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Mark Kelly Doubles Down Against Pete Hegseth With Resurfaced Video, “This Is So Ridiculous”

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Sec Hegseth

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a military veteran and former NASA astronaut, found himself in the Republican crosshairs after he joined five other prominent ex-military and former intelligence community Democrats to release a video urging active military to defy “illegal” orders.

With even Republican Senators like Rand Paul (R-KY) calling U.S. military strikes against alleged “narco-terrorist” boats in the Caribbean “extrajudicial killings,” Kelly addressed a scenario that wasn’t theoretical.

Questions surrounding the legality of certain ICE and National Guard actions against immigrants (and citizens) on U.S. soil and the boat strikes flouting due process in international waters — including the even more controversial second strike to kill survivors of a boat attack on September 2 — mean military personnel are faced with life and death decisions every day.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was incensed by Kelly’s call for troops to challenge and defy the chain of command, a sacrosanct — and critical aspect — of military culture. (In popular culture, a famous example of its importance is seen in Jack Nicholson’s assertion, as Colonel Jessup in A Few Good Men, that “we follow orders or people die.”)

Hegseth called for Kelly to be recalled into service so he could be court-martialed, while President Trump called the video treasonous, saying the Democrats featured in it should face the death penalty.

“Trump essentially said loyalty to the Constitution is punishable by death,” Kelly said. “Those are dangerous words coming from the President of the United States, but I’m not going to be intimidated.”

Kelly has been attacking Trump and Hegseth since, increasing his offensive blitz on numerous media outlets, late night shows and on social media, making a case that effectively pits his own history and credentials against those of the President.

Kelly wrote:

In another video, Kelly says Trump is operating a weapon — fear — that doesn’t wound those who aren’t intimidated by it. “Donald Trump knows fear is contagious,” Kelly says. “But courage is contagious,” Kelly asserts in response.

Unearthed video of Hegseth — long before he was a candidate for the Defense Secretary job — essentially making the same recommendation as Kelly and his fellow five video participants gave Kelly the latest talking point in his blitz against Hegseth and Trump.

Kelly shared it on social media writing, slamming both Trump and the SecDef at the same time: “Pete Hegseth says he’s going to court-martial me for saying the same exact thing he said 9 years ago. What changed for Pete? Well to start, he spends all day thinking about how he can suck up to Trump. When Trump says jump, he says how high.”

Hegseth, citing “a standard, an ethos,” said “that’s why the military said it won’t follow unlawful orders from their commander-in-chief.” Asked by CNN’s Erin Burnett about the Hegseth video, Kelly replied: “he’s right, and it’s exactly what we said.” Kelly later told Burnett: “This is so ridiculous.”

Turning from defense to attack mode, Kelly — who serves on the Armed Services Committee — suggested that Hegseth needs to be investigated for the attack that allegedly killed two survivors.

The Senator leaned on his own military “lethality” — as Hegseth likes to say — in delivering his take.

“I will say, though, you know,” Kelly said, “as somebody who has sunk two ships myself, that folks in the military need to understand, you know, the Law of the Sea, the Geneva Conventions, what the law says. And I’m concerned that if there were, in fact, as reported, you know, survivors clinging to a damaged vessel, that that could be, you know, over a line. I hope it’s not the case.”

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