A growing number of Democrat lawmakers are boycotting Donald Trump’s inauguration this week set for January 20th. The decision to stay away from the event was sparked in part by the ongoing feud between Trump and Representative John Lewis.
Lewis has been critical of Trump from the get-go. However, he fueled the angst between the two last week when he said Trump was not a ‘legitimate’ President.” Trump responded in kind on Twitter essentially accusing Lewis of disregarding his crime-ridden district.
Many Democrats have grabbed the Congressman’s back. There are now 19 Democratic Representatives, including Lewis, saying they will spurn Trump’s swearing-in and instead focus on their constituents or even take part in protests and ‘resistance’ movements.
So far, the following have said they will boycott the event:
- Arizona Rep Raul Grijalva
- California Rep Judy Chu
- California Rep Mark DeSaulnier
- California Rep Jared Huffman
- California Rep Barbara Lee
- California Rep Ted Lieu
- California Rep Mark Takano
- Georgia Rep John Lewis
- Illinois Rep Luis Gutierrez
- Michigan Rep John Conyers
- Missouri Rep William Lacy Clay
- Massachusetts Rep Katherine Clark
- New York Rep Yvette Clarke
- New York Rep Adriano Espaillat
- New York Rep Jerrold Nadler
- New York Rep Jose Serrano
- New York Rep Nydia Velazquez
- Oregon Rep Earl Blumenauer
- Oregon Rep Kurt Schrader
OUR FREE OPINION
For nearly 240 years the transfer of power at the President-elect’s inauguration between the losing and winning parties has served as a healing process. The process has been tested over the years, most recently, with the Gore/Bush contest where Gore won the popular vote and the Supreme Court awarded the win to Bush.
In the Bush/Gore race, taken as a whole, the recount studies show Bush would have most likely won the Florida statewide hand recount of all undervotes. Undervotes are ballots that did not register a vote in the presidential race. The conclusion of the studies detracts from the argument that the Supreme Court unevenly handed the election to Bush.
Regardless of what subsequent studies have demonstrated, those who supported Gore remain angry over the end result: The so-called healing factor didn’t work so well and has continued to this date. We don’t really expect the healing process to gain much traction in the Trump/Clinton election either.
We expect to see clashes between diverse groups including women, minorities, motorcycle groups, Pro-Trumpers, Black Lives Matter and similar organizations as tens of thousands of citizens stream into the Capital city.
We see nothing wrong with citizens enthusiastically exercising their discontent over the election: Democracy does not end after the vote totals have been added up. We have some difficulty understanding elected federal officials boycotting the inauguration. It seems to us that even though Congressional Representatives may not have supported Trump, they owe a duty to the country to respect the election process and all the trimmings that come with it. They should attend the inauguration, and if inclined, express their disapproval of Trump before or after the event.
