How Protesters Got Into the DC Restaurant Where Trump Dined

[mahatmakanejeeves]

FOOD
How Protesters Got Into the DC Restaurant Where Trump Dined
Activists chanted, "Free DC. Free Palestine. Trump is the Hitler of our time.”

WRITTEN BY JESSICA SIDMAN | PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 10, 2025

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Olivia DiNucci was at a protest outside the UK embassy, showing solidarity with the pro-Palestinian demonstrators arrested in London last weekend, when a friend of a friend told her to call ASAP. … “When I hear that, I know right away that someone is somewhere, and they need to be disrupted,” says DiNucci, an organizer with Code Pink, which describes itself as “a feminist grassroots organization working to end US wars and militarism.” She’s previously confronted other politicians, including Joe Biden, at restaurants and other public venues.

This time, rumor had it that Donald Trump was going to be dining at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak, and Stone Crab next to the White House later that evening. It would be his first visit to a DC restaurant as president this term.

DiNucci immediately reached out to a group of fellow activists and made a last-minute reservation at Joe’s. She biked home to drop off her megaphone from the embassy protest and change clothes, then biked to the restaurant where she met three others. They arrived about an hour before Trump.

“These people should not get a second of peace wherever they are. If they’re in public, we will find them and we will make sure that they hear what we have to say,” says DiNucci, who’s been a vocal advocate for the people of Gaza as well as DC residents caught up in Trump’s immigration crackdown.

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Jessica Sidman
FOOD EDITOR
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.

[EarthAbides]

1. Would they have gotten a reservation...

If restaurants were booming? Inquiring minds want to know...

[IronLionZion]

2. Good point

I've tried and failed to get reservations at places the Obamas were dining in back in the day. Anytime Secret Service starts sweeping a place, people will try to get reservations there just to see which high ranking official will be there.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Maddow Blog-'Paid insurrectionists': Amid unrest in L.A, Trump returns to an unsettling old favorite

For nearly a decade, the president has accused those protesting against him of being “paid protesters.” It’s a ridiculous claim rooted in a scary subtext.

As Trump clings to his “paid insurrectionists” line, there’s an unsettling subtext:

For Trump, Americans who disagree with him are effectively an impossibility that can only be explained through corrupt schemes and illicit payments. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-06-10T19:09:42.597Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/paid-insurrectionists-unrest-l-trump-returns-unsettling-old-favorite-rcna212142

The Republican replied that he would “take a look at what’s happening,” which wasn’t exactly reassuring. But before moving on, Trump blamed local unrest on “paid insurrectionists.”

Reporter: “How will you determine whether or not there is an insurrection?”

Trump: “Take a look at what's happening…There were certain areas of Los Angeles last night you could've called it an insurrection. It was terrible. These are paid insurrectionists.”

— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-06-10T16:56:10.074Z

He’s been pushing the same line quite a bit in recent days. A day earlier, the president also told reporters: “The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators.” Over the weekend, he also used his social media platform to complain about “paid troublemakers” and “paid insurrectionists.”

If the line sounds familiar, it’s not your imagination.

As regular readers might recall, it was nearly nine years ago when Trump’s 2016 candidacy inspired protests, at which point he assumed that the people involved couldn’t possibly be sincere in their dislike of him. They were, he said at the time, “paid agitators.”

After he prevailed on Election Day 2016, there was related anti-Trump activism. Those involved, he said in November 2016, were “paid protesters.” Months later, after his inauguration, the activism continued. Trump assured the public once more that these Americans deserved to be ignored — because, he assumed, they were “paid protesters.”

The following year, Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination inspired another round of progressive activism. The protesters, Trump insisted, were “paid professionals.”....

Indeed, it’s hardly a stretch to draw a straight line from “paid protesters” rhetoric to election denialism: Americans who side with Trump and Republicans are real, while Americans who disagree must necessarily be seen as inauthentic.

Whether the president is prepared to accept this or not, the fact remains that Americans who take to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with him don’t need to be compensated: Their outrage is sincere.