Trump Labels Democrats as 'Traitors' Over Military Remarks, Advocates for Severe Punishments

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WASHINGTON (The Hill) – On Thursday, President Trump took to Truth Social to label a group of Democratic lawmakers as “traitors,” suggesting they deserve imprisonment and even execution. This came after the Democrats advised military personnel to defy any unlawful directives issued by the Trump administration.

The contention arose from a video created by six Democrats with backgrounds in military and intelligence. In the video, they directly address active duty service members, asserting, “Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.”

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Trump, along with other senior officials in his administration, criticized the video, arguing that the lawmakers involved were attempting to destabilize the government.

“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

The president also reposted several messages on the social media platform from users attacking the lawmakers involved in the video, including one user who wrote, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”

While the lawmakers don’t point to any specific action by the White House, the video comes as the Trump administration has carried out deadly strikes in the Caribbean, blowing up boats on the suspicion they are ferrying drugs. The Trump administration has not provided evidence to back its claims regarding the boats; and law enforcement traditionally interdicts boats suspected of drug activity, rather than attacking them.

In a response, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), one of the members on the video, also cited the deployment of U.S. troops on American streets.

“A lot of people got upset about the video, and let me just say, they are trying to wield fear to get us to stop talking about this issue. They don’t want to be talking about the deployment of the military in our streets, the deployment of federal law enforcement in our streets. They don’t want to have that public conversation, because they know it goes to the heart of who we are as Americans, as a democracy,” she said, adding that both Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should appear for a public hearing.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche suggested Wednesday the Justice Department might launch a probe into the six Democrats.

“You had members of Congress, members of the Senate, encouraging members of our military and members of our intelligence committee community to go and defy orders. And by the way, there is nothing illegal about what we are doing. … And this is abhorrent conduct,” Blanche said during an appearance on “Hannity” on Fox News.

“What is the reason for saying what they said, except for to encourage members of our military, to encourage members of our intelligence community, to defy a direct command from their superior? And that is wrong.”

At one point, host Sean Hannity displayed the Insurrection Act, which bars anyone who engages in a rebellion from holding public office.

Blanche stopped short of suggesting the lawmakers violated that statute, but said any probe “would absolutely be under what these — what their intent was in saying this.”

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller decried the comments from Democrats as “insurrection, plainly, directly.”

“These lawmakers should honestly resign in disgrace, and never return to public office again, for even daring to think — let alone to say — these words, and to say them proudly,” Miller said on Fox News.

The claim of an insurrection would bring against the Democratic lawmakers the same charges some floated bringing against Trump after a mob of his supporters overtook the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

However, pursuing any such case would be extraordinarily difficult, as lawmakers could argue they were exercising their First Amendment rights by pointing to U.S. laws that allow service members to defy illegal orders.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee last month pressed the Justice Department to cite any legal authority for the boat strikes, noting military members are in the confusing position of being barred from carrying out illegal killings while also facing penalties if they do not follow orders.

The lawmakers wrote that the United States Code of Military Justice “prohibits the premeditated and unlawful killing of a human being,” but that it also requires obeying orders, which puts “our service members in the impossible position of risking criminal prosecution for carrying out an unlawful order to kill civilians or risking prosecution for disobeying superior orders.”

In addition to Slotkin, the video features Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.), and Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.), Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), Chris Deluzio (Pa.) and Maggie Goodlander (N.H.), all of whom are Democrats who have served in the military or as intelligence officers.

Trump’s call for the lawmakers to be locked up comes as critics sound the alarm that his Justice Department is targeting political opponents. The DOJ has already indicted former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), and Trump directed the agency to investigate connections between prominent Democrats and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.