The Grand Illusion
Senator Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and a retired Navy captain, joined with five other Representatives and Senators, all Democrats, who had served the nation either in the military or the intelligence community in releasing a statement that said military officers had the right to refuse to carry out “illegal orders.”
Trump immediately denounced the six and called their actions “seditious” and supported the idea of hanging all six. Subsequent to that, Secretary of Defense/War Hegseth began action to “court martial” Senator Kelly.
First, none of the six suggested disobeying an existing law. They only expressed an opinion that the Constitution laid out rights and duties and that military officers should not obey orders by the President that were illegal under the Constitution.
Trump and Hegseth are taking the position that any order by the President is, by definition, legal, despite the words of the Constitution that suggest that a President is not omnipotent. In the case of Richard Nixon, the Congress clearly rejected Nixon’s contention that any action by the President was, de facto, legal.
The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech. In addition, the Constitution clearly states that the opinions of Senators and Representatives in pursuit of their duties are protected speech.
Trump had a temper-tantrum over being told that it was possible that not everything he “orders” may not be legal, and that if he issued illegal orders, senior officers had the right to refuse such orders. Hegseth then followed up with a statement that all members of the military should presume that ALL orders are legal and should be followed and that those who did not agree would be investigated under military law.
When a President declares that opinions and advice contrary to his beliefs and wishes are seditious and treasonous and should result in capital punishment, particularly when those opposing his views are citing the Constitution, he’s not behaving as the President of the United States but as third-world dictator. And, of course, loyal lackey Hegseth immediately followed orders to prosecute Senator Kelly for exercising his rights as a citizen and a Senator.
That should tell Americans something, but will it?
I suspect that Trump’s psychological and physical decline will not be obvious to most – until all of a sudden it is. I would love to see a multi-year montage of video showing such when the inevitable happens. I think that would be enlightening to the public.
I’m not a big fan of placing age limits on public officials, but maybe that should be revisited at some point. I would definitely love to see some type of threshold civics certification for someone to be eligible for office. It is a requirement for naturalization as I recall, with a 60% pass threshold, but only asked 10 of 100 possible. Why can’t we demand competency and professionalism from our representatives. Can you imagine Trump being able to answer correctly most of those 100 questions???
Perhaps Mark Kelly should ask for an open Court Marshall hearing to call their bluff. I’m not sure that’s even remotely possible. Jack Smith has done just that when subpoenaed by Congress to testify (in a closed hearing) about his investigations into Trump. A lot of this is intimidation by this administration and we’ve seen that most who fight back (if they have means) can prevail as well as make the administration look foolish (even more so that is).
It’s only one year in this go round and I’m exhausted from it all. I sense that feeling is widespread.