Last week, as elected members of the House of Representatives and the Senate gathered in their respective chambers to certify electoral votes, Western North Carolina’s newly-elected Republican congressman began to notice that something wasn’t quite right.
Indistinct radio chatter. Restlessness from elected officials. Tension among law enforcement officers. Doors locking. Representatives donning gas masks. Staffers crouching on the floor behind bulletproof seats.
“Wow, this is real,” Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-Hendersonville, said to himself.
The insurrection that ensued was indeed real, born of an alternate reality where feelings matter more than facts.
President Donald Trump has felt all along that the Nov. 3 election was “stolen” from him; in the weeks after his loss, he encouraged supporters to travel to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 to “stop the steal,” despite a stunning string of courtroom losses — more than 60 — and officials from his own party and administration contradicting him with factual evidence.