Congressman Jerry Nadler won’t attend Donald Trump’s inauguration. Nadler, who served as Chairman or Ranking Member of Congress’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties for 13 years, believes the show of support he’d be making by attending Trump’s inauguration would be a backwards step for his constituency and for the country. Fellow Trump inauguration abstainer and civil rights icon John Lewis has called Nadler a “staunch defender of civil rights and civil liberties in America.” In explaining his decision not to attend the inauguration, Nadler chose 82 words that encapsulate the viewpoint, held by many on the left and right, that Donald Trump’s actions and rhetoric are an affront to good conscience. Here are the 82 words of Nadler’s longer statement:
“The rhetoric and actions of Donald Trump have been so far beyond the pale — so disturbing and disheartening — and his continued failure to address his conflicts of interest, to adequately divest or even to fully disclose his financial dealings, or to sufficiently separate himself from the ethical misconduct that legal experts on both side of the aisle have identified have been so offensive I cannot in good conscience participate in this honored and revered democratic tradition of the peaceful transfer of power.”
