No Thanks. Lawmakers Are Skipping Trumps Inauguration

16 Jan, 2017

There is a political who’s who of people that will NOT be attending President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

When Trump is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States an ever growing list of law makers are refusing to show up.

Here are the lawmakers who are not going to Trump’s inauguration:

Civil-rights icon Rep. John Lewis said he will skip the inauguration ceremony for moral reasons. It will the first time he will miss an inauguration since 1986.

“You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong,” Lewis told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd in an interview aired on Sunday.

On Inaguration Day California Rep. Barbara Lee said she will be gearing up to oppose Trump’s administration.

“Donald Trump has proven that his administration will normalize the most extreme fringes of the Republican Party,” Lee said in a statement. “On Inauguration Day, I will not be celebrating. I will be organizing and preparing for resistance.”

Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez cited Trump’s hard-line immigration policies and his views on women’s rights as his reason to boycott the inauguration.

“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,” Gutierez said in an interview on CNN.

Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark said her attendance would only serve to “normalize” Trump’s politics.

“After discussions with hundreds of my constituents, I do not feel that I can contribute to the normalization of the President-elect’s divisive rhetoric by participating in the Inauguration,” Clark said in a statement.

California Rep. Jared Huffman warned that there is nothing ordinary about Trump and his policies.

“I do accept the election results and support the peaceful transfer of power, but it is abundantly clear to me that with Donald Trump as our President, the United States is entering a dark and very dangerous political chapter,” Huffman said in a Facebook post published January 7.

“I will do everything I can to limit the damage and the duration of this chapter, and I believe we can get through it. But I will not sit passively and politely applaud as it begins,” he said.

Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva said he would be taking time on Inaguration Day to meet with constituents and activists in his district.

“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 by the actions we are taking in this Congress,” Grijalva said.

Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer said he will be skipping Trump’s inauguration out of “unprecedented concern” from his constituents.

“I will forgo the inauguration, spending the day instead in my district talking with Oregonians to hear their priorities, try to answer their questions and prepare for the coming assault on the values and programs we hold dear,” Blumenauer said in a Facebook post published on January 7.

Rep. Mark Takano took issue with Trump attacks against Rep. John Lewis on Saturday, saying, “I stand with John Lewis and I will not be attending the inauguration.”

Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York said she would attend a women’s march in Washington instead, which was expected to draw 200,000 participants.

Rep. Ted Lieu of California “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.

When you insult John Lewis, you insult America, New York Rep. Yvette Clarke said in a tweet on Saturday.

Rep. Mark DeSaulnier of California “It is with a heavy heart and deep personal conviction that I have decided not to attend the #TrumpInauguration on January 20, 2017,” DeSaulnier tweeted Saturday.

Rep John Conyers of Michigan told CNN he would be attending Trump’s inauguration.

Rep Kurt Schrader of Oregon said during an appearance on Oregon Public Broadcasting Friday: “I’m just not a big Trump fan. I’ve met the guy and never been impressed with him.”

 A representative for Rep William Lacy Clay told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Clay will be “back home in St. Louis speaking to school kids.”

Rep Jose Serrano tweeted Thursday he “cannot celebrate the inauguration of a man who has no regard for my constituents.”

TR

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