Last week, a group of Democrats put out a video telling military members to ignore illegal orders given by President Donald Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The implication was that Trump’s orders on military strikes against drug boats were unlawful. Trump went ballistic, rightfully so, and he was roasted for a social media post he made about the Democrats, taking heat from members on both sides of the aisle.
Over the weekend, one of those Democrats admitted, however, that she knows of no “illegal” orders issued by Trump.
It was not surprising at all to see Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) go after Trump for attacking the senators who made the video urging military and intelligence community personnel to disobey "illegal" orders from superiors.
Paul has been against the aforementioned boat strikes from the outset, preferring that we go back to arresting and trying drug dealers rather than carrying out military strikes against them.
After Trump reacted to the Democrat lawmakers' video, Paul stated, “You know, everybody knows that the president is famous for his unfiltered social media.”
He continued, “But if you take it at face value, the idea that calling your opponents traitors -- and then specifically saying that it warrants the death penalty -- is reckless, inappropriate, irresponsible.”
In Trump’s original posts on the topic, he wrote, “It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL,” he then followed that up by stating, “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
While some of Trump’s followers suggested they be hanged (Trump, ill-advisedly reposted those comments), the president himself did not outright suggest that. But again, in this day and age, a repost is considered a post, so Dems went after him on this, as did Paul and numerous other Republicans, saying Trump had gone too far.
During a Fox News interview, Trump defended himself, stating, “I’m not threatening them, but I think they’re in serious trouble. I would say they’re in serious trouble. I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble. In the old days it was death. That was seditious behavior. That was a big deal. Today nothing’s a big deal. Today’s a different world … It’s a meeker, milder world. But … I think what they did is really bad.”
Trump later added, “That was a traitorous statement. That was a horrible thing to do. I believe they broke the law very strongly. I think it’s a very serious violation of the law.”
Had Trump ordered a political assassination, by all means, refuse the command, but that was not the case here. Furthermore, as I have stated, if the orders at issue were indeed illegal, then why is nobody challenging them in court? This move by Democrats was nothing more than a headline grabber and a way to bait Trump into providing the exact response they got.
Proving my point, over the weekend, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) was asked about the video and what specific illegal orders she believes Trump had given. She responded, "To my knowledge, I am not aware of things that are illegal, but certainly there are some legal gymnastics that are going on with these Caribbean strikes and everything related to Venezuela.”
So, she basically admitted that she was using military members as pawns in her fight against Trump. This is utterly disgusting and, in my eyes, completely vindicates the president's attacks against the group in the video.
I find it reprehensible that Slotkin and everyone else in that video have no proof of illegal orders, yet they planted the seed in the minds of our military troops solely to create chaos and to score some political points against Trump. At the very least, censure resolutions should be put on the floor, and I would have zero problem with investigations being opened in an effort to hold them accountable. This was irresponsible, and that is being kind, as I cannot write the real words I feel about this ridiculous little stunt they pulled.
