I've been a guest at the city club and also at the grove. It's a very pleasant experience as the setting tends to level all of us, then you suddenly realize this guy to your left is a multibillionaire and you've seen him on TV, and he's telling a fart joke. The atmosphere is non-businessy. It's more banal, relaxed, lots of light humor, lots of music and performances, and many members are quite talented.

Did I witness a dark deal in the making? No, but that's not to say that one didn't happen just a few feet from me without my knowledge.

I did not witness any troubling weirdness of any kind.

I think we have to admit that the mere existence of a secretive club for wealthy men is often enough to spark massive suspicion and conspiracy theory.

And in this case, the fuel onto the fire is the republican-leaning tendencies of the membership and the high concentration of power and wealth in a setting that is obfuscated from the public. Even if these guys were 100% harmless and using the setting to unplug their high visibility lives for some fart jokes and peeing against a tree, there must be aggravated suspicion by the uninvited masses that these old white guys are plotting world domination together with every Bond villain since Dr No.