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In the 19th century, steam locomotives were very cool, and as my son and I discovered at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, they are also one of the few things that can bring MAGA and Never Trump together.
That was the strange scene the morning of the U.S. Army 250th Birthday Parade and the Washington anti-Trump protests, both scheduled for later that day, at the American History Museum, families with “No Kings” T-shirts next to folks in MAGA hats, all admiring our nation’s greatness.
It felt a bit like the dance at the gym in “West Side Story,” neutral territory for our political Jets and Sharks, but with less jumping.
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Beyond the museum walls was a festival atmosphere of flags and patriotic adornments, but also the signs of hyper-security, even snow plow trucks back-to-back blocking the District’s streets.
I met Jeremy from Virginia, whose crew dropped the eight miles of concrete barriers protecting the parade route. I ask if they do this work often, he said, “this kind of thing is a small part of our business but has great margins. It’s a nice bonus.”
And it made me think, as he and his guys took a smoke break, how much of the much ballyhooed $25-$45-million-dollar price tag of the U.S. Army parade went to companies like this? These are the little stories beneath big national ones.
Likewise, the protest of 1,000 souls or so marching to and fro, very near the parade site required a heavy police presence, which made me wonder how much 2,000 No Kings protests all across the country costs states and localities.
And nobody elected anybody to decide to spend that money, which isn’t to say people shouldn’t protest, but those who use taxpayer money to complain really shouldn’t rain on anyone else’s parade.
Katie and Cindy had come up from Georgia to be at the Army Parade and were typical of the Trump supporters in town, “we just love him,” Katie told me, hair in a ponytail behind her MAGA hat.
But there were people there to protest, too. Scott had come from Seattle and wore his No Kings shirt, adorned with American flag imagery, “I don’t think any protests will pop off at the parade,” he told me. He was right.
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A rule of thumb that I have discovered all over the country held firm in D.C.: when people are together, in person, in relatively small groups, rational and respectful political discourse can — and does — happen.
At one point, I watched as two women in Trump shirts politely tried to explain to two men in pride gear that Trump is not a racist or a homophobe. I don’t know if any minds were changed but just the tone was a welcome and hopeful sign.
Physical interaction is an antidote to hatred and fear, and that is exactly why both sides often try to silo their supporters to maintain ideological purity, whether it’s the right saying, ignoring the mainstream media, or the left blocking certain channels from their parents’ cable news diet, and bragging about it in the New York Times.
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This siloing tactic works so long as you keep everything online, so long as you tell people to cut out family members on the other side from their lives, so long as the algorithm provides soothing reinforcement of beliefs.
The touch of human breath, in a real conversation, breezes all of that conditioning away, and two people, who are just being people, can truly talk about anything.
On Saturday, Washington, D.C. was unique in that it held court to one major event bringing out Donald Trump supporters and another for those who despise him. Despite the proximity, order held and both groups seemed to claim success by nightfall.
There were fireworks in the sky, but blessedly none on the ground.
The highlight of the Museum of American History, especially as it was also Flag Day, is Old Glory herself, the original Star Spangled Banner that flew over Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812.
“I didn’t think it would be this big,” my son said, gazing beyond the glass at the 32’ by 40’ historical treasure.
It is a big flag. And today it represents a very big and diverse nation, one with fractures running through it made of politics, race, and identity.
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But when we get small, when we talk one on one and really listen, those fractures mend. And I saw some of that in our nation’s capital this weekend.
Let’s pray it is a growing trend.
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