Politicians remain in office not necessarily by doing a good job representing their constituents, but by being good politicians. In other words, by being good at campaigning for office — whether that is during the campaign season or at any other opportune time while in office.
The good politicians are always on the lookout for events they can attach themselves too that will earn points with the voters back home. This sounds cynical, but is too often true. And it’s what we have in a major way with Donald Trump’s inauguration.
At last count, over 50 Democrats have announced they will be skipping President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday, January 20.
The majority of them are from the deep blue state of California.
There is something about California that just breeds extreme leftists. The state has some close runners-up, but it still wins the award. These Congressmen have found their cause, and even if pursuing it requires a good dose of hypocrisy, they will not be deterred. In other words if the situation and results of the election were identical except that Hillary had won, would they still be taking such “principled” stands as well as referring to her as “not legitimate?” Hardly.
There is often a leader or two who the rest follow, and in this case it’s Representative John Lewis. Unfortunately for Mr. Lewis, he did get caught in a lie, but don’t expect that to bother his followers.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers announced they would not attend the inauguration after legendary civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis stated that he does not believe Trump is a “legitimate president,” that he is “wrong” for the nation, and that this is the first inauguration at which he will not be present.
However, soon after he made his comment, a report surfaced that Lewis had skipped George W. Bush’s inauguration because he did not believe Bush was the true elected president, thus it would be hypocritical for him to attend.
It looks like Mr. Lewis needs a refresher course in civics. Twice now he has declared a president-elect “illegitimate” who has, indeed, been legally elected according the the Constitution and laws of this country. Of course, saying “I just don’t like this” is not nearly as impressive as declaring the incoming president to be “not legitimate.”
Among this group boycotting the inauguration we have the example of a representative who has some unresolved conflicts.
New Hampshire Democrat Rep. Carol Shea-Porter noted that instead of attending the inauguration she’ll go to religious services to “pray for all of our leaders and people.” Shea-Porter represents a congressional district that Trump won. In fact, Trump won more votes than Shea-Porter did. Shea-Porter received 162,080 votes in her district, CD-1. Trump received 179,259 in the same district.
Now that’s rather embarrassing, or at least it should be. Trump got more votes in her district for president than she did for representative. Yet she clearly considers herself a winner, while declaring Mr. Trump to be not legitimate.
These fifty or so malcontents have every right to throw their temper tantrums. And they are perfectly within their rights to claim they are standing up for principles. And in one sense they are. They are standing up for the principle that a good politician must never miss an opportunity for self-promotion, no matter how hypocritical or preposterous that act might be.
And by the way, they won’t be missed:
According to Roll Call, Democrats who are planning to skip Trump’s historic swearing-in ceremony include Reps. John Lewis (D-GA), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Don Beyer (D-VA), Mark Takano (D-CA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Ted Liu (D-CA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), John Conyers (D-MI), Mark Desaulnier (D-CA), Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Kurt Schrader (D-OR), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Jos Serrano (D-NY), Judy Chu (D-CA), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Katherine Clark (D-MA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Karen Bass (D-CA), Keith Ellison (D-MI), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Al Green (D-TX), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Anthony Brown (D-MD), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), John Yarmouth (D-KY), Dwight Evans (D-PA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Raul Ruiz (D-CA), Adam Smith (D-WA), Darren Sotto (D-FL), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Mike Doyle (D-PA), Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), Donald M. Payne (D-NJ), Alma Adams (D-N.C.), Brendan F. Boyle (D-PA), Robert A. Brady (D-PA), Frederica Wilson (D-FL), Jerry McNerney (D-CA), and Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR).
Source: Breitbart
Fire them all!!!
they have no principles
If one of these jackasses represents you, I suggest you find out what you need to do to have your state recall and replace them. Their action is shameful.
I would be willing to bet that EVERy one of them is a member of the American Socialist Party. You can look it up online, members of Congress in the American Socialist Party. What a bunch of scum.