By David Sole
In a video released this week, Congressional Democrats advised U.S. military personnel of their right, and duty, to disobey illegal, unconstitutional orders. The video includes Senator Mark Kelly (AZ) and Representatives Chris Deluzio (PA), Maggie Goodlander (NH), Chrissy Houlahan (PA) and Jason Crow (CO) and was shared by Senator Elissa Slotkin (MI). All six are military or CIA veterans.
In the video they warn “the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”
ABC News reminded readers that “In 1969 during the Vietnam War, the U.S. Court of Military Appeals ruled against a soldier who was convicted of killing a Vietnamese man and claimed that he was following orders.
The court ruled that there was no justification to follow orders if ‘the order was of such a nature that a man of ordinary sense and understanding would know it to be illegal.’”
The response from President Trump was immediate and potentially dangerous. Trump posted “Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???.” He also demanded the Democratic leaders “should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL…An example MUST BE SET.” Another post by Trump threatened “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH” and called for them to be hanged.
Whether or not Trump will persuade his Justice Department to try to prosecute the six remains to be seen. But in the current political atmosphere the incendiary words of a sitting president certainly poses a real danger of violence from his MAGA supporters.
This concern from high-ranking political figures clearly was not lightly taken. It represents a growing awareness from a wide section of the U.S. ruling class that Trump and his followers are entirely capable of attempting a fascist-style coup, more serious than they did on January 6, 2021.
The Democrats are not the first ones to note the danger and direct warnings to military personnel not to obey illegal orders. The Detroit Anti-Fascist Organizing Coalition (AFOC), formed in the beginning of 2025, adopted a program which stated that “We should start now to distribute literature to members of the U.S. military on the illegal and immoral actions of the Trump administration, urging troops to resist illegal orders.”
On June 13 AFOC issued “An Appeal to Our Active Duty and National Guard Troops” calling for them to “Refuse Trump’s Illegal Orders! No Troops on Our Streets!”
The appeal went on:
[Trump] may also order you, U.S. service members, into cities and towns across the country, to suppress the millions of people who will pour into the streets to protest his illegal power grab. Are you ready to shoot down civilians, your friends and neighbors?
If unions go on strike, are you ready to bayonet workers standing up for our democratic rights?
In 2020, Trump wanted his Defense Secretary, Mark Esper, to put thousands of federal troops in U.S. cities to shoot down Black Lives Matter protesters after the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many others. Esper refused. Are you willing to kill for Trump as he tries to illegally grab power and use you to exact bloody revenge on any who oppose him?…
If the day comes that Trump orders you to attack the people, stand down! You not only have the right, but the duty to tell your commanders that you will not enable Trump to overturn the Constitution. Join with the people in the streets and help protect our democratic rights! Talk to your fellow service members and be prepared to stand up for justice.
A great danger exists in the current situation that Trump and company, frustrated by the growing mass protest movement (e.g. No Kings Days) and the obstacles put up by numerous judges against his many illegal actions, will arrange a bloody incident that will be blamed on the Democratic Party or progressive and Left forces. This would confuse the masses and could immobilize progressive opposition to Trump allowing a fascist grab for power and suppression of all democratic rights.
Trump and MAGAworld flirted with this following the murder of rightwing organizer Charlie Kirk but they didn’t find a strong response. Kirk was just too much of a racist right-winger. Something more dramatic and bloody may suit their needs. Historians refer to this as “a Reichstag Fire” referring to February 1933 when Adolph Hitler had his agents burn down the parliament building in Berlin, blaming it on the socialists and communists and seizing total control.
Vigorous efforts by the broadest progressive movement should continue the mobilizations in the streets and reach out to all 1.3 million men and women in uniform to prepare themselves to refuse to obey illegal orders.
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