President Trump must be charged and held accountable for his traitorous behavior

Prosecute Trump

The scenes of protesters storming the U.S. Capitol were surreal and sickening. It is beyond comprehension that these actions are happening because the president won’t accept the legal and lawfully executed will of the majority of U.S. voters and spews inflammatory lies to incite his base.

His words on Wednesday met every criteria for the definition of a coup, and the crowd’s behavior met every definition of sedition.

Until now, I thought Trump should be allowed to go away and not have any federal prosecution follow, but this behavior has shown more clearly his intention to take over the government.

He needs to be formally charged with treason and held accountable for his atrocious and traitorous behavior. Without such accountability our democracy, a source of American pride for over 200 years and the envy of the world for much of that time, will die an ugly death.

William Wilson, Hillsborough

Sedition

Sedition is “the act of inciting revolt or violence against a lawful authority with the goal of destroying or overthrowing it.”

The president’s lawyer Rudolph Giuliani told a crowd of thousands of Trump supporters that it was time for “trial by combat.” Earlier on stage, Donald Trump Jr. declared to Congress: “We’re coming for you.” These two men are guilty of, by definition, sedition! But will they be arrested, charged and prosecuted for their crime? If not, we must know why not.

Ken Morgan, Chapel Hill

NC lawmakers

While national headlines refer to the “Seditious Six” U.S. senators who objected to certain state-certified vote tallies, we in North Carolina have our own “Seditious Seven.”

Shamefully, seven of the eight Republican U.S. House members who represent our state in Congress objected to Pennsylvania’s duly certified vote count in the Electoral College. These seditious seven members of Congress from North Carolina made the ignominious decision to support Trump’s now-disgraced charade of a fraudulent election.

They are a discredit to our state and have dishonored every North Carolinian. Their names will live in infamy.

Keith Donahue, Raleigh

A new day

Fortunately, the die is cast and we will soon be rid of Trump who has proven, yes proven, in the opinions of so many Americans to be the most toxic, dysfunctional, incompetent, lying chief executive in modern American history.

And Wednesday’s very exciting news that the Republicans and Mitch McConnell will no longer be in control of the Senate was a huge win-win for our country, which can now return to decency and democracy, celebrating the end, at least for now, of governance by vindictiveness and spite.

Eugene Brown, Raleigh

Nov. 3 winners

I have a piece of advice for all the Democrats and Republicans who won elections across many states and North Carolina, from statewide winners to local ones on Nov. 3 regardless of the margin of victory: You did not win a mandate. You simply won the contest of the lesser of two evils. You should go humbly and honestly about your work with that idea in mind and realize that working with others is a virtue and an honorable necessity to the betterment of our society.

M. Reid Overcash, Raleigh

Misplaced effort

If Donald Trump worked as hard trying to thwart the coronavirus as he has the election in Georgia we would be in a much better place today.

Margaret Flintom, Holly Springs

The scientists

Thanks to John Crisp for his Jan. 5 op-ed suggesting that 2020 was not all bad. I want to suggest one very positive event that he did not mention — the exceptional contributions of science to governmental and societal responses to the pandemic.

As has been noted, the time it took to produce highly efficient vaccines was exceptionally fast. This scientific expertise, along with that of the scientific advisors in the federal government, should be viewed as extremely bright spots in relation to the pandemic.

Acknowledging the role of science in battling the pandemic should be of considerable value to the future of the world and its citizens.

Larry Wolf, Garner