Trump is threatening troops who question "illegal orders." So we're giving them lawyers.

DEFIANCE.org is launching an effort to make sure concerned servicemembers have access to the best legal advice, despite White House intimidation.

In recent weeks, something disturbing has unfolded in plain sight. Lawmakers have publicly warned about illegal orders, amid growing scrutiny of Trump’s deadly boat strikes in the Caribbean. Career officials have raised alarms privately. And quietly, U.S. servicemembers have begun asking a question no one in uniform should ever have to ask: What if I’m directed to break the law?

Instead of allaying these concerns, the White House has moved to silence them. So we’ve made the decision to do something about it.

As NBC News reported last night, DEFIANCE.org is launching a nationwide campaign alongside WhistleblowerAid.org to ensure U.S. servicemembers have access to clear legal information and independent support, especially as serious questions mount about the lawfulness of the Trump administration’s actions. Our goal is straightforward: to help troops obey lawful orders, recognize manifestly illegal ones, and know where to turn to understand the difference.

Starting today, we are bringing this message directly into military communities with a first wave focused on the areas around U.S. Southern Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, the two military hubs leading the president’s controversial boat-strikes campaign.

All the details are available at DEFIANCE.org/troops, including how you can help share and support this effort. Donald Trump can threaten us all he wants. Yet he cannot stop people from helping America’s frontline defenders do what the law requires.

Why did we decide to take on this fight?

The reason is simple. The president is trying to scare U.S. troops into silence. And we think that’s dangerous and profoundly un-American.

Trump has publicly demanded the graphic punishment of lawmakers merely for reminding servicemembers of their legal obligations. His administration has sicced the FBI and the Pentagon on those who dared to say out loud what military law already makes abundantly clear. For example, Senator Mark Kelly is now facing the possibility of court-martial proceedings for the basic act of restating what’s laid out in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

By attacking these lawmakers in such extraordinary and unprecedented fashion, the message from the White House to concerned servicemembers everywhere is this: don’t ask questions and don’t speak up, or else.

We must push back against such naked intimidation, wherever it comes from, but especially if it’s coming from the president. If we don’t show our men and women in uniform that they’ll be supported for exercising their rights, then they won’t do it, and the conditions for lawbreaking will spread. Every person who takes an oath to serve this country does so by pledging loyalty to the Constitution, not to the president. I’ve sworn that oath multiple times. It’s not ceremonial. It’s binding. And it carries with it both rights and responsibilities.

Chief among them is that no American public servant should presume anything is above the Constitution. And certainly — obviously — no criminal conduct can be deemed superior to Constitutional obligations. The president has no authority to override that principle. None. Yet Trump and his allies are wielding threats of prosecution, imprisonment, and even death to keep people from even knowing about their rights, lest any of them blow the whistle on his administration’s misconduct.

This is not radical. It’s the law.

So here, plainly and without apology, I am going to do the thing Donald Trump apparently believes is seditious and punishable: I am going to repeated what military law actually says.

“A general order or regulation is lawful unless it is contrary to the Constitution, the laws of the United States, or lawful superior orders.”

— Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, Part IV (Article 92)

In other words, orders are presumed lawful unless they manifestly violate the Constitution, federal law, or direct the commission of a crime. In those cases, servicemembers are not merely permitted to refuse. The best legal experts in the country tell me they are obligated to do so.

And that’s it. That’s the principle the president and his aides are desperate to suppress — so much so that they appear to be trying to convince troops that even asking about legality is an act of disloyalty. I find this bizarre. If Trump’s team is so confident in the lawfulness of their actions, one question naturally follows: why are they so afraid of U.S. servicemembers knowing their rights?

Draw your own conclusions.

Either way, the aforementioned duty isn’t some accidental loophole. It’s a safeguard written into the system because history has shown, again and again, what happens when obedience is treated as absolute. Horrific crimes have been committed by people who followed orders that they should’ve known to be illegal. Those lessons must be shared so we do not repeat the mistakes of the past.

We reject the lie that this is “sedition.” And we will not be intimidated.

When those in power threaten people for reminding troops of their legal obligations, the problem is not the individual delivering the reminder. The problem is the fear-mongering people in power. In light of that, we are building a counterweight to the fear. We want to make military personnel feel unafraid to do what’s right, starting with the knowledge that legal support exists.

Let’s be equally clear about what this effort is not. We are not encouraging insubordination. We are not telling troops to disobey lawful orders. We are not giving individualized legal advice. Instead, we are doing what the administration should be doing — but seemingly isn’t — by ensuring servicemembers have access to accurate information, legal standards, and independent resources, so they are not left alone in moments that could define their careers and their freedom.

Authoritarian systems rely on fear. Fear of speaking. Fear of asking. Fear of being singled out. Yet the rule of law relies on something else entirely. Its survival depends on people willing to say what is true, even when it’s uncomfortable. If reminding servicemembers of their constitutional obligations provokes outrage from those in power, that tells you everything you need to know about how fragile their authority really is.

Let me close with this. Donald Trump unleashed his shocking attack on lawmakers to keep others from speaking out. But we weren’t cowed by it. We will not stop. We will not whisper. And we will not apologize for standing on the side of the Constitution — because the oath still matters and U.S. servicemembers deserve better than silence, especially when the stakes are this high.

Your friend, in defiance,

P.S. If you’re not following us on social media, now you can get the latest updates. You can follow us on Instagram, TikTok, X, Threads, BlueSky, and YouTube.

P.P.S. WHAT’S HAPPENING ON DEFIANCE.NEWS

Here’s what’s coming up.

1. TONIGHT / Weekly Mission Briefing / 5pm ET - Tonight we will be sharing more details with you about the above effort, which is our Mission of the week — and which we expect to remain an ongoing mission of our club. You can watch LIVE on our DEFIANCE.News page, on our YouTube channel, or on my X account.

2. HOLIDAY PROGRAMMING NOTE - If you know me and my team, you know that we’re never really “off.” But so that we don’t collapse, we’ll be doing a programming pause for two weeks over the holidays, Dec 23 - Jan 2. This will allow us to recharge our batteries for 2026. We’ll need it. Next year we have our most defiant actions yet planned.

3. **STOCKING STUFFER REMINDER** — If you want to send a powerful message this holiday season, you can actually send a Constitution to pro-Trump Members of Congress — with a message reminding them their oath is to the Constitution, not to the president. We’ll hand deliver it just after the holidays. And you’ll get a printable certificate you can put in a Christmas stocking or holiday gift bag, letting someone know that you sent it in their name. Give the gift of defiance here: https://www.defiance.org/swag/p/constitutions-for-congress 100% of the proceeds go to DEFIANCE.org and the pro-democracy fight.