#refusal-of-illegal-orders

#refusal-of-illegal-orders

Democratic Senator Mark Kelly is fluent in insult, particularly when it comes to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: "unqualified," like "a 12-year-old playing army." In November, Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers-all of them military or intelligence veterans-released a video telling current service members, "Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders." President Donald Trump was predictably furious, writing on Truth Social, "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH."

"All orders, lawful orders are presumed to be legal by our service members. You can't have a functioning military if there is disorder and chaos within the ranks," Leavitt said.

Last week, a group of Democratic congresspeople, all of them veterans either from the military or from the intelligence agencies, released a video in which they reminded people currently serving that, not only are they able to refuse an illegal order, but that those in the military are required to do so. This, of course, sent the usual escadrille of flying monkeys into low-earth orbit, from the president and the vice president all the way down the opinion food chain to Bill Maher.

Senator Mark Kelly whose wife, Gabrielle Giffords, narrowly survived an attempted assassination while she was in Congress in 2011 says he is worried about increased threats to his family's safety after Donald Trump accused him and other Democratic lawmakers of SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH. This kind of language is dangerous, and it's wrong, Kelly said on Friday on MS NOW's Morning Joe, with political violence one of the top topics in the US's public discourse.

Actually, what she said from the podium is that there was an encouragement of disobeying lawful orders. We actually said the exact opposite. We simply reminded folks of what the Constitution and law require. But again, they're lying and their propaganda and their twisting of the truth is an attempt to silence dissent and to use fear and intimidation. And I frankly just don't do that.

On Truth Social, Trump said the comments made in the video are "really bad, and dangerous to our country." "Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???," Trump posted. An hour later, Trump shared another post, stating, "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!" Trump also reposted a series of comments from users on Truth Social, including posts that said the Democrats should be hanged, the actions were an insurrection and they should all be indicted because of the video.