The number of Democratic members of Congress saying they will boycott Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday has increased to 26.
Many have cited as a reason the president-elect’s recent attack on civil rights icon and fellow congressman John Lewis.
Mr Trump lashed out at Mr Lewis on Twitter on Friday after Mr Lewis said he was not a “legitimate president”. He said that Mr Lewis was “All talk, talk, talk – no action or results”. Mr Lewis was a prominent member of America’s civil rights movement and is a hero to many Americans. He was among those beaten by police during the infamous Selma-Montgomery voting rights march of 1965.
As Americans celebrate Martin Luther King Day, the children of the slain civil rights leader – a contemporary of Mr Lewis – have spoken out about the spat.
Martin Luther King III played down the row following a meeting with Mr Trump in New York that he described as “very constructive”.
He said that in the heat of the moment “a lot of things get said on both sides”. But his sister Bernice King told a church audience in Atlanta that “God can triumph over Trump”.
Final straw
Mr Lewis joined the House of Representatives in 1987 and has served Georgia’s fifth congressional district, which Mr Trump went on to call “crime-infested”, ever since.
The president-elect’s insults, made just days ahead of Martin Luther King Day, were the final straw for a number of Democrats who will break with tradition by missing the inauguration ceremony on Friday.
“When you insult Rep. John Lewis, you insult America,” said Yvette Clarke, one of five representatives for New York who will boycott the event. There are 535 members of Congress, across both houses.
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