Grindr as Republican VIP Salon

A major dating app (Grindr) is being used as an elite social venue where political operatives, donors and ‘power’ members of identity groups gather for backstage networking during high‑profile events like the White House Correspondents’ dinner. Access is policed through informal gatekeepers (SUVs, headsets, introductions), making the platform a curated political salon rather than a neutral meeting space. — If platforms double as elite political salons, they reshape who gets in, how coalitions form, and how identity signals are leveraged for partisan legitimacy.