollar, and we need to go to the digital asset space in the 21st century for real,” he said, speaking to the ball’s crypto branding.
Maybe none of that is for you. Maybe you want something edgier; perhaps what inspires you is the so-called nationalist elements of the MAGA agenda; perhaps you are drawn to Trumpism after much time marinating in the internet’s most extreme or nihilistic corners.
That’s where the Coronation Ball comes in. Per HuffPost, it’s being hosted by Passage Press, a publishing house that has attracted attention for distributing work by Steve Sailer, a race science proponent, and by Curtis Yarvin, a sort of internet micro-celebrity known for two decades spent pushing tech-centric, authoritarian ideas.
Yarvin will attend the event, HuffPost reported, along with Steve Bannon and a few other right-wing influencers, including Christopher Rufo, Mike Cernovich, and Jack Posobiec.
Passage Press later said that the event is being sponsored by the Remilia Corporation, an NFT-producing collective whose central figure was reportedly tied to an internet cult.
