On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Minnesota Congressman and DNC Chair hopeful Keith Ellison became the most recent in a long string of Democrats who are publicly announcing a boycott of Donald Trump’s inauguration, placing their opposition to Trump’s presidency above the need for a smooth transition of power.
“I will not celebrate a man who preaches a politics of division and hate. I won’t be attending Donald Trump’s inauguration.”
Ellison made his announcement via Twitter after publicly supporting civil rights leader John Lewis. Lewis had entered in a feud with Trump after earlier declaring that he, too, would be skipping Trump’s inauguration because he believed Russian interference in the election meant that his presidency was illegitimate.
Ellison’s choice to boycott Trump’s inauguration is a significant one considering he is currently applying to become the leader of the Democratic party through the DNC chair. If he succeeds, he will have placed himself at an unusually adversarial position to the President, leading to a contentious future at best.
Still, many believe that is exactly what we need leading the Democratic party in these difficult times. Rather than having a DNC leader who will lie down and feign civility with the fascist-in-chief, we can hope that the Democratic party chooses a fearless leader like Ellison who will never put political favor over his conscience.
There are now over 30 Democratic members of Congress who have said they would be skipping the Inauguration in protest of Trump – many of which announced their lack of support in response to Trump’s treatment of fellow Congressman John Lewis.
