I know it's a catchy title, but it is true.  During Trump's four years in office, he was at war with America and his favorite weapon of mass destruction was tariffs.  He claimed tariffs would level the playing field and make China pay.  No, Americans paid those tariffs, not China, and Mexico did not pay for the wall. 

On Feb 7th, 2018, a 30% solar module import tariff took effect.  This had a devastating effect on North Carolina.  We were No.2 in the nation following, dare I say California’s renewal solar energy program.  Now were 10th trailing behind Florida.

These tariffs slowed clean energy job creation in North Carolina.  The U.S. solar module prices increased, while the rest of the world saw their prices drop.  I guess that was due to demand for clean energy. 

During the 4 years of solar #tariffs, and according to a Government report by USITC, Trump’s solar tariffs accomplished little.  It hurt the U.S. solar module industry, increased prices, wages dropped, and taxpayers paid greater than $741 million through these tariffs by the end of 2019.

Before Covid19, North Carolina was on track for clean energy job growth.  According to e2.org – nearly 113,000 North Carolinians work in solar, wind, grid modernization, energy storage, clean vehicles at the end of 2019.  However, Covid19 squashed that industry and right now we have lost 19% of clean energy jobs.  22,000 North Carolinians remain unemployed and nationally that is 511,000 Americans. 

Yesterday, Republican Ted Budd (R-NC13) touted he was ready to work with President Biden and in the same breath just 6 hours later he is attacking the President for canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline.  Budd claimed this would kill 10,000 jobs, help Russia, China and referenced a fossil fuel propaganda website to back up the claim.  Funny thing, the State Dept reviewed the project and their report found that it would only create about 3,900 temporary jobs and 15 permanent jobs.  It is clear to me that Budd is using his position to be a mouthpiece for his Big Oil donors.

We must finally move away from fossil fuels.  It is literally killing us, poisoning our lands, water, air and continues to pump green-house gases on the planet.  Moving forward, this is why a Green New Deal is important.  We have the technology right now to get to zero emissions by 2050.  But we need the will of Congress to launch a 10-year plan.  That is why we need to move our country from fossil fuel energy production to clean renewable production. Upgrade the power grid, upgrade buildings to be more energy efficient.  Invest in electric vehicles and improve our transportation system.

Now I am sure Rep. Ted Budd will use those silly fossil fuel propaganda websites he pushes for his Big Oil donor’s.  But the Green New Deal will provide a new economic boom across all sectors of our nation.  Housing, Transportation, Education, Tech Jobs, and new Energy Jobs.  The first step is rejoining the Paris Climate agreement and on his first day in office President Biden did just that.  Now cancel the tariffs.

So, let us roll up our sleeves and work to Build Back Better our nation, our economy and ensure we have a clean and bright future for our children and mother earth.

On January 11th, I tweeted a long thread of Ted Budd's support of Trump's lies on voter fraud.  Here is that thread with receipts.

Congressman Ted Budd spent the months following the election spreading lies and misinformation about alleged election fraud. He ginned up this propaganda and never once acknowledged any of the 60 plus court cases where absolutely no fraud was even alleged, much less shown, by the Trump legal team. Zero. Yet, on and on Ted Budd went, even going so far as to encourage Republicans to change their voting address to Georgia for the special election to “level the playing field.” Budd was one of the first in a group of the President’s cadre of elected officials who amplified and promoted unproven allegations of election fraud. They then turned around and demanded that the voices of millions of Americans concerned with election fraud be heard. Well, Congressman Budd, you don’t get to light the fire in the house and then complain that no one is putting it out.

Elected officials have a microphone. Their platform is elevated because the people expect them to represent their best interests. When an elected official peddles baseless conspiracy theories, it then becomes rooted in the information ecosystem much faster than if you or I simply said “fraud!” It’s akin to screaming FIRE in a crowded movie theater. People will rush to the exits.

On Wednesday January 6, having been convinced of a “fire” in our body politic, people rushed to the US Capitol to disrupt our most sacred electoral processes because they had been convinced by men like Ted Budd that their votes had been stolen. They hadn’t. Yet, after all of the litigation by Republican judges and even Republican Secretaries of State had shown no evidence of fraud, Budd continued. He never once acknowledged the outcome of any of these cases, lying by omission. He peddled the conspiracies about fraud to curry favor with his party and his President.

Ted Budd is a smart man. He knew Trump lost. He knew the election was free of fraud. He knew he was lying to the voters. That makes his actions even more devious and dangerous. It’s one thing to be ignorant and intellectually incapable of knowing the difference between right and wrong. Budd knew and did so anyway.

His sworn duty was to represent the interests of his constituents and to uphold the Constitution. Instead, Budd fomented anger and refused to properly inform his constituents that there was no fraud and that Joe Biden won the Presidential election in a free and fair manner. Never once has Ted Budd encouraged a smooth and peaceful transfer of power from Trump to Biden. He has only peddled the Big Lie. He violated his oath to uphold the Constitution because he refused to acknowledge that President Trump lost in a free and fair manner that had been litigated over and over and over, to no avail.

If I thought my voting rights had been illegally usurped, I would be upset as well. I would be angry. I would understand if a violent uprising was the only recourse imaginable in the absence of a free and fair election. But that’s not what happened here. Intelligent men like Ted Budd knew the outcome and saw an opportunity for their political future so they refused to properly inform Americans of what happened. They chose themselves instead (just like Budd chose his family Business to receive $10 million in covid relief funds while voting against additional aid for Americans).

This craven and dangerous failure to spread truth instead of misinformation has resulted in a violation of our most sacred governmental institutions and the first domestic terror attack in centuries.

Friends,

I have been a Democrat for as long as I have been able to vote. I have done my best to support Democratic candidates throughout North Carolina and the nation. I was proud to run twice as a Democratic congressional candidate in North Carolina.

Georgia voted – Reverend Warnock will be Georgia’s next Senator and currently Jon Ossoff holds the lead, and his race should be called later today as the final votes are counted.

Today is a good day.

I must admit there is a certain amount of vindication - vindication that Donald Trump’s divisive tactics did not outweigh democracy, the rule of law, and common decency. But this is no time to gloat. In fact, perhaps this time to be somber.

On Friday, our family will hold funeral services for my father-in-law W.C. Flake, Jr., who died from Covid19. He was a father to me, a father in every sense of the word. And I loved him. His death did not have to happen. We get carried away sometimes and lose sight of what really matters. I hope and pray that we can put this election cycle behind us. I hope and pray that we can put the last four years behind us. And although it happened, and America has become more divisive now than ever, I believe we can heal.

During my congressional campaign and all throughout North Carolina I met people who were struggling who had unimaginable heartbreaking stories. My heart hurt for those children who were going hungry due to no fault of their own. I acted. I started my Instant Impact program and to date, that program has provided almost 100,000 meals.

We all have a commonality. We want to live in peace. We want to be able to raise our children so that they will have a better life than we had growing up. We want what is best for our friends and neighbors. When they are hurting, we hurt also. When there is tragedy in our local communities we come together because deep down, we know we are all in this together.

Friends never lose sight of what is important. We need to end the divisiveness in politics. We have too much at stake to give up on our common humanity. No, now is not the time to gloat over the Georgia election or even the presidency for that matter. Now it is time for us to take stock of the loved ones we have and to figure out a path to move forward through this economic crisis and this pandemic.

Lincoln’s quote of “a house divided cannot stand” might be cliché, but it’s absolutely true, now more than ever. Let’s be sure that we work to heal the division and focus on what we have in common and not our toxic differences. I have faith that we can and will do so.