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

In many watering holes, avoiding politics is an unspoken rule. Staying neutral is getting harder under this regime

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 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."