updating the Insurrection Act<\/a> to curb executive powers to militarize the National Guard.<\/p>\nIn addition to Deluzio and Houlahan, the video featured Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA analyst; Sen. Mark Kelly, a Navy veteran and NASA astronaut; Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, an Army veteran; and Rep. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, a Naval Intelligence veteran. The group released a joint statement responding to Trump\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are veterans and national security professionals who love this country and swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,\u201d they wrote. \u201cThat oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. No threat, intimidation, or call for violence will deter us from that sacred obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group has maintained that refusing illegal orders is a basic condition of each service member\u2019s oath to the U.S. Constitution. The obligation to uphold the law comes before any orders from a superior officer, including the Commander in Chief.<\/p>\n
Throughout much of U.S. history, that obligation has been viewed as a \u201cgiven,\u201d but policy shifts under the Trump administration have stirred public debate about the legality of certain orders. Domestic deployments of the National Guard, alleged weaponization of the Justice Department and intelligence agencies against political foes, and attacks on civilian Venezuelan boats dubbed \u201cnarco-terrorists\u201d have raised debate amongst legal scholars.<\/p>\n
Critics say that calling upon rank-and-file military to make determinations about the law effectively sows fear and confusion. The lawmakers say they are just pointing out what service members already know and letting them know they \u201chave their backs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are bedrock principles in our country, that you follow lawful orders, that the oath to the Constitution, the loyalty to the Constitution comes above all,” Deluzio said in a video posted to X.<\/p>\n
The legislators emphasized that it\u2019s the president\u2019s response, not their words, that should be scrutinized.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s most telling is that the President considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law,\u201d reads the group\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n
Houlahan posted a video to X elaborating on the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach of us who has participated has previously served this nation with honor, and the fact that this president responded with threats is really chilling, and it reveals far more about his authoritarian instincts than it does about anything that we said,\u201d she said. \u201cIn fact, he made our case for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
In their statement, the group reached beyond the military, speaking to the whole country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t about politics. This is about who we are as Americans. Every American must unite and condemn the President\u2019s calls for our murder and political violence. This is a time for moral clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call for \u201cmoral clarity\u201d is one that has echoed frequently and loudly from Pennsylvania over the past two years. From the attempted assassination on then-candidate President Donald Trump in Butler to the firebombing of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s residence, the state has been the setting for extreme acts of political violence.<\/p>\n
Shapiro has often sought for cooler heads to prevail, but he has also been outspoken in his disagreements with Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only has the President failed in his responsibility to lead this country \u2014 he is actively encouraging political violence once again, ratcheting up the real risk of danger to our elected leaders and deepening the divides in our country,\u201d wrote Shapiro on X. \u201cThe sycophants and enablers the President surrounds himself with are quick to condemn language like this when it suits their political purposes \u2014 but in moments like this, they remain silent.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an email to The Center Square, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, an Army veteran, joined in calls to cool things down while pointing to the Democrats as instigators.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Democrats\u2019 video is wrong and extremely inappropriate,\u201d said McCormick. \u201cI didn\u2019t hear any of these calls to defy orders when Democrats were using lawfare against President Trump, giving outlandish pardons, or intimidating tech companies to stop free speech. President Trump can speak for himself, but as I\u2019ve said repeatedly, there is no place in either party for violent rhetoric and everyone needs to dial it down a notch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania lawmakers are responding to a conflict that began Thursday after President Donald Trump…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4424,28,30,29,2349],"class_list":["post-41856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-military","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-veterans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}