Katie Glueck is a national political reporter at Politico.

BEL AIR, Calif. — Past a pair of Rolls-Royces parked in the driveway and a bodyguard who answers the door, the first thing you encounter upon entering Toni Holt Kramer’s house is a picture of Donald Trump.

This Hollywood reporter turned bicoastal socialite is the founder of “Trumpettes USA,” a group of mostly high-society female friends and admirers of the GOP nominee — including Gennifer Flowers, of Bill Clinton sex scandal notoriety — dedicated to making Trump America’s next president.


Kramer gathered members of her club here, at her palatial home in the Los Angeles area, while their candidate worked a barn full of farmers in Iowa last Saturday. They discussed opportunities for pro-Trump events and venues for fundraisers, but mostly these ladies who lunch spent six hours together talking up the man several of them consider a longtime friend. And in the process, they provided a gilded window into the ultra-elite social circle Trump ran in for decades, before he descended a few steps on America’s glamour ladder to conquer the Republican Party.

The world of Trump and the Trumpettes is unsubtly wealthy, full of knuckle-sized bejeweled rings and multiple vacation homes. Its residents are ideologically flexible: Like Trump, they have donated extensively to both parties and claim friendships with power players across the political spectrum. (Kramer says she has been both a friend and donor to Hillary Clinton.) And like Trump, the Trumpettes and their male counterparts, “the Trumpsters,” are politically incorrect — often much more so than the proudly irreverent nominee himself.

Those gathered at Kramer’s home were largely dismissive of criticism that Trump’s campaign has played off racial tensions (“Black Lives Matter and all that bullshit”) or that some of his supporters are motivated by bigotry (“I was raised by a black nanny, there’s no prejudice on my side”). They disbelieve polls that peg their candidate as deeply unpopular with women — and some don’t think any woman should be president anyway (“You think ISIS is going to listen to her?”). And if they have quibbles with Trump’s rhetoric, it’s because they believe he has been, at times, too restrained (One “regrets” that Trump dropped the birther issue).

The Trumpettes are a socioeconomic world away from the populist blue-collar workers who have fueled Trump’s rise. But their visceral opposition to President Barack Obama (“he’s the racist,” one said), their approving view that Trump is a “strong man” who will keep the country safe, and their deep unease with Muslims would all fit right in with the rank and file at a Trump rally. It’s evidence that the Republican nominee, long accused of flip-flopping on a range of policy issues, perhaps hasn’t strayed so far from his roots after all.

Toni Holt Kramer, pictured above in her Bel-Air home, is the founder of the Trumpettes. Below, photos of Kramer with Trump and other actors, politicians and friends adorn her home. | Nancy Pastor for Politico Magazine

To the Trumpettes, the candidate’s lack of governing experience is irrelevant. The proof of his ability to make America great again is in his business empire and the properties contained within it, places Trumpettes know well.

“The reason I love his club and Trump International is because it’s perfection,” Kramer said of Mar-a-Lago, his private Palm Beach club, and Trump’s nearby golf course. “That’s the way he’ll run the country.”

***

Trumpettes USA was founded last fall during a gala at the Beverly Hilton, where Kramer and several of her friends from Palm Beach, Florida — mostly Mar-a-Lago members — decided to officially launch a pro-Trump women’s group, populated by people with ties to Trump’s properties or to Trump himself.

Ann Turkel, a former model and actress, shows an image on her cell phone of fellow Trumpettes. | Nancy Pastor for Politico Magazine

Like Trump, who had the Clintons at his third wedding and donated to Hillary Clinton in the past, Kramer is not a lifelong Republican. She once hosted Hillary Clinton in her backyard for a fundraiser (“I knew she liked yellow, I did the whole party in yellow,” she says) and in her second living room, she displays pictures of herself with Bill Clinton.

“We were friends, I hope we are still friends,” said Kramer of her relationship with Hillary Clinton, which she says originated at the final party the Clintons threw at the White House. Kramer was in town for George W. Bush inauguration festivities, but found the long lines, the plastic cutlery and paper plates at some of his events underwhelming. So when a friend called with an invitation to the White House, she headed there instead.

That relationship, however, is outweighed by her admiration for Trump’s law-and-order platform, his promises to play tough with terrorists and his pledge to use his business experience to make the American economy great again. “There’s nothing to decide,” she said. “I love America more than any friend. My decision to go with Trump, to form the Trumpettes, very simply put, No. 1, I believed in the man.”

Trump’s and Kramer’s ties to both parties are not uncommon in their circles, where, for reasons both business and personal, people often maintain connections across the political spectrum. Such was the case with the women she had over on Saturday.

Kelly Day, the ex-wife of finance titan Robert Day, has known the Clintons for years — she hosted a lunch for Hillary Clinton on her yacht during the Monica Lewinsky scandal — and is heavily involved in fundraising for Trump.

Nikki Haskell, a former television host and weight loss expert who calls herself a Democrat, used to frequent 1970s New York hotspots like Elaine’s and Le Club with Donald and Ivana Trump — “No one gives Ivana credit for bringing up those children,” she noted — and she has Trump family wedding photos, including from several of the Trump children’s weddings, on her phone.

Onetime model and actress Ann Turkel, former wife of the late actor Richard Harris, encountered Trump two decades ago in her show business days. Now, Turkel is involved with another pro-Trump group, “Real Women 4 Trump,” that is considering a merger with the Trumpettes (the Trumpettes are a very loose confederation of women — several of those Kramer assembled weren’t part of the group until they showed up at her home).

Pat Boone, above, once a chart-topping singer, is an ally of the Trumpettes and a former birther. He still doubts the veracity of Obama’s birth certificate. | Nancy Pastor for Politico Magazine

Joined by Pat Boone, a chart-topping star from Elvis’s era, and lawyer Fred Ascari, who has long considered Trump a friend, the women spent a late August Saturday in Kramer’s sun-drenched mansion, sipping white wine that matched their outfits. (“We only have a few more days to wear white,” Turkel said.)

But while they’re well-versed in the niceties of high society — and several did say they wished Trump wouldn’t always feel the need to tear into his rivals — the Trumpettes had no problem offering statements about Muslims and women that make Trump look politically correct by comparison.

“You think ISIS is going to listen to her?” asked Haskell, 75, who added she’d still like to see a female president at some point. “I don’t think, at this point in our history, anyone is going to listen to a woman, whether it be Hillary or anyone else, as a leader. We need someone tough, strong, that they’re afraid of.”

“We need a man,” Kramer said. “A man who is strong, who is the symbol of Superman.”

Trump has come under fire for sexism, both for comments made during the presidential race and for womanizing remarks he publicly made for years. But he has said he would like to see a woman become president, just not the one currently running against him.

And while Trump has in the past called for a ban on Muslim immigration — a position he has de-emphasized recently — the Trumpettes went a step further, worrying about the influence of Islam within Clinton’s inner circle.

“Her secretary, she’s a Muslim!” Haskell exclaimed, referring to Huma Abedin, the Michigan-born vice chair of Clinton’s campaign who is one of the candidate’s closest confidantes and is widely respected, including by Republicans like Sen. John McCain. “I don’t think we should have a Muslim in power, someone working for the president.”

“We have a Muslim in power,” Turkel said, apparently referring to Obama. (Obama is a Christian.)

“There’s a group of peaceful Muslims,” countered Day, who has an endowment at Rice University that focuses on women and human rights in the Middle East. “They try to get their message out there, but they can’t.”

Boone, meanwhile, was dismayed that Trump has largely dropped his questions about Obama’s birth certificate, after, to wide mockery, Trump obsessed over Obama’s birthplace during the 2012 election. Trump “caused the man to produce his own smoking gun,” Boone said, saying he doubted the veracity of Obama’s long-form birth certificate that proves he was born in the U.S., not in Kenya, as some birthers alleged. (Experts do not have doubts.)

Trump has faced criticism for being slow to disavow racist supporters, like former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, and his heated rhetoric toward Muslims and Latinos has outraged some on both sides of the aisle. But the Trumpettes reject the idea that Trump is bigoted. After all, they say, Mar-a-Lago is one of the few clubs in Palm Beach to have no history of quiet discrimination, and Trump has a record of hiring and promoting women.

“Donald’s not a racist,” Haskell said. “He’s not anti-gay. He’s a businessman. He’s a man that has everybody working for him along the lines of every race, color and creed. His daughter is Orthodox Jewish.”

Kramer also wanted to make clear that her own criticisms of Obama, and support for the Republican now, weren’t rooted in intolerance, but rather in the sense that the country is not better off now than it was four years ago. “This [was] a monumental step, having a black president, which was wonderful, had he done a great job, I’d be a big champion,” Kramer said. “I was raised by a black nanny, there’s no prejudice on my side. I’m not bigoted. I’ve had people who have worked in my life, Hispanics, black, they’ve all been in my life 10, 15 years that work for us.”

At left, Nikki Haskell talks politics with Kelly Day at the Bel-Air home of Toni Holt Kramer. At right, Kramer and lawyer Fred C. Ascari, who considers Trump a longtime friend. | Nancy Pastor for Politico Magazine

For example, there is Maria, Kramer’s housekeeper. “Maria is one of our Trumpettes who has converted her entire church,” Kramer said, describing her as part of the family. “She’s Latina.”

Maria, a U.S. citizen from Mexico, cited her opposition to abortion in explaining why she was voting Republican, but she disappeared into the kitchen instead of joining the group discussion.

***

The most famous member of the Trumpettes, however, is one who has never met Trump.

Gennifer Flowers, an entertainer who knows Kramer from show business, was not present Saturday, but in a phone interview she explained that she and Kramer were longtime friends. After Flowers saw a Facebook post about the Trumpettes, she sent Kramer a complimentary note. In response, Kramer invited her to be a "founding member," Flowers said.

Flowers — who says she had a long-standing sexual relationship with Bill Clinton (he said under oath they had one encounter) and who for years pursued an ultimately unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against Hillary Clinton — says she identifies as a Trumpette because she “wouldn’t ever consider supporting the Clintons,” and because she likes Trump’s approach to immigration and the economy.

Many of the Trumpettes, however, have a more personal connection to Trump, and they see proof of his presidential greatness — commitment to excellence, keeping his word — in the things he has done for them as friends and members of his club.

Once, a Trumpette wanted to have a party at Mar-a-Lago — but the rooms were booked. So Kramer asked Trump to intervene. “He went, ‘done,’” she said. And a room materialized. “That is the kind of man Mr. Trump is. When he says something, he does it.”

As they talked Saturday, the conversation repeatedly returned to one group of villains: The Republicans who were still not backing Trump for president, a move the Trumpettes see as a breach of a loyalty pledge, something they insist Trump would never do. “I’m sorry for them,” Boone said. “They’re losers, in that if he wins, they’re outside looking in. If he loses, they bear some of the responsibility.”

“Oh! Shameful!” Kramer said at one point.

“Scandalous,” Haskell said.

Toni Holt Kramer making a T. | Nancy Pastor for Politico Magazine

But the Trumpettes’ world is not without its own internal tension, including a disagreement (albeit one expressed almost exclusively in passive-aggressive terms) over who is the original Trumpette.

Another entity, the Dallas-based “Trumpettes Global,” has its own leadership structure. And while the groups insist they’re not rivals, they exchanged thinly veiled barbs.

Kramer says she founded her group and that her lawyer has the documents to prove it, but otherwise waves off talk of other Trumpettes: “The more the merrier,” she said.

And Dena Miller, who does not know Trump but is head of Trumpettes Global, downplayed any tension, but couldn’t resist a knock on Kramer. “We’re all on the same page. I’ve never donated any money to Clinton, but whatever,” she sniffed.

For the most part, however, the Trumpettes seem to be having a good time.

On Saturday, they posed for photos, ate bite-sized cookies and promised to do a women’s event together soon.

And through it all, they’ll continue to flash their official hand sign: one French manicured, diamond-ringed finger over another, forming a T.