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The latest stunt from Senate Democrat Elissa Slotkin and a handful of fellow veterans was reckless and irresponsible from the start. Slotkin posted a short video on November 18 that featured Senators and Representatives who once wore the uniform and now used that credential to tell active-duty troops they could “refuse illegal orders,” a message that landed like a political grenade in the middle of our military culture.
The clip — titled with a naval motto and set to stirring music — explicitly tells service members to “stand up for our laws” and to “refuse unlawful orders,” language that sounds noble until you realize it doubles as a partisan plea to second-guess the commander-in-chief. Conservatives are right to point out that telling tens of thousands of young troops to question orders in ambiguous, politically heated circumstances is the quickest way to dissolve discipline and invite chaos.
President Trump and his team responded in kind, calling the video seditious and escalating the rhetoric in reaction to what they view as a direct challenge to civilian control of the military. That response has inflamed the debate even more, and while passion runs high on both sides, it’s reasonable for Republicans to demand clarity and for patriots to defend the chain of command against political interference.
Retired Marine Joey Jones, who knows what real leadership and sacrifice look like, tore into the Democrats’ message on Fox, rightly warning that this kind of political theatre undercuts the oath and the institution that protects our freedoms. Jones’s voice matters because he speaks not as a partisan hack but as a combat veteran who has seen what breakdowns in order can do to men and missions; his fury is the fury of every American who believes the military should be above political games.
Let’s be clear: reminding troops of their legal obligations is fine; turning that reminder into a political broadside aimed at one president is not. Democrats who weaponize their service for clicks and to delegitimize a legitimately elected commander risk doing real harm to national security and to the young Americans who trust their leaders to keep politics out of the barracks. Conservatives will keep calling for accountability and for respect for both the Constitution and the chain of command — and we will stand with those veterans who defend our country without turning their uniforms into political props.
