In case you forgot — while remaining president of the United States, Donald Trump also has his name on and money in an array of establishments around the world, including a hotel right in Washington, D.C. The France-based Michelin tire company has now awarded a sushi restaurant that’s in that Trump D.C. hotel with a prestigious distinction, setting the Sushi Nakazawa location apart as one of just a handful of restaurants in D.C. that they recommend with a “star.” Congratulations Trump — you might be running the country into the ground and have a majority of the country against you, but at least a tire company likes the food in one of your hotels!
An inspector for Michelin claimed to Bloomberg that the restaurant’s location did not factor into the company’s decision to distinguish it.
Insisting that the fish was great, they said:
‘There was no pause about the hotel that it’s located in. It’s all about the food on the plate for the star.’
The restaurant is one of just four that were added to the guide from the D.C. area with one star (establishments can earn up to three) this year.
Michelin Guide international director Gwendal Poullennec said:
‘We are pretty certain to add new destinations in the U.S., but we expand step by step. We don’t want to compromise.’
Besides describing the physical aspects of the location as “elegant and intimate, with lots of dark wood and gorgeous gold accents,” the Michelin Guide portion covering the D.C. restaurant reads:
‘The team works in a tidy fashion, their hands moving as silently and seamlessly as a surgeon along meticulously organized counters. Ingredients are sourced both locally and from abroad, and freshness is paramount.’
This situation is far from the first time that the Trump hotel in D.C. has been in the news. The entire establishment has been under intense scrutiny because some point to the occasional flow of foreign cash through the hotel into Trump’s businesses as a direct violation of the Constitutional prohibition against the president accepting gifts from foreign powers that aren’t through official channels.
Shortly after Trump was elected, lobbyists working for the Saudi Arabian government have been reported to have spent more than $250,000 at Trump’s D.C. hotel, reserving whole blocks of rooms using Saudi money. In the time since, Trump’s repeated deference to the Saudis has become abundantly clear. He’s gone so far that he’s denied the reports of blatant evidence implicating the top levels of their leadership in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the favor of maintaining some kind of “bromance” with the country’s murderous dictator.
The Trump Organization — which just to be clear, the president still has an active financial stake in although he’s ceded executive control — has made a show of donating foreign profits, but there have been plenty of doubts that the donations have actually constituted the entirety of the foreign money they got. In probably any other presidency, this whole scandal would be at the top of the news, but in the Trump era, it’s just another day that ends in y.
Featured Image via screenshot
