NEWS: Trump says Dems "should be in jail right now" for questioning him

The president unintentionally proved the point of top Democrats, who warned about "illegal orders" in his administration.

Late last night, Donald Trump publicly amplified and then authored messages that crossed every line in his spat with Democratic lawmakers, who last week urged members of the military and intelligence community to refuse illegal orders.

First, Trump “liked” this post:

“Go get all those traitorous sons of bitches for sedition at the very least. Those pompous traitorous communists should be impeached and prosecuted.”

Then, before midnight, he posted himself:

“THE TRAITORS THAT TOLD THE MILITARY TO DISOBEY MY ORDERS SHOULD BE IN JAIL RIGHT NOW, NOT ROAMING THE FAKE NEWS NETWORKS TRYING TO EXPLAIN THAT WHAT THEY SAID WAS OK. IT WASN’T, AND NEVER WILL BE! IT WAS SEDITION AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL, AND SEDITION IS A MAJOR CRIME. THERE CAN BE NO OTHER INTERPRETATION OF WHAT THEY SAID!”

Publicly calling elected members of Congress “traitors,” demanding their imprisonment, and suggesting their execution, is not something we’re used to in America. In fact, those are the words of a leader who’s hellbent on criminalizing dissent and weaponizing the justice system against political opponents. Hard to conjure up a scenario more un-American.

I spoke about this at length this morning on our 7:30 a.m. LIVE broadcast of DEFIANCE Radio. Click below to tune into the replay, or continue reading below.

Today's News - President melts down over “illegal orders” criticism - Mon, Nov 24

As a refresher, when six veteran Democrats released a video telling servicemembers, “You can refuse illegal orders,” Trump responded with threats of violence, including reposting material about how those lawmakers should be “hung.”

The silence from Republicans has been deafening. Indeed, the same GOP figures who took to the airwaves for weeks after the assassination of Charlie Kirk to condemn heated rhetoric from the political left have said virtually nothing to condemn the Commander-in-Chief’s exhortation for the murder or imprisonment of their Senate and House colleagues.

One of the targeted lawmakers, Mark Kelly, put it plainly:

“We’ve heard very little, basically crickets, from Republicans in Congress about what the President has said about hanging members of Congress.”

Against that backdrop, the examples are piling up of the administration ordering individuals to engage in apparently unlawful conduct, despite Trump and his allies daring Democrats to “name one” instance that would justify their video warning about “illegal orders.”

The Washington Post dropped a bombshell of a story (no pun intended) about Trump’s illegal airstrikes in the Caribbean — and how lawyers at all levels of government tried to pump the brakes but were overruled. Over the past few months, the administration has engaged in multiple lethal military strikes against vessels alleged to be carrying narcotics off Venezuela and in the eastern Pacific. According to Post reporting, the United States has conducted at least 21 strikes, killing over 80 individuals. Meanwhile, lawyers throughout agencies rang alarm bells.

According to the report, top lawyers in the military, CIA, and elsewhere flagged fundamental concerns, including that many vessels and their occupants did not meet the threshold of imminent threat required for lethal force under international or U.S. law — and that drug cartels did not qualify as organized armed groups waging warfare against the United States. Yet those attorneys were overruled, and the Justice Department reportedly produced its own “classified memo” to justify the strikes.

At the same time, lawyers throughout the administration were removed, replaced, sidelined, or they resigned — including in the military, CIA, and even the National Security Council. One CIA official said the internal mood was like the lead-up to the controversial Iran-Contra affair or the War on Terror “rendition” program, scandals whose aftermath lasted years, across presidential administrations, and destroyed dozens of careers in Washington. In other words, people on the inside know what’s happening is illegal and are rushing to protect themselves.

So what does all of this mean?

For starters, it vindicates the six Democratic lawmakers. Second, the list of controversies that should vindicate them is growing by the day. Judges just ruled that Trump’s troop deployments were also “unlawful.” I spoke about it over the weekend on MSNOW, below.

And in response to the whole controversy, Donald Trump is proving the point the lawmakers were making in the first place. He’s effectively calling for the illegal imprisonment (and even execution) of his political opponents. Think about that. In response to accusations that his administration might be breaking the law, he’s bear-hugging illegality. He is demonstrating very clearly why the Democratic lawmakers need to make the warning in the first place.

For everyone in the federal government, especially intelligence or military personnel, the flashing light is getting brighter and the alarm is getting louder. They’re being asked left and right to carry out (or at least aid by) actions that plainly violate the law. The president is forecasting additional violations of law. And he’s trying to scare off whistleblowers by saying refusal of his orders will be treated as sedition. Meanwhile, his orders are increasingly detached from oversight, legal scrutiny, and reality.

If you work in the government and are reading this, know your rights and obligations. The Constitution is still the law of the land. You still have a right and responsibility to refuse to break the law for this deranged man, even if you’re told “this is the way it has to be.” Protect your records; audit trails, legal reviews, and chain-of-command documentation will matter. If you need help, DEFIANCE.org is supporting groups that can help you step forward. See here.

And for the rest of us, it’s important that we recognize how fragile democracy truly is in this moment. When the man at the top says the rules only apply when they don’t impede him, things are breaking down. If the rule of law is optional, then it doesn’t exist. And if it can be buried by one man, unilaterally, we’re well on the road to presidential power becoming presidential dictatorship.

Your friend, in defiance,

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

Here’s what’s coming up.

1. TODAY / 1pm ET - Presidential historian Steven Beschloss - I’ll be joining Substack LIVE with Steven to talk about this perilous moment, including the president’s threats. Tune in!

2. ***NEW TIME*** / TOMORROW / DEFIANCE Radio / 7:30 am ET - by popular demand, we’ve slid the start time of our weekly broadcasts to 7:30 a.m. ET, every week day, LIVE right here on Substack. You can tune into tomorrow’s broadcast here.

3. TOMORROW / 1245pm ET - Hardball with Chris Matthews - I’ll be joining Substack LIVE with Chris. Tune in!

4. TOMORROW / 3pm ET - The Secret Life of Cookies with Marissa Rothkopf - I don’t know if we’ll be baking anything on this Substack LIVE, but we will be cooking this administration’s corruption. (Dad jokes are getting worse. I know.)

5. NOTE: DEFIANCE Radio will NOT be broadcasting Thursday or Friday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.