These are tough times in Washington. Federal employees don’t know from one day to the next whether they’ll still have a job. Reporters fear their editors won’t back them up if they’re too hard on reporting the truth about President Trump. Lobbyists scan their client list to make sure none can be blackballed as “DEI.” Republican politicians worry about being primaried. Democrats worry about being dismissed as irrelevant.

All that angst! But, according to a recent survey in the New York Times, that stress is minor compared to the biggest existential crisis facing younger, political and socially-ambitious Washingtonians today: What private club shall I join to further my career and, maybe, have fun along the way?

Let’s be honest. The choices are not great, starting with what is probably still Washington’s most prestigious private club, the Metropolitan Club, nestled in a drab high rise near the White House. It has a roster of famous Washington establishment names — I once chatted up Vice President Dick Cheney there — but if you’re looking for signs of life, you’d be better off at Congressional Cemetery.

Next up, the Cosmos Club, located in a beautiful Beaux-Arts mansion on Massachusetts Avenue, near Dupont Circle. Like San Francisco’s Bohemian Club, the........

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