"The air shimmers in the high desert heat above the asphalt esplanade of the Las Vegas Strip.
In the distance stands the golden massif of the Trump International Hotel, commanding the very center of the boulevard an optical illusion created by the fact that the road curves to the right as it heads toward downtown, while the tower is set just far enough from the prime property of the Strip to dominate the skyline, regardless.
Above it all, in ornate gold, the name: Trump
In the lobby, behind a phalanx of hotel security and Secret Service agents, a small gaggle of campaign employees gathers, whispering quietly among the curious hotel guests.
The rest pace nervously, smartphones in hand, as they exchange messages with colleagues high on a floor above, where the man himself is hunkered down with a close circle of advisors, preparing.
A few familiar faces mill about, a supporting cast.
There is Patricia Smith, the bereaved Benghazi mother, whose son Sean was killed while his country's leaders slept, and who had poured out her grief on the stage of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. There are Diamond and Silk, two robust black women, volunteer emissaries for the ticket whose pro-Trump videos had made them an internet phenomenon. Even Obama's estranged Kenyan half-brother, Malik, poses for pictures with fans.
Kellyanne Conway, the pollster and campaign manager who is widely credited with creating the campaign's short-lived era of good fortune in late summer, makes a brief turn across the marble floor, poses for photographs, returns upstairs.
The small crowd becomes even more sparse as groups of staffers leave for the short but congested drive to the other side of the Strip, the venue for the third and final presidential debate of the brutal and bruising 2016 presidential election cycle.
Outside, at a sudden signal, traffic stops everywhere, for miles.
A motorcade of local police, highway patrol, and Secret Service rolls out of the Trump International Hotel and down the back streets to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. For a few minutes more, at least, the real estate tycoon who had struggled to secure his place among the hostile Vegas oligarchs can bring Sin City to a standstill. The outsider can bring his rivals to attention.
But after November 8? Once the election is over, it seems they'll be able to ignore him again."
