North Carolina doesn’t need a seditionist-in-hiding in the US Senate
Pat McCrory said last month that U.S. Senate candidate Ted Budd is “in hiding.” Budd refused to participate in Republican primary debates. He now appears, at last, to have agreed to one debate with opponent Cheri Beasley — if an appropriate date can be found.
As Chris Cooper of Western Carolina put it: “Budd is running a quiet campaign, or at least as quiet as you can run in a nationally significant race when you’ve got $6 million to spend.” In his latest commercials, Budd doesn’t appear as a gun business owner, but a kindly paternal sort who will assure that our daughters never have to return a package of muffins to the grocery store shelf. Sweet stuff.
Budd is hoping North Carolinians have short, selective memories. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his ads make no mention of the fact that since November 2020 he has proven to be a consistent and visible, if obsequious and servile, foot-soldier in North Carolina’s treasonous, sedition caucus.
Budd has done all he can to illegally overthrow the 2020 presidential election; to unconstitutionally thwart the peaceful transfer of power; and to end our defining national commitment to government of, by and for the people. He has tried to pull off what Jefferson Davis and Vladimir Putin couldn’t. He placed loyalty to Donald Trump over his oath of office. And he has done it all wrapped in an breathtakingly hypocritical embrace of the American flag. He is demonstrably unfit for office.
To refresh. On Dec. 11, 2020, as a sitting member of Congress, Budd signed onto an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Supreme Court by the buffoonish attorney general of Texas to overturn presidential election results in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. The Trump dominated Court immediately showed them the door, effectively reminding that neither a lawless AG nor a clueless congressman has the power to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters — even if Trump wants them to.
Even more stunning, on Jan. 7, 2021, hours after a throng of insurrectionists defaced the U.S. Capitol and murdered its defenders, Budd rose to his feet in a lawless attempt to overturn the presidential election by voting to decertify the Pennsylvania election. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had just warned fellow Republicans: “the voters, the courts, and the states have all spoken, if we overrule them, it will damage our republic forever; our democracy (will) enter a death spiral.” Budd voted to bring on the death spiral. Then, he bragged about it.
Mike Pence had a rare moment of conscience and duty. Not Budd. Heavy Republican partisans like Richard Burr and Thom Tillis refused to follow Trump over the cliff. Not Budd. So terrified was he of offending the liar of Mar-a-Lago that he preferred to ditch government by consent of the governed rather than face the venom of the defeated president. Cowardice and perfidy on stilts.
There’s no unity to be sought with those who would crush American democracy. Meeting seditionists halfway only makes one complicit in the treachery. Budd has proven himself unfit to be trusted with moral and political authority. That won’t change. The only decent response by traitors to their oath of office is to apologize, resign and go home. Instead, Budd seeks a promotion. North Carolina needs many things in 2022. A quiet, smiling, seditionist-in-hiding isn’t one of them.