Some Hamptonites try to tone down the rancor.
At Nick & Toni’s, an East Hampton restaurant, managing partner Mark Smith said bartenders inject a joke when disagreements get heated.
“People aren’t talking about policy,” he said, “They’re talking about people.”
“We try to keep it light.”
An extreme attempt at civility was practiced by David Bohnett, a 60-year-old philanthropist and technology entrepreneur who has a house on Lake Agawam. Bohnett, a Clinton supporter and Obama appointee to the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, threw a birthday party for a friend, and offered cakes featuring likenesses of Trump and Clinton. He’d planned to entertain the guests with a Trump impersonator. After reflection, he flew in a Clinton imitator as well.
“I had to make sure there was a balance,” he said. “No one in my group wants to strain any friendships.”