UPDATE : Now, Over 50 U.S. Congresspeople Are Boycotting Trump Inauguration
These Democrats aren't attending Trump's inauguration
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/14/politics/democrats-boycotting-donald-trump-inauguration/index.html
Story highlights
- Here's a list of Democrats who have publicly said they won't be at the ceremony Friday
- Some representatives will be protesting in DC and in their districts instead
Washington (CNN) A growing number of Democratic lawmakers are boycotting President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, particularly after revelations of Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 election and his rebuke of civil rights icon John Lewis on Saturday.
Some members of Congress have said they will be protesting in DC and in their districts instead. Here's a list of Democrats who have publicly said they won't be at the ceremony Friday.
Georgia Rep. John Lewis
The civil rights icon declared Friday that he would boycott the event because he doesn't see Trump as a "legitimate" president in light of Russian interference.
"You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong," Lewis told NBC News .
Trump harshly responded Saturday, calling Lewis "all talk" and "no action" and saying he should focus more on "fixing and helping" his district rather than "complaining" about the Russia's role.
California Rep. Mark Takano
"'All talk, no action.' I stand with @repjohnlewis and I will not be attending the inauguration," Takano tweeted Saturday.
New York Rep. Yvette Clarke
"I will NOT attend the inauguration of @realDonaldTrump. When you insult @repjohnlewis, you insult America."
California Rep. Ted Lieu
"For me, the personal decision not to attend Inauguration is quite simple: Do I stand with Donald Trump, or do I stand with John Lewis? I am standing with John Lewis," Lieu said in a statement released by his office.
Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva
"I will not be attending the inauguration of Donald Trump as our next president," the Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair said Friday on the House floor. "My absence is not motivated by disrespect for the office or motivated by disrespect for the government that we have in this great democracy, but as an individual act, yes, of defiance at the disrespect shown to millions and millions of Americans by this incoming administration, and the actions we are taking in this Congress."
Michigan Rep. John Conyers
The office of Conyers, the dean of the United House of Representatives, confirmed to CNN he won't be attending the inauguration.
California Rep. Mark DeSaulnier
"It is with a heavy heart and deep personal conviction that I have decided not to attend the #TrumpInauguration on January 20, 2017," the California lawmaker tweeted Friday.
New York Rep. Nydia Velazquez
Velazquez tweeted Friday that she will be participating in a women's march protesting policies that activists say are harmful to American women.
"I will not be attending inauguration of @realDonaldTrump but WILL participate in the @womensmarch on January 21st," she tweeted.
Oregon Rep. Kurt Schrader
"I'm just not a big Trump fan. I've met the guy and never been impressed with him," he told Oregon Public Broadcasting Friday . "I'll do my best to work with him when I think he's doing the right thing for the country. But he hasn't proved himself to me at all yet, so I respectfully decline to freeze my ass out there in the cold for this particular ceremony."
Missouri Rep. William Lacy Clay
The lawmaker's spokesperson told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that Clay will be in his home state speaking to schoolchildren.
California Rep. Barbara Lee
Lee said she'll spend the day "preparing for resistance."
"Donald Trump has proven that his administration will normalize the most extreme fringes of the Republican Party. On Inauguration Day, I will not be celebrating. I will be organizing and preparing for resistance," she said Thursday in a statement.
New York Rep. Jose Serrano
"I will not attend the #inauguration2017 next week- cannot celebrate the inauguration of a man who has no regard for my constituents. #Bronx," he tweeted Thursday.
Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez
"I cannot go to (the) inauguration of a man who's going to appoint people to the Supreme Court and turn back the clock on women and turn back the clock on immigrants and the safety and freedom that we fought for them," Gutierrez said last month on CNN's "New Day."
California Rep. Jared Huffman
"I have decided that instead of attending the inaugural ceremonies in Washington this month, I'll spend time in California with my constituents making a positive difference in our community," he wrote on Facebook Tuesday. "From helping to build homes for local families to pitching in on cleaning up flood debris to welcoming new US citizens at a naturalization ceremony --- it will be an action-packed couple of days. Stay tuned here for more details."
Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark
"I support the peaceful transition of power, but I don't feel that I need to attend the pageantry associated with and for this president," she told the Boston Globe earlier this month.
Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer
"There is unprecedented concern by my constituents about the many threats posed by a Trump administration seeking to implement the President-elect's policies on health, environment, nuclear weapons and immigration, to name but a few," he said on Facebook.
CNN's Caroline Kenny contributed to this report.
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This will be an era of resistance to Donald Trump, like it or not.
How unamerican...
Donald Trump is an embarrassment to this great nation and right now there is little light at the end of the tunnel.
And Democrats undermine our tradition of a peaceful transition of power. Hypocrisy.
I expect all protests to be peaceful.
I think a few more have been added to the number since yesterday.
Michigan Rep. John Conyers
I don't think that the Democrats understand John. Conyers, the "representative" of my State, has shown his true colors (RED) and, if he chooses not to submit, will be removed and replaced, one way or another, in the next election.
Petulant little children.
I saw the noted presidential historian Michael Beschloss in a tv interview today.
Here is a taste of his background and works
Beschloss has been a frequent commentator on the PBS NewsHour and is the NBC News Presidential Historian. He is a trustee of the White House Historical Association and the National Archives Foundation and he also sits on the board of the Smithsonian 's National Museum of American History . He has been a trustee of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation ( Monticello ), the Urban Institute , the University of Virginia 's Miller Center of Public Affairs and the PEN/Faulkner Foundation . He also sits on the advisory board to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and was a member of the President's Commission on White House Fellowships . He has served as a historian at the Smithsonian Institution , a Senior Associate Member at St. Antony's College ( University of Oxford ), a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard University Russian Research Center, a Senior Fellow of the Annenberg Foundation and a Montgomery Fellow and Dorsett Fellow at Dartmouth College .
Beschloss told the tv interviewer today that he personally does not accept Donald Trump as president.
Professionally, of course, he will have to.
Impressive CV.
However, I'm afraid I cannot comprehend how anyone cannot accept the elected president as the president. It's like saying one does not accept an American citizen to be an American citizen, no matter how one might feel about them. How about I don't accept Coca Cola as being a soft drink (soda?), or milk as being a dairy product. To me it's nonsensical. ("nonsensical" - a great word I first got to know by reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. When I read there the word "tackiturn" I had to look it up in the dictionary. Love that novel.)
Maybe Beschloss doesn't think a narcissistic pathological liar, bully, and fraud should be president.
It's not his call. The electorate has spoken.
No matter whose opinion is that he should not be president, he IS (or will be in a few days, if nobody assassinates him in the meantime), like it or not.
Donald is the Manchurian candidate. We have members here who celebrate Russia's interference. That's what is anti American.
Maybe their constituents don't want them attending.
I see nothing wrong with a country having its elections interfered with, when that very county is famous for doing the very same thing. In Law we learned that one must come to equity with clean hands.
True. Especially since there is no evidence of "interference".
"We have members here who celebrate Russia's interference."
Do you have any evidence? Or is this a hysterical liberal lie? I think I know.
Who? Who "celebrates" russian interference?
No one, clearly. It's just hysterics.
Donald is the Manchurian candidate.
Projecting the oft-mentioned and deeply justified references to Obama over the last 8 years.
Bestie! Didn't you like the movie?
The Lawrence Harvey version was superior.
Trump is not smart enough to be programmed.
And yet he is. No matter what your opinion of him, he is the duly elected president of the United States of America. He will be sworn in on January 20th, no matter what you think.
Democrats putting party over nation again. Sad.
Oh really?
Like this is something that needs to be noted?
Want a clue, NEVER in the history of presidential inaugurations, (which take place on the Capitol Building steps, yeah, outside, in January, in DC no less) have the entire House of Representative or Senate been in attendance.
Some show up, some do not. I do not believe that all the republicans are going to show up either, the difference being is they are not going to turn their non-appearance into an event.
But histrionics do seem to impress democrats....
Just another avenue to express their whine.
Maybe in other times members did not show up for many reasons, the cold, an illness, considering the event boring or simply of no interest, but this time those particular members are staying away to make a point and establish themselves to their respctive electorates as fiercely opposing Trump's presidency. IMO, sadly for the Democrats, the more far out they become in their opposition the more strength they are providing for the opinions of those who opposed them in the election.
They ate protesting that Obama or his disciple are not ascending the throne.
They ate protesting that Obama or his disciple are not ascending the throne.
Fried chicken and tacos probably, right?
Are you a racist? You previously used the Uncle Tom slur.
The tantrum will likely continue for 8 years...
Perhaps more than 8 years considering what the Dems are doing to make their party even less viable, by even CONSIDERING Ellison to lead it, and openly declaring that they will do whatever is possible to oppose anything Trump does, even ruin his inauguration.
What a bunch of hypocrites.
WTF is that? lol.
Sounds like a good start hopefully more will follow suit. We should offer them the year off with pay just to get them out of the way.
Only "working" 123 days a year pretty much gives them a year off with pay - way too much pay for their "participation".
Note - $174,000.00 base salary, without the benefits plus expense accounts included, divided by 123 days, allows them to earn $1,414.65 A DAY - for "working".
What a job, eh?
Good thing they announced their "pout out" because, otherwise, nobody would notice. The weather will be near 50 degrees. The hotels inside the city are sold out at exorbitant prices and the hotels for miles outside the city are selling out fast. The large crowds will paralyze the downtown areas just like it does on every inauguration. Trump supporters won't miss these clowns any more than Hillary supporters would have missed those she labeled deplorable. I hear the snowflakes will stage a protest where they can throw a public tantrum over Trump's election -- declaring him a racist and Russian stooge -- while no doubt later bemoaning how a hyper partisan government can't get anything done.
So we stun the world by electing the most undignified candidate in my lifetime and then follow it up with the most juvenile reaction to losing that I have ever seen. Our election process has about as much dignity and decorum as the Jerry Springer show.
"I hear the snowflakes will stage a protest where they can throw a public tantrum over Trump's election -- declaring him a racist and Russian stooge -- while no doubt later bemoaning how a hyper partisan government can't get anything done."
Perfectly stated.
Boycott your ass off, Trump will still be president.
And all they'll get for their pains is frostbite.
The total is up over 50. That is about a quarter of the Democratic representatives.
They should boycott the next legislative session, too. That would show him!
I wonder how they will explain to the voters in their District/State what happened when all the Federal facilities/military bases/contracts with manufacturers in those Districts/States just sort of vanish and are sent to other places Yes, it's not very nice but it is perfectly legal; all you have to do is have someone in the GSA/Pentagon sufficiently imaginative to figure out what at least looks like a reason for moving the destination of the Federal money.
The total is up over 50. That is about a quarter of the Democratic representatives.
Those are great seats and I'm sure republicans would love to have them. Trump should post the phone number of each boycotting representative so thousands of people can ask for ticket directly.
There are unconfirmed reports that if one more disgruntled Democratic member of Congress announces their intention to not attend the inauguration that it will be cancelled, the election declared void and Hillary will be given a do over.
Research into these unconfirmed reports continues ----
/s