By "blew it with Washington" you mean "Didn't donate millions to the ballroom."

They blew it by pretending to take some sort of moral high ground while their model was being used in Iran to blow up schools. I say they get what they deserve. I would have a lot more respect for them if they banned Pentagon use of their models outright.

It's interesting that the fate of billions or even trillions of dollar hinges on millions of dollars of donations.

That is what corruption usually looks like

Yes. And as the saying goes: the scandal is not that you can buy politicians, the scandal is that they are so cheap.