At the Congressional Baseball Game, there might have been more Ronald Reagan shirts than MAGA hats.
You could find them both — ”Make America Great Again” caps and Reagan-Bush ’84 t-shirts — to the right of home plate, where Capitol Hill staffers, politically ambitious interns, and otherwise unoccupied Republicans perched in a sea of red.
One man decided to wear a MAGA bucket hat, an innovation that’s apparently available for just $3.95 on Amazon. Other merchandise riffed on President Trump’s tagline, with one woman wearing a red cap that read, “Make Congress Great Again.”
Across the stadium, attire looked political, but inoffensive. A woman represented her side with blue lipstick.
On Wednesday night, spectators stood in Nationals Park as D.C. Washington (yes, that’s his real name) sang the national anthem, waiting for Republicans and Democrats to face off in a game that’s incredibly entertaining if you remember that it matches the talent of Little League. Unlike their counterparts watching the first Democratic primary debate, politicos at the game seemed content.
Fans waving red “I <3 the republic” and blue “Democracy hustles harder” pennants mingled in line to buy hot dogs and beer. Both Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis and Texas Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw wandered through the crowds. The Democrats won 14-7, but after the debates, that might have been their only win of the night.
One thousand miles south, 10 Democratic candidates gathered for the first primary presidential debate. Sen. Elizabeth Warren emerged as a front-runner, Beto O’Rourke tried to impress listeners with his Spanish, and the entire field dismissed a solid economy. Rhetoric swung far left, and both candidates and commentators depicted a divided America.
This wasn’t the case for those who gathered to watch baseball. As far as I could tell, the loudest applause of the night wasn’t for the Republicans’ double play or one of the Democrats’ many runs. It was for the dogs performing in between innings.
Bars outside of Nationals Park projected the debates on big screens, but not many patrons were watching. After the game ended, most shuffled toward the Navy Yard metro stop, jostling each other for a spot on the crowded train.
For a night, political differences were like sports teams, with spectators passionately holding allegiances but embracing camaraderie over a single pursuit.
As the two groups left together, they joined a young Democrat and a young Republican, sitting side by side on the metro, waiting for the train to take them home.
