Transcription
Hey everybody. So today, Donald Trump made a series of social media posts where he actually called for the arrest and the possible execution of several Democratic members of Congress who he's accusing of sedition. And their supposed offense was that they released a video a few days ago to US military personnel reminding those personnel that they have a duty to disobey illegal orders. And I'll just repeat that. They made a video reminding military personnel that they have a duty to disobey illegal orders. And only Donald Trump could regard that statement that our soldiers have a duty to disobey illegal orders as seditious. And so I'm going to play their video in its entirety so you can decide for yourselves whether or not they crossed a line. But I mean, who am I kidding? Of course, they didn't cross a line. So let's listen, though. And then I want to make three points after this video.
I'm Senator Alyssa Slotkin. >> Senator Mark Kelly, Representative Chris Duzio, >> Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander, >> Representative Chrissy Hulahan, >> Congressman Jason Crowe. I was a captain in the United States Navy, >> former CIA officer, >> former Navy, former paratrooper and Army Ranger, >> former intelligence officer, >> former Air Force. >> We want to speak directly to members of the military >> and the intelligence community >> who take risks each day to keep Americans safe. >> We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now. Americans trust their military, >> but that trust is at risk. This administration is pitting our uniform military >> and intelligence community professionals against American citizens. Like us, you all swore an oath >> to protect and defend this Constitution. >> And right now, 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. >> You can refuse illegal orders. >> You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution. >> We know this is hard and that it's a difficult time to be a public servant. >> But whether you're serving in the CIA, >> the Army, our Navy, >> the Air Force, >> your vigilance is critical. >> And know that we have your back >> because now more than ever, >> the American people need you. We need you to stand up for our laws, >> our Constitution, and who we are as Americans. Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up the ship.
Okay, so that's the video that caused Trump to call for the arrest and possible execution on grounds of sedition for those members of Congress. And so point number one I want to make, Trump is clearly losing his political mojo. I mean, his posts today are horrifying and we do have to take them seriously because he's the president of the United States and because his justice department is run by people like Pam Bondi who've already proven that they'll prosecute anyone that he asks them to prosecute. So, in no way am I downplaying his comments today. I am going to deal with him very seriously. But these comments do show first of all that he's losing his fast ball politically. It wasn't politically savvy for him to elevate this video from these Congress people. His tantrum today is a perfect example of the Stryand effect. I mean, I follow the news fairly closely. Not as close as some, but I generally know what's happening. and I hadn't heard about the video that those Congress members released, but now everyone's going to hear about it. They're going to get their message out, which is good and important because Trump has the impulse control of a juvenile ferret. And so that leads me to my second point. Trump is clearly anxious. He's lashing out again because he senses his power slipping away. Since the election a few weeks ago, he's starting to lose the thing that's most important to his political survival, his iron grip on the Republican party. I mean, he's still president of the United States and and and that still makes him the most dangerous man in the world, but it's become obvious now that this guy is never going to serve an illegal third term as president. That's not happening. And so, he's a lame duck and he's getting lamer. And during the past couple weeks, his party has already started taking these experimental steps towards disobeying him sometimes, distancing just a little. But it's starting to happen. And so he's rattled. And like many many of us have predicted all along, things are going to get worse before they get better. As he lashes out and he tries to regain his dominance, things are going to get worse. But I'm actually more hopeful than ever long term. Not despite his actions today, but because of them. I'm hopeful that ultimately we're going to be looking back on these past few weeks as the beginning stages of Trump's final fall. And so, as frightening as his words are today and as serious as they are, they're also just another admission of his real weakness masquerading as strength. So, that's the kind of the political stuff involved in this. And and I'm not good at making short-term predictions politically, but I do believe that as ugly and terrible as things might get, Trump is just not going to come out the other side of this as a stronger president. It it's just not looking like that at all.
So, here's my third point, though, and this is the most important point. This is a very dangerous development, and we have to take it seriously. Remember, there's this phrase that I first heard from Charlie Sykes. And I think this phrase is going to describe Trump every day that he remains in office from now on. A clown with a flamethrower still has a flamethrower. And so, he's got the flamethrower on blast today. And it ought to disturb all of us that he's turning that flamethrower on members of Congress. These people spoke in their capacity as elected members of Congress. And they each have either a military or an intelligence background. And their message was for every member of the US military. And remember, every member of the US military has sworn an oath not to any person. They don't swear an oath to the president. They've sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. And each of those lawmakers in that video swore that same oath. first they did in their former lives as members of the military or the intelligence services and now they've sworn that oath as members of Congress and what they did is to simply remind all US military personnel of their duty. Our military not only has the right to disobey illegal orders, they have the duty to disobey illegal orders. And when you're talking to a bunch of, you know, 18 or 19year-old young people, I think they need to hear this and they need to hear it more than once. And nothing in the way that Donald Trump acts or communicates. And nothing that we've seen or heard from Pete Hegath, the Secretary of Defense, can give us any comfort that those recruits are hearing that message consistently. It's obvious why it's controversial to remind troops that they have a duty to disobey illegal orders because Trump has systematically pushed the bounds of legality all year. He's forcing anyone who wants to uphold the Constitution to take him to court to do it. And I talked recently about how he went against a judge's orders when he sent migrants from Venezuela to that prison camp in El Salvador. and he's had a similar sort of sumi approach to all kinds of executive orders and policies that he's put into place. But when it comes to the military specifically, there are two main pressing issues that I think are ultimately going to have to be decided in the courts and they're in process. First, of course, is his use of the military on the streets of our cities in all these different circumstances. And second, it's his strikes against these Venezuelan boats. Uh it was just last week that we learned of a classified Justice Department memo stating that in their view, in the view of the people who would prosecute such a case, military personnel involved in actions in Central America are not going to be held responsible for their actions. And not to put too fine a point on it, it just simply hasn't been established that these actions are legal. Just because this current justice department might weigh in with an opinion, it doesn't mean that all of this won't be thought out in court and decided in court someday. And it doesn't mean that a future Justice Department won't absolutely hold soldiers accountable for following illegal orders. So, if nothing else, simply in fairness to the young people in our military who might be at risk, it's crucial that they hear a message like this. And it's completely understandable that a lot of people, myself included, are concerned that Trump and Pete Hegsth are breaking down the distance between right and wrong rather than talking to these young recruits and articulating the importance of upholding the Constitution. I don't think they're giving that message to these young recruits. They're blurring the lines. And when it comes to the military, that can have disastrous consequences. Trump's whole approach of act now and then let him try to sort it out in court later. That approach is especially dangerous when it comes to the military, especially as he's trying to increase the military presence on the streets of our cities. things can happen fast and a lot of people can get hurt and it's it'll be too late to just kind of take his administration to court later. The damage will be done. And so all that's to say, I think those lawmakers were right to speak out. And Donald Trump's words today are a threat to the Constitution and to our entire system of checks and balances.
So I'm just going to end with one more thing. For anyone who likes to support Trump's actions by talking about Romans 13 and how we're all to be subject to the governing authorities today, you have a chance to to show just how seriously you take a passage like this. Because the governing authority in the United States of America is the Constitution, not the president. The president heads one of three branches of government, the executive branch and the constitution gives him certain responsibilities and authorities. Likewise, the constitution gives those Congress members responsibilities and authorities over their branch of government. and they have the power to declare war, for instance, and they've got the power to fund the Department of Defense and to do oversight over all of those things, including the president and his entire executive branch. So, if you've ever spoken out publicly on social media about Romans 13, and if you've ever used it as a cudgel to silence believers who want to speak out against Donald Trump, then I think it's only fair today right now that you hop onto social media and you speak out against Trump because today Donald Trump just launched a full-scale attack on an equal branch of government. And by doing so, he launched a full-scale attack on the Constitution, which is the Romans 13 governing authority of the United States. So, I'll stop now so you've got time to go make your public Romans 13 case against Donald Trump as quickly as you can. And thanks for listening.