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In the 19th century, steam locomotives were precise cool, and arsenic my lad and I discovered astatine the Smithsonian successful Washington, D.C. on Saturday, they are besides 1 of the fewer things that tin bring MAGA and Never Trump together.
That was the unusual country the greeting of the U.S. Army 250th Birthday Parade and the Washington anti-Trump protests, some scheduled for aboriginal that day, astatine the American History Museum, families with "No Kings" T-shirts adjacent to folks successful MAGA hats, each admiring our nation’s greatness.
It felt a spot similar the creation astatine the gym successful "West Side Story," neutral territory for our governmental Jets and Sharks, but with little jumping.
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Beyond the depository walls was a festival ambiance of flags and patriotic adornments, but besides the signs of hyper-security, adjacent snowfall plow trucks back-to-back blocking the District’s streets.
I met Jeremy from Virginia, whose unit dropped the 8 miles of factual barriers protecting the parade route. I inquire if they bash this enactment often, helium said, "this benignant of happening is simply a tiny portion of our concern but has large margins. It’s a bully bonus."
And it made maine think, arsenic helium and his guys took a fume break, however overmuch of the overmuch ballyhooed $25-$45-million-dollar terms tag of the U.S. Army parade went to companies similar this? These are the small stories beneath large nationalist ones.
Likewise, the protestation of 1,000 souls oregon truthful marching to and fro, precise adjacent the parade tract required a dense constabulary presence, which made maine wonderment however overmuch 2,000 No Kings protests each crossed the state costs states and localities.
And cipher elected anybody to determine to walk that money, which isn’t to accidental radical shouldn’t protest, but those who usage payer wealth to kick truly shouldn’t rainfall connected anyone else’s parade.
Katie and Cindy had travel up from Georgia to beryllium astatine the Army Parade and were emblematic of the Trump supporters successful town, "we conscionable emotion him," Katie told me, hairsbreadth successful a ponytail down her MAGA hat.
But determination were radical determination to protest, too. Scott had travel from Seattle and wore his No Kings shirt, adorned with American emblem imagery, "I don’t deliberation immoderate protests volition popular disconnected astatine the parade," helium told me. He was right.
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A regularisation of thumb that I person discovered each implicit the state held steadfast successful D.C.: erstwhile radical are together, successful person, successful comparatively tiny groups, rational and respectful governmental sermon tin -- and does -- happen.
At 1 point, I watched arsenic 2 women successful Trump shirts politely tried to explicate to 2 men successful pridefulness cogwheel that Trump is not a racist oregon a homophobe. I don’t cognize if immoderate minds were changed but conscionable the code was a invited and hopeful sign.
Physical enactment is an antidote to hatred and fear, and that is precisely wherefore some sides often effort to silo their supporters to support ideological purity, whether it's the close saying, ignoring the mainstream media, oregon the near blocking definite channels from their parents’ cablegram quality diet, and bragging astir it successful the New York Times.
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This siloing maneuver works truthful agelong arsenic you support everything online, truthful agelong arsenic you archer radical to chopped retired household members connected the different broadside from their lives, truthful agelong arsenic the algorithm provides soothing reinforcement of beliefs.
The interaction of quality breath, successful a existent conversation, breezes each of that conditioning away, and 2 people, who are conscionable being people, tin genuinely speech astir anything.
On Saturday, Washington, D.C. was unsocial successful that it held tribunal to 1 large lawsuit bringing retired Donald Trump supporters and different for those who despise him. Despite the proximity, bid held and some groups seemed to assertion occurrence by nightfall.
There were fireworks successful the sky, but blessedly nary connected the ground.
The item of the Museum of American History, particularly arsenic it was besides Flag Day, is Old Glory herself, the archetypal Star Spangled Banner that flew implicit Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812.
"I didn’t deliberation it would beryllium this big," my lad said, gazing beyond the solid astatine the 32’ by 40’ humanities treasure.
It is simply a large flag. And contiguous it represents a precise large and divers nation, 1 with fractures moving done it made of politics, race, and identity.
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But erstwhile we get small, erstwhile we speech 1 connected 1 and truly listen, those fractures mend. And I saw immoderate of that successful our nation’s superior this weekend.
Let’s commune it is simply a increasing trend.