Recently, six members of the United States Congress, all Democrats, issued a video that, in effect, invited members of the American military to join their “#Resistance” to President Donald Trump.
The video encouraged military rank-and-file to defy what they termed “illegal orders.”
The congressional group included Reps. Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-6), Maggie Goodlander (NH-2), and Jason Crow (CO-6), as well as Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ).
Houlahan represents portions of Chester and Berks counties.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dubbed them “The Seditious Six.”
The group implied that President Trump has issued illegal orders, but of those courageous enough to respond to specific questioning, none were able to provide a single example.
Rep. Crow’s response to questioning was, “He has a history of doing this, and if we wait until the moment that he gives a manifestly unlawful order to a young soldier, then we have failed them. We have to start that conversation now and get people thinking about the distinction, which is exactly what we did.”
“…Wait until…” was Crow’s tacit admission that their allegations were baseless.
Crow wasn’t alone.
On ABC’s “This Week,” Senator Slotkin’s answer was a painful example of barely-articulate bafflegab: “I think for us, it was just a statement widely, right? We say very quickly and very – to all the folks who come to us, this is the process. Go to your JAG officer, ask them for explanation, for top cover, for their view on things. We do that on a case-by-case basis, but we wanted to speak directly to the volumes of people who had come to us on this.”
When pressed, Slotkin stammered, “To my knowledge, I am not aware of things that are illegal.”
Sen. Kelly’s response to MS NOW’s Rachel Maddow was also an admission: “Here’s the thing, Rachel. You don’t want to wait for your kid to get hit by a car before you tell them to look both ways.”
In other words, they all knew their allegations were bullsh*t. The video was merely another manifestation of the rage and frustration that have consumed Democrats since 2016, when President Trump defeated Hillary “It’s My Turn” Clinton, and began correcting years of elected Democrats’ economic, domestic, and foreign policy failures.
However, the video has serious implications for military cohesion and discipline, and — presumably to the participants’ surprise and potential chagrin — themselves.
The FBI and Department of Justice have contacted Capitol Police to schedule interviews with each of them, and the Department of War announced that it has opened a formal review of Kelly, a retired Navy officer. The review, concerning “serious allegations of misconduct,” … “has been initiated to determine further actions, which may include recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings or administrative measures.”
In fact, the Uniform Code of Military Justice is specific on the subject of following orders, one with which officers and senior noncoms are thoroughly familiar.
“Young soldiers” do not receive orders directly from the president. They’re received through the chain of command. Their superiors understand that, if orders and the law conflict, their loyalty must be to the law, and, as military professionals who know the consequences of doing so, they don’t need partisan hacks insinuating that they have or will issue illegal orders.
“The Seditious Six’s” five military veterans and one former CIA analyst certainly know that, as well.
One is drawn to several conclusions concerning “The Seditious Six’s” intentions, none of them honorable: they are knowingly attempting to 1) sow dissention within the ranks of the American military to the Trump administration’s (and, inevitably, the nation’s) disadvantage, 2) disrupt military assistance in immigration enforcement and urban crime suppression, and/or 3) they’re merely serving fodder to the rubes in their party who share their affliction with a symptomatic mental pathology colloquially known as “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
One is pressed to understand how supposedly “patriotic” members of Congress can be so unbalanced by having lost a presidential election and congressional majorities, and with the man who won both the popular and electoral votes, that they are willing to dishonorably — seditiously — promote discontent and resistance to lawful authority, and undermine discipline inside the American military, an institution crucial to maintaining the nation’s security.
“Seditious” or otherwise, those members — and any others like them — do not belong in government.
Contact columnist Jerry Shenk at jshenk2010@gmail.com