Susie Tompkins Buell’s TV is broken, which is probably a good thing given that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been tearing into Buell’s good friend, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, on the airwaves.

“It’s the lowest of the low,” Buell said. “She’s my friend, and to hear this blithering, crazy narcissist say those things about her is literally appalling.”

Tompkins Buell and her husband, Mark Buell, have turned their Pacific Heights penthouse into a sort of Airbnb for high-profile Democratic candidates. President Obama has been there so often for fundraisers that he joked that he felt as if he lived there. This week Buell hosted Gabby Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who nearly died after being shot in the head by a deranged gunman in 2011.

“She still has a hard time communicating,” Buell said. “But she is always smiling. She’s like an angel.”

But it’s Clinton with whom she’s formed a bond. The two chat about their kids, plan dinners and chat regularly, in person or on the phone. Clinton, who calls Buell “my free-spirited friend,” is likely to get a text from Buell to point out something like a lovely full moon.

It’s that kind of relationship. Clinton has been criticized for seeming cold and aloof, but she’s clearly embraced the New Agey Buell, who is prone to observations like her feeling that Clinton has maha.

“It’s a Sanskrit word meaning greatness,” Buell said.

Lack of pretense

Most likely, Clinton appreciates Buell’s lack of artifice and pretense. Although she’s a fervent supporter and fundraiser for Democratic candidates and causes — climate change and gun control are two passions — she’s anything but a political wheeler-dealer.

She met Bill Clinton at a dinner in Sacramento in 1991 when he was just ramping up his campaign for president. Buell, who founded the popular clothing lines North Face and Esprit with her ex-husband Doug Tompkins, says she was “going through a divorce and selling my company.”

Bill Clinton was a sympathetic listener at the dinner and, impressed, Buell wrote a check for $100,000 to his campaign. She figured that was that. Then someone from the Clinton organization called with a question:

“What do you want?’ they asked, figuring anyone who made a large donation like that would have an agenda.

“I had no idea you could buy anything,” she said. “I just wanted to help him become president.”

Mark Buell was the 1st

It was only the second political campaign contribution she’d ever made. The first was in 1988, when she donated $500 to a guy she’d known at Lowell High School, Mark Buell. He was running for the Board of Supervisors, and although he lost, he remembered his former classmate.

Buell sent out a form letter thank you, but handwrote at the bottom: “This is a long way from high school.” The exchange sparked a romance, and in 1996 the two were married. Mark, a real estate investor and president of the Recreation and Park Commission, still has the note, framed and mounted on the wall of his study.

“I’m very spontaneous and emotional,” she said. “Mark gives me sound advice. It’s very yin and yang. And it works.”

Although their 12th-story penthouse is a spectacular setting with views of the bay and both bridges, there’s nothing stuffy about it. The lack of formality clearly appeals to Hillary Clinton.

‘Hillary for Congress’

Buell recalls the chilly evening when Hillary Clinton was spending the night and asked her if she had something warm she could wear.

“All I have,” Buell said, “is a ‘Hillary for Congress’ sweatshirt.”

“That’s fine,” Hillary Clinton said. “Then if someone finds me roaming the halls, they’ll know who I am.”

Hillary Clinton also spends time in Bolinas, where the Buells have a home. It’s a place where Buell says the presidential candidate can let her hair down. During one visit, Mark made her a whiskey sour. Buell says she liked it so much she had another.

Some time later the Buells were at the White House and Hillary Clinton walked up holding a glass of white wine.

“Wouldn’t you rather have a whiskey sour?” Mark asked.

“What happens in Bolinas stays in Bolinas,” Hillary Clinton replied.

Hillary a foodie

Hillary Clinton, it turns out, is also a bit of a foodie. Buell says she checks in with her when a San Francisco visit is upcoming and asks, “Can we go out to dinner and have some fun?” She’s taken her friend to ultra-hip State Bird Provisions and a Michelin two-star restaurant, Quince.

If you’re sensing a trend, you’re right. Buell and her buddy prefer cozy, trendy places like the hip, but small and unassuming Liholiho Yacht Club on Sutter Street, where they dined in May.

“She loved it, just cocktails, gossip and fun,” Buell said. “We totally forgot she was running for president.”

C.W. Nevius is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His columns appear Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Email: cwnevius@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @cwnevius