LOS ANGELES — Recent polls will tell you there’s been a drop in national pride among Americans, particularly Democrats in the Trump era, with some questioning whether to celebrate July Fourth at all this year.
But Scott Allen, a registered Democrat in southern California, isn’t one of them. He planned to commemorate the nation’s 249th birthday with a politically mixed group of neighbors who will grill out and light off fireworks.
He’ll be thinking of his U.S. Marine father, and about how proud he is that “we have the freedom to do all the things we do.”
“We can have protests. We can have free speech,” said Allen, 60, who lives in Lakewood, just south of Los Angeles.
This Independence Day may feel different for many Americans. Around the country, there are protests planned against Trump’s polices, and in places like southern California, where immigration raids have rattled communities, some