A tale of two cities on either side of a divided country
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Los Angeles: Hello and Kumbaya from Los Angeles, where the sun shines every day, even if the streets don't.
Earlier in the week, while jogging in Washington, DC, I was stopped by an older man from out of town who wanted to know if it was safe to be outside at that time of the evening. It was 7.30pm, still light outside, in one of the prettiest, leafiest parts of the nation's capital, Kalorama Heights. Granted, the streets were pretty quiet. But I assured the man it was safe.
Still, in today's America, you can't blame him for asking. After all, I was about to jump on a flight bound for Los Angeles to cover the immigration protests that saw US President Donald Trump dispatch the National Guard and the Marines – picking a serious fight with the biggest state in the union and generating global headlines.
And it's not just LA. Police clashed with protesters in San Francisco and Dallas, Texas, with more rallies likely as the Trump administration accelerates its plans for the biggest deportation program in US history.
This week's events have turbocharged unease back in Australia – and around the world – about the United States under Trump. It is strongest among political progressives, who baulk at what they say is an authoritarian new order being ushered in by the president, but you can also detect it among the mainstream. The US in 2025? No, thanks.
There's a hardness, an ugliness, a brutality and unfairness to Trump's United States that Australians especially might find distasteful.
But at times like these, it's important to remember it's not all bad. The US is big enough to contain multitudes. While the protests in LA were turning violent, Washington was hosting WorldPride, the LGBTQ festival held every one of two years that, like the Olympics, travels the world from city to city. It was last hosted in 2023 in Sydney, and will head to Amsterdam next year.
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