Can we give it up to Hillary for being an example to her colleagues by being a gracious loser and attending the inauguration?

No, it’s not disingenuous.

Being an ex-president and first lady (and incidentally losing Democratic candidate) up on the podium isn’t remotely comparable to being an audience member. Members of Congress have no obligation to attend.

A gracious loser who lost by getting 3 million more votes than the “winner.”

Clinton is a member of a rather select group, since hardly anyone showed up They are estimating about 10,000. Tomorrow’s protests are expected to be 10 times larger. It of course does not make any difference, but it cracks me up since Trump, being a person of no substance, made such a big deal about having the biggest crowds ever.

Her husband dragged her there.

Yes, it was “big” of her. I for one am tired of the fact that whenever anyone exercises their right to peacefully protest something (whether through boycotting or some other method), they are labeled as whiners, or it’s because of sour grapes.

Hillary attended out of respect for the democratic process in America. That doesn’t mean she supports Trump’s policies or holds Trump the man in any respect. Her feelings on the occasion may have been similar to my own, though stronger, as I was never personally insulted by the man.

It is highly unusual for former presidents and first ladies not to show up at an inauguration, though with the exception of Carter, they all took their sweet time about responding.

Members of the House not attending is less unusual. 80 Democratic House members boycotted Nixon’s second term compared to “only” around 50 boycotting Trump.

If Clinton had won, would Trump have shown up at her inauguration? He only won by a few thousand in a few swing states. It could have gone the other way. Not only would Trump not have shown up, he was threatening not to accept the results had he lost. If there is something nice to say about the man, I have yet to find it.

It would have been normal (I think) for Trump to skip Hillary’s ceremony.

Romney did not attend in 2013 and I don’t think anybody expected him to go. He’s never held Federal office.

McCain was there in 2009 as a US Senator.

Correction to my previous post. Only a few House members boycotted Nixon. It looks as if Trump may have set the record for most boycotting congressmen as well as having one of the smallest turnouts. Out of 10,000 viewers, 500 were members of Congress. If you add in family members and friends, they might have accounted for, what, maybe 20% of those in attendance. Sad. Very sad.

I agree @Hypocrisy_Central. It must have taken a great deal of steely courage to turn up. I’m glad she did.

Yes.

I give her credit. I hope they gave her Xanax. I feel very badly for her.

I feel bad for Melania Trump too. I don’t think she’s had any say in Trump running for president, but she now has to play the role of first lady with all the criticism that will bring. She doesn’t strike me as a confident, outspoken woman.

@Earthbound_Misfit I think Melania is probably proud to be First Lady. She was a model from Eastern Europe, and now she is First Lady of the US! She wasn’t a school teacher living a life of quiet, she was a model plastered across magazines and walking the runway. Then she married Donald Trump. She is a spotlight girl.

She’ll have to get up to speed on the Washington stuff, but she’ll do just fine I think. She’s poised, pretty, and practically all First Ladies get criticized.

Being a model doesn’t make you confident and assertive or mean you crave the sort of attention she will receive in this role. Many actors are actually introverts, I’m sure the same is true of models. They’re happy to play a part, but they don’t like the attention they attract otherwise.

And I don’t think her being a model provides any certainty that she wants to be First Lady. I really don’t think anyone can judge whether this is something she wants or not. However, whenever I’ve seen any footage of her, she looks awkward and uncomfortable. Not to mention, as First Lady she will receive criticism for everything from how she speaks, what she chooses to speak about, what she wears, how she wears it, the projects she becomes involved in, whether she is involved in enough projects. I hope she has good self-esteem.

^^She keeps saying she is very strong. We’ll have to take her word for it. People criticize her for being beautiful, including friends of mine, and I have pushed back. I mean seriously, disliking a woman for being beautiful? People suck.

Hillary looked plenty cheerful to me.
Mrs Trump seemed quite poised and cheerful.
Baron looked a little out of sorts when he first stepped out of the car with his parents to walk the mall, but after a minute or two of waving he seemed to really dig it. I can’t imagine me in front of a crowd like that at age ten.
As they left, the Clintons looked fully at ease, his arm around her shoulder, both smiling and laughing. They looked like they’d really rather take a vacation now anyway.

People criticize her for being beautiful

You have examples of that? I don’t think it’s true.

I would criticize her for being vapid like anyone else whose main interests are plastic surgery and luxury goods.

The fact that she was lazy and uninterested enough to read a plagiarized convention speech shows her character.

@Call_Me_Jay Oh yeah, one friend of mine literally said, “who looks like that?” While hating on how she is an embarrassment for the nation. “What type of example is that for our daughters? Having a First Lady with magazine looks and body.” She was annoyed at how the First Lady would affect the self esteem of teenagers. I told her plenty of women look like that.

OK, I agree, “she looks too good” is weird and rather dumb.

^^I don’t care that she is vapid either. If she is? I have no idea. I’m not going to judge her intelligence or interests on her beauty or that she is a mom married to a rich guy.

Is she only interested in cosmetic surgery? I have no idea if she has ever had cosmetic surgery.

People didn’t like Hillary for being smart and involved in government when she was First Lady. As far as I can tell people are overwhelmingly unfair to First Ladies.

All I care is that she is a “good” person and will help the President do his job. Her commitment should be to the country right now, even if that is just helping raise her child and helping the president be focused, and steering him towards good also. If she has a cause that she can help with that’s good for Americans then that’s great, but if she does nothing but choose Christmas tree themes, pick a China pattern, and help entertain the wives of other leaders I don’t care.

The definition of what Donald Trump thinks is right for the country varies from mine, but I’m just talking in general terms.

People didn’t like Hillary for being smart and involved in government when she was First Lady. As far as I can tell people are overwhelmingly unfair to First Ladies.

Not “people didn’t like”. Hateful conservatives didn’t like Hillary. And they call Michelle an ape in heals.

The “both sides are bad and everything is the same” line is tired and dishonest.

Michelle is criticized for advocating exercising and eating vegetables and being black.

Melania is criticized for being a willing participant in a hateful campaign.

Hateful liberals don’t like Melania and they call her a whore and a slut. I witnessed this today in my fb feed and bitched about it. Women who marched today to support other women and call themselves feminists are saying terrible things about the first lady. They are so hypocrital and it just gives me another reason why I don’t call myself a Democrat or liberal anymore.

There ARE assholes on both sides. No side is better than the other.

Hateful liberals don’t like Melania and they call her a whore and a slut. I witnessed this today in my fb feed

Your facebook feed isn’t real life. Really. I am not kidding. Feel free to ask for details if you don’t understand.

@JLeslie I agree with you on “first lady duties.”
I don’t get where people think they should judge FLOTUS or expect anything in particular. She was on no ballot, and she should be the president’s wife, not the nation’s piñata.

Give me a break Jay. Don’t be so condescending. I’m not fucking stupid. People I know aren’t real? Fuck off. My own BIL is a hateful liberal who constantly calls Melanie a whore.

Some people have friends and family on their facebook, not just propaganda mills.
Personally, I know the difference on my account.
My aunts, uncles, chums, all get more attention from me than those strange posts with 23k comments.

That was gracious of her and him. I didn’t expect them to be so mature about it.

@jonsblond OK, I was wrong. You see ugly hateful comments from people you know and I agree that would be upsetting.

However, it still doesn’t compare to the ugly hatred towards the Obamas from public figures – prominent conservatives in the media and elected Republicans.

The new president was a leading birther, insisting that a black man could not be a legitimate president, or even a legitimate American citizen.

That’s why I say “both sides are bad” is dishonest nonsense.