EDITORIAL: The North Carolina seditionists

Not going to get into the weeds of the election, its winner (Joe Biden) and the sorry sack of lawsuits trying even now, after the Electoral College has cast its votes, to subvert the results. Nor will there be any analysis of the Trump camp’s last-ditch efforts to swing the whole thing to Congress, because it’s just fucking stupid.

But it’s also completely un-American. And that’s what we’re talking about here.

The election is over and done with, all efforts at meaningful litigation tossed out of the room like the rudest customer in the bar. Trump is acting completely in character with his ridiculous, untenable and, we remind you, deeply un-American position because he really doesn’t care about concepts like democracy and the rule of law. But to the rest of you: We will never forget.

Before the Texas lawsuit was rejected by SCOTUS, 126 members of the House Republican Caucus signed on to this ridiculous (and un-American) cause. Seven of them were from North Carolina, almost half of those from Guilford and Forsyth counties.

Our Hall of Shame: Rep. Ted Budd (13^th District), Rep. Virginia Foxx (5^th District) and Rep. Mark Walker (6^th District).

They and 123 others signed on for a judicial nullifying of elections in key swing states, disregarding the votes of the American people, usurping their power to name Trump — Trump! — to a second term despite the fact that he got 7 million fewer votes and came 38 electoral votes shy of winning.

Make no mistake: This is sedition, which is a legal term for what happens when two or more people plot to overthrow the US government as dictated by the will of the people. It doesn’t matter how many people signed on, or how powerful they are, and it doesn’t matter if they succeed or not. More so, an attempt to invalidate our free and fair elections is a violation of the Constitution, which these elected officials have sworn to defend.

Just two of our reps will be around when the House convenes on Jan. 3 — Walker lost his seat to redistricting and declined to run in 2020, but he’s declared his intentions to run for Senate in 2022.

So just Budd and Foxx will be among the 125 House members who should not be seated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They and their colleagues have no business being anywhere near the halls of government. And all North Carolinians — nay, all Americans — would be safer if these enemies of the people were in jail.