The Man Who Pardoned 1,600 Insurrectionists Says We’re the Traitors

Veteran lawmakers remind the troops about illegal orders, and Trump proves their point in real time

If you were hoping for a quiet stretch in American politics, I regret to inform you that democracy has once again wandered into the kitchen to discover the stove on fire, the dog wearing a crown, and Donald Trump screaming that six Democratic veterans should be executed for quoting the manual he’s never read.

It all started with a short, legally accurate video in which six lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds reminded service members of something the U.S. military has drilled into recruits since before Trump figured out how to operate a social media account: you can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. The oath is to the Constitution, not to the president’s whims.

This should be about as controversial as advising teenagers not to drink and drive.

Because the reminder came from Democrats, and because Trump’s relationship to the rule of law has always been like a drunk raccoon’s relationship to a screen door, the whole MAGA apparatus erupted in synchronized hysteria. Matt Schlapp declared it a coup. Steven Miller managed to say “insurrection” more times than a QAnon forum moderator. And the White House press secretary pretended that quoting the Uniform Code of Military Justice is a form of witchcraft.

Then Trump lumbered into the room and solved their messaging problem the way he always does: by making everything ten times worse. This is a pretty rich accusation, coming from a man who earlier this year pardoned 1,600 January 6 insurrectionists, including people actually convicted of sedition, but now claims that restating the Uniform Code of Military Justice is treason. He announced that these lawmakers were “traitors,” guilty of “seditious behavior,” and that their actions were “punishable by death.” Hanging, specifically, because nothing says “normal president” like daydreaming publicly about executing your critics.

That’s when the lawmakers he targeted responded, calmly, directly, and with more patriotism in a single sentence than Trump could fake with a stadium full of flags.

Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger, went on PBS and said exactly what everyone with a functioning frontal lobe already knew: the White House is lying about what the video said. They were talking about unlawful orders, not general defiance, not insurrection, not rebellion. Unlawful orders. Orders that will get you court-martialed if you don’t refuse them.

Crow reminded viewers that Trump has a track record of asking whether he can shoot protesters “in the leg”, send troops into cities, and bulldoze the Constitution whenever it inconveniences him. If anything, the real scandal would be failing to warn the troops.

Slotkina CIA officer turned senator, released her own message. She looked straight into the camera and refused to yield an inch to the fear Trump was trying to provoke. She said she loved her country, that it had given her everything, and that she refused to believe this spectacle of threats and intimidation is the “new normal.” She reminded everyone that the oath she swore, the one Trump pretends is a loyalty pledge to him, is to the Constitution. She’s taken it multiple times and takes it seriously. She will not be frightened out of defending the country she loves.

Mark Kelly, former Navy combat pilot and astronaut, followed with a joint statement that made clear the seriousness of the moment. He emphasized that their oath “lasts a lifetime,” and no threat of violence from the President of the United States will deter them from fulfilling it. He spelled out the most damning truth of all: what’s truly revealing is that Trump considers it punishable by death for veterans to restate existing law. Imagine being so allergic to the Constitution that the reminder of its limits feels like sedition.

Kelly made it plain that this moment isn’t about him, or Slotkin, or Crow, or Deluzio, or Goodlander, or Houlahan. It’s about the soul of the country. Every American, regardless of party, must condemn the president’s calls for political violence. This is a time for moral clarity, he said. Fear is contagious, but so is courage. And he ended with the old naval rallying cry: Don’t Give Up the Ship.

Trump’s supporters continue to insist that while Biden’s red lighting at a democracy speech was “literal Hitler,” the President of the United States calling for the execution of sitting lawmakers is a quirky, metaphorical joke, like a Proverbs-by-way-of-Truth-Social situation. Just Trump being Trump. Parables, but with gallows.

What this moment actually reveals is far simpler: the veterans were right to issue the warning. Trump has once again showed, loudly and publicly, that he is willing to demand unlawful, unconstitutional, and violent actions from the people who serve under him. And the instant anyone with credibility reminds the troops of their duty, he reaches for the rope.

And so these six veterans, battle-tested, oath-bound, unflinching, are doing what adults in a crumbling democracy must do: they are saying “no.” No to fear and intimidation. No to the normalization of political violence. No to a presidency that treats executions as a customer loyalty program.

They are reminding the troops of the truth. They are reminding the country of its character. And they are reminding the rest of us of something we seem to forget every time Trump breaks another norm over his knee:

The oath is the firewall.
And courage is contagious.

Don’t give up the ship.