Hours after TikTok is set to be banned from the U.S. market, conservative influencers will gather to celebrate President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration at a Washington D.C. party sponsored by the social media app.
Five blocks from the White House, under chandeliers and red spotlights, hundreds of the conservative movement’s biggest Gen Z names are expected to attend The Power 30 Awards, which is billed as an event that will honor “the movers and shakers who didn’t just go viral—they reshaped the narrative of 2024.”
“We’re rolling out the red carpet for the influencers who turned posts into impact, making waves that helped define the path to victory,” an invitation for the gala reads.
The party’s largest sponsor is TikTok, the social media app currently staring down an impending ban over its Chinese ownership. Event organizers told Newsweek that TikTok put up $50,000 to help host the awards. Kalshi, the prediction market firm that named Donald Trump Jr. as a strategic adviser earlier this week, is the event’s other main sponsor.
The confluence of events is not lost on Raquel Debono, who is hosting the event alongside influencer CJ Pearson. She called it both “ironic” and “pretty cool” for TikTok, which she sees as being a mainly liberal platform, to be sponsoring an event of this magnitude.
“We really want to celebrate the voices, who have been sort of neglected by traditional media in the past, and show that this really was an influencers’ election,” Debono told Newsweek. “The fact that we are getting all these people into one room shows that influencers have really become the new media for Gen Z.”
As Trump prepares to be sworn into the White House once more, it has become convention wisdom that social media influencers played a decisive role in bringing him to this moment.
The president-elect himself has repeatedly talked about how TikTok helped him and his campaign reach younger voters and those who tune out of mainstream media. He also won over large swaths of young male voters with his podcast tour, appearing on shows hosted by popular influencers, like the Nelk Boys.
Those are the creators that the event hopes to bring together and honor on Sunday night. Others on the guest list include Bryce Hall, Amber Rose, Matt Walsh, Riley Gaines, Alex Bruesewitz and Arynne Wexler (also known as “nonlibtake”). TikTok CEO Shou Chew is also expected to attend the party, which will be held at the Sax Restaurant and Lounge.
While the event was originally invite-only, a demand in interest led Debono and Pearson to sell a limited number of $250 tickets that get guests through the doors to mingle with top conservative influencers, watch a special performance from Waka Flocka and munch on McDonald’s french fries, a Trump favorite.
The TikTok-backed event is far from the only gala in D.C. to be held on the eve of the inauguration. It’s also not the only one catered to young conservatives (Turning Point USA is hosting its own “Inauguration Eve Ball” with heavy hitters like Vice President-elect JD Vance, Donald Trump Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy, Ben Shapiro, Megyn Kelly and more).
But Debono said there’s a reason her party is not one of those “stuffy” events.
“We’re really trying to include people who wouldn’t be invited to the traditional balls. So, we have a range of people, a lot of White House staffers, but also people are politically adjacent,” she said.
As young, conservative influencers party it up on the eve of Trump’s second inaugural, they hope the president-elect is paying attention. Debono believes that reversing the TikTok ban could cement Trump’s support among Gen Z voters and show them that the Republican Party is willing to listen to younger people.
Trump, who had tried to block TikTok in the U.S. during his first term, has since warmed to the app. Chew is also expected to accept a front-row invitation from Trump to attend Monday’s inauguration. He will sit alongside other VIP guests and fellow tech executives like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla’s Elon Musk, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
Debono, for one, is hopeful Trump will reinstate the app if the ban goes through as is currently expected, pending a decision from the Supreme Court.
“Trump totally changed his opinion on TikTok. Initially, he wanted to ban it and then he was saying, ‘Let’s save TikTok,” she said. “This is what young people want. For the people saying, ‘Oh, it’s the conservatives who don’t ant [TikTok],’ well, we’re showing them that we’re partnering with TikTok, we’re partnering with all these different voices and we really want to save TikTok because young people love TikTok.”
Debono will also be hosting a “We’re So Back: Return of the Don” inauguration event with Date Right, the conservative dating app backed by Peter Thiel, on Tuesday. The party will be in New York City, which she’s dubbed “liberal hell.”
“It’s not just a party; it’s a statement: conservatives are fun, and know how to keep the economy and the vibes balanced,” the event page reads. “Here’s what you can expect: Drinks that aren’t taxed to death. A dance floor where nobody’s standing 6 feet apart.”
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