As he returns to Washington, President-elect Donald Trump is being feted by the crypto bros, a far-right publishing house and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” acolytes.
More than three dozen balls and other similarly glitzy affairs have been scheduled in the days leading up to the inauguration. Many are replete with long lists of corporate sponsors and high-profile CEOs eager to demonstrate their fealty to the president-elect after keeping him at arm’s length during his first inauguration over fears his anti-immigrant rhetoric and scandals would sully their brands.
Not so anymore.
It’s a sign of just how broad the MAGA coalition has grown, and how contentious the fights ahead are likely to become as the new factions in Trump’s orbit compete for influence.
Some of the inaugural balls — long the playground of Washington’s establishment types — are being hosted by organizations that eight years ago were still at the fringes of the Republican Party, such as Turning Point Action, the group helmed by prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and the far-right publishing company Passage Publishing.
“There’s a much wider nexus of groups, celebrities and media personalities that want to be a part of this celebration,” said Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point, which is hosting a ball Jan. 19. “In 2016, the world still wasn’t quite sure what to make of President Trump. 2024 represents a much broader embrace and enthusiasm that Trumpism and the movement he sparked has won, not just politically but culturally and ideologically.”
Critics have blasted Passage Publishing for spreading nativist works that push the country toward autocratic values, including a recent HuffPo article that criticized the name of the ball itself — “the 2025 Coronation Ball” — as an example of the “authoritarian nature of the black-tie soiree.”
Jack Posobiec, an influential MAGA podcaster, is one of many organizers and high-profile attendees who have turned that into a badge of honor. He called the event a “spiritual successor” to the 2017 DeploraBall, which he helped organize.
“Before we were the outsiders looking in, and now we’re walking in the front door,” Posobiec said. “Because this is a regime change.”
Other first-time events, such as the Crypto Ball and the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) Inaugural Ball, highlight the previously disjointed interests that Trump knit together into a winning coalition. A MAHA ball would have been unthinkable months ago, before Kennedy, the Democrat-turned-independent and the most prominent leader of the so-called “medical freedom movement” dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.
Now, with Kennedy poised to join the Trump administration if confirmed as Health and Human Services secretary, a movement of like-minded vaccine skeptics will have unprecedented power to reshape American health care, including by introducing new restrictions on pharmaceutical companies and more tightly regulating food and agriculture.
“This is not just an event — it’s a moment to convene the champions of the MAHA vision, reflect on decades of hard work, and witness the culmination of a movement that will continue to shape America’s future,” said Emma Post, a spokesperson for MAHA Action, which is hosting the event.
Other speakers and attendees expected to attend the event include Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services nominee Mehmet Oz, Food and Drug Administration commissioner pick Dr. Marty Makary and other MAHA movement leaders, including MAHA Action CEO Del Bigtree and food activist Vani Hari.
But the events also nod to some of the coming clashes. The Republican Party is not, for instance, writ large on board with the MAHA agenda — and there are other spats on the horizon, including between the free traders and the protectionists, immigration hardliners and those who support more moderate reform, isolationists and expansionists, and more.
Sponsorship of many of the soirees publicly reflects what corporations are privately acknowledging: They need Trump on their side if they want to get anything done in Washington over the next four years. As TikTok’s future hangs in the balance before the Supreme Court, the company is sponsoring the “Power 30 Awards,” which are aimed at “honoring the most impactful influencers of the 2024 election,” according to promotional materials obtained by POLITICO.
BTC Inc., the company that promotes Bitcoin and Stand With Crypto, an advocacy group started by Coinbase, are jointly holding the first-ever Inaugural Crypto Ball as the cryptocurrency industry is poised to have more influence in Washington than it ever has before. The Trump administration is expected to be the most explicitly pro-crypto in history and enact a number of industry-friendly policies, like overhauling financial regulations to align with the industry’s biggest asks. Spokespeople for TikTok and the Crypto Ball did not respond to requests for comment.
Other corporate sponsors have signed on for other events — Johnson & Johnson and Pepsico are sponsoring the Hispanic Inaugural Ball — and that’s on top of the millions that companies like Amazon, AT&T, Bank of America, Ford, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, Google, Meta, the cryptocurrency firm Ripple, Toyota and others have donated to Trump’s inaugural fund. Even Apple CEO Tim Cook has personally donated $1 million.
The turnabout in corporate America’s comfort with a man they regarded as crass — or worse — is notable.
“If Trump 1.0 led to ‘the resistance,’” Kolvet said, “Trump 2.0 has led to ‘the acquiescence.’”
The events also reflect the Republican Party’s increasing appeal to non-white voters, and the Trump campaign’s efforts to court Black and Latino voters, especially men. While Vice President Kamala Harris won Latino voters nationally, Trump improved his standing with them by 14 points compared to his 2020 performance, according to CNN exit polls.
Organizers of a planned Hispanic Inaugural Ball, which will be held the Saturday before inauguration at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, are seeing that increased enthusiasm for Trump translate in their event planning: The ball already has nearly three times the number of RSVP’s compared to a similar event eight years ago that hosted 500.
And it appears to have the longest list of Trump’s Cabinet picks as honorary chairs of any of the other inaugural balls, including Kennedy, Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio, Homeland Security nominee Kristi Noem, Labor nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Director of National Intelligence pick Tulsi Gabbard and Transportation nominee Sean Duffy.
“This is the moment for Hispanics,” said Abraham Enriquez, founder and president of Bienvenido US, which is hosting the ball. “President Trump is returning to the White House because of the hands of Hispanic voters. This ball is to celebrate that Hispanics are no longer seen as the dormant sleeping giants.”
Similarly, the Black Conservative Federation is holding a so-called Legacy of Freedom Ball. The federation specifically focused on engaging Black men during the campaign in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, by focusing on the economy, parental rights in education and other conservative policies.
“New and established coalitions are reshaping the electoral map,” the organization’s vice president Necho Carroll said.
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