“Treasonous Traitor,” proclaimed a New York Times op-ed, alleging dastardly betrayal of our country. That was back in 2018, when former Times op-ed columnist Charles Blow chose to express dissatisfaction with aspects of Trump’s policy toward Russia by buying into false allegations that were later comprehensively disproved and exposed as a politically motivated hoax. In case the former paper of record’s dwindling subscription base missed his point, Blow concluded, “Simply put, Trump is a traitor and may well be treasonous.”
Fast forward seven years, and the Times has a very different take on a matter that could, in fact, rise to the level of treasonous conduct. On Tuesday, six Democratic members of Congress—Senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and Representatives Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan, and Jason Crow—filmed a video calling on military servicemen to disobey what they call “illegal orders,” ominously adding that “threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home.”
Demanding that the military disobey the commander-in-chief in cases where they may disagree with or dissent from his orders, the Seditious Six did not bother to identify any specific orders they believed to be “illegal,” nor did they specify any laws that they felt were violated by either the Trump administration or any servicemember. They relied solely on their authority as elected officials and—in their personal cases—on their status as veterans of various branches of the armed forces or the intelligence community. .
President Trump was understandably infuriated by this attempt by political opponents to undermine the constitutional chain of command. In a series of posts, he described their conduct as “seditious behavior at the highest level” and stated that “each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.” He later added that the behavior, if found to be treasonous, was “punishable by DEATH!” and reshared a post proclaiming: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!”
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