Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said that former President Donald Trump was “right” not to attend the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
After a heated election cycle and an even more politically charged lame-duck in which the former president consistently claimed the election was “rigged,” Trump announced on January 8 that he would not attend the January 20 inaugural.
Speaking during pre-inauguration coverage on Fox News, Fleischer noted that, given Trump’s personality, attending and making-nice would have been “fake.”
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“I think Donald Trump was right not to go today,” he said. “It would have been so fake of him to go and one thing we all know about President Trump — he is not a politician. He doesn’t fake things. If he feels something, he lets it rip.”
“And if he had gone to this ceremony today, or the symbolism of it all, it would have been such a fraudulent, phony thing after what he has done and said what he has said,” he continued. “This is who he is, his personality.”
The former White House press secretary, who served under former President George W. Bush, did note that it was “wonderful” to see other past presidents in attendance.
Biden called the fact that Trump would not be in attendance a “good thing.” (RELATED: REPORT: Trump Floating The Idea Of Creating A New Political Party)
“I was told that, on the way up here, way over here, that he indicated he wasn’t going to show up at the inauguration,” Biden said earlier this month. “One of the few things he and I have ever agreed on. It’s a good thing, him not showing up.”