By Chris Bremer
San Luis Obispo County’s congressman, Salud Carbajal, announced on his official website Tuesday that he will attend President-elect Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Nearly 70 elected Democrats are publicly declaring that they will not be attending the inauguration, citing “[…] what they described as his alarming and divisive policies, foreign interference in his election and his criticism of civil rights icon John Lewis, a congressman from Georgia,†The Washington Post states.
Carbajal is announcing that his attendance of the inauguration will be to send a message to President-elect Trump.
“I want him to see the face of a Mexican immigrant newly elected to serve as the first Latino representative for the Central Coast,†Carbajal’s statement read. “And to know that the many groups he has disparaged and attacked over the course of his campaign have a strong voice in our government.â€
The movement to skip the inauguration was sparked after a controversial exchange between President-elect Trump and Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights leader.
Lewis told NBC news that he did not see Trump as a “legitimate†president, citing Russian interference during the presidential campaign as his reasoning, according to CNN.
Trump took to twitter in a heated response.
“Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad,” Trump’s tweet said.
The exchange, falling on the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday weekend, sparked 67 elected Democrats to publicly boycott the inauguration, The Washington Post states.
President of the N.A.A.C.P., Cornell Williams Brooks, criticized Trump’s comments and posted a photo of Lewis bloodied from protesting.
