def METHOD_NAME(query: str) -> List[List[str]]:
    command = [
        "psql",
        "-t",  # Omit header line
        "-A",  # Don't pad with spaces
        "-z",  # Separate columns with nulls
        "-v",
        "ON_ERROR_STOP=1",
        "-d",
        get_config(config_file, "postgresql", "database_name", "zulip"),
        # No -U; nagios connects as itself
        "-c",
        f"SELECT {query}",
    ]
    try:
        output = subprocess.check_output(command, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, text=True).strip()
        if not output:
            return []
        return [x.split("\0") for x in output.split("\n")]
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
        report("CRITICAL", f"psql failed: {e}: {e.output}")
        sys.exit(MAXSTATE)