Democrats vow to skip inauguration on Twitter after latest Trump attack
Donald Trump's inauguration may be sparsely attended. Not only has the president-elect struggled to find a single (genuine) celebrity to perform, but a growing number of Democratic congresspeople are declaring they will not show up at his swearing in on Jan. 20.
Following Trump's harsh words on Saturday about Representative John Lewis of Georgia, Democrats from across the country are taking the symbolic step of refusing to attend.
The president-elect accused the civil rights icon of being "all talk and no action or results" after Lewis criticized Trump on NBC and said he would be skipping the inauguration.
SEE ALSO:People are fuming over Donald Trump's comments about John LewisThe Hill reported that as of Sunday evening, at least 22 House Democrats have publicly stated they will not go to the inauguration. There are 194 Democrats in the House, but the boycott movement appears to be growing as the politicians share on Twitter their passionate reasons for not attending.
Posting a picture of Lewis alongside Martin Luther King Jr., Mark Takano of California said he would not attend.
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He was joined by Yvette Clarke of New York, Judy Chu of California, Nydia Velazquez of New York, Mark DeSaulnier of California, Barbara Lee of California, Ted Lieu of California and Marcia Fudge of Ohio, who all shared their decisions on social media.
Lieu said in a statement that Trump has attacked "Gold Star parents, veterans such as John McCain and now civil rights icon John Lewis."
"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."
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Maxine Waters of California was short and sweet: "I wouldn't waste my time."
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Jared Huffman of California said on Facebook he planned to spend the day with his constituents.
"From helping to build homes for local families to pitching in on cleaning up flood debris to welcoming new U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony," he wrote. "It will be an action-packed couple of days."
Mark Pocan of Wisconsin also pulled out citing Trump's "offensive tweets" about Lewis and allegations of Russian hacking. "It's time for Donald Trump to start acting like President Trump, not an immature, undignified reality star with questionable friends and a Twitter addiction," he said.
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Other Democrats had already pulled out of the event, including Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, who shared a statement on Jan. 5 that raised concerns about the "anti-woman," "anti-immigrant" and "anti-Muslim" rhetoric of the Trump campaign for president.
"I do not feel that I can contribute to the normalization of the President-elect's divisive rhetoric by participating in the Inauguration," she said.
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Earl Blumenauer of Oregon also tweeted in early January that he would be spending inauguration day in his district talking to constituents. "It is hard to think of a better use of my time on January 20th," he said.
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Jose Serrano of New York, who has been outspoken about immigrant rights, also pulled out, saying he could not "celebrate the inauguration of a man who has no regard for my constituents."
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Trump, unsurprisingly, insisted Saturday the inauguration would be "even bigger than expected."
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