Covering the military parade and a No Kings rally on the same day

Frank Langfitt has covered the world. Now he reports for NPR as a roving correspondent, focusing on stories that help us understand a changing America.

Recently, he covered both the military parade that brought tanks and armored personnel carriers rolling through the nation’s capital, as well as the No Kings protests where people in dozens of cities across the country rallied against politicization of the armed forces by someone they called a would-be autocrat.

Many have dubbed the day as a split-screen moment – and for Frank, going to two events on the same day gave him the sense of looking at America with a lens he had often examined other countries in the past.

There are events that become a Rorschach test that brings out America’s political and cultural divisions in bold relief. You could look at that day as an example of a divided America — a moment where our differences were placed in pretty stark relief. But perhaps by being in both places on the same day you see something different.

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(Image credit: Mario Tama)