“How many people ever get to come on a boat like this?” Mr. Fertitta said of Boardwalk, the sixth yacht that he has given that name. “People love successful people. Everybody wants to be successful. And anybody who says they don’t is just lying to you.”

The way Mr. Fertitta sees it, giving Italians a glimpse of how the 0.1 percent live helps to make the kind of people-to-people connections that ambassadors are supposed to foster.

No, he’s not being sarcastic. He’s not joking. He actually means it. I’m speechless.