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What unfolded this week was political theater dressed up as national security advice, and President Trump brilliantly ripped the curtain away. On Nov. 18, a short video posted by a group of Democratic lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds urged service members to “stand up” and refuse unlawful orders, a move that instantly became a flashpoint in Washington. Conservatives rightly saw the clip as a naked attempt to pit uniformed Americans against the commander in chief and to politicize the military.
The lawmakers in the video — including Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Sen. Mark Kelly, Rep. Jason Crow, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, Rep. Chris Deluzio, and Rep. Maggie Goodlander — touted their service while delivering a message that crossed a dangerous line. All dressed in the language of patriotism, they nevertheless encouraged troops and intelligence officers to make discretionary judgments about orders in the middle of a fevered political season. That posture not only undermines the chain of command but hands Democrats a perverse political lever to use against a duly elected president.
President Trump’s response on Nov. 20 was raw and decisive, calling the lawmakers’ action “seditious behavior punishable by death,” a phrase that sent the left into familiar outrage mode. Liberals screamed that the president had crossed a line, spun tales of incitement, and demanded condemnations, while the White House later walked back language about executions. The predictable performance from the media and Democrats only proved Trump’s larger point: when you call for insubordination, expect pushback — and don’t act surprised when your own rhetoric comes home to roost.
This was about more than a few overheated tweets; it exposed a dangerous double standard. While Democrats lecture about “saving democracy,” here they were openly urging part of the government that exists to protect Americans to defy another branch of government when politically convenient. If defending the Constitution means only choosing which parts to obey when the other side is in power, then what the left calls “constitutional duty” is just partisan theater. The implication that troops should pick political sides is corrosive to unit cohesion and a slap in the face to veterans.
What followed was textbook crocodile tears. The same people who told Americans the military must be “apolitical” until politics didn’t go their way now feigned outrage at being called out. They offered sanctimony about oaths and the Constitution, all while planting the idea that service members should act as political referees. That kind of hypocrisy deserves more than words; it deserves accountability from congressional ethics panels and from voters who value stability over spectacle.
Republicans and conservative commentators were right to demand consequences and to call for a full airing of who coordinated the message and why. If you use your veteran status to encourage the military to defy lawful authority, you should be prepared to answer for it — not hide behind calculated moralism. There is a legitimate debate about what constitutes an unlawful order, but there is zero justification for elected officials publicly pushing uniformed personnel into partisan decision-making.
This episode is also a clear warning about the left’s willingness to weaponize institutions when it suits them. From weaponized investigations to biased bureaucracies, the pattern is the same: when you can’t win at the ballot box, you try to flip the rules and turn institutions into political tools. Working Americans see this and are rightly alarmed that the next escalation could be even more dangerous if allowed to stand unchallenged. The defense of the Constitution must be even-handed, not an invitation for one side to play referee.
President Trump’s blunt exposure of this stunt forced Democrats into a defensive posture and reminded patriotic Americans what’s at stake. Whether you cheer his style or not, his refusal to let this episode slide put the spotlight where it needed to be — on the radical willingness of some in the Democratic coalition to undermine our military’s apolitical role for short-term political gain. Hardworking Americans should demand that their leaders stop grandstanding and start defending the institutions that keep our republic safe.
