Political Stunt Endangers America
Six Democratic members of Congress—Senators Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly and Representatives Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan, Chris Deluzio, and Jason Crow—in a reckless and dangerous political stunt made a social media video that urges members of our armed forces and intelligence community to question and disobey the orders of their commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump, the Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe. The six members of Congress claim that President Trump is issuing “illegal orders.” “The threats to our country,” they say, “are not just coming from abroad, but from right here at home.” They are right about that—their political stunt is indeed a threat to our country.
The six members of Congress say they want to speak directly to members of the military and intelligence community. The Trump administration, they say, is pitting the military and intelligence services against the American people. Therefore, they say, members of the armed forces and intelligence officers must refuse the Trump administration’s “illegal orders.” But none of the six legislators identified any such “illegal orders,” so our military and intelligence personnel are left with the message from lawmakers—all of whom served either in the armed forces or as intelligence officers—that some or all of the Trump administration’s orders are or may be illegal. This is an invitation to insubordination. It strikes at the very heart of civilian control of the military and the integrity of the chains of command in the military and intelligence services.
In wartime, such reckless and dangerous behavior would not be tolerated.
President Lincoln, it is worth remembering, jailed some Maryland state legislators who intended to vote for secession. President Wilson during World War I had Eugene Debs prosecuted for attempting to cause insubordination within the armed forces. We are not formally at war with any country, but our armed forces and intelligence services are active throughout the globe. What if our air force pilots weren’t sure if President Trump’s order to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities was legal (some Democrats claimed that it wasn’t legal), and therefore refused to carry-out the mission? What if our naval-air commanders question the legality (as some lawmakers have) of military strikes against narcotics traffickers in international waters and refuse to obey the order to attack? What if officers in the 7th Fleet think that any order to defend Taiwan against attacks or invasion by China without a declaration of war is unconstitutional and refuse what they view as an illegal order?
The potential scenarios of insubordination are endless.
This video wasn’t made in a vacuum. Democrats and their media allies have spent the last five years or more describing Trump as an autocrat, a dictator, Hitler-like, and a threat to democracy. If you say something loud enough and often enough, some people, including in our military and intelligence services, may believe it. The assassin of Charlie Kirk and the would-be assassins of Trump probably believed it. And Trump hasn’t exactly made friends in the military-industrial complex and the deep state. In those environs, insubordination against the Trump administration may be viewed as a badge of honor.
On March 15, 1783, at Temple Hall in New Windsor, New York, the stoic humility of General George Washington quelled a budding mutiny among officers in the Revolutionary army. Four years later, Benjamin Franklin, when asked what the Founders had created after establishing the Constitution, said: “A republic, if you can keep it.” On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg resolved that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
The six lawmakers who made that execrable video encouraging insubordination by our soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and airwomen, have much to answer for.
Francis P. Sempa writes on geopolitics.
This article was originally published by RealClearDefense and made available via RealClearWire.
