Washington – Growing List Of Democrats Boycotting Trump Inauguration

    26

    The U.S. Capitol looms over a stage during a rehearsal of the President-elect Donald Trump's swearing-in ceremony, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)Washington – The roster of House Democrats planning to boycott President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration grew to more than 40 on Tuesday in a protest of the New York businessman’s policies and his repeated criticism of legendary civil rights activist John Lewis.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    The Georgia congressman made headlines over the weekend for challenging Trump’s legitimacy to be the next president and erroneously claiming that Trump’s inauguration would be the first he will have missed since coming to Congress three decades ago.

    In fact, Lewis had skipped President George W. Bush’s inauguration in 2001.

    Trump struck on Tuesday morning, as is typical, on Twitter: “WRONG (or lie)!” Trump tweeted, citing a 2001 Washington Post report that noted Lewis had skipped George W. Bush’s inauguration.

    Lewis’ office on Tuesday confirmed that the congressman had missed Bush’s swearing-in.

    “His absence at that time was also a form of dissent,” said spokeswoman Brenda Jones. “He did not believe the outcome of that election, including the controversies around the results in Florida and the unprecedented intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court, reflected a free, fair and open democratic process.”

    Lewis said last week that he would skip Trump’s swearing in on Friday, telling NBC News that he didn’t view Trump as a legitimate president.

    “I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton,” Lewis said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday.

    Lewis’ comments drew angry weekend tweets from Trump, who wrote that “rather than falsely complaining about the election results,” Lewis should focus on his congressional district.

    The number of Democrats boycotting Trump’s inauguration continued to increase, including Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, a top contender to lead the Democratic National Committee, as well as many black and Hispanic lawmakers. Top Democrats like House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York will attend, however, and none of the Senate Democrats said they’ll skip the inauguration.

    Trump spokesman Sean Spicer shrugged off the protest and indicated they would give away the seats.

    “We’d love for every member of Congress to attend but if they don’t, we’ve got some great seats for others to partake in. It’s a shame that these folks don’t want to be part of the peaceful transfer of power,” Spicer told reporters on a morning call.

    On Tuesday, Democrats such as Alma Adams of North Carolina, Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania and Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire joined the growing ranks of lawmakers boycotting Trump’s inauguration.

    “I cannot in good faith and consciousness pretend to celebrate the inauguration of someone who has spoken so horribly about women, minorities and the disabled,” Adams said.

    Trump and other Republicans have dismissed the boycott and complaints, saying Democrats are sore losers who need to accept the results of the election and move on. Democrats control 194 House seats.

    While many Democrats were furious with the outcome of the drawn out 2000 election in which George W. Bush defeated Al Gore after recounts and a Supreme Court ruling, they generally attended Bush’s inauguration as the nation’s 43rd president.

    The House is out of session most of this week and roll call votes are not anticipated, so other lawmakers in both parties may skip the trip.

    Obama repeatedly faced questions during the 2008 campaign about the widely debunked claim that he was not a U.S. citizen and that his birth certificate was a fake. Trump, in fact, perpetuated that notion for many years before a brief statement last year that Obama was a citizen. Republicans attended Obama’s two inaugurations.

    Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said he will not be part of the “normalizing or legitimizing” of a man whose election may be the result of “malicious foreign interference of Russian leaders,” a reference to U.S. intelligence’s assessment that Russia meddled in the election to help Trump win.


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    26 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    Aron1
    Active Member
    Aron1
    7 years ago

    I’m as anti-Trump as they (sensibly) come, but what are these politicians trying to accomplish (other than posturing for their constituents)?
    Will they change the results?
    Will they have a do-over?
    Since they’re not showing up to the inauguration, will Trump now NOT be sworn in as the 45th President?
    Can EVERYONE just grow up!

    Boochie
    Boochie
    7 years ago

    we need term limits, i cant stand the fact that my congresswomen will just wait it out …Trump doesnt need her and neither do the republicans – what a waste of the next 8 yrs for my district

    AlbertEinstein
    AlbertEinstein
    7 years ago

    This just means there will be 40 more seats available for true American patriots to attend the inauguration.

    Nova2
    Nova2
    7 years ago

    Good, more seats for the “true Americans”

    7 years ago

    Who needs those sore losers there, anyway. I read that two Yidden were amoung them. One is Jerrold Nadler; who is the other one? Are they also going to boycott the State of the Union speech, which Trump is giving next month, to a joint session of Congress?

    7 years ago

    There is nothing Democratic a patriotic about these little life crybaby Democrats who didn’t get their way. How dare they questioned and democratically elected president? They just can’t stand being the losers.

    hashomer
    hashomer
    7 years ago

    The black marks of the demagogue: label any dissent as unpatriotic. Attack the Press. Stir up hatred against minorities. Publicly insult and belittle your perceived ‘enemies. Undermine democratic institutions and weaken civil protections. Hitler? Mussolini? Franco? Stalin? Trump!

    Liepa
    Liepa
    7 years ago

    A bunch of real loser’s, these sorry democraps. Stay home, get a life !

    7 years ago

    To #11 and 12-Your statements are just as meshugah as #13 .

    Benny
    Benny
    7 years ago

    Les