The weather in Washington has been hot, sticky and relentless this week. So has the politics.
In a period of a few days, the president of the United States told four members of Congress they could leave the country if they were unhappy and go back to the countries they came from, sparking passage of a House resolution that condemned some of his verbal and Twitter attacks as racist.
In the same week, Democrats again broached the subject of impeachment, only to see the effort fail when many Democrats joined Republicans in voting to table, or put off, the issue.
In sum, it has been a trying week for American democracy that has plunged the country into an angry debate over race, immigration and political ideology.