Meet the Hollywood super-networkers working to beat Trump at any price
They raise millions of dollars for Democrats, mingle with the wealthy and celebrities, despise the word ‘elite’ – and they really want to crush Cheeto Mussolini
One evening early last October, a crowd gathered around the deep end of a black-bottom pool in the Hollywood Hills. There were probably 100 people there, most of them balancing plastic cups of pinot noir and platefuls of gouda and prosciutto and thick, artisanal crackers crammed with nuts or dried fruit.
Leonardo DiCaprio, in various shades of gray, was leaning against a nearby bar. So were Paris Hilton, Ashton Kutcher and Glenn Close, who had come with her dog, which was little, of indeterminate breed, probably a rescue. There was also a venture capitalist or two, the head of partnerships at Snapchat, attorneys, finance bros, several writers and producers, and the co-founder of an online retailer that specializes in men’s grooming products. These were not, by and large, celebrities, but they could afford to spend an evening with people who were – and had paid as much as $2,800 for the privilege. They were smart, or smart-adjacent, successful or very successful, media savvy, fashionable, nicely coiffed.