[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] It's a free country, and the nineteen (and counting) members of Congress who are planning to boycott President-elect Trump's inauguration are certainly within their rights. So even is Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who said over the weekend that Trump's election (or his presidency) is "illegitimate."That doesn't make his comment true or honorable or helpful to the nation's well-being, but he is free to say it.
Reps. Lewis, Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and the other inaugural boycotters are certainly not alone in finding Trump uniquely awful. They are not alone in believing the president-elect has gone out of his way to offend people. Probably they also recognize that, in the safe districts they all represent, an inaugural boycott might even be a political winner.
But this is also part of a pattern. Lewis and Lee, along with some other Democratic politicians at the time, also boycotted to make a point when President George W. Bush was inaugurated in 2001. The Washington Post reported at the time that Lewis "thought it would be hypocritical to attend Bush's swearing-in because he doesn't believe Bush is the true elected president."
Maybe they had a better excuse that time, as there was so much lingering acrimony surrounding the Florida recount. But we're talking about elected members of Congress who have refused to accept two Republican presidencies in a row. Is there always a good enough excuse whenever a Republican wins? At what point is it fair to ask whether some people are just not committed to democratic or legal processes at all unless the results come out as they hope?