[azangru]

> the first thing that came to mind was that he was telling his supporters indirectly that they could do whatever they wanted since he wouldn't be in harms way

Wow, it would have never occurred to me to read it like this, but then I am hopeless at teasing out hidden meanings from what people say. To me, this is just so consistent with the overall picture of him that's been consistently painted in the media, and which he only verifies by his own behavior — that of a stubborn, spoilt, petulant child — that I can't but take his words at face value, i.e. that he's informing the world that he won't show up because of spite.

I am also amused that there seems to be a non-negligible amount of people who apparently care whether he will or will not attend the ceremony. To a foreigner like me, it just sounds so insignificant and puny.

[jaycroft]

A symbolic gesture signaling approval of the peaceful transition of power for arguably the most powerful political apparatus on earth is quite significant to a lot of Americans. It is probably considerably less interesting to people watching from the outside.

[Aeolun]

The symbolism of him attending is much more important to me than the symbolism of him staying away.

Few people will start a riot if he is there transferring power to the new president.

A legion of people will show up to disrupt the proceedings if he isn’t.

[weaksauce]

> that of a stubborn, spoilt, petulant child

could be that and also him accidentally stoking the flames of stochastic terror.