More than 40 U.S. lawmakers now say they will not attend Donald Trump's pricey inauguration on Friday, while the nation's capital braces for large protests on that day and over the weekend.
The Washington Post is keeping a tally and put the count at 44 Democratic representatives on Tuesday morning. New additions to the list include Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.), Al Green (D-Texas), and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine).
"I fully accept the outcome of this presidential election," Pingree told attendees at an event honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday evening. "And, under normal circumstances, I would have no question at all about participating in this important ceremony, whatever party the incoming president was from."
"But these are not normal circumstances," she continued. "Throughout the election, Donald Trump proved so, making disparaging comments about everyone from women to minorities to the disabled. But what he's done since the election goes to another level. He's shown no interest in holding a foreign power accountable for interference in our democracy; he's put his business interests ahead of the country's; he's tweeted threats about people's civil liberties; and he belittled civil rights hero Representative John Lewis."
"President-elect Trump's actions go beyond any kind of reasonable debate—they threaten the constitutional values our country is based on," Pingree concluded. "I won't dignify or normalize those threats by standing by at his ceremony."
Pingree, like others have done, said she would participate in Saturday's Women's March on Washington, which is anticipating more than 200,000 attendees.
Other protests are scheduled for Friday, including one along the parade route itself and another just a few streets away. Furthermore, "[a]n estimated 1 million people plan to demonstrate in all 50 states and 32 countries," USA Today reported Monday. That includes Women's March solidarity events as well as anti-Trump events on Thursday and Friday.
The group organizing as DisruptJ20 is planning a "festival of resistance" to include issue-focused blockades as well as a permitted march on Friday. It also is supporting plans to protest the "fascist alt-right Deploraball," taking place Thursday night.
"The idea is to shut down access to the parade as much as possible and slowing it down to a crawl," DisruptJ20 organizer Legba Carrefour told NBC News. "Then there's the broader goal of shutting down the entire city around it and creating a sense of paralysis that creates a headline that says, 'Trump's inauguration creates chaos.'"
Mic's live Storm the Swamp 2017 map will be updated throughout the week to show key protests, disruptions, and demonstrations for and against the Trump administration.
