Donald Trump’s latest fight isn’t with foreign adversaries, but with members of Congress who once wore the uniform. And according to people who watch Washington for a living, his decision to attack them for reminding troops not to follow illegal orders may be the kind of move that ends up hitting him back harder than he expects.
The spark was a short video recorded by six Democratic lawmakers, all veterans or former intelligence officers, urging service members to stick to the Constitution and refuse unlawful commands. Trump exploded online, calling them “traitors” and accusing them of behavior that he claimed should be punishable by death. He reposted content calling for their execution, turning a basic civics lesson into a political firestorm.
One of the lawmakers, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, is now tangled in an unusual situation. Kelly, a retired Navy captain and former astronaut, is technically still under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has gone after him with a threat to haul him back into active duty and prosecute him, accusing Kelly of “discrediting” the military. Kelly has shrugged that off, saying he was simply reminding troops of something every service member already knows.
Appearing on Morning Joe, analyst John Heilemann said Trump’s reaction shows just how badly things are unraveling inside his orbit. Heilemann questioned why Hegseth would zero in on Kelly of all people, calling it the sort of misstep that could set off a chain reaction among active and retired military members who have already been uneasy with Trump’s rhetoric.
Heilemann said he’s heard from officers who were bothered when Trump gave highly political speeches at places like Fort Bragg and West Point. Others stayed quiet when Trump talked about sending troops into major U.S. cities. But this latest push, he warned, is different.
“The question for me is, when do we get to the point where active duty senior military officials start to speak up, because they have kept quiet?” he asked, pointing out that the silence inside the Pentagon has been getting thinner every year.
According to Raw Story, Heilemann said he believes many top officers are already wrestling with the idea that they may soon have to decide whether to publicly oppose orders that fall into a legally gray area or follow commands they suspect would land them on the wrong side of the law. “There’s a moment that’s coming,” he said, “where not just retired, but current active duty senior military who are clearly, quietly troubled by everything that’s going on, are going to face a moment of truth.”
He reminded viewers that Americans haven’t seen anything like that in modern times, at least not from active duty brass speaking out in real time against a sitting president. But he suggested the pressure building inside the ranks is unlike anything the country has experienced since the post-Vietnam years.
For now, the nation’s top officers are mostly offering cautious, sanitized statements about loyalty to the Constitution. But with Trump calling lawmakers “traitors,” floating punishment usually reserved for war crimes, and his defense secretary threatening to drag a senator back into uniform for saying the obvious, the frustration inside the military looks less hypothetical by the week.
And if Heilemann is right, the fuse on that moment may already be lit.
