Stop pretending this is all OK.
Six members of Congress, who are all military and national security veterans, all people who have spent years carrying rifles, flying sorties, or analyzing threats overseas, felt compelled last week to post a video reminding U.S. troops that “illegal orders must be refused.”
In turn, President Donald Trump called for their convictions and executions as seditionists, and now his government is actually trying to go after the members of congress signaling danger.
The only appropriate reaction is the one you have when all the smoke alarms go off in the middle of the night.
You get up. You check it out. Because something is wrong.
What’s burning right now is the reality that the U.S. military exists to defend the nation and not the fragile ego and political highjinks of President Donald Trump and his band of nary men and women. Trump hates that.
‘He’s the same man whose conduct around Jan. 6 has been examined, re-examined, and condemned by national security experts, prosecutors, judges, and bipartisan investigators. He’s the same man whose cheerleading of the Capitol mob is the reason thousands of Americans watched their own democracy get physically attacked on live television. Then he pardoned his pals for their crimes.
So give heed to Aurora Rep. Jason Crow and the other Democratic five members of Congress for not trusting the guy who encouraged a mob to go ”peacefully” “fight like hell,” and then he watched them hunt members of Congress and police officers like game animals on the steps and in the halls of the Capitol, and did nothing.
And here’s where this puss-filled political infection really sets in. Under Trump, and now under the Pentagon “leadership” of Fox-TV-host-turned-Defense-Secretary Pete Hegseth, we have an administration that plays with the military like a toddler plays with power tools. Carelessly. Recklessly. And without the adult supervision from a responsible congress that the moment clearly requires.
We’re seeing U.S. forces ordered into bizarre, legally dubious operations blowing up fishing boats in the Atlantic and Pacific under the pretense of some kind of war on drugs, which, in any U.S. or international court, is not a real war at all. These are missions that experts in the U.S. and worldwide have flagged as extrajudicial killings.
Because if there’s anything this administration loves, it’s a stunt that looks tough. Laws, the Constitution and treaties? Meh.
Trump has turned the United States into a freaky reality show, where all of us are about to get seriously hurt in what seems to be a bottomless effort to distract the nation from the abominable Epstein Files.
When lawmakers who are actual military professionals say, “Hey, maybe troops shouldn’t be put in legally compromising positions by a president who treats the Constitution like a menu special he can order from or ask for substitutions to?”
Trump calls them seditionists.
He says it’s “punishable by DEATH.”
And like clockwork, the FBI suddenly wants “interviews.”
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who spent his entire adult life serving in the military, and then as an astronaut, and now as a member of the U.S. Senate, is being threatened harassed by Tabby TV Hegseth and Emperor Heal Spurs. This dynastic duo is trying to pull some legal chicanery together and force Kelly, a real, highly honored war veteran, into a military court-martial.
If your jaw isn’t on the floor, check your pulse or your response to the latest Trump approval polls. The polls have President So Much Winning now flirting with a nearly 60% disapproval rating, according to this week’s Economist.
Yeah, no one has ever seen anything like it.
This is the same Trump who has spent the last several months warming his puffy little hands over the fires of political vengeance. The same Trump who has used troops in American cities because the mayors have had the intelligence and the temerity to point out what a treacherous fraud he is. The same Trump who looks at the military and sees not an institution of honor but a personal toy chest.
And now, the president, whose tootsies hurt too badly to serve in the military himself in the 1960s, believes that it’s “sedition” to tell real soldiers that they should not follow illegal orders, just like they’re taught in boot camp and military schools.
All of this didn’t just come out of nowhere. It came out of Nazi Germany. After Hitler was ejected from power, rulings from the Nuremberg Trials made clear that “I was just following orders” was not a defense for a soldier who participated in patently illegal actions and maneuvers.
Crow and the others were making clear that members of the military, and all of America, understand that there’s a real and present danger here, caused by Trump and his goons.
These members of Congress didn’t create a crisis. They exposed one.
They forced into daylight what every sober and honest national security official already knows. This administration cannot be trusted with the power it wields.
And the response?
Trump proved them right by unleashing federal law enforcement on them.
My grandmother, the daughter of German immigrants, would have had two words perfectly summing up Trump’s stunt: Oy gevalt.
Crow, Kelly, Sen. Elissa Slotkin and representatives Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan didn’t film a “radical” video. They filmed a civics lesson for an administration that has made clear it prefers loyalty over law.
And if a president reacts to a reminder of the Constitution like a cheesy movie vampire reacts to sunlight?
That’s your sign that something is dangerously wrong.
We shouldn’t just applaud these lawmakers, we should salute them for doing the job that too many cowardly and terrified Republicans in Congress are too timid to do: Uphold the Constitution in a moment when the president evades it.
Because when elected officials are setting off the fire bells, warning troops about unlawful orders, and the White House responds with threats and investigations, you’re not just dealing with another Trump political melodrama. If your Congressional rep doesn’t have the courage to make Trump adhere to the law, elect someone who will.
You’re dealing with a five-alarm constitutional emergency.
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It is not so obscene what these Democrats said, it is what they inferred. They inferred that some of Trump’s orders may be unlawful, and if an officer feels that an order might be unlawful, they should consider not following it. And since Democrats routinely label anything they disagree with as “unlawful,” this may apply to anything. This is just another example of how the Democrat Party places political power over the general welfare of the country, just as they did with illegal immigration. They must be held accountable.
The Democratic LEADERS didn’t have to “infer” some of his orders were unconstitutional! They have been! Sending troops into cities without justification and blowing up boats witbout notifying Congress are two such ILLEGAL orders.
Thanks for admitting that your allies are inciting mutiny and seditious conspiracy, Mikey.
Take heart, though, because one of your “refugees welcome” allies just killed a National Guardsman because that ex-glowie said troops were going to start shooting Americans. Well, that wasn’t the case before, but if troops can’t be in DC–which is a craphole, but is not Fallujah–without getting murdered out in the open for wearing their OCPs, then there’s active rebellion that needs to be quelled.
You may be demonstrating what I said about Democrats labeling anything they disagree with as “unlawful”. Legality in our country is determined by the courts, not individual citizens. In cases of military actions, by military courts. Many of us are tired of seeing Democrats aggressively making new proclamations about human rights and legalities as though they just descended from Mt. Sinai with their proclamation carved in stone, by God himself. Simply saying something doesn’t make it true.
The obligation to refuse to follow illegal orders is in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It is a positive obligation.
Which is good, since we have a president who is astoundingly ignorant, and an authoritarian person. This is a man who asked, seriously, if the government can shoot protesters in the legs. (The answer, btw, since you appear oblivious to this, is “No”. I hope that doesn’t ruin your day. Well, at least too much.)
There is nothing new in this – it’s been on the books for years.
You might consider thinking before you mouth off.
Also, there’s a thing called the internet which has oodles of information easily available. You should check it out before opining on matters of which you are clearly ignorant.
“You’re dealing with a five-alarm constitutional emergency.”
No kidding. A glow-in-the-dark and left-wingers hiding behind their uniforms pretending that it’s okay to coyly encourage mutiny and seditious conspiracy is certainly a constitutional emergency. Perry thinks that’s fine because they’re on his team, hence the rhetorical smokescreening, false dilemmas, and of course, the appeal to a “clear and present danger” when their subversion is challenged, just like his political ally Herbert Marcuse did in arguing that the left should always exercise a political double standard in combating the right.
Because Perry and his team never learn the lesson that the answer to the paradox of tolerance actually goes in more than one direction.
And there you go again, changing the subject. Was William Calley a good soldier when he ordered the slaughter of all the civilian inhabitants of that Vietnamese village?
It’s not a trick question.
Jeff Ryan thinks drug runners and gang members are the same as the villagers of My Lai. That’s because Jeff believes allowing them in the country will bring down capitalism and lead to the marxist utopia.
Davey, it took you 22 paragraphs to work your way up to your siren song of “Nazis!!” Didn’t you learn not to bury the lede in Journalism School? At least you finally came out and said it, instead of insinuating things that did not happen as the cowardly cohort of the Seditious Six did.
Now you’re just lying.
Thanks for exposing just how low you’ll go. You have zero credibility and integrity.
To pervert our justice system and our military to go after legislators who stated plain truths that are already taught is obscene. To decide to misuse our justice system and military to go after legislators for something that is “inferred” reeks of political corruption. Our justice system and our military are supposed to be nonpolitical. To watch the premier law enforcement people scramble to defend a bully by betraying all that they are supposed to represent is maddening. In the military and in the justice system, fairness and impartiality are vital for a free country. Right now, there are countless real public servants who are looking at the hypocritical behavior of their leaders with distain. As an Independent, I had no choice but to vote for Trump. The Democrats positions on immigration and social justice were too great a threat to our country. I was not stupid enough to think that Trump was an honorable person. The lack of courage in our Congress and the selfish pursuit of power demonstrate how dictators have succeeded in the past. It is only a matter of degree before far worse things happen. I have always been fascinated with how few people will stand up. It is just like the old cowboy movies where the gang is coming to town and the sheriff is the only one who will stand up. The Republicans have shown that they will stand quietly by while the President violates all principles of ethics and morality. Both parties have shown no moral principles. They care only about fighting the other party for power and control. sad examples for our children and a complete betrayal of what America should be. I have traveled extensively and observed that in many countries, the police and military are simply tools to keep their own people in line. We are moving toward that “third world” model. It has even crept into local law enforcement decisions.
So, let us hope whatever lone sheriff stands up, people will realize we must stand for some moral principle and stand up with them.
“As an independent I had no choice but to vote for Trump” should go down as the most pathetic and mendacious statement of the year.
And all that travel has done you zero good. You’ve revealed yourself as a whining tool by crying “I just have to vote for the stupidest, most corrupt president the nation’s ever had!”
By opening your mouth, you have exposed yourself as UNAmerican.
Congratulations.
LOL, your side has literally zero claim to be calling anyone “UNAmerican,” Jeffy-poo, considering your supposed patriotism is strictly limited to having 100% political control of the country. Maybe stop complaining that it’s not living up to your communist utopia expectations and you might have some credibility there.
Using baby talk to insult those you disagree with is on the nose as an example of your emotional infancy.
Failing to hit your mark (as usual) is the icing on the cake.
Jeff Ryan hates it when his political enemies employ the same contempt for him that he holds for them.
I not only hit the mark, I blew it to smithereens like a Venezuelan drug runner boat.
Don – I think we are a little late on trying to keep politics out of the military, as well as every governmental agency, the judiciary, science and every other aspect of society. This started during the Obama administration and escalated geometrically during the Biden administration. How do you think DEI initiatives and transexuals got into the military. Trump is simply playing along and fighting fire with fire. This doesn’t make it right or desirable, but it is a reality. Sometimes in life, you need a bully to fight a bully.
They’ll love you down in the sewer.