President Donald Trump is set to attend a fundraiser in Beverly Hills on Sept. 17, after a meeting in the Bay Area and before heading to San Diego the next day. The trip is part of his 2020 re-election campaign tour through the Golden State.
Trump Victory finance chairman Todd Ricketts, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, RNC Co-Chairman Tommy Hicks Jr., and Campaign Manager Brad Parscale will host the event. Tickets to the event range from $1,000 per person to $100,000 per couple, including a photoshoot with the president.
While California is traditionally seen as a liberal stronghold, Harmeet Dhillon, a member of the Republican National Committee and host of the event in San Francisco, says he expects no problems in filling seats.
“Every presidential candidate who has the potential to raise money comes to the Bay Area, and I expect he’s going to have a series of very successful fundraisers here,” Dhillon told Politico, “because there are millions of Californians who support him.’’
But not everyone is happy with Trump’s upcoming visit. Actors Eric McCormick and Debra Messing, co-stars in the NBC hit series “Will and Grace,” took to Twitter to express their displeasure, but with a more threatening twist, calling upon anyone who could share information about who would show up at the event.
“Hey, @THR,” McCormack wrote, “Kindly report on everyone attending this event, so the rest of us can be clear about who we don’t wanna work with. Thx.”
Hey, @THR, kindly report on everyone attending this event, so the rest of us can be clear about who we don’t wanna work with. Thx. https://t.co/7W3xPG3bI2
— Eric McCormack (@EricMcCormack) August 30, 2019
“Please print a list of all attendees, please,” Messing wrote to Twitter. “The public has a right to know.”
Please print a list of all attendees please. The public has a right to know. https://t.co/YV4UoxrPHI
— Debra Messing (@DebraMessing) August 31, 2019
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld commented on the tweets: “What’s the difference between Joe McCarthy and Debra Messing? One organized a witch hunt against law-abiding people with dissenting opinions. The other was a senator from Wisconsin,” he said, according to Page Six.
“Labeling half of America as deplorable isn’t a winning strategy,” Trump communications director Tim Murtaugh told The New York Post. “Just ask Hillary.”
Murtaugh was referring to former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who referred to Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables” during the 2016 election cycle.
It will be Trump’s second visit for fundraising in California this year. In April, approximately 200 attendees showed up, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Trump’s visit will take place two days after the Emmy Awards ceremonies on Sept. 14 and Sept. 15 in Los Angeles. This will mark the president’s first appearance in Tinseltown since his comments on the White House lawn about a month ago regarding the Hollywood film industry.
“Hollywood is really terrible. You talk about ‘racist?’ Hollywood is racist,” The Hollywood Reporter reported. “What they’re doing, with the kind of movies they’re putting out, it’s actually very dangerous for our country. What Hollywood is doing is a tremendous disservice to our country.”