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More than 50 Democratic congressmen have announced their plans to boycott the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump. Trump expressed the hope that they will return him their tickets.
US President-elect Donald Trump (Photo: Getty Images)
More than 50 congressmen from the US Democratic Party are going to boycott the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, BBC reported on Wednesday.
Reportedly, many congressmen explain their decision by the dispute between Trump and Democratic congressman John Lewis.
Lewis called Trump ‘an illegitimate president’ due to alleged Russian interference in the election campaign. In response, Trump wrote in his Twitter: “Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad.”
Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017
mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017
Lewis is a renowned fighter for civil rights. He regularly organizes actions and marches for the rights of religious communities and sexual minorities. During one of such demonstrations (Selma, Alabama, 2015), in which he took part, Lewis himself was beaten and suffered a concussion.
According to many Democratic congressmen, the Trump’s words are disrespect to Lewis. Minnesota’s Congressman Keith Ellison even accused Trump of conducting “policy of separation and hatred.”
I will not celebrate a man who preaches a politics of division and hate. I won’t be attending Donald Trump’s inauguration.
— Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) January 16, 2017
Earlier, 26 members of the Congress were going to boycott the inauguration ceremony, which should be held on January 20. This is not the first case of a mass boycott of an inauguration ceremony in the US. So, in 1973, about 80 congressmen boycotted the inauguration of Richard Nixon.
However, Trump has already said that he does not mind Democratic members of Congress boycotting his inauguration, talking with “Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt.
Speaking about lawmakers, who are not going to attend the inauguration, Trump said, “that’s ok, because we need seats so badly, I hope they give me their tickets.”
About 800,000-900,000 people, including several hundreds of diplomats, are going to visit the ceremony in Washington on this Friday. Today, Trump will hold the so-called ‘preliminary dinner’ with foreign diplomats.
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