On January 5, an eight-seat private jet took off from Memphis, headed for Washington, D.C. On board were eight members of Memphis’s lily white country-club elite, on their way to answer the call issued by former president Trump to “Stop the Steal.” vntyfr.com/XCTZgQh
Together the individuals are worth millions of dollars, with business interests that span the southeast: sizable stakes in auto dealerships, the Corky’s BBQ chain, financial firms whose earnings rival those of Wall Street shops, and registered “plantations.”
When asked about his attendance at the “Stop the Steal” rally, John Hull Dobbs Jr. initially denied knowledge. “I don’t know anything about a rally like that,” he said. Then he failed to hang up the phone, proceeding to discuss how he misled the reporter.
His society is for the manor-born, and the conservatives among it have little to do with the caricature of the down-on-their-luck, economically anxious Trump voter of media lore.
The segregation within Memphis is layered—as one Memphis native puts it, there’s a “big city, small town” feel. “You’re either in the Memphis country club or you’re just kind of not,” says a source.
For some their domain includes Memphis country clubs and Carnival Memphis. Here they can be part of a “pretend aristocracy” for a week, ruling over the people of Memphis and running around the town dressed as boll weevils.
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