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Mr. Outgoing Not at the Inauguration

 




One can hardly act surprised that Mr. Outgoing is not going to be at the inauguration of his successor this year.

There have been surprisingly few comments about the LAST time that happened. So it is worth being explicit. The last such snub took place in March 1869, when Andrew Johnson left town ahead of the festivities for incoming President Ulysses S. Grant. 

Andrew Johnson (pictured here) and Donald Trump share a lot else for the history books, too. Each was impeached by the House during his first-and-only term in office. Each defeated the prosecutors of that impeachment in the Senate and completed his term. And now, we see that each has declined to stick around for the ceremony that would formally end that term. 

This means that Bill Clinton is the only impeached and tried President who did show up for his successor's inauguration, that of George W. Bush, in January 2001. And that situation was different. Clinton was impeached in his second term in office. So he served out the full permitted eight years. Perhaps that renders one less cranky. 

[Were I to make an observation here to the effect that Monica might be a better tension-reliever than Melania, it would perhaps not be taken well, so I will refrain from it. I'm trying to Be Best.] 

There are only three data points, three President's who have been impeached and tried. Nixon, of course, resigned before these processes could work themselves out, so he isn't part of our sample. With such sparse data, one can hardly make generalizations, But I think it unremarkable that Trump won't be at this event.

Nor do I think he will be missed.

There has been a good deal of sentimentality of late about the wonderful tradition of the peaceful transition of powerful, and how horrible a breach Trump is making of it. Really? Yes, it is good that our chief executives succeed one another without the need for tanks rolling down city streets. But in this case, no one is dragging the Outgoing out of the mansion kicking and screaming. We can count that as a blessing. What we don't get is the hypocritical spectacle of incoming and outgoing shaking hands and pretending to be all buddy-buddy. I don't think we lose anything by not having that spectacle before us. 

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