From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point.

Independence Day in a divided country.

Hello again, I'm Arun Alney, and this is To the Point.

The Pledge of Allegiance calls the U.S. indivisible, but that's beginning to sound like wishful thinking.

A century and a half since the Civil War, divisions remain between North and South, between cities and countryside.

Democrats and Republicans are enemies.

The fracturing of the media allows for different entertainment and news coverage, reflecting different cultural values.

And Donald Trump is the first

American president to openly divide rather than unify. What are the prospects for a happy 4th of July?

Later on today's talking point in a commencement speech, Chief Justice John Roberts wishes

ninth graders bad luck for their own good. First, here's the news.

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Hello again. I'm Orman Alney, back with To the Point. As the U.S. celebrates its 241 year of independence from England tomorrow, it is a country more divided than unified.

We'll look at the consequences. On today's talking point later, Chief Justice John Roberts' judicial opinions are often controversial, but his commencement addressed to ninth graders is getting compliments from liberals as well as conservatives with quotes from Socrates and Bob Dylan. First, its news update. With world leadership at stake this week in the G20 summit in Germany,

President Trump and China's President Xi reportedly spoke this morning by phone. We're told that

neither mentioned tensions in the South China Sea, where a U.S. guided missile destroyer was being

tailed by a Chinese warship. Robert Daly is director of the Kissinger Institute

on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Good to have you back on our program.

Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Tell us, first of all, what was going on there with

this guided missile destroyer near an island claimed by China. Was that a provocative act by the U.S.? It was provocative from China's point

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