Donald Trump says ‘seditious’ Democrats should be punished by death

President Donald Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers of sedition, ‘punishable by DEATH’, yesterday.

The lawmakers — all veterans of the armed services and intelligence community — called on U.S. military members to uphold the Constitution and defy “illegal orders.”

The 90-second video was first posted early Tuesday by Senator Elissa Slotkin, and also featured Senator Mark Kelly, and Representatives Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan.

They addressed US service members, acknowledging the armed forces were under enormous stress and pressure.’

‘The American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution,’ Slotkin said.

They went on to say that the Trump administration ‘is pitting our uniformed military against American citizens’ and called for service members to ‘refuse illegal orders.’

Although the lawmakers didn’t mention specific circumstances in the video, its release comes as the Trump administration continues attempts at deployment of National Guard troops into U.S. cities for various roles, although some have been pulled back, and others held up in court.

Are U.S. troops allowed to disobey orders?

Troops, especially uniformed commanders, have a specific obligation to reject an order that’s unlawful, if they make that determination.

However, while commanders have military lawyers on their staffs to consult with in helping make such a determination, rank-and-file troops who are tasked with carrying out those orders are rarely in a similar position.

Broad legal precedence holds that just following orders, colloquially known as the ‘Nuremberg defence’ as it was used unsuccessfully by senior Nazi officials to justify their actions under Adolf Hitler, doesn’t absolve troops.

However, the U.S. military legal code, known as the Uniform Code of Military Justice or UCMJ, will punish troops for failing to follow an order, should it turn out to be lawful.

Trump’s response

On Thursday, Trump reposted to social media an article about the video, adding his own commentary that it was ‘really bad, and Dangerous to our Country.’

‘SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!!’

Trump went on. ‘LOCK THEM UP???’ He called for the lawmakers’ arrest and trial, adding in a separate post that it was ‘SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH.’

Trump also reposted more than a dozen comments from other accounts criticising Democrats, including one that stated: ‘HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!’

Asked during a White House briefing on Thursday about the intent of Trump’s messages, press secretary Karoline Leavitt instead honed in on the Democrats’ message.

She said their actions could ‘perhaps be punishable by law’, adding that any incitement to ‘defy the chain of command, not to follow lawful orders’ is dangerous.

Democrats were swift to react to Trump’s words, but Speaker Mike Johnson said he did not believe Trump was calling for violence in the social media posts, saying Trump was merely ‘defining a crime.’

‘Think of the threat that is to our national security and what it means for our institution,’ Johnson added.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell challenged the theory that illegal orders were being issued.

‘Our military follows orders, and our civilians give legal orders,’ Parnell told The Associated Press on Thursday.

‘We love the Constitution. These politicians are out of their minds.’