Despite July 4 display on National Mall, the real fireworks are in Congress

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'Salute to America' Part 2: President Trump celebrates the United States Armed Forces

Trump honors the U.S. Coast Guard, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Army.

Who needed a big fireworks show on Independence Day in Washington when America’s political system is nothing but a tinderbox, ready to blow?

We’ve had Democratic Members of Congress describing Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) as a “rogue agency.” CBP employees posting scurrilous and vile messages about Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Veronica Escobar, D-Texas.

The public is so polarized it can’t even agree on whether to cheer the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team in the World Cup Final game on Sunday. Some people love Megan Rapinoe. Some don’t. That’s because she tangled with President Trump over a prospective White House visit and taking a knee during the National Anthem.

TRUMP SINGS PRAISES OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM IN ELABORATE JULY 4 SALUTE

Some even question whether American soccer players – or any athletes – should even wear Nike shoes any more.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., blasted Nike on Twitter for using “sweatshop labor” and taking “advantage of our laws.” He added that “Nike is anti-American.”

Nike employs several hundred people at two facilities in Missouri.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he’d buy the first pair of the shoes if Nike or another firm decides to release them.

Of course, not many people have ever spotted McConnell in sneakers.

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Then, the left retorted that the right is more worried about desecrating the flag on footwear than the hygiene of migrant children held in detention centers.

Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Scooter Braun all get along better than this.

There are tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles in downtown Washington on the 4th. Confusion among July 4 revelers about the annual “Capitol Fourth” concert on the West Lawn of the Capitol and the President’s “A Salute to America,” 2.2 miles away at the Lincoln Memorial.

What’s next? An entire Jim Beam warehouse stocked with 45,000 barrels of bourbon burning to the ground just before the fourth of July? What could be worse? An entire rickhouse storing 477,000 gallons of bourbon collapsing on the fourth of July at Barton’s 1792 distillery?

It’s as though everything which unfolded around this July 4 was emblematic of the nation’s deep political divisions. No wonder people would rather devote attention to breathless, minute-to-minute coverage of where Kawhi Leonard may play basketball next year.

And for the record, Leonard played the past season in Canada.

All of this has real world implications of expectations and realpolitik on Capitol Hill.

The Lincoln Memorial is enveloped in smoke as fireworks burst along the Potomac River in celebration of Independence Day in Washington, Thursday, July 4, 2019. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)

Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., and 14 other Republican senators dashed off a letter to Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and others, urging they forge a two-year spending agreement to protect the military. But Republicans have to seal that agreement with Democrats. Democrats are willing to spend a little more on the armed forces, but not as much as the Trump Administration and some GOPers want. Republicans will have to cut a deal with Democrats – and get President Trump to go along with it.

Meantime, liberal Democrats aren’t very interested in dealing with Republicans. Suspicions were already deep before visits to the detention centers and the contretemps over the border supplemental spending bill. In fact, Democrats are already fighting among themselves as to whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., should have accepted a bipartisan Senate bill, or held out for a more liberal measure backed by Democrats.

This is the problem facing Democrats. There’s a push on the left for big things like Medicare for All - but no clear legislative strategy on how to achieve those goals. Naturally, the course requires working with Republicans and President Trump. That means liberal Democrats may get a few things they want but far from everything.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Ocasio-Cortez didn’t directly answer questions at the Capitol two weeks ago about how they would implement a plan to wipe clean more than a trillion dollars in student debt. Sanders also declared that the people who would tell them not to push for such a drastic plan includes those who told them it was okay “to bail out the banks.”

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Sanders is referring to TARP – the Troubled Assets Relief Program. A Democratic House and Senate passed that plan in the fall of 2008 to confront a nationwide financial collapse. No member of either party was pleased with the deal. But the Congressional leaders at the time were Pelosi and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

This is the problem for Democrats. The base of their party is pushing for perfection. But it lacks a legislative pathway to get there. They aren’t interested in small or half-loaves. This approach is short on pragmatism – and probably doesn’t result in much achievement. No wonder McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., have a field day, trying to paint all Democrats as “socialists” and lefties.

Meantime Congressional Republicans are shoehorned into the era of President Trump. Many GOPers on Capitol Hill long ago abandoned some of the major tenets the party stood for like deficit reduction. Those who criticized President Obama for dealing with dictators applaud Mr. Trump when he crosses the DMZ to huddle with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. McConnell and other Republicans often sidestep questions about the President’s conduct and recent rape accusations. But GOPers never ceded any ground when it came to the behavior of President Clinton when he was in office.

Congressional Republicans may be willing to forgive the President on many fronts – even conveniently looking the other way. But GOPers know that Mr. Trump will be the Republican nominee next year, barring unforeseen circumstances. So they’re willing to let a lot of things slide because they’ll be on the ballot, too. Many of those lawmakers facing re-election represent districts and states where the President remains popular. So as long as Democrats are veering to the left, they Republicans argue they’re the voice of reason in middle America.

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This is why Democrats and Republicans can’t get together. And the sides find themselves diverted all the time over issues like tennis shoes.

So there was the big fireworks display on the National Mall in Washington.

Compared to the fireworks between the sides over issues of the day, even that show paled to the combustibility awaiting lawmakers when Congress returns to session.