Inclement weather puts damper on July 4 celebrations amid charged political atmosphere

US citizens marked the nation’s 250th Independence Day on July 4 amid extreme heat and a charged political atmosphere, as President Donald Trump addressed crowds from the National Mall before a massive fireworks display after hours of delay due to an incoming storm. Yet for many, the milestone also sparked reflections on political divisiveness and national pride.

The event to commemorate the birth of the United States began after storms prompted a roughly two-hour evacuation of the National Mall just after 7 pm local time.

Trump spoke to a large crowd inside a cordoned-off area with heavy security, overlooked by the Washington Monument.

He spoke of iconic and challenging times in US history and used flags such as one from Abraham Lincoln’s casket and another that was on the plane with the Wright brothers, the aviation pioneers who achieved the first controlled airplane flight, to illustrate his point.

Throughout the activities marking the milestone in the nation’s history, revelers all across the East Coast battled extreme, brutally hot temperatures of 43 C to 46 C, said the National Weather Service, or NWS.

On the morning of July 3, the city’s National Independence Day Parade, hosted by the National Park Service, was canceled due to an “Extreme Heat Warning” from the NWS.

A scheduled rodeo was also called off.

Local metro stations were packed full of visitors. Organizers of the celebrations at the National Mall in Washington, DC, ensured water and cooling stations, along with medical support, at the fair to keep revelers cool.

Also in the area, dozens of members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front wearing face masks and carrying Confederate battle flags held a march. No arrests were reported, according to the Metropolitan Police Department, The Associated Press reported on July 3.

The holiday was also marked by violence elsewhere. At least eight people, including four children, were shot and injured late on Independence Day in New York City’s Coney Island neighborhood, ABC News said on July 5, citing the New York City Police Department. No arrests had been made as of July 5.

Amid the nation’s 250th birthday, citizens reflected on divisiveness in politics as well as national pride.

“Well, our leaders need to get their act together and be able to just talk,” Randy Tennant, 78, from Syracuse, New York, told China Daily. “They don’t talk now. They just argue. They put each other down; 25, 30 years ago, they used to talk together.”

Only four in 10 US adults felt “proud” about the country’s 250th anniversary, an April poll by The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found.

According to the latest Gallup poll, only 46 percent of US citizens believe that everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve the American Dream.

“I would say America, 250 years old, is in a midlife crisis, for sure,” Ryan Hilligoss, a New York resident, told China Daily. “With all the oligarchy that’s going on, with the economics, the American Dream is very limited.”

Other visitors expressed mixed feelings about the milestone.

“I think the 250th year represents growth, different perspectives, divisiveness, all the above,” Shuba Maniram, another New York resident, told China Daily.

Peter Christian, who lives in California, said two major problems confront the country.

“Wealth disparity is causing a serious problem, and you have a lot of people who have taken a ‘my way or the highway’ attitude toward everything, and those two things are causing a lot of problems for the country,” he said.

Chelsea Ge in San Francisco and Shi Guang in New York contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at belindarobinson@chinadailyusa.com