Rep. Yassamin Ansari at the annual MLK Day March in Phoenix. Photo courtesy Rep. Yassamin Ansari.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari did the same thing this Martin Luther King Jr. Day that she had done for the past several years: march the streets of Phoenix for the city’s annual celebration of the civil rights leader.
The decision put her at odds with many of her colleagues—like Sen. Ruben Gallego and Rep. Greg Stanton—who trekked out to Washington, DC, to attend the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Ansari said that her decision to skip the inauguration should not be interpreted as her setting the tone for an antagonistic relationship between her and the incoming administration.
“I fully support a peaceful transition of power,” Ansari said. “And look forward to finding ways to reach across the aisle and work with my colleagues on ways to better the lives of Arizona families.”
Like Ansari, Stanton had served on the Phoenix City Council for years and had been a longtime staple at the city’s civil rights march. But this year, he decided to use his attendance at the inauguration to signal his willingness to collaborate with his Republican colleagues.
“If there are issues you disagree on and go against your values and beliefs and what you think is right for the community, you fight it,” Stanton told Cronkite News’ Emma Paterson. “If there are areas where you can reach agreement you try to reach agreement. With the new administration coming in, I take the same approach.”
Stanton was joined by the majority of Arizona’s congressional Republicans, the Trump family, and American oligarchs Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk, whose combined wealth of $885 billion hold tremendous influence within the Trump administration.
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