US Rep. Capuano Also Planning Trump Inauguration Boycott
BOSTON (AP) — A second member of Massachusetts' all-Democratic congressional delegation has decided to skip the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Rep. Michael Capuano said in a series of tweets Wednesday that although he has great respect for the office of the president and accepts the result of the November election, he won't attend the inauguration.
Capuano, in a written statement, pointed to Trump's criticism of U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a key figure in the civil rights movement who marched with Martin Luther King Jr.
Lewis has said he doesn't consider Trump a "legitimate president," blaming Russia for helping him win the White House. In response, Trump criticized Lewis, tweeting "All talk, talk, talk — no action or results."
"I am deeply disappointed in the way President-elect Trump attacked Rep. John Lewis, a personal friend and hero to so many Americans," Capuano said. "The President-elect cannot mold the world simply by saying so. But his words do matter, now more than ever, and he has given no indication of recognizing this."
Capuano, who represents the state's 7th Congressional District, said he'll hold an open house in his Cambridge district office Friday morning instead.
Capuano and Massachusetts congresswoman Katherine Clark are among about 50 House Democrats who have said they will boycott Friday's ceremonies.
Clark, who represents the state's 5th Congressional District, has said that she respects the presidency and supports the peaceful transfer of power but that families in her district are fearful of "the anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and divisive promises that drove the Trump campaign."
Other members of the state's congressional delegation say they'll attend the inaugural, even though they opposed Trump.
"The inauguration is going to be hard moment for me to watch a man sworn into office that I believe represents some of the things in politics and in public life that I fight against every single day," said Rep. Joe Kennedy, who represents the state's 4th Congressional District. "That being said, I do view an inauguration ceremony as a celebration of our democracy, as a celebration of the peaceful transfer of power and a recognition of an electoral process where the people's voice matter."
Rep. Seth Moulton, who represents the state's 6th Congressional District, said he'll attend "out of respect for the office of the president, not out of respect for Donald Trump or his policies."
Moulton said it was a difficult decision because Trump "has shown time and time again that he is unfit to lead and doesn't respect the office."
Moulton and Kennedy both say they'll also join Trump protesters in Washington and Boston.
Massachusetts' two Democratic senators — Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey — are attending the inaugural, as is Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who opposed Trump and said he didn't vote for him.