UPDATE: List of tantrum-throwing Dem lawmakers boycotting inauguration balloons to 60
With the inauguration of Donald Trump just days away, Democrats are equal parts panicky, outraged, confused, and sputtering. Like a three-year-old faced with a plate of spinach, they've decided a doomed tantrum is their only recourse. You've seen the hissy-fit play out over the last few weeks, and it's only going to escalate from here on out.
Of course, they don't see their behavior that way. They're trying to portray it as a crisis of conscience. It's not an embarrassing meltdown, it's a noble, Spartacus-like, effort to stand together in the face of injustice and persecution. The plan is to enact a historic boycott of The Donald's big day.
Unlike Spartacus - heck, unlike Jerry Maguire - no one will care about their oh-so-principled stand. It won't produce any results, there won't be any inspirational moment of defiance, and they won't emerge defeated-yet-triumphant. Sorry, but there will be no moral victory here. They won't even generate a "show me the money" catchphrase.
That's because no one will notice their inauguration boycott. Oh sure, political wonks will take note. This website, and many, many, others, will comment. Then everyone will move on. The average American will have no idea this even happened. No one in their right mind will give a second thought to the fact that a self-described back-bencher like Chellie Pingree (D-ME) decided to stay home.
Democrats will remind their dwindling constituency of their inscrutable morality in a series of fundraising letters, and that will be it.
However, we are a political commentary website, so we try to keep you informed. The list of lawmakers who've decided to dodge the big D.C. prom appears below. Feel free to forget about it as soon as you've read it, and we apologize if you're unlucky enough to live in any of their districts.
