Some 48 million Americans are hopping on trains, planes and automobiles over the July 4 weekend. Most, it seems, will be traveling by road.

That’s a nearly 40% jump from last year when 34 million Americans visited family on the federal holiday during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, many against the advice of health professionals, according to data from AAA.

Still, the expected number of travelers is trailing below 2019 when some 49 million Americans, a record-high, traveled over the holiday.

This Abridge News topic aggregates four unique arguments on different sides of the debate. Here are the quick facts to get you started:

THE QUICK FACTS

President Donald Trump celebrated America over the Fourth of July weekend with a pair of ugly speeches at Mt. Rushmore and in Washington, D.C. that attempted to rally conservative support by demonizing the left and defending monuments. “Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children,” Trump said on Friday night at Mt. Rushmore, as he tried to revive his base following an embarrassing turnout in Tulsa.

WASHINGTON – Despite warnings by public health officials about the spread of COVID-19, President Donald Trump hosted a July Fourth party Saturday at which he assailed the "angry mob" that opposes him and defended his administration's coronavirus response despite record high case numbers.

"We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters, and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue what they are doing," Trump said during a "Salute to America" event at the White House.

President Donald Trump declared on July 4 that the America he’s working for “wants unity” and that “no matter our race, color, religion, or creed, we are one America, and we put America first.”

The president was speaking from the White House South Lawn following a performance from a military band, flyovers by B-52 bombers and F-35 fighter jets, and parachute jumps.

In his Fourth of July speech, President Donald Trump reflected on the nation's history and its accomplishments. He also made several false claims about the coronavirus and his administration's response to the pandemic.

According to Trump, his administration's strategy to address coronavirus "is moving along well." He added, "We've learned how to put out the flame."

As Yasmin Miller drove home from a laundromat in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood last weekend, a gunman in another car peppered her red Hyundai sedan with bullets, grazing her head and striking her son, Sincere Gaston, in the chest. Sincere died in his car seat. He was 20 months old.

On June 20, a man fired gunshots through the back of a dark blue SUV, wounding the 27-year-old man driving and hitting his stepson, Mekhi James, in the back, killing him. Mekhi was three.

As many Chicagoans were celebrating the Fourth of July with barbecues and after-dinner fireworks, relatives of Natalia Wallace were experiencing the worst day of their lives.

The 7-year-old girl was one of at least 80 people shot, at least 17 of those fatally, across the city during the violent holiday weekend, starting Thursday afternoon. Gunfire erupted outside her relative’s home Saturday on the West Side, and she became the latest in a horrific string of children whose lives have been taken away by gun violence in Chicago.

The nation’s 4th of July weekend was marred by the wrong kind of fireworks.

A spate of shootings throughout the US left more than 150 people wounded and nearly two-dozen dead so far this weekend, including 67 gunshot victims in Chicago over a blood-splattered weekend, according to reports.

Police said 13 people were killed in separate shootings in the Second City, including a 7-year-old girl who was at a Fourth of July party in the city’s Austin neighborhood and a 14-year-old boy, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday.

Chicago is seeing another bloody holiday weekend, with 67 people injured or killed in shootings.

Independence Day weekend in Chicago has so far brought 13 deaths and 54 injuries from shootings. Nine of those killed or injured were minors, including a 7-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy who were shot to death.

“Tonight, a 7-year-old girl in Austin joined a list of teenagers and children whose hopes and dreams were ended by the barrel of a gun,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a Saturday statement on Twitter.