The U.S. Code defines “seditious conspiracy” as follows:
“If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.”
Donald J. Trump is guilty of sedition, as is his Sedition Caucus of crackpot members of Congress and the mob of domestic terrorists who stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to stop the counting of the Electoral College vote.
For the record, Trump lost the popular vote by 7 million. He lost the Electoral College vote 306-232. He lost close to 60 court challenges. He lost the White House. He lost the House. He lost the Senate. He is America’s biggest loser.
Trump has operated all his life on the principle that if you repeat a lie often enough a certain segment of the population will believe it. The only thing the Trump presidency taught us was that the ranks of the credulous and the corrupt are greater than anyone could have imagined. The 100-odd Republicans in Congress who continued to believe that Trump won the election are not fit for office. They are either fools or felons.
The biggest lie Trump repeated was that he would “Make America Great Again.” Instead, he made America gag. He did not accomplish a thing in the office. The one thing that happened on his watch was the packing of the courts with conservative judges and that was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s doing, not Trump’s.
Trump took credit for a booming economy he had nothing to do with. He diminished America’s status in the world. He dragged the White House as well as the Department of Justice and the military through the mud. He did his damnedest to take health care away from millions of Americans. He failed to take the coronavirus seriously. And he empowered the forces of ignorance that have fueled both racial violence and viral pandemic in this country.
What kind of a lunkhead do you have to be to think you’re a patriot while supporting a man who is the closest thing to a traitor to ever inhabit the White House? How much of an apostate does it take to mistake a faithless charlatan for a gift from God? Trump supporters are not a populist movement, they are a seditious cult.
There is a good case to be made that Trump, his family, his lawyers, and his Sedition Caucus should face charges for trying to overthrow a free and fair election. Lord only knows he deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail. But I think most Americans will be satisfied if he simply disappears. Just take away his Twitter account and ignore him.
Donald J. Trump is a dark stain on the soul of America. It is a shame that he was ever elected. But he will pay for his sins as his name lives on only in infamy and ignominy as the worst president in the history of the United States.
Edgar Allen Beem has been writing The Universal Notebook weekly since 2003, first for The Forecaster and now for the Phoenix. He also writes the Art Seen feature.
