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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Adam Reiner

Talking politics has bartenders on edge in Trump’s Washington DC

Two men holding beers argue at a bar as a bartender hesitates to speak from behind the counter.
‘I’ve broken up at least three political arguments since we opened,’ said Bart Hutchins of Butterworth’s. Illustration: Madison Ketcham/The Guardian

Deke Dunne relocated to Washington DC from Wyoming in 2008 to pursue a career in politics. Though a progressive himself, he worked as a legislative aide for the Republican senator Mike Enzi and spent many nights at local watering holes, guzzling $10 pitchers and eating wings with fellow broke staffers from both sides of the aisle. Long before he began moonlighting as a bartender, he learned that talking politics in DC bars was always a recipe for disaster.

“When I used to work in politics, I would spend a lot of time in bars near Capitol Hill,” said Dunne, “so I was exposed to more political professionals. In those spaces, you often find yourself witnessing knockdown, drag-out arguments about politics.”

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